ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 212
(By Senator Dittmar)
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[Introduced January 31, 1995; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article one,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to law
enforcement and the amount that may be spent on outside
legal services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article one, chapter twenty of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
§20-1-13. Law enforcement and legal services.
The director shall select and designate a competent and
qualified person to be department law-enforcement officer, who
shall have the title of chief conservation officer and who
shall be responsible for the prompt, orderly and effective
enforcement of all of the provisions of this chapter. Under
the supervision of the director and subject to personnel
qualifications and requirements otherwise prescribed in this
chapter, the chief conservation officer shall be responsible
for the selection, training, assignment, distribution and
discipline of conservation officers and the effective discharge
of their duties in carrying out the law-enforcement policies,
practices and programs of the department in compliance with the
provisions of article seven of this chapter and other
controlling laws. Except as otherwise provided in this
chapter, he or she and his or her conservation officers are
hereby authorized to enter into and upon private lands and
waters to investigate complaints and reports of conditions,
conduct, practices and activities considered to be adverse to
and violative of the provisions of this chapter and to execute writs and warrants and make arrests thereupon.
The attorney general and his or her assistants and the
prosecuting attorneys of the several counties shall render to
the director, without additional compensation, such legal
services as the director may require of them in the discharge
of his or her duties and the execution of his or her powers
under and his or her enforcement of the provisions of this
chapter. The director, in an emergency and with prior approval
of the attorney general, may employ an attorney to act in
proceedings wherein criminal charges are brought against
personnel of the department because of action in line of duty.
For such attorney services, a reasonable sum, not exceeding two
thousand five hundred dollars, may be expended by the director
in any one case.
The director, if he or she deems the action necessary, may
request the attorney general to appoint an assistant attorney
general, who shall perform, under the supervision and direction
of the attorney general, the duties as may be required of him
or her by the director. The attorney general, in pursuance of the request, may select and appoint an assistant attorney
general to serve during the will and pleasure of the attorney
general, and the assistant shall receive a salary to be paid
out of any funds made available for that purpose by the
Legislature to the department.