COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 478
(By Senator Mitchell)
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[Originating in the Committee on Natural Resources;
reported February 26, 2002.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-four-b, article two,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to bear hunting and
bear damage stamps; providing for a ten-dollar fee for the
stamp; and equally dedicating proceeds from the fees for the
bear damage fund and the license fund-wildlife resources.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-four-b, article two, chapter twenty of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-44b. Bear damage stamp; proceeds to be paid into bear
damage fund; purposes, etc.
Any hunter licensed to hunt bear in this state shall, in
addition to a hunting license of either Class A, or AB, in the case
of a resident, or C, E, EE, L, LL or M, in the case of a
nonresident, have a bear damage stamp which shall be issued by the
department of natural resources and which shall be sold at places
where hunting and fishing licenses are sold. On or after the first
day of January, two thousand three, the fee for a bear damage stamp
shall be ten dollars. One half of The fee for a bear damage stamp
shall be four dollars and
such bear
damage stamps shall be paid into the bear damage fund which shall
be maintained by the department division of natural resources for
the purposes of paying claims of property owners for damages to
real and personal property caused by acts of bear and to cover the
expense of hunting, capturing and removing offending bear to remote
areas. The remaining proceeds from the sale of bear damage stamps
shall be paid into the fund designated "license fund-wildlife
resources" as provided in section thirty-four of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
provide for three
classes of bear damage stamps and providing for a fee for each
class of stamp. The bill also dedicates one half of the proceeds
from the fees for law enforcement. The bill also prohibits the
sale of bear damage stamps one day prior to and during bear hunting
seasons.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.