Senate Bill No. 282
(By Senators Anderson, Bowman, Sharpe, Miller, Ross, Love,
Buckalew, Yoder, Helmick, Blatnik, Bailey, Manchin, Kimble,
Schoonover, Dugan, Craigo, Plymale, Scott, Oliverio, Walker,
Dittmar, Deem, Wiedebusch, Wagner, Whitlow, White and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 8, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article seven, chapter
twenty-four-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
qualification of employees of the public service commission
as special law-enforcement officers; and the carrying of
firearms in the course of their duties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article seven, chapter twenty-four-a of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. COMPLAINTS, DAMAGES AND VIOLATIONS.
§24A-7-6. Duty of prosecuting attorneys and law-enforcement
officers to enforce chapter; qualifications of
commission employees designated as law-enforcement
officers.
It shall be the duty of the
department division of public safety and the sheriffs of the counties in West Virginia to make
arrests and the duty of the prosecuting attorneys of the several
counties to prosecute all violations of this chapter
and other
chapters pertaining to the regulatory authority of the
commission, and the commission employees designated by it as
inspectors motor carrier inspectors shall have all the lawful
powers of
peace law-enforcement officers to enforce this chapter
and other chapters pertaining to the regulatory authority of the
commission in any county or city of this state.
If, in the
course of enforcing the provisions of this chapter, a commission
employee designated by it as an inspector shall have reasonable
cause to believe that a driver has been operating a vehicle
regulated by this chapter in violation of section two, article
five, chapter seventeen-c of this code or section fourteen,
article one, chapter seventeen-e of this code, the inspector may
detain the driver until a member of the division of public
safety, a sheriff or deputy sheriff, or a member of a municipal
law-enforcement agency is summoned to investigate the suspected
violation and determine whether the person should be arrested and
a secondary test of blood, breath or urine should be
administered. Notwithstanding the provisions of section one, et
seq., article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code, such
law-enforcement officers are qualified to carry firearms in the
course of their duties after meeting specialized qualifications
to be established by the governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify and establish
the enforcement powers and qualifications of public service
commission employees. The bill would authorize the governor's
committee on crime, delinquency and corrections to establish
specialized qualifications for carrying firearms by motor carrier
inspectors who enforce the commission's authority.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.