ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 9
(By Senators Bailey and Love)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 6, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-8a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to mandating that a voluntary
hunter safety orientation program be made available as a part
of certain physical education classes; requiring the State
Board of Education to promulgate a rule to establish and
implement the program; and providing that a student who
completes the program is certified to obtain a hunting
license.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-2-8a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-8a. Hunter safety orientation program.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1) Firearms and hunting are important parts of West Virginia's history, culture and economy;
(2) Unfortunately, the use of firearms while hunting or at any
other time can be dangerous when the firearms are not handled in a
careful and safe manner; and
(3) Therefore, at least the opportunity of participating in a
hunter safety orientation program should be offered to students in
certain grades.
(b) The State Board of Education may shall, with the advice of
the State Superintendent of Schools and the Director of the
Division of Natural Resources, promulgate a rule in accordance with
the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code prescribe an that establishes and implements a hunter safety
orientation program for use in the public schools of this state.
in the safety of firearms. The rule shall include at least the
following provisions:
(1) The hunter safety orientation program shall be offered
over a two-week period during the school year as part of physical
education classes offered to students in the eighth through twelfth
grades;
(2) The hunter safety orientation program shall be voluntary
to students in that any student may choose not to participate in
the program, but if a student chooses not to participate in the
program, he or she shall participate in another physical education
activity;
(3) The hunter safety orientation program shall deal with
include instruction relating to:
(A) The protection of lives and property against loss or
damage as a result of the improper use of firearms; and
(B) The orientation program shall also include instruction
about The proper use of firearms in hunting, sport competition and
the care and safety of firearms in the home; and
(4) The hunter safety orientation program may utilize use
materials prepared by any national nonprofit membership
organization which has as one of its purposes the training of
people in marksmanship and the safe handling and use of firearms.
(c) The county superintendent may shall arrange for such
implement the hunter safety orientation program in the safety of
firearms and its use in accordance with the rule required by this
section in each school in the county that includes any of grades
eight through twelve.
(d) The Division of Natural Resources shall issue a
certificate of training, required by section thirty-a, article two,
chapter twenty of this code, to any student who completes the
hunter safety orientation program.