H. B. 2563
(By Delegates Riggs and Love, By Request)
[Introduced March 11, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-a, article two,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to certificate
of training for turkey hunters.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-a, article two, chapter twenty of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-30a. Certificate of training.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, no
hunting license may be issued to any person unless the person
submits to the person authorized to issue hunting licenses
either:
(1) 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 bowand arrows and which course is approved by the Hunter Education
Association;
(2) A certificate of training issued by another state or
Canadian province; or
(3) An affidavit to be included on the license application
form and signed by the person applying for a hunting license,
stating that the person has held a hunting license issued by this
or another state or Canadian province in a prior year. The
provision of this section shall become effective the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety.
(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. 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 certification of training for the purposes of complyingwith 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 of the code 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.
Nothing herein contained shall mandate that any county
school district in the state be responsible for implementing
hunter safety education programs.
(d) By the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-eight, all persons who hunt wild turkey in the spring of
the year in this state shall complete a wild turkey hunting
education course as established by the director: Provided, That
any person who shows proof of completion of a course in springwild turkey hunting education from another state or Canadian
province, or provides a certificate of training as provided for
in subsection (a), shall be exempt from the provisions of this
section.
(e) The wild turkey hunting education course shall be given
at least once per year in each county in this state by
instructors certified by the director. For those people hunting
wild turkeys in the spring of one thousand nine hundred ninety-
eight, and who are not exempt under subsection (d), the director
shall establish the schedule of required training by legislative
rule as provided in chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
(f) Any person violating any provisions of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than three
hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not more than
ten days or both fined and imprisoned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide mandatory
training for all persons participating in spring turkey hunting
in the state and establish a penalty for violators.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.