WEST virginia Legislature

2018 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 112

By Senators Trump and Boso

[Introduced January 10, 2018; Referred
to the Committee on Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Pensions]

A BILL to amend and reenact §20-7-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to natural resources police officers; finding that the administrative and law-enforcement activities of the natural resources police officers are important to the state’s conservation of fish and wildlife; and clarifying that the subsistence allowance is pensionable.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 7.  Law-enforcement, motorboating, litter.

§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 §20-1-13 of this code.

(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. The chief natural resources police officer may also assign natural resources police officers to perform law-enforcement duties on any trail, grounds, appurtenant facility, or other areas accessible to the public within the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Area, under agreement that the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority, created pursuant to article fourteen of this chapter, shall reimburse the division for salaries paid to the officers and shall either pay directly or reimburse the division for all other expenses of the officers in accordance with actual or estimated costs determined by the chief natural resources police officer.

(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 §20-7-4 of this code for full-time salaried natural resources police officers except the provisions of §20-7-4(b)(8) of this code.

(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 §17-3-1 et seq., §19-1A-1 et seq., and §19-1B-1 et seq. 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 biweekly 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 $60 per biweekly pay, which shall be considered pensionable compensation as that term is defined in §5-10-2 of this code. 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 §11‑21‑12(c)(6) of this code are inapplicable to pensions of natural resources police officers paid through the Public Employees Retirement System.

(l) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the administrative and law-enforcement activities of the division’s natural resources police officers are a vital and integral part of fish and wildlife conservation in the state. More specifically, the Legislature finds that these activities directly affect and enhance the conservation and management of the state’s fish and wildlife and the administration of the laws pertaining to that conservation and management.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to find that the administrative and law-enforcement activities of the natural resources police officers are important to the state’s conservation of fish and wildlife. The bill clarifies that the subsistence allowance is pensionable.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.