WEST virginia legislature
2020 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 4946
By Delegates Angelucci, Longstreth and Caputo
[Introduced February 11,
2020; Referred to the Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-15 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to eliminating the requirement that municipal police civil service commissions certify a list of three individuals for every position vacancy in a municipal police department not filled by promotion, reinstatement or reduction.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 14. LAW AND ORDER; POLICE FORCE OR DEPARTMENTS; POWERS, AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS AND POLICEMEN; POLICE MATRONS; SPECIAL SCHOOL ZONE AND PARKING LOT OR PARKING BUILDING POLICE OFFICERS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN POLICE DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-15. Appointments from list of eligibles.
Every position, unless
filled by promotion, reinstatement or reduction, shall be filled only in the
manner specified in this section. The appointing officer shall notify the
policemen’s Civil Service Commission of any vacancy or vacancies in a
position or positions which he or she desires to fill, and shall
request the certification of eligibles. The commission shall forthwith certify
from the eligible list the names of eligible the three
individuals ranked according to their thereon who received the
highest averages at preceding competitive examinations held under the civil
service provisions of this article within a period of three years next
preceding the date of the prospective appointment. The appointing officer
shall, thereupon, with sole reference to the relative merit and fitness of the
candidates, make an appointment or appointments from the three names
so certified. Provided, That should he make objection, to the
commission, to one or more of these individuals, for any of the reasons stated
in section fourteen of this article, and should such objection be sustained by
the commission, after a public hearing along the lines of the hearing provided
for in said section fourteen of this article, if any such hearing is requested,
the commission shall thereupon strike the name of any such individual from the
eligible list, and certify the next highest name for each individual so
stricken. As each subsequent vacancy occurs, in the same or another position,
precisely the same procedure shall be followed: Provided, however,
That after any name has been three times rejected for the same or another
position in favor of a name or names below it on the same list, the said name
shall be stricken from the list. When there are a number of positions of the
same kind to be filled at the same time, each appointment shall, nevertheless,
be made separately and in accordance with the foregoing provisions When an
appointment is made under the provisions of this section it shall be, in the
first instance, for the probationary period of one year, as provided in §8-14-11 of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement that municipal civil service commissions certify three eligible individuals for every vacancy declared in a municipal police department.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.