H. B.4073
(By Delegate Douglas, Jenkins,
Mahan, Trump and Wills)
[Introduced
January 18, 2000; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article nine-a, chapter
sixteen and section twenty-two, article three, chapter sixty
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, all relating to mandatory carding
for certain sales of tobacco products and non-intoxicating
beer by requiring the presentation of a drivers license or
other documentary evidence of age by the buyer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article nine-a, chapter sixteen and
section twenty-two, article three, chapter sixty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. TOBACCO USAGE RESTRICTIONS
§16-9A-2. Sale or gift of cigarette, cigarette paper, pipe,
cigar, snuff, or chewing tobacco to persons under
eighteen; penalty.
No person or business entity may sell, give or furnish, or
cause to be sold, given or furnished, to (1) any person under the
age of eighteen years, or (2) any person who has not, at the time
of the sale, presented to the seller a drivers license or other
documentary evidence of the person's age:
(a) Any cigarette, cigarette paper or any other paper
prepared, manufactured or made for the purpose of smoking any
tobacco or tobacco product; or
(b) Any cigar, pipe, snuff, chewing tobacco or tobacco
product, in any form.
Any firm or corporation which violates any of the provisions
of subdivision (a) or (b) of this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined
twenty-five dollars for the first offense. Upon any subsequent
violation by that firm or corporation at the same location or
operating unit, the firm or corporation shall be fined as
follows: At least fifty dollars but not more than one hundred
dollars for the second offense, if it occurs within two years of
the first conviction; at least fifty dollars but not more than
two hundred dollars for the third offense, if it occurs within
two years of the first conviction; at least one hundred dollars
but not more than three hundred dollars for the fourth offense,
if it occurs within five years of the first conviction; and at
least one hundred dollars but not more than three hundred fifty
dollars for the fifth and any subsequent offenses, if the fifth or subsequent offense occurs within five years of the first
conviction. Any person who violates any provision of subdivision
(a) or (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than ten nor more
than twenty-five dollars.
ARTICLE 3. SALES BY COMMISSIONER
§60-3-22. Sales to certain persons prohibited.
(a) Alcoholic liquors and nonintoxicating beer as defined in
section three, article sixteen, chapter eleven of this code shall
not be sold to a person who is:
(1) Less than twenty-one years of age;
(2) An habitual drunkard;
(3) Intoxicated;
(4) Addicted to the use of any controlled substance as
defined by any of the provisions of chapter sixty-a of this code;
or
(5) Mentally incompetent.
(b) Any retailer holding a class B license under section
nine, article sixteen, chapter eleven of this code shall not sell
non-intoxicating beer to any person who has not, at the time of
the sale, presented to the seller a drivers license or other
documentary evidence of the person's age.
(b)(c) It shall be a defense to a violation of subdivision
(1), subsection (a) of this section if the seller shows that the
purchaser:
(1) Produced written evidence which showed his or her age to
be at least the required age for purchase and which bore a
physical description of the person named on the writing which
reasonably described the purchaser; or
(2) Produced evidence of other facts that reasonably
indicated at the time of sale that the purchaser was at least the
required age.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require all buyers of
tobacco products and all buyers of non-intoxicating beer from
class B retailers to present evidence of age to the seller at the
time of the sale to facilitate enforcement of age restrictions on
these sales.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.