Senate Bill No. 344
(By Senator Dittmar, Unger, Mitchell, Snyder, Fanning, Bailey,
Kessler, Hunter and Dawson)
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[Introduced January 31, 2000; referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article seven, chapter twenty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section one-g,
relating to increasing the number of conservation officers by
thirty-six over the next three years; and funding the
increase.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seven, 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 one-g,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTOR BOATING, LITTER.
§20-7-1g. Number of conservation officers increased by thirty-six
over the next three years; funding.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that because of the
vast and diverse terrain and the multitude of wildlife species in
the state and the ever increasing demand upon the time of West
Virginia's conservation officers, that there should be no less than
two conservation officers assigned to each county of the state to
protect these natural resources for future generations. Therefore
the director and chief conservation officer shall increase the
number of conservation officers employed by the division by twelve
additional officers over each of the next three years beginning on
the first day of July, two thousand, for an accumulated total of
thirty-six additional officers.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares that
conservation officers perform many duties outside the realm of
natural resources that benefit the general public and therefore,
these positions shall be funded by the general tax revenues of the
state. Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand, adequate
funds shall be transferred into the accounts of the
law-enforcement section of the division of natural resources to pay salary and benefits and to provide for all necessary equipment and
operating funds for these additional officers.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase, by 36, the
number of conservation officers over the next three years.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.