WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 167
By Senators Blair and Hamilton
[Introduced January 9, 2020;
referred
to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development; and then to the
Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §7-7-6e of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to expanding the Coyote Control Program by providing for an assessment on breeding cows; providing an option for owners of breeding cows not to participate in the program; requiring notice; and setting forth a purpose.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 7. COMPENSATION OF ELECTED COUNTY OFFICIALS.
§7-7-6e. Collection
of head tax on sheep and goats; duties of county assessors and Commissioner of
Agriculture; deposit of tax collections; creation of special revenue fund;
purposes Coyote Control Program; purpose; assessment on breeding age
sheep, goats, and cows; participation; notice.
(a) Coyotes are a continuing threat to owners of livestock throughout West Virginia. The best course of action, as recognized by professional wildlife biologists, has been the depopulation of potential or offending individual animals and family units on farms where they present problems to livestock. The West Virginia Integrated Predation Management Program, created in 1996 collaboratively with USDA Wildlife Services, was instrumental in reversing the decline in the goat and sheep industry within the state. With coyotes now occupying every county in the state, it is necessary to expand the Coyote Control Program statewide to include breeding age cows.
After June 30, 2005, it shall be the duty of (b) In
order to fund our ability to better protect the state’s livestock the county assessor and his or her deputies of each
county within the state, at the time they are making assessments of the
personal property within such county, to shall assess and collect
an assessment of $1 on all breeding age sheep, and $1 on all breeding
age goats, and $1 on all breeding age
cows: Provided, That payment of the assessment on breeding age cows is
voluntary at the option of the cow owner: Provided, however, That a cow
owner who chooses not to pay the assessment is not eligible to participate in
the Coyote Control Program.
(c) The assessor collecting the assessment on breeding
age sheep and goats shall be allowed a commission of 10 percent upon all such
taxes moneys collected and shall send the Commissioner of
Agriculture 90 percent of such taxes so the assessment collected,
who shall deposit the same in a special account in the State Treasury to be
known as the “Integrated Predation Management Fund.” Expenditures from the fund
shall be for the purposes set forth in this section and are not authorized from
collections but are to be made only in accordance with appropriation by the
Legislature and in accordance with the provisions set forth in §12-3-1 et seq. of this code and upon the
fulfillment of the provisions set forth in §11B-2-1 et seq. of this
code. Provided, That for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006,
expenditures are authorized from collections rather than pursuant to an
appropriation by the Legislature.
(d) The money in the fund shall be used by the commissioner solely to enter into a cooperative service agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Wildlife Services (WS) to expand the Coyote Control Program statewide.
Any person who does not
pay this assessment is not eligible for the services provided by this
cooperative agreement.
(e) Within 30 days of a cow owner’s election to participate in the Coyote Control Program, and prior to the placement of any control method on the land, the participating cow owner must provide written notice of his or her participation in the program to:
(1) Any landowner from whom the cow owner leases property to graze cattle and whose property may be affected by the cow owner’s participation in the program, and
(2) Any landowner of property adjacent to the property on which the Coyote Control Program will be implemented.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a property owner may, upon written notice to any applicable lessee, withhold his or her consent from participation in the Coyote Control Program, and no device for this purpose shall be placed upon his or her property.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand the Coyote Control Program by providing for an assessment on breeding cows. The bill provides an option for owners of breeding cows not to participate in the program. The bill requires notice and sets forth a purpose.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.