Senate Bill No. 452
(By Senators Kessler, Unger and Edgell)
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[Introduced February 3, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to raising the upper level age
restriction for new hires for certain law-enforcement agencies
from thirty-five to forty-five years of age.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
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.
§8-14-12. Form of application; age and residency requirements;
exceptions.
The policemen's civil service commission in each Class I and
Class II city shall require individuals applying for admission to
any competitive examination provided for under the civil service
provisions of this article or under the rules and regulations of
said commission to file in its office, within a reasonable time
prior to the proposed examination, a formal application in which
the applicant shall state under oath or affirmation:
(1)
His The applicant's full name, residence and post-office
address;
(2)
His The applicant's United States citizenship, age and the
place and date of
his the applicant's birth;
(3)
His The applicant's state of health and
his the
applicant's physical capacity for the public service;
(4)
His The applicant's business and employments and
residences for at least three previous years; and
(5) Such other information as may reasonably be required,
touching upon the applicant's qualifications and fitness for the
public service.
Blank forms for such applications shall be furnished by the
commission, without charge, to all individuals requesting the same.
The commission may require, in connection with such application,
such certificates of citizens, physicians and others, having
pertinent knowledge concerning the applicant, as the good of the
service may require.
No application for original appointment shall be received if the individual applying is less than eighteen years of age or more
than
thirty-five forty-five years of age at the date of
his the
individual's application:
Provided, That in the event any
applicant formerly served upon the paid police department of the
city to which he
or she makes application, for a period of more
than his
or her probationary period, and resigned from the
department at a time when there were no charges of misconduct or
other misfeasance pending against such applicant, within a period
of two years next preceding the date of his
or her application, and
at the time of his
or her application resides within the corporate
limits of the city in which the paid police department to which
he
the individual seeks appointment by reinstatement is located, then
such individual shall be eligible for appointment by reinstatement
in the discretion of the policemen's civil service commission, even
though such applicant shall be over the age of
thirty-five forty-
five years, and such applicant, providing his former term of
service so justifies, may be appointed by reinstatement to the paid
police department without a competitive examination, but such
applicant shall undergo a medical examination; and if such
individual shall be so appointed by reinstatement to the paid
police department,
he the individual shall be the lowest in rank in
the department next above the probationers of the department.
Any applicant for original appointment must have been a
resident for one year, during some period of time prior to the date
of his
or her application, of the city in which
he the applicant seeks to become a member of the paid police department:
Provided,
That if the commission deems it necessary it may consider for
original appointment or for reinstatement under the preceding
proviso of this section, applicants who are not residents of the
city but who have been residents of the county in which the city or
any portion of the territory thereof is located for a period of at
least one year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the maximum age
restriction for new hires of certain police departments in the
state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.