H. B. 2876
(By Delegates Campbell, Laird,
Mahan, Willis and Kelley)
[Introduced February 23, 1999; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-six, article seven,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the crime
of littering; and providing for additional penalties,
including the assessment of points against an individual's
driver's license and mandatory pick up of litter.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-six, article seven, 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 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.
PART III. WEST VIRGINIA LITTER CONTROL PROGRAM.
§20-7-26. Unlawful disposal of litter; civil and criminal
penalties; litter control fund; evidence; notice of
violations; litter receptacle placement; penalties; duty to enforce violations.
(a) (1) Any person who places, deposits, dumps or throws or
causes to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown any litter as
defined in section twenty-four of this article, in or upon any
public or private highway, road, street or alley, or upon any
private property without the consent of the owner, or in or upon
any public park or other public property other than in such a
place as may be set aside for such that purpose by the governing
body having charge thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
his or her first conviction, shall be fined not less than fifty
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars: Provided, That a
person shall not be held is not responsible for the actions of
animals under their direct control. At the request of the
defendant or in the discretion of the court, the Additionally,
the court may shall sentence the defendant to pick up and remove
from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public
park or public property as designated by the court, any and all
litter, garbage, refuse, trash, cans, bottles, papers, ashes,
carcass of any dead animal or any part thereof, offal or any
other offensive or unsightly matter placed, deposited, dumped or
thrown contrary to the provisions of this section by anyone.
prior to the date of such conviction For the first offense, the
alternative sentence of litter pickup shall be is not less than
eight hours nor more than sixteen hours in lieu of other such fine. For purposes of this subdivision, the term "court"
includes circuit, magistrate and municipal courts.
(2) Upon his or her second conviction, such the person shall
must be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more
than one thousand dollars and imprisoned in the county or
regional jail not less than twenty-four hours nor more than six
months: Provided, That a person shall may not be held
responsible for the actions of animals under their direct
control. At the request of the defendant or in the discretion of
the court, the court may Additionally, the court must sentence
the defendant to pick up and remove from any public highway,
road, street, alley or any other public park or public property
as designated by the court, any and all litter, garbage, refuse,
trash, cans, bottles, papers, ashes, carcass of any dead animal
or any part thereof of a dead animal, offal or any other
offensive or unsightly matter placed, deposited, dumped or thrown
contrary to the provisions of this section by anyone. prior to
the date of such conviction For the second offense, the
alternative sentence of litter pickup shall be is not less than
sixteen hours nor more than thirty-two hours. in lieu of such
fine or incarceration, but not both For purposes of this
subdivision, the term "court" shall include includes circuit and
magistrate courts.
(3) Upon such a person's third and successive conviction, he or she shall must be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor
more than two thousand dollars and imprisoned in the county or
regional jail not less than forty-eight hours nor more than one
year: Provided, That a person shall not be held is not
responsible for the actions of animals under their direct
control. At the request of the defendant or in the discretion of
the court, the court may. Additionally, the court must sentence
the defendant to pick up and remove from any public highway,
road, street, alley or any other public park or public property
as designated by the court, any and all litter, garbage, refuse,
trash, cans, bottles, papers, ashes, carcass of any dead animal
or any part thereof of a dead animal, offal or any other
offensive or unsightly matter placed, deposited, dumped or thrown
contrary to the provisions of this section by anyone prior to the
date of such the conviction. Upon a third conviction, the
alternative sentence of litter pickup shall be is not less than
thirty-two hours nor more than sixty-four hours. in lieu of such
fine or incarceration, but not both For purposes of this
subdivision, the term "court" includes circuit and magistrate
courts.
(4) The alternative sentence of litter pickup herein set
forth shall must be verified by the conservation officers from
the division of natural resources or environmental inspectors
from the division of environmental protection or a regional engineering technician from the division of environmental
protection pollution prevention and open dumps program (PPOD) of
the county in which the offense occurred. Any defendant
receiving the herein specified alternative sentence of litter
pickup shall must provide within a time to be set by the court
written acknowledgment from said the conservation officers or
environmental officers that the sentence has been completed.
(5) Any person who has been found by the court to have
willfully failed to comply with the terms of an alternative any
sentence imposed by the court pursuant to this section is subject
at the discretion of the court to up to twice the original
penalty provisions available to the court at the time of
conviction.
