H. B. 2340
(By Delegates Proudfoot and Amores)
[Introduced
February 20, 2001
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one-b, article six, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the offense of
disturbing the peace; providing new elements and locations in
which disturbing the peace may occur; removing the prior
notice requirement before a person can be so charged; and
modifying definitions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one-b, article six, chapter sixty-one of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
§61-6-1b. Disorderly conduct; penalty.
(a) Any person who, in a public place, a mobile home park, a
public parking area, a common area of an apartment building or
dormitory, or a common area of a privately owned commercial
shopping center, mall or other group of commercial retail
establishments, disturbs the peace of others by violent, profane,
indecent or boisterous conduct or language or by making loud or
unreasonable noise or conduct in a private place which can be heard
in a public or other private place, and which interferes
unreasonably with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property,
or by the making of unreasonably loud noise that is intended to
cause annoyance or alarm to another person, and who persists in
such conduct after being requested to desist by a law-enforcement
officer acting in his lawful capacity, is guilty of disorderly
conduct, a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
not more than one hundred dollars.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Mobile home park" means a privately-owned residential
housing area or subdivision wherein the dwelling units are
comprised mainly of mobile homes and wherein the occupants of such
dwelling units share common elements for purposes of ingress and
egress, parking, recreation and other like residential purposes.
(1) "Public place" means any place which the public or a
substantial group of the public has access. The term includes, but
is not limited to, public ways, sidewalks, schools, hospitals,
government offices or facilities, and the lobbies or hallways of
apartment buildings, dormitories, hotels or motels.
(2) "Mobile home" means a moveable or portable unit, designed
and constructed to be towed on its own chassis (comprised of frame
and wheels), and designed to be connected to utilities for
year-round occupancy. The term includes: (A) Units containing
parts that may be folded, collapsed or telescoped when being towed
and that may be expanded to provide additional cubic capacity, and
(B) units composed of two or more separately towable components
designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of being
separated again into the components for repeated towing.
(2) "Private place" means any place that is not a public
place.
(3) "Public parking area" means an area, whether publicly or
privately owned or maintained, open to the use of the public for
parking motor vehicles.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to simplify the elements of
the offense of disturbing the peace, to remove the requirement of prior notice to the offender, and to simplify the definitions of
both private and public places.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.