ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 166
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Sprouse,
By Request of the Executive, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 9, 1999; to take effect July 1, 1999.]
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AN ACT 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) A 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.