ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 317
(Senators Unger, Nohe, Kessler (Mr. President), D. Hall, Stollings, Tucker,
Cann, Fitzsimmons, Kirkendoll, Miller, Laird, Williams, Yost, Beach, Edgell,
Plymale, Prezioso and Snyder, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 8, 2014; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §8-1-5a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §8-12-5 and
§8-12-5a of said code, all relating to municipal firearm laws;
removing firearm provisions from the Municipal Home Rule Pilot
Program; prohibiting ordinances from being enacted under the
Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program that are in conflict with
certain other state law; clarifying municipal authority to
arrest, convict and punish individuals for certain firearms
offenses authorized by code and federal law; removing the
grandfather clause excepting certain municipal ordinances limiting the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership,
carrying, transporting, selling or storing of guns or
ammunition from the general provision prohibiting such
ordinances; defining terms; clarifying municipalities'
authority to regulate possession and carrying of firearms;
permitting municipalities to enact and enforce certain
ordinances relating to limiting possession of firearms in
municipal buildings and on municipal property; permitting
persons to store firearms in vehicles on public property under
certain circumstances; creating absolute defenses to a
violation of municipal firearm ordinances; requiring posting
of certain signs; specifying that private redress for
violations may be brought under chapter fifty-three of this
code and may include reasonable attorneys fees and costs;
excluding municipalities from the use of section fourteen,
article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code; and clarifying
that municipalities cannot prohibit the otherwise lawful
carrying of firearms on municipal streets and sidewalks except
when a street or sidewalk is temporarily closed to traffic for
purposes of municipally authorized events of limited duration.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-1-5a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §8-12-5 and §8-12-5a of said
code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. PURPOSE AND SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS; GENERAL
PROVISIONS; CONSTRUCTION.
§8-1-5a. Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program.
(a) Legislative findings. -- The Legislature finds and
declares that:
(1) The initial Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program brought
innovative results, including novel municipal ideas that became
municipal ordinances which later resulted in new statewide
statutes;
(2) The initial Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program also brought
novel municipal ideas that resulted in court challenges against
some of the participating municipalities;
(3) The Municipal Home Rule Board was an essential part of the
initial Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program, but it lacked some
needed powers and duties;
(4) Municipalities still face challenges delivering services
required by federal and state law or demanded by their
constituents;
(5) Municipalities are sometimes restrained by state statutes,
policies and rules that challenge their ability to carry out their
duties and responsibilities in a cost-effective, efficient and
timely manner;
(6) Continuing the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program is in the
public interest; and
(7) Increasing the powers and duties of the Municipal Home
Rule Board will enhance the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program.
(b) Continuance of pilot program. -- The Municipal Home Rule
Pilot Program is continued until July 1, 2019. The ordinances
enacted by the four participating municipalities pursuant to the
initial Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program are hereby authorized and
may remain in effect until the ordinances are repealed, but are
null and void if amended and such amendment is not approved by the
Municipal Home Rule Board: Provided, That any ordinance enacting a
municipal occupation tax is hereby null and void.
(c) Authorizing participation. --
(1) Commencing July 1, 2013, twenty Class I, Class II, Class
III and/or Class IV municipalities that are current in payment of
all state fees may participate in the Municipal Home Rule Pilot
Program pursuant to the provisions of this section.
(2) The four municipalities participating in the pilot program
on July 1, 2012, are hereby authorized to continue in the pilot
program and may amend current written plans and/or submit new
written plans in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(3) If any of the four municipalities participating in the
pilot program on July 1, 2012, do not want to participate in the
pilot program, then on or before June 1, 2014, the municipality
must submit a written letter to the board indicating the
municipality's intent not to participate and the board may choose another municipality to fill the vacancy: Provided, That if a
municipality chooses not to participate further in the pilot
program, its ordinances enacted pursuant to the Municipal Home Rule
Pilot Program are hereby authorized and may remain in effect until
the ordinances are repealed, but are null and void if amended:
Provided, however, That any ordinance enacting a municipal
occupation tax is null and void.
