SB 460 Text

ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 460
(Senators Laird, Williams, D. Facemire and Fanning, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 10, 2011; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §15-10-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §19-1A-4 of said code; and to amend and reenact §20-7-1 of said code, all relating to clarifying that Division of Forestry natural resources police officers are under the control and direction of the Director of the Division of Forestry; permitting the director to enter into memorandums of understanding with other law-enforcement agencies; and clarifying the duties of the director.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §15-10-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §19-1A-4 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that §20-7-1 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 10. COOPERATION BETWEEN LAW-ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.

§15-10-3. Definitions.
For purposes of this article only, and unless a different meaning plainly is required:
(1) "Criminal justice enforcement personnel" means those persons within the state criminal justice system who are actually employed as members of the State Police, members of the Division of Protective Services, natural resources police officers, chiefs of police and police of incorporated municipalities, and county sheriffs and their deputies, and whose primary duties are the investigation of crime and the apprehension of criminals.
(2) "Head of a law-enforcement agency" means the Superintendent of the State Police, the Director of the Division of Protective Services, the chief natural resources police officer of the Division of Natural Resources, a chief of police of an incorporated municipality, a county sheriff or the Director of the Division of Forestry.
(3) "State or local law-enforcement officer" means any duly authorized member of a law-enforcement agency who is authorized to maintain public peace and order, prevent and detect crime, make arrests and enforce the laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof, other than parking ordinances, and includes persons employed as campus police officers at state institutions of higher education in accordance with the provisions of section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of this code, although those institutions may not be considered law-enforcement agencies. The term includes persons employed as rangers by the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in accordance with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter twenty of this code, although the authority is not a law-enforcement agency.
(4) "Head of campus police" means the superintendent or administrative head of state or local law-enforcement officers employed as campus police officers at state institutions of higher education in accordance with the provisions of section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of this code.
(5) "Head of the rangers of the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority" means the superintendent or administrative head of state or local law-enforcement officers employed as rangers by the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in accordance with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter twenty of this code.

ARTICLE 1A. DIVISION OF FORESTRY.

§19-1A-4. Additional duties of the Director of the Division of Forestry generally.

(a) The director shall:
(1) Develop, promote and advance the growth of the forest products industries of this state;
(2) Cooperate with educational institutions, development agencies, and private and public organizations to promote the expansion of the forest products industries of this state in local and global markets;
(3) Conduct research on marketing and developing forest products and forest products industries; conserving, managing, and utilizing the state's forest land and its multiple uses; and
improving the forestry knowledge and practices of private landowners.
(4) Compile its findings and recommendations, and disseminate the results of its research to the public, the forest products industry, the Governor and the Legislature.
(b) The director has the power to carry out and effectuate the purposes of this article, article one-b of this chapter, and article three of chapter twenty of this code, including the power to:
(1) Accept and use gifts, donations or contributions from individuals, organizations or corporations, and to acquire by gift, lease or purchase real estate.
(2) Establish law enforcement practices and procedures to address the law enforcement requirements of the division; and
(3) To promulgate rules and regulations, subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.

PART I. LAW ENFORCEMENT, PROCEDURES AND PENALTIES.

§20-7-1. Chief natural resources police officer; natural resources police officers; special and emergency natural resources police officers; subsistence allowance; expenses.

(a) The division's law-enforcement policies, practices and programs are under the immediate supervision and direction of the division law-enforcement officer selected by the director and designated as chief natural resources police officer as provided in section thirteen, article one of this chapter.
(b) Under the supervision of the director, the chief natural resources police officer shall organize, develop and maintain law-enforcement practices, means and methods geared, timed and adjustable to seasonal, emergency and other needs and requirements of the division's comprehensive natural resources program. All division personnel detailed and assigned to law-enforcement duties and services under this section shall be known and designated as natural resources police officers and are under the immediate supervision and direction of the chief natural resources police officer except as otherwise provided. All natural resources police officers shall be trained, equipped and conditioned for duty and services wherever and whenever required by division law-enforcement needs.
(c) The chief natural resources police officer, acting under supervision of the director, is authorized to select and appoint emergency natural resources police officers for a limited period for effective enforcement of the provisions of this chapter when considered necessary because of emergency or other unusual circumstances. The emergency natural resources police officers shall be selected from qualified civil service personnel of the division, except in emergency situations and circumstances when the director may designate officers, without regard to civil service requirements and qualifications, to meet law-enforcement needs. Emergency natural resources police officers shall exercise all powers and duties prescribed in section four of this article for full-time salaried natural resources police officers except the provisions of subdivision (8) of said section.
(d) The chief natural resources police officer, acting under supervision of the director, is also authorized to select and appoint as special natural resources police officers any full-time civil service employee who is assigned to, and has direct responsibility for management of, an area owned, leased or under the control of the division and who has satisfactorily completed a course of training established and administered by the chief natural resources police officer, when the action is considered necessary because of law-enforcement needs. The powers and duties of a special natural resources police officer, appointed under this provision, is the same within his or her assigned area as prescribed for full-time salaried natural resources police officers. The jurisdiction of the person appointed as a special natural resources police officer, under this provision, shall be limited to the division area or areas to which he or she is assigned and directly manages.
(e) The Director of the Division of Forestry is authorized to appoint and revoke Division of Forestry special natural resources police officers who are full-time civil service personnel who have satisfactorily completed a course of training as required by the Director of the Division of Forestry. The jurisdiction, powers and duties of Division of Forestry special natural resources police officers are set forth by the Director of the Division of Forestry pursuant to article three of this chapter, and articles one-a and one-b, chapter nineteen of this code.
(f) The chief natural resources police officer, with the approval of the director, has the power and authority to revoke any appointment of an emergency natural resources police officer or of a special natural resources police officer at any time.
(g) Natural resources police officers are subject to seasonal or other assignment and detail to duty whenever and wherever required by the functions, services and needs of the division.
(h) The chief natural resources police officer shall designate the area of primary residence of each natural resources police officer, including himself or herself. Since the area of business activity of the division is actually anywhere within the territorial confines of the State of West Virginia, actual expenses incurred shall be paid whenever the duties are performed outside the area of primary assignment and still within the state.
(i) Natural resources police officers shall receive, in addition to their base pay salary, a minimum monthly subsistence allowance for their required telephone service, dry cleaning or required uniforms, and meal expenses while performing their regular duties in their area of primary assignment in the amount of $130 each month. This subsistence allowance does not apply to special or emergency natural resources police officers appointed under this section.
(j) After June 30, 2010, all those full time law-enforcement officers employed by the Division of Natural Resources as conservation officers shall be titled and known as natural resources police officers. Wherever used in this code the term "conservation officer," or its plural, means "natural resources police officer," or its plural, respectively.
(k) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the provisions of subdivision six, subsection c, section twelve, article twenty-one, chapter eleven of this code are inapplicable to pensions of natural resources police officers paid through the Public Employees Retirement System.

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