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.