(d) Municipal Home Rule Board. -- The Municipal Home Rule
Board is hereby continued. The board members serving on the board
on July 1, 2012, may continue to serve, except that the Chair of
the Senate Committee on Government Organization and the Chair of
the House Committee on Government Organization shall be ex officio
nonvoting members. Effective July 1, 2013, the Municipal Home Rule
Board shall consist of the following five voting members:
(1) The Governor, or a designee, who shall serve as chair;
(2) The Executive Director of the West Virginia Development
Office or a designee;
(3) One member representing the Business and Industry Council,
appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the
Senate;
(4) One member representing the largest labor organization in
the state, appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of
the Senate; and
(5) One member representing the West Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Certified Planners, appointed by the Governor
with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(e) Board's powers and duties. -- The Municipal Home Rule
Board has the following powers and duties:
(1) Review, evaluate, make recommendations and approve or
reject, by a majority vote of the board, each aspect of the written
plan submitted by a municipality;
(2) By a majority vote of the board, select, based on the
municipality's written plan, new Class I, Class II, Class III
and/or Class IV municipalities to participate in the Municipal Home
Rule Pilot Program;
(3) Review, evaluate, make recommendations and approve or
reject, by a majority vote of the board, the amendments to the
written plans submitted by municipalities;
(4) Approve or reject, by a majority vote of the board, each
ordinance submitted by a participating municipality pursuant to its
written plan or its amendments to the written plan;
(5) Consult with any agency affected by the written plans or
the amendments to the written plans; and
(6) Perform any other powers or duties necessary to effectuate
the provisions of this section.
(f) Written plan. -- On or before June 1, 2014, a Class I,
Class II, Class III or Class IV municipality desiring to
participate in the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program shall submit a written plan to the board stating in detail the following:
(1) The specific laws, acts, resolutions, policies, rules or
regulations which prevent the municipality from carrying out its
duties in the most cost-efficient, effective and timely manner;
(2) The problems created by the laws, acts, resolutions,
policies, rules or regulations;
(3) The proposed solutions to the problems, including all
proposed changes to ordinances, acts, resolutions, rules and
regulations: Provided, That the specific municipal ordinance
instituting the solution does not have to be included in the
written plan; and
(4) A written opinion, by an attorney licensed to practice in
West Virginia, stating that the proposed written plan does not
violate the provisions of this section.
(g) Public hearing on written plan. -- Prior to submitting its
written plan to the board, the municipality shall:
(1) Hold a public hearing on the written plan;
(2) Provide notice at least thirty days prior to the public
hearing by a Class II legal advertisement;
(3) Make a copy of the written plan available for public
inspection at least thirty days prior to the public hearing; and
(4) After the public hearing, adopt an ordinance authorizing
the municipality to submit a written plan to the Municipal Home
Rule Board after the proposed ordinance has been read two times.
(h) Selection of municipalities. -- On or after June 1, 2014,
by a majority vote, the Municipal Home Rule Board may select from
the municipalities that submitted written plans and were approved
by the board by majority vote, new Class I, Class II, Class III
and/or Class IV municipalities to participate in the Municipal Home
Rule Pilot Program.
(i) Ordinance, act, resolution, rule or regulation. -- After
being selected to participate in the Municipal Home Rule Pilot
Program and prior to enacting an ordinance, act, resolution, rule
or regulation based on the written plan, the municipality shall:
(1) Hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance, act,
resolution, rule or regulation;
(2) Provide notice at least thirty days prior to the public
hearing by a Class II legal advertisement;
(3) Make a copy of the proposed ordinance, act, resolution,
rule or regulation available for public inspection at least thirty
days prior to the public hearing;
(4) After the public hearing, submit the comments, either in
audio or written form, to the Municipal Home Rule Board;
(5) Obtain approval, from the Municipal Home Rule Board by a
majority vote, for the proposed ordinance, act, resolution, rule or
regulation; and
(6) After obtaining approval from the Municipal Home Rule
Board, read the proposed ordinance, act, resolution, rule or regulation at least two times.
(j) Powers and duties of municipalities. -- The municipalities
participating in the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program have the
authority to pass an ordinance, act, resolution, rule or
regulation, under the provisions of this section, that is not
contrary to:
(1) Environmental law;
(2) Bidding on government construction and other contracts;
(3) The Freedom of Information Act;
(4) The Open Governmental Proceedings Act;
(5) Wages for construction of public improvements;
(6) The provisions of this section;
(7) The provisions of section five-a, article twelve of this
chapter; and
(8) The municipality's written plan.
