COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2340
(By Delegates Proudfoot and Amores)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 28, 2001]
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
disorderly conduct; providing for certain elements, events and
circumstances that define acts of disorderly conduct; and
providing for penalties.
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 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.
(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.
(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.
(1) Makes unreasonable noise; or
(2) Engages in violent or tumultuous behavior which is likely
to provoke a violent response; or
(3) Makes any offensively coarse utterance, gesture, or
display, or addresses abusive language to any person present, which is likely to provoke a violent response.
(b) Noise is unreasonable, within the meaning of subdivision
(a)(1), if considering the nature and purpose of the person's
conduct and the circumstances known to the person, including the
nature of the location and the time of the day or night, the
person's conduct involves a gross deviation from the standard of
conduct that a law-abiding citizen would follow in the same
situation; or the failure to heed the admonition of a police
officer that the noise is unreasonable and should be stopped or
reduced.
(c) A renter, resident, or owner-occupant of a premises who
knowingly or negligently consents to unreasonable noise on the
premises shall be guilty of disorderly conduct pursuant to the
provisions of this section.
(d) Any person who violates the provisions of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than one hundred dollars.
(e) This section in no way inhibits a person's right to free
speech or to assemble in a peaceable manner, including the right to
assemble for sporting events, the right to assemble to picket and strike or the right of the people to voice their support of
picketers, strikers or teams by the blowing of horns or by other
peaceful means.