Game and Inland Fisheries, Department of; changes name of conservation police officers. (SB17)
Introduced By
Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland)
Progress
√ |
Introduced |
☐ |
Passed Committee |
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Passed House |
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Passed Senate |
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Signed by Governor |
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Became Law |
Description
Conservation police officers. Changes the name of law-enforcement officers employed by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries from conservation police officers to game wardens. Amends § 15.2-915.2 (“Regulation of transportation of a loaded rifle or shotgun.”), § 18.2-136.1 (“Enforcement of \u00a7\u00a7 18.2-131 through 18.2-135.”), § 18.2-141 (“Cutting or destroying trees; carrying axe, saw, etc., while hunting.”), § 18.2-283.1 (“Carrying weapon into courthouse.”), § 18.2-285 (“Hunting with firearms while under influence of intoxicant or narcotic drug; penalty.”), § 18.2-287.01 (“Carrying weapon in air carrier airport terminal.”), § 18.2-308 (“Personal protection; carrying concealed weapons; when lawful to carry.”), § 18.2-51.1 (“Malicious bodily injury to law-enforcement officers, firefighters, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical service providers; penalty; lesser-included offense.”), § 18.2-57 (“Assault and battery.”), § 19.2-81 (“Arrest without warrant authorized in certain cases.”), § 2.2-2801 (“Disability to hold state office; exceptions.”), § 2.2-507 (“Legal service in civil matters.”), § 28.2-106 (“Virginia Marine Police; law-enforcement responsibilities; qualifications; oath.”), § 28.2-106.1 (“Patrol and enforcement of federal safety zones and restricted areas.”), § 29.1-100 (“Definitions.”), § 29.1-200 (“Appointment of conservation police officers.”), § 29.1-205 (“Power to make arrests.”), § 29.1-207 (“Impeding conservation police officer, etc., in discharge of his duty.”), § 29.1-208 (“Searches and seizures.”), § 29.1-209 (“Inspection of game and fish without arrest.”), § 29.1-212 (“Precaution against fire.”), § 29.1-213 (“Taking samples of water believed to be polluted.”), § 29.1-217 (“Special conservation police officers receiving no compensation from Commonwealth.”), § 29.1-218 (“Defense of conservation police officer prosecuted on criminal charge.”), § 29.1-300.2 (“Hunter education program.”), § 29.1-337 (“Displaying license upon request.”), § 29.1-349 (“Hunting, erecting blind within 500 yards of licensed blind.”), § 29.1-355 (“Disposition of funds.”), § 29.1-516 (“Game animals.”), § 29.1-517 (“Fur-bearing animals.”), § 29.1-521.3 (“Shooting wild birds and wild animals from stationary vehicles by disabled persons.”), § 29.1-530 (“Open and closed season for trapping, bag limits, etc.”), § 29.1-539 (“Keeping deer or bear struck by motor vehicle; procedure to be followed by driver.”), § 29.1-548 (“Killing deer illegally.”), § 29.1-552 (“Killing wild turkey during closed season.”), § 29.1-553 (“Selling or offering for sale; penalty.”), § 29.1-556 (“Unlawful devices to be destroyed.”), § 29.1-567 (“Penalties; authority of conservation police officers and police officers; disposition of property seized.”), § 29.1-735.1 (“Board authorized to promulgate regulations for seaplanes.”), § 29.1-739 (“Duty of operator involved in collision, accident or other casualty; immunity from liability; report of collision, etc.; summons in lieu of arrest.”), § 29.1-739.1 (“Disregarding signal by law-enforcement officer to stop; attempts to elude; penalty.”), § 29.1-739.2 (“Conservation police officers to patrol lakes.”), § 29.1-745 (“Enforcement of chapter; vessels displaying Coast Guard inspection decal.”), § 3.2-1010 (“Enforcement of chapter; summons.”), § 51.1-212 (“Definitions.”), § 58.1-1410 (“Disposition of funds.”), § 62.1-194.2 (“Throwing trash, etc., into or obstructing river, creek, stream or swamp.”), § 65.2-402 (“Presumption as to death or disability from respiratory disease, hypertension or heart disease, cancer.”), § 65.2-402.1 (“Presumption as to death or disability from infectious disease.”), § 9.1-101 (“Definitions.”), § 9.1-400 (“Title of chapter; definitions.”), § 9.1-500 (“Definitions.”), § 9.1-801 (“Public safety officer defined.”), of the Code of Virginia. View Full Text »
Status
12/28/2011: Awaiting a Vote in the General Laws and Technology Committee
View Bill's History
Comments
Why waste money changing their names back to game warden? This bill is a waste of resources. Kill this bill.