(k) Prohibited acts. -- The municipalities participating in
the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program do not have the authority to
pass an ordinance, act, resolution, rule or regulation, under the
provisions of this section, pertaining to:
(1) The Constitution of the United States or West Virginia;
(2) Federal law or crimes and punishment;
(3) Chapters sixty-a, sixty-one and sixty-two of this code or
state crimes and punishment;
(4) Pensions or retirement plans;
(5) Annexation;
(6) Taxation: Provided, That a participating municipality may
enact a municipal sales tax up to one percent if it reduces or
eliminates its municipal business and occupation tax: Provided,
however, That if a municipality subsequently reinstates or raises
the municipal business and occupation tax it previously reduced or
eliminated under the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program, it shall
eliminate the municipal sales tax enacted under the Municipal Home
Rule Pilot Program:
Provided further, That any municipality that
imposes a municipal sales tax pursuant to this section shall use
the services of the Tax Commissioner to administer, enforce and
collect the tax in the same manner as the state consumers sales and
service tax and use tax under the provisions of articles fifteen,
fifteen-a and fifteen-b, chapter eleven of this code
and all
applicable provisions of the streamlined sales and use tax
agreement:
And provided further, That such tax will not apply to
the sale of motor fuel or motor vehicles;
(7) Tax increment financing;
(8) Extraction of natural resources;
(9) Persons or property outside the boundaries of the
municipality: Provided, That this prohibition under the Municipal
Home Rule Pilot Program does not affect a municipality's powers
outside its boundary lines under other sections of this chapter,
other chapters of this code or court decisions;
(10) Marriage and divorce laws;
and
(11) An occupation tax, fee or assessment payable by a
nonresident of a municipality.
(l) Amendments to written plans. -- A municipality selected to
participate in the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program may amend its
written plan at any time.
(m) Reporting requirements. -- Commencing December 1, 2015,
and each year thereafter, each participating municipality shall
give a progress report to the Municipal Home Rule Board and
commencing January 1, 2016, and each year thereafter, the Municipal
Home Rule Board shall give a summary report of all the
participating municipalities to the Joint Committee on Government
and Finance.
(n) Performance Evaluation and Review Division review. --
Before January 1, 2019, the Performance Evaluation and Review
Division of the Legislative Auditor's office shall conduct a
performance review on the pilot program and the participating
municipalities. The review shall include the following:
(1) An evaluation of the effectiveness of expanded home rule
on the participating municipalities;
(2) A recommendation as to whether the expanded home rule
should be continued, reduced, expanded or terminated;
(3) A recommendation as to whether any legislation is necessary; and
(4) Any other issues considered relevant.
(o) Termination of the pilot program. -- The Municipal Home
Rule Pilot Program terminates on July 1, 2019. No ordinance, act,
resolution, rule or regulation may be enacted by a participating
municipality after July 1, 2019, pursuant to the provisions of this
section. An ordinance, act, resolution, rule or regulation enacted
by a participating municipality under the provisions of this
section during the period of the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program
shall continue in full force and effect until repealed, but is null
and void if it is amended and such amendment is not approved by the
Municipal Home Rule Board.
ARTICLE 12. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC POWERS, DUTIES AND ALLIED
RELATIONS OF MUNICIPALITIES, GOVERNING BODIES AND MUNICIPAL
OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; SUITS AGAINST MUNICIPALITIES.
§8-12-5. General powers of every municipality and the governing
body thereof.
