COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 500
(By Senator Fanning, By Request)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 25, 2004.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §20-2-32, §20-2-33 and §20-2-34 of the
code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating
generally to the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses;
disposition of duplicate license fees; increasing fees;
promulgation of legislative rules; and disposition of fees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-2-32, §20-2-33 and §20-2-34 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-32. Issuance of licenses; duplicate licenses.
(a) The clerk of the county
court commission in each county
and
such any other persons
as are designated by the director shall
be
the license-issuing authorities.
hereunder Each
license-issuing
authority shall issue a license to a license applicant if, in the opinion of
such the authority, the license applicant is legally
entitled to obtain the license applied for and pays the proper fee.
therefor
(b) All materials and supplies necessary for the issuance of
licenses shall be furnished by the director to
every each person
authorized to issue
the licenses.
(c) Each license shall bear a serial number and shall be
signed by the
issuing authority licensee. The issuing authority
shall keep an accurate record, in the form and manner prescribed by
the director, of all licenses issued and of all money collected as
license fees.
(d) Any license-issuing authority may issue a duplicate
license, to replace
any a lost, destroyed or damaged license, upon
receipt of a verified application
therefor duly executed by the
original license holder and
the payment
by such applicant to the
issuing authority of a duplicate license fee of one dollar.
which
shall be paid to the director as provided in section thirty-four
hereof
§20-2-33. Authority of director to designate agents to issue
licenses; bonds; fees.
(a) The director may appoint, in addition to the clerk of the
county commission, agents to issue licenses under the provisions of
this article to serve the convenience of the public. Each person
appointed shall, before issuing any license, file with the director a bond payable to the state of West Virginia, in the amount to be
fixed by the director, conditioned upon the faithful performance of
his or her obligation to issue licenses only in conformity with the
provisions of this article and to account for all license fees
received by him or her. The form of the bond shall be prescribed
by the attorney general. No person, other than those designated as
issuing agents by the director, may sell licenses or buy
the
licenses for the purpose of resale.
(b) Except when a license is purchased from a state official,
every person making application for a license
must shall pay, in
addition to the license fee prescribed in this article, an
additional fee of
seventy-five cents three dollars to any county
official issuing the license and all fees collected by county
officials must be paid by them into the general fund of the county
treasury or, in the case of an agent issuing the license, an
additional fee of
one dollar three dollars as compensation:
Provided, That only one
issuing fee of
seventy-five cents or one
dollar three dollars may be collected by county officials or
authorized agents, respectively, for issuing two or more licenses
at the same time for use by the same person or for issuing
combination resident statewide hunting, trapping and fishing
licenses:
Provided, however, That licenses may be issued
electronically in a manner prescribed by the director and persons
purchasing electronically issued licenses may be assessed, in addition to the license fee prescribed in this article, an
electronic issuance fee to be prescribed by the director.
(c) In lieu of the license issuance fee prescribed in
subsection (b) of this section, the director shall propose rules
for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code governing the
application for and issuance of licenses by telephone and other
electronic methods.
(d) The director may propose rules for legislative approval in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code governing the management of issuing
agents.
§20-2-34. Disposition of license fees and donations; reports of
agents; special funds and uses.
(a) All persons in this state who receive money for licenses
and permits required by this chapter, or as donations for the
hunters helping the hungry program, shall
on the first day of each
month, pay over to the director all moneys so collected by them
during the preceding month deposit the moneys into an account at a
financial institution at intervals designated by the director. The
payment shall be accompanied by a
sales report.
showing, in the
case of license fees and donated money, the name of the county, the
class of license sold, the amount of any donation, the names and
addresses of the persons paying the license fees and donated moneys, the date of the receipt, the signature of the person
receiving and remitting the funds, and other information the
director determines necessary The form and content of the sales
report shall be prescribed by the director.
(b)
(1) Except where other provisions of this chapter
specifically require
and direct payment of moneys into designated
funds for specific uses and purposes, all license fees received by
the director shall be promptly paid into the state treasury and
credited to the division of natural resources' "license fund--
wildlife resources" which shall be used and paid out, upon order of
the director solely for law enforcement and for other purposes
directly relating to the conservation, protection, propagation and
distribution of wildlife in this state pursuant to the provisions
of this chapter.
(2) No funds from the "license fund--wildlife resources" may
be expended for recreational facilities or activities that are used
by or for the benefit of the general public, rather than purchasers
of hunting and fishing licenses.
(3) Of the annual license fund income, The director shall
retain ten percent
of the moneys in the "license fund--wildlife
resources" for capital improvements and land purchases benefitting
state wildlife, forty percent shall be budgeted to the wildlife
resources division, forty percent to law enforcement and ten
percent apportioned by the director within provisions of this section. Any unexpended moneys for capital improvements and land
purchases shall be carried forward.
(4) All interest generated from game and fish license fees
after the thirty-first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-one, shall be used by the director for the division of
natural resources in the same manner as is provided for the use of
license fees.
(c) Moneys received as donations to the hunters helping the
hungry program shall be deposited in the
hunters helping the hungry
fund subaccount designated the "hunters helping the hungry fund".
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase license fees
for hunting and fishing; and authorizing the director of the
division of natural resources to propose rules for legislative
approval governing the management of issuing licenses.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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