Bill Text: WV SB481 | 2022 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to Adopt-A-Stream Program
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 5-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-03-02 - To House Government Organization [SB481 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2022-SB481-Comm_Sub.html
WEST virginia legislature
2022 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 481
By Senators Smith, Phillips, Caputo, Stollings, Lindsay, Woodrum, Jeffries, and Hamilton
[Originating in the Committee on Natural Resources; reported on February 1, 2022]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22-15A-3a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the Adopt-A-Stream Program; requiring volunteers 17 years of age or younger be accompanied by an adult; changing streams eligible for participation in program; altering process for selecting stream participation in program; allowing department to approve or deny applications at its discretion; expanding sources of funding to support program; lengthening period of stream participation from one to three years; altering method of collection of stream litter; and requiring one cleanup of the river prior to road signs being erected.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 15A. THE A. JAMES MANCHIN REHABILITATION ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN.
§22-15A-3a. Creation of Adopt-A-Stream Program required.
(a) The 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 cosponsored by the Division of Highways and the Department of Environmental Protection, Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan. 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
Adopt-A-Highway 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 department
shall create and implement. Anyone who is at least 12 years old may
participate Participants 17 years of age or younger must be accompanied
by an adult. Any stream or river that is a part of the West Virginia Stream
Partners Program within the state of West Virginia is eligible for
adoption, with the exception of streams or rivers considered determined
to be unsafe by the department. Volunteers may select a stream or
river to adopt and then have it approved by the department, or they may ask the
department to suggest an adoptable stream or river Adopted streams or
river sections must be at least one-mile long. Applications for
adoptions will be reviewed and approved or denied at the department’s
discretion. The Litter Control Fund, or other sources of funding deemed
appropriate by the secretary, may be used to support the Adopt-A-Stream
Program.
(c) Adoptions are for a
period of one year three years, during which time at least
one cleanup is required per year. As volunteers pick up litter, bags that
have been filled are placed on stream sides Collected litter will be
placed at designated locations approved by the department. The department may
coordinate with volunteers, local authorities, and state agencies for removal
and disposal by the program of collected litter. Garbage bags, safety
vests, safety training, traffic warning signs, and gloves are to be
furnished by the program.
(d) Adopted streams or
rivers may be identified by a sign at each end of the a location
along the adopted section bearing the Adopt-A-Stream logo and the name of
the adopter after the first cleanup has been completed. Volunteers who
complete one required litter pickup within the one-year first year of
the three-year contract period shall be awarded a certificate of
accomplishment signed by the secretary.
(e) Any stream obstruction or other cause for concern observed by volunteers may be reported to the Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Natural Resources, the State Conservation Committee, or the appropriate local county emergency manger.
(e) (f) The secretary may propose legislative
rules pursuant to §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code.
