COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 49
(By Senator Deem)
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[Originating in the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure; reported March 25, 2009.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17-24A-1 and §17-24A-2 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to abandoned
motor vehicles; clarifying certain definitions; making it a
misdemeanor offense to abandon a motor vehicle which is
unlicensed or inoperable, or both, upon any private property
for a period of more than thirty days unless the vehicle is in
an enclosed building or is obscured from view; setting forth
certain exceptions; and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17-24A-1 and §17-24A-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 24A. DISPOSAL OF ABANDONED MOTOR VEHICLES, JUNKED MOTOR
VEHICLES, AND ABANDONED OR INOPERABLE HOUSEHOLD
APPLIANCES.
§17-24A-1. Definitions.
Unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Division of
Highways or his or her designee.
(2) "Abandoned household appliance" means a refrigerator,
freezer, range, stove, automatic dishwasher, clothes washer,
clothes dryer, trash compactor, television set, radio, air
conditioning unit, commode, bed springs, mattress or other
furniture, fixtures or appliances to which no person claims
ownership and which is not in an enclosed building
or not obscured
from view, or is not in a licensed salvage yard or the actual
possession of a demolisher.
(3) "Abandon a motor vehicle" or "abandons a motor vehicle"
means to place, locate or leave an unlicensed or inoperable motor
vehicle or major part thereof in a place not enclosed by a building
or not obscured from view, by an owner who is entitled to the
possession thereof.
(3) (4) "Abandoned motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle, or
major part thereof, which is
inoperative inoperable and
which has
been abandoned on public property for any period of time over five
days, other than in an enclosed building or in a licensed salvage
yard or at the business establishment of a demolisher; or any motor
vehicle, or major part thereof, which has remained on private
property without consent of the owner or person in control of the
property for any period of time over five days;
or any motor
vehicle, or major part thereof, which is either unlicensed or
inoperable, or both, is not in an enclosed building or not obscured from view and which has remained on private property for more than
thirty days; or any motor vehicle, or major part thereof, which is
unattended, discarded, deserted and unlicensed and is not in an
enclosed building
or not obscured from view or is not in a licensed
salvage yard or the actual possession of a demolisher.
Provided,
That However, a motor vehicle, or major part thereof, shall not be
considered an abandoned motor vehicle if: (a) The owner of the
motor vehicle is storing the motor vehicle on the owner's property
,
including a motor vehicle which is considered an antique motor
vehicle under the definition provided by section three-a, article
ten, chapter seventeen-a of this code; (b) the motor vehicle is
being stored for the purpose of using its parts on other motor
vehicles owned by the owner; (c) the owner owns other motor
vehicles similar to the motor vehicle being stored;
and or (d) the
owner is a business licensed to do business in the State of West
Virginia and not in the primary business of offering motor vehicles
or parts thereof for sale.
(4) (5) "Demolisher" means any person licensed by the
Commissioner of the Division of Highways whose business, to any
extent or degree, is to convert a motor vehicle or any part thereof
or an
inoperative inoperable household appliance into processed
scrap or scrap metal or into saleable parts or otherwise to wreck
or dismantle vehicles or appliances.
(5) (6) "Enclosed building" means a structure surrounded by
walls or one continuous wall and having a roof enclosing the entire
structure and includes a permanent appendage thereto.
(6) (7) "Enforcement Agency" means any of the following or any
combination of the following:
(a) Public law-enforcement officers of this state, including
conservation officers;
(b) Public law-enforcement officers of any county, city or
town within this state; and
(c) The Commissioner of the Division of Highways, his or her
duly authorized agents and employees.
(7) (8) "
Inoperative Inoperable household appliance" means a
refrigerator, freezer, range, stove, automatic dishwasher, clothes
washer, clothes dryer, trash compactor, television set, radio, air
conditioning unit, commode, bed springs, mattress or other
furniture, fixture or appliance which by reason of mechanical or
physical defects can no longer be used for its intended purpose and
which is either not serving a functional purpose or use or is not
in an enclosed building, a licensed salvage yard or the actual
possession of a demolisher.
(8) (9) "Junked motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle, or any
part thereof which: (a) Is discarded, wrecked, ruined, scrapped or
dismantled; (b) cannot pass the state inspection required by
article sixteen, chapter seventeen-c of this code; and (c) is
either not serving a functional purpose or use or is not in an
enclosed building, a licensed salvage yard or the actual possession
of a demolisher.
