SB 24 Text

Senate Bill No. 24
(By Senator Yoder)
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[Introduced January 10, 2007; 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.

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