Senate Bill No. 549
(By Senator Deem)
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[Introduced February 17, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17-24A-2 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the abandonment of motor
vehicles and parts of motor vehicles; removing language that
allows the abandonment on private property with the approval
of the property owner or controller; and including criminal
penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17-24A-2 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 24A. DISPOSAL OF ABANDONED MOTOR VEHICLES, JUNKED MOTOR
VEHICLES, AND ABANDONED OR INOPERATIVE HOUSEHOLD
APPLIANCES.
§17-24A-2. Abandonment of motor vehicle prohibited; inoperative
household appliances prohibited in certain places;
penalty.
(a) No person
shall may, within this state, abandon a motor
vehicle or major part
thereof of a motor vehicle upon the
right-of-way of any public highway, upon any other public property
or upon any private property,
without the consent of the owner or
person in control of the property, or upon property owned or
controlled by that person unless it
be is at a licensed salvage
yard or at the business establishment of a demolisher, or a
business licensed to do business in the state of West Virginia and
not in the primary business of offering motor vehicles or parts
thereof of motor vehicles for sale. Any person who violates any
provision of this section
shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced and fined as set forth
below.
(b) No person
shall may, within this state, place or abandon
any inoperative household appliance upon the right-of-way of any
public highway or upon any other public property; nor
shall may any
person, within this state, place or abandon any inoperative
household appliance upon any private property unless it
be is at a
licensed salvage yard, solid waste facility, other business
authorized to accept such solid waste or at the business
establishment of a demolisher. Any person who violates any
provision of this section
shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced and fined as set forth
below.
(c) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle,
or inoperative household appliance does not exceed one hundred
pounds in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size is subject to
a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand
dollars or, in the discretion of the court, sentenced to perform
community service by cleaning up litter from any public highway,
road, street, alley or any other public park or public property or
waters of the state, as designated by the court, for not less than
eight nor more than sixteen hours, or both.
(d) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle
or inoperative household appliance is greater than one hundred
pounds in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size, but less than
five hundred pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet, is
subject to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more
than two thousand dollars or, in the discretion of the court, may
be sentenced to perform community service by cleaning up litter
from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public
park or public property or waters of the state, as designated by
the court, for not less than sixteen nor more than thirty-two
hours, or both.
(e) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle or inoperative household appliance is greater than five hundred
pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet in size is
subject to a fine not less than twenty-five hundred dollars or not
more than twenty-five thousand dollars or confinement in
a county
or regional jail for not more than one year, or both. In addition,
the violator may be guilty of creating or contributing to an open
dump as defined in section two, article fifteen, chapter twenty-two
of this code and subject to the enforcement provisions of section
fifteen of
said that article.
(f) Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation
of this section is subject to double the authorized range of fines
and community service for the subsection violated.
(g) The sentence of litter cleanup shall be verified by
conservation officers from the division of natural resources or
environmental inspectors from the
division department of
environmental protection. Any defendant receiving the sentence of
litter cleanup shall provide within a time to be set by the court
written acknowledgment from a conservation officer or environmental
inspector that the sentence has been completed and the litter has
been disposed of lawfully.
(h) Any person who has been found by the court to have
willfully failed to comply with the terms of a litter cleanup
sentence imposed by the court pursuant to this section is subject
to, at the discretion of the court, double the amount of the original fines and community service penalties.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove language from the
West Virginia Code that allows the abandonment of motor vehicles or
parts of motor vehicles on private property with the approval of
the property owner or controller.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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