H. B. 3086
(By Delegates Boggs)
[Introduced March 17, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3B-6, relating to
establishing the criminal misdemeanor offense of trespassing
on railroad property; establishing the criminal misdemeanor
offense of stowaway; setting forth definitions; and
establishing criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3B-6, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3B. TRESPASS.
§61-3B-6. Trespassing on railroad property.
(a) Trespassing on railroad property. - Whoever, without
lawful authority or the railroad carrier's consent, knowingly
enters or remains upon railroad property, by any act including, but
not limited to:
(1) Standing, sitting, resting, walking, running, driving, or operating a recreational or nonrecreational vehicle, including, but
not limited to, a bicycle, motorcycle, all terrain vehicle,
snowmobile, car or truck; or
(2) Engaging in recreational activity, including, but not
limited to, bicycling, hiking, fishing, camping, cross-country
skiing or hunting except for the purpose of crossing such property
at a public highway or other authorized crossing, is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned in jail for not more than
thirty days, or both fined and imprisoned.
(b) Stowaways prohibited. - Whoever, without lawful authority
or the railroad carrier's consent, rides on the outside of a train
or inside a passenger car, locomotive or freight car, including a
boxcar, flatbed or container, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars, or imprisoned in jail not more than six months, or both
fined and imprisoned.
(c) Persons with lawful authority to be on specified railroad
property. - Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to:
(1) Passengers on trains or employees of a railroad carrier
while engaged in the performance of their official duties;
(2) Police officers, firefighters, peace officers and
emergency response personnel while engaged in the performance of
their official duties;
(3) A person going upon railroad property in an emergency to
rescue a person or animal such as livestock, pets or wildlife from harm's way or to remove an object that the person reasonably
believes to pose an imminent threat to life or limb;
(4) A person on the station grounds or in the depot of the
railroad carrier as a passenger, or for the purpose of transacting
lawful business;
(5) A person, or the person's family or invitee, or the
person's employee or independent contractor going upon a railroad's
right-of-way for the purpose of crossing at a private crossing site
approved by the railroad carrier to obtain access to land that the
persons owns, leases or operates;
(6) A person having written permission from the railroad
carrier to go upon the railroad property in question;
(7) Representatives of the public service commission and the
State Department of Transportation while engaged in the performance
of their official duties;
(8) Representatives of the Federal Railroad Administration
while engaged in the performance of their official duties;
(9) Representatives of the National Transportation Safety
Board while engaged in the performance of their official duties; or
(10) Any person or persons engaged in informational picketing:
Provided, That any person engaged in informational picketing may
not be closer than twenty-five feet from the centerline of any
railroad track; or
(11) Collective bargaining representatives of a railroad
employee, employees of a railroad labor organization and
representatives of a fraternal benefit society for a railroad labor organization; or
(12) Any person or persons engaged in a legally authorized
work stoppage or a legally authorized strike: Provided, That any
person engaged in a legally authorized work stoppage or a legally
authorized strike may not be closer than twenty feet from the
centerline of any railroad track.
(d) Definitions. - For purposes of this section:
(1) "Passengers" means persons who are traveling by train with
lawful authority and who do not participate in the train's
operations. The term "passengers" does not include stowaways.
(2) "Railroad" means any form of nonhighway ground
transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic guide ways,
including:
(i) Commuter or other short-haul railroad passenger service in
a metropolitan or suburban area;
(ii) High-speed ground transportation systems that connect
metropolitan areas, but does not include rapid transit operations
in an urban area that are not connected to the general railroad
system of transportation;
(3) "Railroad carrier" means a person providing railroad
transportation;
(4) "Railroad property" means all tangible property owned,
leased, or operated by a railroad carrier including a right-of-way,
track, bridge, yard, shop, station, tunnel, viaduct, trestle,
depot, warehouse, terminal, or any other structure, appurtenance,
or equipment owned, leased, or used in the operation of any railroad carrier including a train, locomotive, engine, railroad
car, work equipment, rolling stock, or safety device. 'Railroad
property' does not include a railroad carrier's administrative
building or offices, office equipment, or intangible property such
as computer software or other information;
(5) "Right-of-way" means the track or roadbed owned, leased,
or operated by a railroad carrier which is located on either side
of its tracks and which is readily recognizable to a reasonable
person as being railroad property or is reasonably identified as
such by fencing or appropriate signs; and
(6) "Yard" means a system of parallel tracks, crossovers, and
switcher where railroad cars are switched and made up into trains,
and where railroad cars, locomotives, and other rolling stock are
kept when not in use or when awaiting repairs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the criminal
misdemeanor offenses of trespassing on railroad property and
stowing away on a railroad car.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.