Bill Text: WV SB413 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Creating Adopt-A-Stream program
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-24 - To Government Organization [SB413 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2019-SB413-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2019 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 413
By Senators Maynard, Baldwin, Stollings, Boso, and Clements
[Introduced
January 24, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Government Organization]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §20-13-7, relating to the West Virginia Stream Partners Program; and authorizing the creation of an Adopt-A-Stream Program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 13. WEST VIRGINIA STREAM PARTNERS PROGRAM.
§20-13-7. Creation of Adopt-A-Stream Program authorized.
(a) The state Adopt-A-Highway Program was established in the late 1980s to improve the quality of the state’s environment by encouraging public involvement in the elimination of highway litter. That program is co-sponsored by the Division of Highways and the Department of Environmental Protection, REAP Program. Its objective is to save taxpayer money by increasing public awareness and to serve as an educational tool by focusing on the consequences of littering. Its objective is to save taxpayer money by increasing public awareness and to serve as an educational tool by focusing on the consequences of littering. The program offers volunteers the opportunity to take charge of their own environment by making a positive effort to create a cleaner, more aesthetic place in which to live.
In West Virginia there are currently 25,000 volunteers who regularly pick up litter on 4,000 miles of highway. They have been responsible for removing more than 40 million pounds of litter since the program began.
(b) As with the state program, individuals, families, churches, businesses, schools, civic organizations, government agencies, scouting groups, fraternities and communities may participate in an Adopt-A-Stream Program, which the West Virginia Stream Partners Program is hereby authorized to create and implement. Anyone who is at least 12 years old may participate. Any stream or river that is a part of the West Virginia Stream Partners Program is eligible for adoption, with the exception of streams or rivers considered unsafe. Volunteers may select a stream or river to adopt and then have it approved by the West Virginia Stream Partners Program, or they may ask the West Virginia Stream Partners Program to suggest an adoptable stream or river. Adopted streams must be at least one mile long.
(c) Adoptions are for a period of two years, during which time three cleanups are required per year. As volunteers pick up litter, bags that have been filled are placed on stream sides for removal and disposal by the West Virginia Stream Partners Program. Garbage bags, safety vests, safety training, traffic warning signs, and gloves are to be furnished by the West Virginia Stream Partners Program.
(d) Adopted streams may be identified by a sign at each end of the section bearing the Adopt-A-Stream logo and the name of the adoptee. Volunteers who complete six required litter pickups within the two-year contract period are awarded a certificate of accomplishment signed by the administering agencies of the West Virginia Stream Partners Program.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the creation of an Adopt-A-Stream Program to be administered by agencies of the West Virginia Stream Partners Program.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