In addition to the powers and authority granted by: (i) The
Constitution of this state; (ii) other provisions of this chapter;
(iii) other general law; and (iv) any charter, and to the extent
not inconsistent or in conflict with any of the foregoing except
special legislative charters, every municipality and the governing
body thereof shall have plenary power and authority therein by
ordinance or resolution, as the case may require, and by appropriate action based thereon:
(1) To lay off, establish, construct, open, alter, curb,
recurb, pave or repave and keep in good repair, or vacate,
discontinue and close, streets, avenues, roads, alleys, ways,
sidewalks, drains and gutters, for the use of the public, and to
improve and light the same, and have them kept free from
obstructions on or over them which have not been authorized
pursuant to the succeeding provisions of this subdivision; and,
subject to such terms and conditions as the governing body shall
prescribe, to permit, without in any way limiting the power and
authority granted by the provisions of article sixteen of this
chapter, any person to construct and maintain a passageway,
building or other structure overhanging or crossing the airspace
above a public street, avenue, road, alley, way, sidewalk or
crosswalk, but before any permission for any person to construct
and maintain a passageway, building or other structure overhanging
or crossing any airspace is granted, a public hearing thereon shall
be held by the governing body after publication of a notice of the
date, time, place and purpose of the public hearing has been
published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the
provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and
the publication area for the publication shall be the municipality:
Provided, That any permit so granted shall automatically cease and
terminate in the event of abandonment and nonuse thereof for the purposes intended for a period of ninety days, and all rights
therein or thereto shall revert to the municipality for its use and
benefit;
(2) To provide for the opening and excavation of streets,
avenues, roads, alleys, ways, sidewalks, crosswalks and public
places belonging to the municipality and regulate the conditions
under which any such opening may be made;
(3) To prevent by proper penalties the throwing, depositing or
permitting to remain on any street, avenue, road, alley, way,
sidewalk, square or other public place any glass, scrap iron,
nails, tacks, wire, other litter or any offensive matter or
anything likely to injure the feet of individuals or animals or the
tires of vehicles;
(4) To regulate the use of streets, avenues, roads, alleys,
ways, sidewalks, crosswalks and public places belonging to the
municipality, including the naming or renaming thereof, and to
consult with local postal authorities, the Division of Highways and
the directors of county emergency communications centers to assure
uniform, nonduplicative addressing on a permanent basis;
(5) To regulate the width of streets, avenues and roads, and,
subject to the provisions of article eighteen of this chapter, to
order the sidewalks, footways and crosswalks to be paved, repaved,
curbed or recurbed and kept in good order, free and clean, by the
owners or occupants thereof or of the real property next adjacent thereto;
(6) To establish, construct, alter, operate and maintain, or
discontinue, bridges, tunnels and ferries and approaches thereto;
(7) To provide for the construction and maintenance of water
drains, the drainage of swamps or marshlands and drainage systems;
(8) To provide for the construction, maintenance and covering
over of watercourses;
(9) To control and administer the waterfront and waterways of
the municipality and to acquire, establish, construct, operate and
maintain and regulate flood control works, wharves and public
landings, warehouses and all adjuncts and facilities for navigation
and commerce and the utilization of the waterfront and waterways
and adjacent property;
(10) To prohibit the accumulation and require the disposal of
garbage, refuse, debris, wastes, ashes, trash and other similar
accumulations whether on private or public property: Provided,
That, in the event the municipality annexes an area which has been
receiving solid waste collection services from a certificated solid
waste motor carrier, the municipality and the solid waste motor
carrier may negotiate an agreement for continuation of the private
solid waste motor carrier services for a period of time, not to
exceed three years, during which time the certificated solid waste
motor carrier may continue to provide exclusive solid waste
collection services in the annexed territory;
(11) To construct, establish, acquire, equip, maintain and
operate incinerator plants and equipment and all other facilities
for the efficient removal and destruction of garbage, refuse,
wastes, ashes, trash and other similar matters;
(12) To regulate or prohibit the purchase or sale of articles
intended for human use or consumption which are unfit for use or
consumption, or which may be contaminated or otherwise unsanitary;
(13) To prevent injury or annoyance to the public or
individuals from anything dangerous, offensive or unwholesome;
(14) To regulate the keeping of gunpowder and other
combustibles;
(15) To make regulations guarding against danger or damage by
fire;
(16) To arrest, convict and punish any individual for carrying
about his or her person any revolver or other pistol, dirk, bowie
knife, razor, slingshot, billy, metallic or other false knuckles or
any other dangerous or other deadly weapon of like kind or
