H. B. 2331


(By Delegates Stemple and Williams)

[Introduced January 16, 2003 ; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-eight-a, article three, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to creating a misdemeanor offense for the removal of vegetation, stone, or sand from the lands of another; and providing criminal penalty.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-eight-a, article three, 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 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-48a. Cutting, damaging or carrying away without written permission, timber, trees, stone or sand, growing plants or the products thereof; treble damages provided; penalty.

Any person who enters upon the land or premises of another without written permission from the owner of the land or premises in order to cut, damage or carry away or cause to be cut, damaged or carried away, any timber, trees, logs, posts, fruit, nuts, growing plant or product of any growing plant, stone or sand, shall be is liable to the owner in the amount of three times the value of the timber, trees, stone or sand, growing plants or products thereof, which shall be is in addition to and notwithstanding any other penalties by law provided.
Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to criminalize the hunting, digging or harvesting of moss, shrubs, bushes, ferns, stone, sand or other like things on the lands of another. The crime is a misdemeanor with a fine of one hundred to one thousand dollars.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.