Provided, That However, a motor vehicle, or major
part thereof, shall not be considered a junked motor vehicle if:
(a) The owner of the motor vehicle is storing the motor vehicle on the owner's property; (b) the motor vehicle is being stored for the
purpose of using its parts on other motor vehicles owned by the
owner; (c) the owner owns other motor vehicles similar to the motor
vehicle being stored;
and or (d) the owner is a business licensed
to do business in the State of West Virginia and not in the primary
business of offering motor vehicles or parts thereof for sale.
(9) (10) "Licensed salvage yard" means a salvage yard licensed
under article twenty-three of this chapter.
(10) (11) "Motor vehicle" means a vehicle which is or was
self-propelled, including, but not limited to, automobiles, trucks,
buses and motorcycles.
(11) "Person" means a natural person, corporation, firm,
partnership, association or society and the plural as well as the
singular.
(12) "Obscured from view" means effectively blocking or
screening the ability to see an otherwise abandoned household
appliance or motor vehicle, from adjacent or other nearby real
property, by placing the otherwise abandoned household appliance or
motor vehicle behind natural objects, plantings, fences or other
appropriate visual barriers or screens.
§17-24A-2. Abandonment of motor vehicle prohibited; inoperable
household appliances prohibited in certain places;
penalty.
(a) No person shall, within this state, abandon a motor
vehicle or major part thereof
as defined in section one of this article upon the right-of-way of any public highway, upon any other
public property or upon any private property,
without the consent
of the owner or person in control of the property, or upon property
owned or controlled by that person unless it
be is at a licensed
salvage yard or at the business establishment of a demolisher or a
business licensed to do business in the State of West Virginia and
not in the primary business of offering motor vehicles or parts
thereof for sale. Any person who violates any provision of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be sentenced and fined as set forth below.
(b) No person shall, within this state, place or abandon any
inoperative inoperable household appliance upon the right-of-way of
any public highway or upon any other public property; nor shall any
person, within this state, place or abandon any
inoperative
inoperable household appliance upon any private property unless it
be at a licensed salvage yard, solid waste facility, other business
authorized to accept such solid waste or at the business
establishment of a demolisher. Any person who violates any
provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced and fined as set forth
below.
(c) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle,
or
inoperative inoperable household appliance does not exceed one
hundred pounds in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size is
subject to a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000 or, in the discretion of the court, sentenced to perform community service
by cleaning up litter from any public highway, road, street, alley
or any other public park or public property or waters of the state,
as designated by the court, for not less than eight nor more than
sixteen hours, or both.
(d) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle
or
inoperative inoperable household appliance is greater than one
hundred pounds in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size, but
less than 500 pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet,
is subject to a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 or,
in the discretion of the court, may be sentenced to perform
community service by cleaning up litter from any public highway,
road, street, alley or any other public park or public property or
waters of the state, as designated by the court, for not less than
sixteen nor more than thirty-two hours, or both.
(e) Any person who is guilty of a misdemeanor as described in
this section and the abandoned motor vehicle, junked motor vehicle
or
inoperative inoperable household appliance is greater than five
hundred pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet in size
is subject to a fine not less than $2,500 or not more than $25,000
or confinement in
a county or regional jail for not more than one
year, or both. In addition, the violator may be guilty of creating
or contributing to an open dump as defined in section two, article
fifteen, chapter twenty-two and subject to the enforcement
provisions of section fifteen of said article.
(f) Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation
of this section is subject to double the authorized range of fines
and community service for the subsection violated.
(g) The sentence of litter cleanup shall be verified by
conservation officers from the Division of Natural Resources or
environmental inspectors from the
Division Department of
Environmental Protection. Any defendant receiving the sentence of
litter cleanup shall provide within a time to be set by the court
written acknowledgment from a conservation officer or environmental
inspector that the sentence has been completed and the litter has
been disposed of lawfully.
(h) Any person who has been found by the court to have
willfully failed to comply with the terms of a litter cleanup
sentence imposed by the court pursuant to this section is subject
to, at the discretion of the court, double the amount of the
original fines and community service penalties.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make it a misdemeanor
offense to abandon a motor vehicle which is unlicensed or
inoperable or both, upon any private property for a period of more
than thirty days, unless the vehicle is in an enclosed building or
is obscured from view, with certain exceptions.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.