H. B. 2782
(By Delegate Kominar)
[Introduced March 27, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter twenty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-e,
relating to holding local option election to approve or
disapprove extending the period covered by a hunting license
to seven days a week.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter twenty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
five-e, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-5d. Local option election; petition; election procedure; form of ballot; effect of such election.
The county commission of any county is hereby authorized to
call a local option election for the purpose of determining the
will of the voters as to whether the provisions of section five
of this article prohibiting hunting on Sunday shall continue in
effect in that county.
A petition for such local option election shall be in the
form hereinafter specified and shall be signed by qualified
voters residing within the county equal to at least ten percent
of the persons qualified to vote within the county at the last
general election. The petition may be in any number of
counterparts and shall be sufficient if substantially in the
following form:
PETITION ON LOCAL OPTION ELECTION
RESPECTING HUNTING
ON SUNDAY IN ............,
COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Each of the undersigned certifies that he or she is a person
residing in ............. County, West Virginia, and is duly
qualified to vote in that county under the laws of the state, and
that his or her name, address and the date of signing this
petition are correctly set forth below.
The undersigned petition the county commission to call and
hold a local option election upon the following question:
Shall the provisions of section 5, article 2, chapter 20 of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, prohibiting Sunday hunting continue in effect in
........... County, West Virginia?
Name Address Date
......................................................
.......................................................
(Each person signing must specify either his or her post-office
address or his or her street number.)
Upon the filing of a petition for a local option election in
accordance with the provisions of this section, the county
commission shall enter an order calling a local option election
and providing that the same shall be held at the same time and as
a part of the next primary or general election to be held in the
county. The county commission shall give notice of the local
option election by publication thereof as a Class II-O legal
advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for the
publication shall be the county. The notice shall be so
published within fourteen consecutive days next preceding said
election.
Each person qualified to vote in the county at the primary
or general election shall likewise be qualified to vote at the
local option election. The election officers appointed and qualified to serve as such at the primary or general election
shall conduct the local option election in connection with and as
a part of the primary or general election. The ballots in the
local option election shall be counted and returns made by the
election officers and the results certified by the commissioners
of election to the county commission which shall canvass the
ballots, all in accordance with the laws of the state of West
Virginia relating to primary and general elections insofar as the
same are applicable. The county commission shall, without delay,
canvass the ballots cast at the local option election and certify
the result thereof.
The ballot to be used in the local option election shall have
printed thereon substantially the following:
"Shall the Prohibition to Sunday Hunting Law continue in
effect in ........ County of West Virginia?
/ / Yes / / No
(Place a cross mark in the square opposite your choice.)"
If a majority of the voters voting at any such local option
election vote no on the foregoing question, the provisions of
section five, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, shall
no longer continue in effect in that county.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide local option
elections to approve or disapprove extending the open firearms
hunting season to seven days a week.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.