Tag: Senate Natural Resources Committee

Senate Bill to Prohibit Abandoning Captured Game Animals

A bill being considered by the state Senate would make it a crime to abandon a deer, fish or other game animals caught in West Virginia.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee forwarded the bill Monday to the Judiciary Committee.

Under the bill, game animals cannot be abandoned without making a “reasonable effort” to retrieve it for human consumption. The bill carries maximum penalties of 100 days in jail and $2,500 in fines.

Col. Jerry Jenkins, chief of the Division of Natural Resources’ law enforcement section, says deer poachers every year use the head or antlers as trophies and leave the rest of the animal to waste.

Farmers with permits to kill crop-damaging deer would be exempt.

The bill does not include smaller, furry animals such as raccoons.

Senators Consider Pay Raise for DNR Officers

Members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee took up a bill that would give Division of Natural Resources law enforcement officers a raise in the upcoming fiscal year and every year following. 

The bill raises the base salary for new officers from $31,222 in their first year to $33,994. All other officers will receive a bump in the range of two to six thousand dollars a year.

The introduced version of the bill also grants the officers a $400 a year raise for every year they remain on the force.

Senate Bill 92 comes with a $1.1 million fiscal note for the upcoming budget year, and a $1.6 million implication for the following year. 

DNR law enforcement head Col. Jerry Jenkins told members of the committee his division is competing with the West Virginia State Police, counties and even some city departments that can pay more.

“Right now we’re trying to fill seven positions which we didn’t have much of an applicant pool to pull from,” he said, “and we’re finding a lot of these people have already applied for other agencies and they’ve been turned down.”

Jenkins also told the committee his officers, unlike many other law enforcement agencies, must have a four year degree or some combination of a two year degree with specialized law enforcement or military training.

The bill passed the committee and goes to Senate Finance for further consideration.

Exit mobile version