COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 166
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Sprouse,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 18, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve and fourteen, article
ten, chapter twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to amusement rides and amusement attractions safety;
inspection thereof; defining terms; providing for
inspections and fees; waiver of inspection fees for
nonprofit business; authorizing the division of labor to
charge additional costs for additional inspections and
inspections required as a result of violations of permitting
requirements; creating a special revenue account; requiring
moneys in special revenue account to be appropriated by the
Legislature; authorizing the use of fees collected to be
used for enforcement of the article; requiring a permit
before operation of an amusement ride or amusement attraction; making technical corrections; and providing
criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, eleven, twelve and fourteen, article ten, chapter twenty- one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 10. AMUSEMENT RIDES AND AMUSEMENT ATTRACTIONS SAFETY
ACT.
§21-10-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Amusement ride" means a mechanical device which carries
or conveys passengers along, around or over a fixed or restricted
route or course for the purpose of giving its passengers
amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement. The term includes
carnival rides and fair rides of a temporary or portable nature
which are assembled and reassembled or rides which are relocated from place to place. "Amusement ride" may not be construed to
mean any
such mechanical device which is coin operated and does
not include
the operation of a ski lift, the operation of
tramways at state parks, the operation of vehicles of husbandry
incidental to any agricultural operations or the operation of
amusement devices of a permanent nature which are subject to
building regulations issued by cities or counties and existing
applicable safety orders;
(b) "Amusement attraction" means any building or structure
around, over or through which people may move or walk without the
aid of any moving device integral to the building or structure
that provides amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement,
including those of a temporary or portable nature which are
assembled and reassembled or which are relocated from place to
place. The term does not include any enterprise principally
devoted to the exhibition of products of agriculture, industry,
education, science, religion or the arts and shall not be
construed to include any concession stand or booth for the
selling of food or drink or souvenirs;
(c) "Mobile amusement ride or mobile amusement attraction"
means an amusement ride or amusement attraction which is erected in a single physical location for a period of less than twelve
consecutive months;
(d) "Stationary amusement ride or stationary amusement
attraction" means an amusement ride or amusement attraction which
is erected in a single physical location for a period of more
than twelve consecutive months.
§21-10-3. Rules.
The
department division of labor shall
promulgate rules
propose legislative rules for promulgation for the safe
installation, repair, maintenance, use, operation and inspection
of all amusement rides and amusement attractions as the
department division finds necessary for the protection of the
general public using amusement rides and amusement attractions.
The rules shall be in addition to the existing applicable safety
orders and
will shall be concerned with engineering force
stresses, safety devices and preventative maintenance. All such
rules shall be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
§21-10-4. Inspection and permit fees.
The department shall determine a schedule of inspection and
permit fees, which fees shall not exceed twenty dollars a ride.
(a) The division shall charge inspection and permit fees.
The annual permit fee is twenty-five dollars for each ride or
attraction. The annual inspection fee is one hundred dollars for
each ride or attraction. The annual inspection fee is due at the
time of application for the annual permit. The division shall
waive the inspection fee for any ride or attraction whose owner
provides proof of nonprofit business status.
(b) The division may charge additional inspection fees equal
to the annual inspection fee for additional inspections required
as the result of the condemnation of a device for safety
standards violations and for inspections required as a result of
accidents involving serious or fatal injury. If any owner or
operator requires an inspection as the result of a violation of
the permitting requirements of section six of this article, the
division shall charge the owner or operator seventy-five dollars
per hour in addition to the established inspection fee, including
travel time.
(c) All
such fees received shall be deposited
in the general
revenue fund in a special revenue account in the state treasury
known as the "Amusement Rides and Amusement Attractions Safety
Fund." The division may use moneys from the fund for the purpose of enforcement of the provisions of this article. Expenditures
are not authorized from collections, but are to be made only in
accordance with appropriation by the Legislature and in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twelve
of this code and upon fulfillment of the provisions of article
two, chapter five-a of this code.
(d) No
inspection fee may be charged public agencies.
(e) The
department division shall issue, and the owner,
and/or operator
or both of the amusement rides and amusement
attractions shall visibly display to the public, inspection
stickers denoting and signifying that the inspection and permit
fee authorized by this section has been paid.
§21-10-5. Inspectors.
The
department division may hire or contract with inspectors
to inspect amusement rides and amusement attractions.
§21-10-6. Permits; application; annual inspection.