character: Provided, That with respect to any firearm a
municipality may only arrest, convict and punish someone if they
are in violation of an ordinance authorized by subsection five-a of
this article, a state law proscribing certain conduct with a
firearm or applicable federal law;
(17) To arrest, convict and punish any person for importing,
printing, publishing, selling or distributing any pornographic publications;
(18) To arrest, convict and punish any person for keeping a
house of ill fame, or for letting to another person any house or
other building for the purpose of being used or kept as a house of
ill fame, or for knowingly permitting any house owned by him or her
or under his or her control to be kept or used as a house of ill
fame, or for loafing, boarding or loitering in a house of ill fame,
or frequenting same;
(19) To prevent and suppress conduct and practices which are
immoral, disorderly, lewd, obscene and indecent;
(20) To prevent the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors,
drinks, mixtures and preparations;
(21) To arrest, convict and punish any individual for driving
or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated or under the
influence of liquor, drugs or narcotics;
(22) To arrest, convict and punish any person for gambling or
keeping any gaming tables, commonly called "A, B, C," or "E, O,"
table or faro bank or keno table, or table of like kind, under any
denomination, whether the gaming table be played with cards, dice
or otherwise, or any person who shall be a partner or concerned in
interest, in keeping or exhibiting the table or bank, or keeping or
maintaining any gaming house or place, or betting or gambling for
money or anything of value;
(23) To provide for the elimination of hazards to public health and safety and to abate or cause to be abated anything which
in the opinion of a majority of the governing body is a public
nuisance;
(24) To license, or for good cause to refuse to license in a
particular case, or in its discretion to prohibit in all cases, the
operation of pool and billiard rooms and the maintaining for hire
of pool and billiard tables notwithstanding the general law as to
state licenses for any such business and the provisions of section
four, article thirteen of this chapter; and when the municipality,
in the exercise of its discretion, refuses to grant a license to
operate a pool or billiard room, mandamus may not lie to compel the
municipality to grant the license unless it shall clearly appear
that the refusal of the municipality to grant a license is
discriminatory or arbitrary; and in the event that the municipality
determines to license any business, the municipality has plenary
power and authority and it shall be the duty of its governing body
to make and enforce reasonable ordinances regulating the licensing
and operation of the businesses;
(25) To protect places of divine worship and to preserve peace
and order in and about the premises where held;
(26) To regulate or prohibit the keeping of animals or fowls
and to provide for the impounding, sale or destruction of animals
or fowls kept contrary to law or found running at large;
(27) To arrest, convict and punish any person for cruelly, unnecessarily or needlessly beating, torturing, mutilating,
killing, or overloading or overdriving or willfully depriving of
necessary sustenance any domestic animal;
(28) To provide for the regular building of houses or other
structures, for the making of division fences by the owners of
adjacent premises and for the drainage of lots by proper drains and
ditches;
(29) To provide for the protection and conservation of shade
or ornamental trees, whether on public or private property, and for
the removal of trees or limbs of trees in a dangerous condition;
(30) To prohibit with or without zoning the location of
occupied house trailers or mobile homes in certain residential
areas;
(31) To regulate the location and placing of signs,
billboards, posters and similar advertising;
(32) To erect, establish, construct, acquire, improve,
maintain and operate a gas system, a waterworks system, an electric
system or sewer system and sewage treatment and disposal system, or
any combination of the foregoing (subject to all of the pertinent
provisions of articles nineteen and twenty of this chapter and
particularly to the limitations or qualifications on the right of
eminent domain set forth in articles nineteen and twenty), within
or without the corporate limits of the municipality, except that
the municipality may not erect any system partly without the corporate limits of the municipality to serve persons already
obtaining service from an existing system of the character proposed
and where the system is by the municipality erected, or has
heretofore been so erected, partly within and partly without the
corporate limits of the municipality, the municipality has the
right to lay and collect charges for service rendered to those
served within and those served without the corporate limits of the
municipality and to prevent injury to the system or the pollution
of the water thereof and its maintenance in a healthful condition
for public use within the corporate limits of the municipality;
(33) To acquire watersheds, water and riparian rights, plant
sites, rights-of-way and any and all other property and
appurtenances necessary, appropriate, useful, convenient or
incidental to any system, waterworks or sewage treatment and
disposal works, as aforesaid, subject to all of the pertinent
provisions of articles nineteen and twenty of this chapter;
(34) To establish, construct, acquire, maintain and operate
and regulate markets and prescribe the time of holding the same;
