Senate Bill No. 698
(By Senators Love and Dempsey)
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[Introduced February 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §20-2-30a of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to renewing a hunting license
without the actual certificate of training document.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-2-30a of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-30a. Certificate of training; renewal of license without
certificate of training document; falsifying,
altering, forging, counterfeiting or uttering
training certificate; penalties.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, no
hunting license may be issued to any person who was born on or
after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-five, unless the person submits to the person authorized to issue hunting licenses a certificate of training as provided for in
this section or proof of completion of any course which promotes as
a major objective safety in the handling of firearms and of bow and
arrows and which course is approved by the hunter education
association or the director, or provides a license from the
previous hunting season that displays a certificate of training
identification number verifying that the person has completed the
training requirements under this section to the same issuing agent
from the previous year.
(b) The director shall establish a course in the safe handling
of firearms and of bows and arrows, such as the course approved by
the hunter education association. This course shall be given at
least once per year in each county in this state and shall be
taught by instructors certified by the director. In establishing
and conducting this course, the director may cooperate with any
reputable association or organization which promotes as a major
objective safety in the handling of firearms and of bows and
arrows: Provided,
That any person holding a Class A-L or AB-L
lifetime resident license obtained prior to his or her fifteenth
birthday shall be required to obtain a certificate of training as
provided for in this section before hunting or trapping pursuant to
said license. This course of instruction shall be offered without
charge, except for materials or ammunition consumed. Upon
satisfactory completion of the course, each person instructed in the course shall be issued a certificate of training for the
purposes of complying with the requirements of subsection (a) of
this section. The certificate shall be in the form prescribed by
the director and shall be valid for hunting license application
purposes.
(c) (1) Upon satisfactory completion of this course, any
person whose hunting license has been revoked for a violation of
the provisions of this chapter may petition the director for a
reduction of his revocation time. However, under no circumstances
may the time be reduced to less than one year.
(2) Successful completion of this course shall be required to
consider the reinstatement of a hunting license of any person whose
license has been revoked due to a conviction for negligent shooting
of a human being or of livestock under the provisions of section
fifty-seven of this article or of section eleven, article seven,
chapter sixty-one of this code, and who petitions the director for
an early reinstatement of his hunting privileges. Such a
petitioner shall also comply with the other requirements for
consideration of reinstatement contained in section thirty-eight of
this article.
(d) It is unlawful for any person to falsify, alter, forge,
counterfeit or utter a certificate of training. Any person who
violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or
confined in jail for a period not to exceed one year, or both fined
and imprisoned.
(e) Nothing herein contained shall mandate that any county
school district in the state be responsible for implementing hunter
safety education programs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
allow the renewal of a
hunting license without the actual certificate of training document
when the applicant provides a license from the previous hunting
season to the same issuing agent that shows that the applicant has
completed the training requirements.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.