Senate Bill No. 408
(By Senators Burdette, Mr. President, Wooton, Sharpe,
Chafin, Minard and Whitlow)
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[Introduced February 21, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article nine-a, chapter sixteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
six, relating to enforcement of youth smoking laws by the
division of public safety; random inspections to test
compliance; use of persons under eighteen years by law-
enforcement authorities with parental consent; and providing
for annual reports on such enforcement and compliance
activities.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article nine-a, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section six,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. TOBACCO USAGE RESTRICTIONS.
§16-9A-6. Enforcement of youth smoking laws; random inspections;
annual reports.
(a) The provisions of sections two and three of this articleshall be enforced through misdemeanor proceedings brought in any
court of competent jurisdiction by the prosecuting attorney for
the county in which the alleged violation occurred. Any fine
collected upon a conviction of violation of either of the
sections shall be paid to the clerk of the court in which the
conviction was obtained. Upon receipt of a fine paid upon a
conviction of violation of either of the sections, the clerk of
the court shall promptly notify the superintendent of the
division of public safety of the conviction and the collection of
the fine.
(b) The division of public safety, acting with and through
the sheriffs of the counties of this state and the chiefs of
police of municipalities of this state, shall annually conduct
random, unannounced inspections at locations where tobacco
products are sold or distributed to ensure compliance with the
provisions of sections two and three of this article. Persons
under the age of eighteen years may be enlisted by such
superintendent, sheriffs or chiefs of police, or employees
thereof, to test compliance with the sections:
Provided, That
such persons may be used to test compliance with the sections
only if the testing is conducted under the direct supervision of
the superintendent, sheriffs or chiefs of police, or employees
thereof, and written consent of the parent or guardian of such
person is first obtained. Any other use of persons under the age
of eighteen years to test compliance with the sections, or to
test any other prohibition of like or similar import, isunlawful, and the person or persons responsible for use of such
persons under the age of eighteen years is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in the
amounts set in section two of this article.
(c) The superintendent of the division of public safety
shall prepare, and submit to the governor on the first day of May
of each year, a report of the enforcement and compliance
activities undertaken pursuant to this section, and the results
of the same. The report shall be in form such that the governor
may submit it to the secretary of the United States department
of health and human services, in compliance with section one
thousand nine hundred twenty-six of Subpart I, of Part B of Title
XIX of the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x-26).
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for random
inspection of places where tobacco products are sold, by state
and local law-enforcement authorities, to enforce youth smoking
laws, and to test compliance with such laws. With parental
consent, persons under 18 years old may be enlisted by law-
enforcement authorities to test compliance with such laws. The
department of public safety is to report annually to the governor
on such enforcement and compliance testing activities, and the
governor is to report on such efforts to the federal Secretary of
Health and Human Services, in accordance with applicable federal
law.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.