Senate Bill No. 132
(By Senator Dittmar, Minard, Hunter, Anderson, Dawson, Ross,
Craigo, Bowman, Mitchell, Kessler, Ball and Sharpe)
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[Introduced January 18, 2000; 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 forty-six-b, article two,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to wildlife
resources; and exceptions to having a Class N special deer
hunting license by resident parents of landowner children.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-six-b, article two, 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 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-46b. Class N special deer hunting license.
A Class N license is a special deer hunting license for
antlerless deer of either sex and entitles the licensee to hunt for
and kill antlerless deer of either sex during the Class N license
season. The fee for a Class N license is eight dollars.
The Class N license may be issued only for the purpose of
removing antlerless deer when the director deems determines it
essential for proper management of wildlife resources. The
director shall establish such rules governing the issuance of such
the Class N licenses as he or she deems determines necessary to
limit, on a fair and equitable basis, the number of persons who may
hunt for antlerless deer in any county, or any part of a county.
When the director deems determines it essential that Class N
license season be held in a particular county or part of a county,
that season shall be set by the natural resources commission as
provided for in section seventeen, article one of this chapter.
Bona fide resident landowners or their resident children, or
resident parents, bona fide resident tenants of such land and any
bona fide resident stockholder of resident corporations which are
formed for the primary purpose of hunting or fishing and which are
the fee simple owners of no less than one thousand acres of land
upon which such the antlerless deer may be hunted are not required to have a Class N license in their possession while hunting
antlerless deer on their own land during the Class N license
season.
A Class N license may be issued only to a resident of this
state who holds a valid Class A, Class A-L, Class AB, Class AB-L,
Class X or Class XJ license issued for the current calendar year or
a resident of West Virginia who is not required to obtain a license
or permit to hunt as provided in section twenty-eight, article two
of this chapter, except that this requirement shall not apply to
persons under the age of fifteen. The director shall require proof
of age before issuing a Class N license, and such the license shall
contain a space for recording the number of the valid Class A,
Class A-L, Class AB, Class AB-L, Class X or Class XJ license. If
at any time prior to the Class N deer hunting season the director
determines that there is a surplus of Class N licenses after the
demand such the licenses by residents of this state has been met,
such the surplus licenses may be issued to nonresidents who hold a
valid Class E hunting license. The fee for a Class N license
issued to a nonresident shall be twenty-five dollars.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit resident parents of bona fide landowners to hunt anterless deer on the family land
without a Class N license.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
th present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
On page one, by striking out the title and substituting
therefor a new title, to read as follows:
Eng. Senate Bill No. 132 --A Bill to amend and reenact section
forty-six-b, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to wildlife resources; class N special deer hunting
license; and eliminating requirement that resident parents possess
a license when hunting on the land of resident children.
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FINANCE COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
On page four, section forty-six b, line forty-two, after the
word "demand" by inserting the word "for".