WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2022 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 4545

By Delegates Haynes, Keaton, Pritt, Cooper, Maynor, Hanna, Honaker, Booth, G. Ward, Kessinger, and Phillips

[Introduced February 03, 2022; Referred to the Committee on Education]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-9b, relating to requiring county school board to obtain annual inspections of schools within their jurisdiction.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-5-9b. Annual inspection of schools.

(a) A county board of education shall obtain an annual inspection of all schools within its jurisdiction. For this purpose, county boards of education are hereby authorized to enter into contracts with qualified providers of building and facilities inspection services.

(b) Minimum components of inspection. — Inspections shall conform to the standards and procedures of either American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E2018-15 or the International Existing Building Code – 2021 promulgated by the International Code Council, as well as relevant portions of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), including, but not limited to NFPA 1, NFPA 5000, NFPA 25, NFPA 72, NFPA 80, and NFPA 101, as adopted by rules of the State Fire Commission and authorized by the West Virginia Legislature.

(c) Reports. — An inspection report for each school shall be submitted to the county school board by the contracted provider and the board shall file each report as a public document. Acceptance and filing of a report by the board shall be an acknowledgement by the board members of the content of the report.

(d) For purposes of this section, a qualified provider of building and facilities inspection services is any person or business with demonstrable training and experience in conducting inspections under the standards set out in subsection (b) of this section.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require annual inspections of county schools.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.