No operator or owner may knowingly permit the operation of
an amusement ride or amusement attraction without a permit issued
by the
department division. except that such amusement ride or
amusement attraction may operate without a permit from the date
of application until inspection as provided herein, but in no event for a period longer than seven days from the date of first
assembly in the state Each year
and at least fifteen days before
the first time the amusement ride or amusement attraction is
assembled made available in this state for public use, an
operator or owner shall apply for a permit to the
department
division on a form furnished by the
department division and
containing
such any information
as the
department division may
require.
The division shall, upon
such application and within
seven ten days of the first time
said the ride or attraction is
assembled made available in this state for public use,
inspect
all amusement rides and amusement attractions
shall be inspected.
and thereafter The division shall inspect all stationary rides
and attractions at least once every year.
Amusement The division
may inspect all mobile amusement rides and amusement attractions
may also be inspected each time they are disassembled and
reassembled
and periodically for use in this state. The division
may conduct inspections at any reasonable time without prior
notice.
Following satisfactory inspection, the inspector shall
issue a permit.
§21-10-7. Issuance of permit; certificate of inspection;
availability to public.
If, after inspection, an amusement ride or amusement
attraction is found to comply with the rules
and regulations of
the
department division, the
department division shall issue a
permit to operate. The permit shall be in the form of a
certificate of inspection and shall be kept in the records of any
operator or owner for a three-year period and shall be readily
accessible to the public for inspection at any reasonable time at
the
carnival or fair carnival, fair or event where
such the
amusement ride or attraction is located. A copy of
such the
certificate, showing the last date of inspection, shall be
affixed to
such the amusement ride or amusement attraction upon
issuance.
§21-10-8. Notice of intention to erect new ride or attraction or
add to or alter existing ride or attraction.
Before a new amusement ride or amusement attraction is
erected, or whenever any additions or alterations are made which
change the structure, mechanism, classification or capacity of
any amusement ride or amusement attraction, the operator shall
file with the
department division a notice of his
or her
intention and any plans or diagrams requested by the
department
division for purposes of determining the applicability of section six of this article.
§21-10-9. Notice of serious physical injury or fatality;
investigations; records available to public.
An owner or operator of an amusement ride or amusement
attraction shall notify the
department division not later than
twenty-four hours after any fatality or accident occurring as a
result of the operation of the amusement ride or amusement
attraction that results in a serious physical injury
to any
person requiring medical treatment or results in a loss of
consciousness
to any person. The notice may be oral or written.
The
department division shall investigate each
such fatality or
accident and any safety-related complaint involving an amusement
ride or amusement attraction in this state about which the
department division receives notice. Every owner or operator of
an amusement ride or amusement attraction shall keep a record of
each
such accident or fatality and
such the record shall be kept
with the certificate of inspection required by this article and
shall be readily accessible to the public for inspection at any
reasonable time at the
carnival or fair carnival, fair or event
where
such the amusement ride or amusement attraction is located.
§21-10-11. Temporary cessation of operation of ride or attraction determined to be unsafe.
The
department division may order, in writing, a temporary
cessation of operation of an amusement ride or amusement
attraction if it has been determined after inspection to be
hazardous or unsafe. Operation
of the amusement ride or
amusement attraction shall not resume until
such the conditions
are corrected to the satisfaction of the
department division.
§21-10-12. Insurance; bond.
No person may operate an amusement ride or amusement
attraction unless at the time there is in existence: (a) aA policy
of insurance approved by the
department division and obtained
from an insurer authorized to do business in this state in an
amount of not less than three hundred thousand dollars per person
and one million dollars in the aggregate for each amusement ride
or attraction location insuring the owner or operator against
liability for injury suffered by persons riding the amusement
ride or by persons in, on, under or near the amusement
attraction,; or (b) a bond in a like amount, as approved by the
department division: Provided, That the aggregate liability of
the surety under any
such bond shall not exceed the face amount
thereof of the bond,; or (c) cash or other security acceptable to the
department division. Satisfactory evidence of
such the
insurance, bond or other security shall accompany the permit
application.
§21-10-14. Criminal penalty for violation.
Any operator or owner who knowingly permits the operation of
an amusement ride or amusement attraction in violation of the
provisions of
section six of this article is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than one thousand
dollars, imprisoned in the county jail not more than twelve
months, or both fined and imprisoned.
Each day that a violation
continues shall be considered a separate violation.