Introduced Version
Senate Bill 564 History
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Senate Bill No. 564
(By Senators Yoder, Barnes, Unger and McCabe)
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[Introduced February 14, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to establish a volunteer litter reporting pilot project in
Berkeley County.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
BERKELEY COUNTY LITTER CONTROL PILOT PROJECT.
§1. Berkeley County litter control and reporting pilot project.
The Berkeley County litter control pilot project is hereby
created and shall be supported, implemented and overseen by the
Berkeley County Commission. The pilot project is intended to:
(1) Coordinate all industry and business organizations
seeking to aid in the litter control and recycling effort in
Berkeley County;
(2) Cooperate with all municipal governments in Berkeley
County to accomplish coordination of local litter control and
recycling efforts;
(3) Encourage, organize, coordinate and increase public awareness in Berkeley County of and participation in all
voluntary litter control and recycling campaigns, including
citizen litter watch programs, seeking to focus the attention of
the public on the litter control and recycling programs of
Berkeley County, including all municipal governments and private
recycling centers in Berkeley County;
(4) Encourage, organize, coordinate and increase public
awareness of, and participation in, a volunteer litter reporting
program county-wide. The county commission shall appoint a
director who shall assist the county commission and the county
sheriff in establishing the program, which shall utilize trained
volunteers to report and collect information necessary to enable
the county sheriff to issue citations to persons violating the
litter laws of this state. The scope of duty of a volunteer
participating in the litter reporting program may include:
Reporting the motor vehicle registration plate number, the date,
time and location of a person observed littering; collecting
other evidence as may be requested by the county sheriff,
including taking photographs of a litter site; providing
testimony in court proceedings as to litter violations observed
or evidence collected by the volunteer; and providing other
assistance in litter enforcement as may be requested by the
county sheriff, except that in no event may a volunteer
participate in the direct apprehension or arrest of a litter violator. The county sheriff, may seek the assistance of the
law-enforcement section of the Department of Environmental
Protection, to provide a training course for volunteers to
instruct them in proper reporting procedures and the collection
of evidence, and may provide reporting forms for volunteers to
record their observations of litter violations. Upon completion
of the course and approval from the county sheriff, a volunteer
may begin participation in the program. Volunteers participating
in the program are responsible for providing their own vehicles,
gasoline, cameras, cell phones, insurance and other items they
may use while participating in the program, and are responsible
for other incidental expenses they may incur in the course of
participating in the program, except as otherwise provided in
this section. The Berkeley County Commission may cause
appropriate signs to be placed along primary and secondary
highways in Berkeley County to inform motorists of the volunteer
litter reporting program;
(5) Recommend to municipal governing bodies in Berkeley
County that they adopt litter control ordinances similar to the
provisions of section twenty-six, article seven, chapter twenty
of the West Virginia Code;
(6) Investigate the methods and success of techniques of
litter control, removal and disposal utilized in other states,
and develop, encourage, organize and coordinate county-wide litter control programs funded by grants awarded pursuant to
subsection (b) of this section utilizing such successful
techniques;
(7) Investigate the availability of, and apply for, funds
available from any and all private or public sources to be used
in the litter control pilot project created by this section;
(8) Establish criteria for the awarding of direct and/or
matching grants for the study of available research and
development in the fields of litter control, removal and
disposal, methods for the implementation of such research and
development, and the development of public educational programs
concerning litter control in Berkeley County;
(9) Designate public areas in Berkeley County where litter
receptacles shall be placed and specify within the minimum number
of litter receptacles required to be placed at each designated
public area;
(10) Attract to Berkeley County persons or industries that
purchase, process or use recyclable materials; and
(11) Contract for the development, production and broadcast
of radio and television messages promoting the Berkeley County
litter control pilot project. The messages should increase
public awareness of and promote citizen responsibility toward the
reduction of litter in Berkeley County.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a volunteer
litter reporting pilot project in Berkeley County.