(35) To regulate and provide for the weighing of articles sold
or for sale;
(36) To establish, construct, acquire, maintain and operate
public buildings, municipal buildings or city halls, auditoriums,
arenas, jails, juvenile detention centers or homes, motor vehicle
parking lots or any other public works;
(37) To establish, construct, acquire, provide, equip,
maintain and operate recreational parks, playgrounds and other
recreational facilities for public use and in this connection also
to proceed in accordance with the provisions of article two,
chapter ten of this code;
(38) To establish, construct, acquire, maintain and operate a
public library or museum or both for public use;
(39) To provide for the appointment and financial support of
a library board in accordance with the provisions of article one,
chapter ten of this code;
(40) To establish and maintain a public health unit in
accordance with the provisions of section two, article two, chapter
sixteen of this code, which unit shall exercise its powers and
perform its duties subject to the supervision and control of the
West Virginia Board of Health and State Bureau for Public Health;
(41) To establish, construct, acquire, maintain and operate
hospitals, sanitarians and dispensaries;
(42) To acquire, by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, land
within or near the corporate limits of the municipality for
providing and maintaining proper places for the burial of the dead
and to maintain and operate the same and regulate interments
therein upon terms and conditions as to price and otherwise as may
be determined by the governing body and, in order to carry into
effect the authority, the governing body may acquire any cemetery or cemeteries already established;
(43) To exercise general police jurisdiction over any
territory without the corporate limits owned by the municipality or
over which it has a right-of-way;
(44) To protect and promote the public morals, safety, health,
welfare and good order;
(45) To adopt rules for the transaction of business and the
government and regulation of its governing body;
(46) Except as otherwise provided, to require and take bonds
from any officers, when considered necessary, payable to the
municipality, in its corporate name, with such sureties and in a
penalty as the governing body may see fit, conditioned upon the
faithful discharge of their duties;
(47) To require and take from the employees and contractors
such bonds in a penalty, with such sureties and with such
conditions, as the governing body may see fit;
(48) To investigate and inquire into all matters of concern to
the municipality or its inhabitants;
(49) To establish, construct, require, maintain and operate
such instrumentalities, other than free public schools, for the
instruction, enlightenment, improvement, entertainment, recreation
and welfare of the municipality's inhabitants as the governing body
may consider necessary or appropriate for the public interest;
(50) To create, maintain and operate a system for the enumeration, identification and registration, or either, of the
inhabitants of the municipality and visitors thereto, or the
classes thereof as may be considered advisable;
(51) To require owners, residents or occupants of
factory-built homes situated in a factory-built rental home
community with at least ten factory-built homes, to visibly post
the specific numeric portion of the address of each factory-built
home on the immediate premises of the factory-built home of
sufficient size to be visible from the adjoining street: Provided,
That in the event no numeric or other specific designation of an
address exists for a factory-built home subject to the
authorization granted by this subdivision, the municipality has the
authority to provide a numeric or other specific designation of an
address for the factory-built home and require that it be posted in
accordance with the authority otherwise granted by this section.
(52) To appropriate and expend not exceeding twenty-five cents
per capita per annum for advertising the municipality and the
entertainment of visitors;
(53) To conduct programs to improve community relations and
public relations generally and to expend municipal revenue for such
purposes;
(54) To reimburse applicants for employment by the
municipality for travel and other reasonable and necessary expenses
actually incurred by the applicants in traveling to and from the municipality to be interviewed;
(55) To provide revenue for the municipality and appropriate
the same to its expenses;
(56) To create and maintain an employee benefits fund which
may not exceed one tenth of one percent of the annual payroll
budget for general employee benefits and which is set up for the
purpose of stimulating and encouraging employees to develop and
implement cost-saving ideas and programs and to expend moneys from
the fund for these purposes;
(57) To enter into reciprocal agreements with governmental
subdivisions or agencies of any state sharing a common border for
the protection of people and property from fire and for emergency
medical services and for the reciprocal use of equipment and
personnel for these purposes;
(58) To provide penalties for the offenses and violations of
law mentioned in this section, subject to the provisions of section
one, article eleven of this chapter, and such penalties may not
exceed any penalties provided in this chapter and chapter sixty-one
of this code for like offenses and violations; and
(59) To participate in a purchasing card program for local
governments authorized and administered by the State Auditor as an
alternative payment method.
