H. B. 2725
(By Delegates Campbell, Paxton, Williams,
Perry, M. Poling, Spencer, Tabb,
Beach and Duke)
[Introduced January 30, 2007; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the authorization of the
purchase of personal computers and related devices from the
state contract by public school teachers; conditions; and
limitations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-4. Rules of director.
(a) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to:
(1) Authorize a spending unit to purchase specified
commodities directly and prescribe the manner in which such
purchases shall be made;
(2) Authorize, in writing, a spending unit to purchase
commodities in the open market for immediate delivery in emergencies, define such emergencies and prescribe the manner in
which such purchases shall be made and reported to the director;
and for the purposes mentioned in subdivision (1) and this
subdivision (2), the head of any spending unit, or the financial
governing board of any institution, may, with the approval of the
director, make requisitions upon the Auditor for a sum to be known
as an advance allowance account, in no case to exceed five percent
of the total of the appropriations for any such spending unit, and
the Auditor shall draw his or her warrant upon the Treasurer for
such accounts; and all such advance allowance accounts shall be
accounted for by the head of the spending unit or institution once
every thirty days or more frequently if required by the State
Auditor or director;
(3) Prescribe the manner in which commodities shall be
purchased, delivered, stored and distributed;
(4) Prescribe the time for making requisitions and estimates
of commodities, the future period which they are to cover, the form
in which they shall be submitted and the manner of their
authentication;
(5) Prescribe the manner of inspecting all deliveries of
commodities, and making chemical and physical tests of samples
submitted with bids and samples of deliveries to determine
compliance with specifications;
(6) Prescribe the amount of deposit or bond to be submitted
with a bid or contract and the amount of deposit or bond to be
given for the faithful performance of a contract;
(7) Prescribe a system whereby the director shall be required,
upon the payment by a vendor of an annual fee established by the
director, to give notice to such vendor of all bid solicitations
for commodities of the type with respect to which such vendor
specified notice was to be given, but no such fee shall exceed the
cost of giving the notice to such vendor, nor shall such fee exceed
the sum of one hundred twenty-five dollars per fiscal year nor
shall such fee be charged to persons seeking only reimbursement
from a spending unit;
(8) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the
purchasing division shall contain provisions for liquidated
damages, remedies, or provisions for the determination of the
amount or amounts which the vendor shall owe as damages, in the
event of default under such contract by such vendor;
(9) Prescribe contract management procedures for all state
contracts except government construction contracts including, but
not limited to, those set forth in article twenty-two, chapter five
of this code;
(10) Prescribe procedures by which oversight is provided to
actively monitor spending unit purchases, including, but not
limited to, all technology and software commodities and contractual
services exceeding one million dollars, approval of change orders
and final acceptance by the spending units;
(11) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the
purchasing division contain provisions for cancellation of the
contract upon thirty days' notice to the vendor;
(12) Prescribe procedures for selling surplus commodities to
the highest bidder by means of an Internet auction site;
and
(13) Provide for such other matters as may be necessary to
give effect to the foregoing rules and the provisions of this
article;
and
(14) Authorize the purchase of personal computers and related
devices from the state contract by public school teachers for use
outside of the classroom. The computers and related devices shall
not be purchased with public funds, but may be paid for and owned
by teachers individually. No more than one computer and related
device per year may be purchased by each teacher.
(b) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to prescribe qualifications to be met by
any person who on and after the effective date of this section is
to be employed in the purchasing division as a state buyer. The
rules must provide that a person may not be employed as a state
buyer unless he or she at the time of employment either is: (1) A
graduate of an accredited college or university; or (2) has at
least four years' experience in purchasing for any unit of
government or for any business, commercial or industrial
enterprise. Persons serving as state buyers are subject to the
provisions of article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the director of
purchasing to promulgate a rule authorizing public school teachers to purchase one personal computer and related devices per year from
the state contract for use outside the classroom.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.