Senate Bill No. 376
(By Senators Bailey, Minard, Chernenko, Burdette,
Mr. President, Boley, Craigo, Helmick, Chafin, Ross,
Humphreys, Felton, Wagner, Yoder, Walker, Plymale,
Brackenrich, Whitlow, Dittmar, Anderson, Tomblin, Wehrle,
Sharpe, Withers, Manchin, Wiedebusch, Wooton, Dalton and Jones)
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[Introduced March 16, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article two, chapter
fifteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section four, article six, chapter eighteen of said code,
all relating to transferring the responsibility of
administering tests for driver's license to drivers'
education teachers instead of members of the division of
public safety.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article two, chapter fifteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section four, article
six, chapter eighteen of said code be amended and reenacted, allto read as follows:
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY.
ARTICLE 2. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY.
§15-2-12. Mission of the division; powers of superintendent,
officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia division of public safety shall have
the mission of statewide enforcement of criminal and traffic
laws with emphasis on providing basic enforcement and citizen
protection from criminal depredation throughout the state and
maintaining the safety of the state's public streets, roads and
highways.
(b) The superintendent and each of the officers and members
of the division are hereby empowered:
(1) To make arrests anywhere within the state of any persons
charged with the violation of any law of this state, or of the
United States, and when a witness to the perpetration of any
offense or crime, or to the violation of any law of this state,
or of the United States, may arrest without warrant; to arrest
and detain any persons suspected of the commission of any felony
or misdemeanor whenever complaint is made and warrant is issued
thereon for such arrest, and any person so arrested shall be
forthwith brought before the proper tribunal for examination and
trial in the county where the offense for which any such arrest
has been made was committed;
(2) To serve criminal process issued by any court or
magistrate anywhere within this state (they shall not serve civilprocess); and
(3) To cooperate with local authorities in detecting crime
and in apprehending any person or persons engaged in or suspected
of the commission of any crime, misdemeanor or offense against
the law of this state, or of the United States, or of any
ordinance of any municipality in this state; and to take
affidavits in connection with any application to the division of
highways, division of motor vehicles and division of public
safety of West Virginia for any license, permit or certificate
that may be lawfully issued by these divisions of state
government.
(c) Members of the division of public safety are hereby
created forest patrolmen and game and fish wardens throughout the
state to do and perform any duties and exercise any powers of
such officers, and may apprehend and bring before any court or
magistrate having jurisdiction of such matters, anyone violating
any of the provisions of chapters twenty, sixty and sixty-one of
this code, and the division of public safety shall at any time be
subject to the call of the West Virginia alcohol beverage control
commissioner to aid in apprehending any person violating any of
the provisions of chapter sixty of this code. They shall serve
and execute warrants for the arrest of any person and warrants
for the search of any premises issued by any properly constituted
authority, and shall exercise all of the powers conferred by law
upon a sheriff. They shall not serve any civil process or
exercise any of the powers of such officer in civil matters.
(d) Any member of the division of public safety knowing or
having reason to believe that anyone has violated the law may
make complaint in writing before any court or officer having
jurisdiction and procure a warrant for such offender, execute
the same and bring such person before the proper tribunal having
jurisdiction. He shall make return on all such warrants to such
tribunals and his official title shall be "member of the division
of public safety." Members of the division of public safety may
execute any summons or process issued by any tribunal having
jurisdiction requiring the attendance of any person as a witness
before such tribunal and make return thereon as provided by law,
and any return by a member of the division of public safety
showing the manner of executing such warrant or process shall
have the same force and effect as if made by a sheriff.
(e) Each member of the division of public safety, when
called by the sheriff of any county, or when the governor by
proclamation so directs, shall have full power and authority
within such county, or within the territory defined by the
governor, to direct and command absolutely the assistance of any
sheriff, deputy sheriff, chief of police, policeman, game and
fish warden, and peace officer of the state, or of any county or
municipality therein, or of any able-bodied citizen of the United
States, to assist and aid in accomplishing the purposes expressed
in this article. When so called, any officer or person shall,
during the time his assistance is required, be for all purposes
a member of the division of public safety and subject to all theprovisions of this article.
(f) The superintendent may also assign members of the
division to perform police duties on any turnpike or toll road,
or any section thereof, operated by the West Virginia parkways,
economic development and tourism authority:
Provided, That such
authority shall reimburse the division of public safety for
salaries paid to such members, and shall either pay directly or
reimburse the division for all other expenses of such group of
members in accordance with actual or estimated costs determined
by the superintendent.
(g) The division of public safety may develop proposals for
a comprehensive county or multicounty plan on the implementation
of an enhanced emergency service telephone system and for causing
a public meeting on such proposals, all as set forth in section
six-a, article six, chapter twenty-four of this code.
(h) The superintendent may also assign members of the
division to administer tests for the issuance of commercial
drivers' licenses, operator and junior operator licenses as
provided for in section seven, article two, chapter seventeen-b
of this code: Provided, That the division of motor vehicles
shall reimburse the division of public safety for salaries and
employee benefits paid to such members, and shall either pay
directly or reimburse the division for all other expenses of such
group of members in accordance with actual costs determined by
the superintendent.
(i) (h) The superintendent shall be reimbursed by thedivision of motor vehicles for salaries and employee benefits
paid to members of the division of public safety, and shall
either be paid directly or reimbursed by the division of motor
vehicles for all other expenses of such group of members in
accordance with actual costs determined by the superintendent,
for services performed by such members relating to the duties and
obligations of the division of motor vehicles set forth in
chapters seventeen, seventeen-a, seventeen-b, seventeen-c and
seventeen-d of this code.
(j) (i) By the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three, the superintendent shall establish a network to
implement reports of the disappearance of children by local law-
enforcement agencies to local school division superintendents and
the state registrar of vital statistics. The network shall be
designed to establish cooperative arrangements between local law-
enforcement agencies and local school divisions concerning
reports of missing children and notices to law-enforcement
agencies of requests for copies of the cumulative records and
birth certificates of missing children. The network shall also
establish a mechanism for reporting the identities of all missing
children to the state registrar of vital statistics.
(j) The superintendent may at his discretion and upon the
written request of the West Virginia alcohol beverage control
commissioner assist the commissioner in the coordination and
enforcement of the alcohol beverage control act and the general
law concerning nonintoxicating beer and wine.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 6. DRIVER EDUCATION.
§18-6-4. Rules and regulations.
In accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, the
state board shall, with the advice of the state superintendent
and the superintendent of the
department division of public
safety, adopt rules
and regulations governing the establishment,
conduct and scope of driver education for use in the public,
private, parochial and denominational secondary schools located
within this state, subject to the requirements and exceptions set
forth in this article.
The superintendent may also assign drivers' education
teachers to administer tests for the issuance of commercial
drivers' licenses, operator and junior operator licenses as
provided for in section seven, article two, chapter seventeen-b
of this code: Provided, That the drivers' education teachers
administer the tests on the teacher's own time at the division of
public safety (state police) detachment at a cost of two dollars
for each written test and five dollars for each practical test.
The cost shall be paid by the test taker and received by the
drivers' education teacher. Driver's tests given on school time
to students in drivers' education shall be given without charge.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to transfer the
responsibility of administering tests for driver's license from
the division of public safety to drivers' education teachers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be strickenfrom the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.