Mr. Stuart: What possible good would come from changing the name of the officers of the VDGIF. I suspect it would cost a great deal of money...for nothing. They are conservation officers.
"I have worked hard for common sense solutions to fix our roads, clean up the Chesapeake Bay, improve our children's education, and ensure a better quality of life for our citizens."
Please justify how this bill meets any of those criteria? There is no common sense behind this bill and it does nothing to improve quality of life. Kill it!
These officers are professionals performing their jobs expertly. I can think of no reason to change their title and continuing with this bill is a waste of legislative time and of my money as a VA taxpayer. This bill should be withdrawn and our legislature should expend their efforts on more important items.
MR. Stuart,
This bill # SB17 is a waste of time and common sense. Kill this bill!!!! It is an insult to VDGIF....looks like a personal agenda to me.
Please withdraw this bill. It is unnecessary; a waste of time and money. I like that they are Conservation Officers. It makes no sense to change it. Thank you.
Status: 01/16/2012 Passed by indefinitely in General Laws and Technology (14-Y 1-N)
This bill will not be considered.
This website's badly out of date, not showing the PBI 15 days ago.
The PBI is shown, but not highlighted as the most recent action. That's because there's a mistake in the bill's status—it's supposed to be recorded by the legislature as "Passed by in [Committee]," rather than "Passed by indefinitely in [Committee]." Richmond Sunlight looks for the former, not the latter, to highlight. I've modified the software that runs the site to accept either format, in case that mistake is ever again made in the legislature's recordation of committee minutes. Thanks for pointing that out!
no..."passed by indefinitely" is a valid motion
Sure, it's perfectly valid! I wouldn't claim otherwise. :) It's just not often been phrased like that in the past. (For instance, sometimes it's "passing by," sometimes it's "passed by.") I think that legislative entry of statuses must be free-form, because I have to check for many variations on the theoretical standards.
"... in case that mistake is ever again made in the legislature's recordation... " lead me to believe you thought it was, how do I say it... the legislature's mistake.
I hadn't even realized that I'd written that upon re-reading! My wife long ago learned to listen to what I mean, not what I say. :) I would like it very much if the legislature would standardize their language, though—from a logical standard, there are probably 50 ways that the concept of PBI could be expressed, but from a programming perspective, any more than one is unnecessarily redundant. The programmer part of my brain surely regards the other 49 ways as "mistakes," but of course it's self-evident that those aren't mistakes, just variations.
It is, in fact, very much standardized at the committee level, not free-form... and not 50... 18 House, 16 Senate... and with much commonality between houses... makes for roughly 20 unique motions across the board. If you add the 'by voice vote' variable (no actual tally), I suppose it increases the possibilities, if that matters to your software. I'm sure the GA would be happy to give you a list. Nice site...
Oh, no, it's certainly not standardized. For instance, withdrawing a bill can be either "Withdrawn at request of Patron" or "Withdrawn by Patron." When a bill is tabled, it may or may not include the vote parenthetically. Some committees indicate that a bill has been sent to a subcommittee with "Assigned to [Committee] sub-committee [Subcommittee]," some by with "Assigned [Committee Abbreviation] sub: [Subcommittee]," and subcommittee is sometimes hyphenated and sometimes not. Sometimes the subcommittee chair's name is included parenthetically after that subcommittee assignation, sometimes not (e.g., "Assigned to Transportation sub-committee: Towing" vs. "Assigned to Transportation sub-committee: #3 (Carrico)".) Sometimes a governor's recommendation is "adopted in-part," sometimes it's adopted "in part." I could go on. And on. And on. :) There are many dozens—I suspect hundreds—of unique bill statuses.
A classic case of mission creep in your response. I thought you, I, and other users were talking about committee VOTE actions... ie "passed by" versus "passed by indefinitely" My mistake, perhaps. The types of "statuses" I discussed were committee actions that report, fail or continue a bill. You've expanded the discussion to include the entire universe of legislative actions, both committee and floor. Yes, there are hundreds of bill actions... there are NOT hundreds of committee VOTE actions. Again, I'm sure the GA staff would be happy to discuss the legislative process with you. I'm going to let this tit-for-tat go, feel free to have the last word. Good luck, and, again... nice site.
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