(6) If any litter is thrown or cast from a motor vehicle or
boat, such that action is prima facie evidence that the driver of
such the motor vehicle or boat intended to violate the provisions
of this section. If any litter is dumped or discharged from a
motor vehicle or boat, such that action is prima facie evidence
that the owner and driver of such the motor vehicle or boat
intended to violate the provisions of this section.
(b) Any litter found on any public or private property with
any indication of ownership on it will be is evidence creating a
rebuttable inference it was deposited improperly by the person
whose identity is indicated, and any person who improperly disposes of litter is subject to either a civil fine of up to
five hundred dollars for such the litter or required to pay the
costs of removal of such litter if the removal of such the litter
is required to be done by the division, at the discretion of the
director. All such fines and costs shall must be deposited to
the litter control fund: Provided, That no inference shall may
be drawn solely from the presence of any logo, trademark, trade
name or other similar mass reproduced identifying character
appearing on litter found.
(c) Every person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to
disposing of litter in violation of subsection (a) of this
section shall must pay the sum of not less than fifty dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars as costs for clean-up,
investigation and prosecution in such the case, in addition to
any other court costs that the court is otherwise required by law
to impose upon such the convicted person.
The clerk of the circuit court, magistrate court or
municipal court wherein such in which additional costs are
imposed shall must, on or before the last day of each month,
transmit all such costs received under this subsection to the
state treasurer for deposit in the state treasury to the credit
of a special revenue fund to be known as the litter control fund
which is hereby continued. Expenditures for purposes set forth
in this section are not authorized from collections but are to be made only in accordance with appropriation and in accordance with
the provisions of article three, chapter twelve of this code and
upon fulfillment of the provisions set forth in article two,
chapter five-a of this code. Provided, That for the fiscal year
ending the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three, expenditures shall be authorized from collections
Amounts collected which are found from time to time to exceed the
funds needed for the purposes set forth in this article may be
transferred to other accounts or funds and redesignated for other
purposes by appropriation of the Legislature.
(d) (1) The commissioner of the division of motor vehicles,
upon registering a motor vehicle or issuing an operator's or
chauffeur's license, shall must issue to the owner or licensee,
as the case may be, a copy summary of subsection (a) of this
section which must include the elements of the offenses of first,
second and third offense littering and the possible penalties.
(2) The commissioner of the division of highways shall must
cause appropriate signs to be placed at the state boundary on
each primary and secondary road, and at other locations
throughout the state, informing those entering the state of the
maximum penalty provided for disposing of litter in violation of
subsection (a) of this section.
(e) Any state agency or political subdivision that owns,
operates or otherwise controls any public area as may be designated by the director by rule promulgated pursuant to
subdivision (8), subsection (a), section twenty-five of this
article, shall must procure and place litter receptacles at its
own expense upon its premises and shall must remove and dispose
of litter collected in such litter receptacles. After receiving
two written warnings from any law-enforcement officer or officers
to comply with this subsection or the said rules of the director,
any person who fails to place and maintain such litter
receptacles upon his or her premises in violation of this
subsection or the rules of the director shall be fined fifteen
dollars per day of such this violation.
(f) No portion of this section shall may be construed to
restrict a private owner in the use of the owner's own private
property in any manner otherwise authorized by law.
(g) Any law-enforcement officer who shall observe observes
a person violating the provisions of this section has a mandatory
duty to must arrest or otherwise prosecute the violator to the
limits provided herein in this section. The West Virginia
division of highways shall must investigate and cause to be
prosecuted violations of this section occurring upon the highways
of the state as the term "highways" is defined in chapter
seventeen of this code.
(h) The division of motor vehicles must propose a
legislative rule for promulgation pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for the purpose of assigning
a point value for violation of the provisions of subsection (a)
of this section in the same manner as points are assigned for
other motor vehicle violations. The point value so assigned must
be assessed against the driver's license of any person convicted
of a violation of subsection (a) of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require rules to be
proposed for promulgation to establish littering as one of the
crimes for which points are assessed against an individual's
driver's license upon conviction and to include litter pick up as
a mandatory part of a sentence upon conviction for the crime of
littering.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.