H. B. 2243
(By Delegates Boggs and Campbell)
[Introduced February 12, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §4-6-1, §4-6-2 and
§4-6-3, all relating to creating the Joint Commission on
Technology and Advanced Communications; providing for
appointment of members of the Senate and House of Delegates to
the commission; providing for the appointment of citizen
members; meetings, periods of function, powers and duties of
the commission; and the recommendation of guidelines.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §4-6-1, §4-6-2 and
§4-6-3, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED
COMMUNICATIONS.
§4-6-1. Legislative findings; purposes and intent.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares:
(1) That the future economic base of West Virginia is tied to
the development and utilization of technology;
(2) That efforts to enhance and promote the expansion and
efficient use of technology should be coordinated among the several
state and federal agencies, commissions, boards, committees,
associations and other entities;
(3) It is anticipated that these efforts will increase
statewide awareness of the technology community of this state;
promote and enable technology-based economic development by
cooperating with economic development organizations and
coordinating industry expertise; and make known the vital roles the
technology community and workforce have in the future of this
state;
(4) That there exists a need to develop and maintain an
overall technology policy for the State of West Virginia with
respect to: (A) Application of technology to free state employees
from repetitive tasks so the employees may focus on more important
tasks; (B) application of technology to speed information flow and
information management to achieve a faster response time to users
of government services, including businesses, individuals and
intergovernmental users; (C) minimize transaction costs; and (D)
meet the demands of constituents for use of technology; and
(5) That the present and future welfare of the people of the state require, as a public purpose, a continuing effort toward the
promotion and development of technology and the technology
industry.
§4-6-2. Creation of a Joint Legislative Commission.
(a) There is created a Joint Legislative Commission of the
Senate and House of Delegates, named the Joint Legislative
Commission on Technology and Advanced Communications, for the
purpose of studying and investigating all matters relating to
technological advancements pertinent to the state and to promote
the development of technology in the State of West Virginia through
sound public policies.
(b) The commission shall be comprised of seven members from
the West Virginia Senate, a cochairman and six members to be
appointed by the Senate President, and seven members of the House
of Delegates, a cochairman and six members to be appointed by the
Speaker; the Speaker and the President shall appoint minority party
members in the same proportion or ratio that minority party members
elected to the respective houses bear to the total members elected
to each house. The speaker and president shall designate one of
their respective members to cochair the Joint Legislative
Commission on Technology and Advanced Communications. The
commission shall include four members to be representatives from
the technology industry in the state or from major users of
technology in this state. The four nonlegislative members shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the
Senate. Two members shall be appointed to serve a term of two
years and two members shall be appointed to serve a term of four
years. The successor of each such appointed member shall be
appointed for an overlapping term of four years, except that any
person appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the
expiration of the term for which the predecessor was appointed
shall be appointed only to the remainder of such term. Each
member shall serve until the appointment of his or her successor.
(c) The Joint Legislative Commission on Technology and
Advanced Communications shall function during the regular
legislative session and during the interim, between the sine die
adjournment or the extended recess of the regular session of each
regular legislative session, until the convening of the next
regular session of the Legislature, or reconvening of the
Legislature.
(d) Each year the commission shall develop a work plan and
identify several topic areas that it will consider. The work plan
may include such study topics as those directed by the Legislature
through legislation, requested by government agencies and the
public, or identified on the commission's own initiative.
(e) Once the work plan is adopted, the commission will create
advisory committees to the commission to study those initiatives
that are designated. The committees shall be composed of members of the commission who cochair the committees, and persons with
expertise in the matters under consideration by the committee. The
chairs of the commission shall appoint members of the advisory
committee who shall serve until the start of the next legislative
session.
§4-6-3. Powers and duties of the commission generally.
(a) The Joint Legislative Commission on Technology and
Advanced Communications shall study all aspects of technology and
endeavor to stimulate, encourage, promote and assist in the
development of technology in the state, and related public
policies. In addition, the commission shall:
(1) Review the annual reports and work plans submitted by the
Governor's Office of Technology and the West Virginia Science and
Technology Advisory Council concerning the development of access to
a statewide public telecommunications network for distance
learning, telemedicine and universal access for governmental
entities, e-government, e-commerce and other issues relating to
technology, either initiated by those agencies or the committee, or
referred to it by either house of the Legislature for study or
review;
(2) Exercise leadership to coordinate for the various
committees of the Legislature the various activities, studies and
planning activities of the Legislature which relate to any aspect
of technological development;
(3) Evaluate the impact of existing statutes and proposed
legislation related to technology in the state;
(4) Utilize the Governor's Office of Technology and other
resources to investigate, research and consider issues related to
technology as may be requested by the Legislature and make
recommendations to the Legislature;
(5) Encourage research and development in technology; and
(6) Inventory and consult with existing technology businesses
and enterprises as to ways to foster increased business activity
and employment opportunities.
(b) Working in cooperation with the Governor's Office of
Technology and the Department of Administration, the commission
shall recommend guidelines to be used by the Legislature, state
government and state political subdivisions for technology related
purchasing.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Joint
Commission on Technology and Advanced Communications and include
nonlegislative members.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.