§8-12-5a. Limitations upon municipalities' power to restrict the
purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, transport, sale and storage of certain weapons and ammunition.
(a) Except as provided by the provisions of this section and
the provisions of section five of this article, neither a
municipality nor the governing body of any municipality may, by
ordinance or otherwise, limit the right of any person to purchase,
possess, transfer, own, carry, transport, sell or store any
revolver, pistol, rifle or shotgun or any ammunition or ammunition
components to be used therewith nor to so regulate the keeping of
gunpowder so as to directly or indirectly prohibit the ownership of
the ammunition in any manner inconsistent with or in conflict with
state law.
(b) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Municipally owned or operated building" means any
building that is used for the business of the municipality, such as
a courthouse, city hall, convention center, administrative building
or other similar municipal building used for a municipal purpose
permitted by state law: Provided, That "municipally owned or
operated building" does not include a building owned by a
municipality that is leased to a private entity where the
municipality primarily serves as a property owner receiving rental
payments.
(2) "Municipally owned recreation facility" means any
municipal swimming pool, recreation center, sports facility,
facility housing an after-school program or other similar facility where children are regularly present.
(c)(1) A municipality may
enact and enforce an ordinance or
ordinances that prohibit or regulate the carrying or possessing of
a firearm in municipally owned or operated buildings.
(2) A municipality may enact and enforce an ordinance or
ordinances that prohibit a person from carrying or possessing a
firearm openly or that is not lawfully concealed in a municipally
owned recreation facility: Provided, That a municipality may not
prohibit a person with a valid concealed handgun permit from
carrying an otherwise lawfully possessed firearm into a municipally
owned recreation facility and securely storing the firearm out of
view and access to others during their time at the municipally
owned recreation facility.
(3)
A person may keep an otherwise lawfully possessed firearm
in a motor vehicle in municipal public parking facilities if the
vehicle is locked and the firearm is out of view.
(4)
A municipality may not prohibit or regulate the carrying
or possessing of a firearm on municipally owned or operated
property other than municipally owned or operated buildings and
municipally owned recreation facilities pursuant to subdivisions
(1) and (2) of this section: Provided, That a municipality may
prohibit persons who do not have a valid concealed handgun license
from carrying or possessing a firearm on municipally owned or
operated property.
(d) It shall be an absolute defense to an action for an
alleged violation of an ordinance authorized by this section
prohibiting or regulating the possession of a firearm that the
person: (1) Upon being requested to do so, left the premises with
the firearm or temporarily relinquished the firearm in response to
being informed that his or her possession of the firearm was
contrary to municipal ordinance; and (2) but for the municipal
ordinance the person was lawfully in possession of the firearm.
(e) Any municipality that enacts an ordinance regulating or
prohibiting the carrying or possessing of a firearm pursuant to
subsection (c) of this section shall prominently post a clear
statement at each entrance to all applicable
municipally owned or
operated buildings
or municipally owned recreation facilities
setting forth the terms of the regulation or prohibition.
(f) Redress for an alleged violation of this section may be
sought through the provisions of chapter fifty-three of this code,
which may include the awarding of reasonable attorneys fees and
costs.
(g) Upon the effective date of this section, section fourteen,
article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code is inapplicable to
municipalities. For the purposes of that section, municipalities
may not be considered a person charged with the care, custody and
control of real property.
(h) This section does not:
(1) Impair the authority of any municipality, or the governing
body thereof, to enact any ordinance or resolution respecting the
power to arrest, convict and punish any individual under the
provisions of subdivision (16), section five of this article or
from enforcing any such ordinance or resolution;
(2) Authorize municipalities to restrict the carrying or
possessing of firearms, which are otherwise lawfully possessed, on
public streets and sidewalks of the municipality: Provided, That
whenever pedestrian or vehicular traffic is prohibited in an area
of a municipality for the purpose of a temporary event of limited
duration, not to exceed fourteen days, which is authorized by a
municipality, a municipality may prohibit persons who do not have
a valid concealed handgun license from possessing a firearm in the
area where the event is held; or
(3) Limit the authority of a municipality to restrict the
commercial use of real estate in designated areas through planning
or zoning ordinances.