H. B. 4486
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Stemple,
Cann, Kominar, Stalnaker, Amores, Michael,
Campbell, Perry, Hartman and Browning)
[Introduced February 10, 2006; referred to the
Committee on Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security then
Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §6-7-2a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §15-1B-16 of said code;
and to amend and reenact §15-1B-21 of said code, all relating
to the National Guard generally; providing that the salary of
the Adjutant General is the pay and allowance of an officer of
the same rank on active duty; providing for the payment of
tuition and fees for postgraduate courses for members of the
National Guard; and increasing the base pay of members of the
National Guard while in active service to the state.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §6-7-2a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §15-1B-16 of said code be amended
and reenacted; and that §15-1B-21 of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS RESPECTING OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 7. COMPENSATION AND ALLOWANCES.
§6-7-2a. Terms of certain appointive state officers; appointment; qualifications; powers and salaries of such officers.
(a) Each of the following appointive state officers named in
this subsection shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate. Each of the appointive state
officers serves at the will and pleasure of the Governor for the
term for which the Governor was elected and until the respective
state officers' successors have been appointed and qualified. Each
of the appointive state officers are subject to the existing
qualifications for holding each respective office and each has and
is hereby granted all of the powers and authority and shall perform
all of the functions and services heretofore vested in and
performed by virtue of existing law respecting each office.
Prior to the first day of July, two thousand one, each such
named appointive state officer shall continue to receive the annual
salaries they were receiving as of the effective date of the
enactment of this section in two thousand one, and thereafter,
notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary,
the annual salary of each named appointive state officer shall be
as follows:
Administrator, Division of Highways, ninety thousand dollars;
Administrator, State Tax Division, sixty-five thousand dollars;
Administrator, Division of Corrections, seventy-five thousand
dollars; Administrator, Division of Natural Resources, seventy
thousand dollars; Superintendent, State Police, seventy-five
thousand dollars; Administrator, Lottery Division, seventy-five
thousand dollars; Director, Public Employees Insurance Agency, seventy-five thousand dollars; Administrator, Division of Banking,
sixty thousand dollars; Administrator, Division of Insurance, sixty
thousand dollars; Administrator, Division of Culture and History,
fifty-five thousand dollars; Administrator, Alcohol Beverage
Control Commission, seventy thousand dollars; Administrator,
Division of Motor Vehicles, seventy thousand dollars; Director,
Division of Personnel, fifty-five thousand dollars; Adjutant
General,
seventy-five thousand dollars the pay and allowances of
his or her federally recognized rank paid to an officer of the same
rank on active duty; chairman, Health Care Authority, seventy
thousand dollars; members, Health Care Authority, sixty thousand
dollars; Director, Human Rights Commission, forty-five thousand
dollars; Administrator, Division of Labor, sixty thousand dollars;
Administrator, Division of Veterans' Affairs, forty-five thousand
dollars; Administrator, Division of Emergency Services, forty-five
thousand dollars; members, board of parole, forty-five thousand
dollars; members, Employment Security Review Board, seventeen
thousand dollars; members, Workers' Compensation Appeal Board,
seventeen thousand eight hundred dollars; Administrator, Bureau of
Employment Programs, seventy thousand dollars; Administrator,
Bureau of Commerce, seventy thousand dollars; Administrator, Bureau
of Environment, seventy thousand dollars; and Director, Office of
Miner's Health, Safety and Training, sixty-five thousand dollars.
Secretaries of the departments shall be paid an annual salary as
follows: Health and human resources, ninety thousand dollars;
transportation, seventy-five thousand dollars; tax and revenue, seventy-five thousand dollars; military affairs and public safety,
seventy-five thousand dollars; administration, seventy-five
thousand dollars; education and the arts, seventy-five thousand
dollars; and environmental protection, seventy-five thousand
dollars.
(b) Each of the state officers named in this subsection shall
continue to be appointed in the manner prescribed in this code and,
prior to the first day of July, two thousand two, each of the state
officers named in this subsection shall continue to receive the
annual salaries he or she was receiving as of the effective date of
the enactment of this section in two thousand two, and shall
thereafter, notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, be paid an annual salary as follows:
Administrator, Division of Risk and Insurance Management,
fifty-five thousand dollars; Director, Division of Rehabilitation
Services, sixty thousand dollars; Executive Director, Educational
Broadcasting Authority, sixty thousand dollars; Secretary, Library
Commission, sixty-seven thousand dollars; director, geological and
economic survey, fifty-two thousand five hundred dollars; executive
director, prosecuting attorneys institute, sixty thousand dollars;
executive director, public defender services, sixty thousand
dollars; Commissioner, Bureau of Senior Services, seventy thousand
dollars; Director, State Rail Authority, fifty-five thousand
dollars; Executive Secretary, Women's Commission, thirty-one
thousand dollars; Director, Hospital Finance Authority, twenty-six
thousand dollars; member, Racing Commission, twelve thousand dollars; chairman, Public Service Commission, seventy thousand
dollars; and members, Public Service Commission, seventy thousand
dollars.
(c) No increase in the salary of any appointive state officer
pursuant to this section shall be paid until and unless the
appointive state officer has first filed with the State Auditor and
the Legislative Auditor a sworn statement, on a form to be
prescribed by the Attorney General, certifying that his or her
spending unit is in compliance with any general law providing for
a salary increase for his or her employees. The Attorney General
shall prepare and distribute the form to the affected spending
units.
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY.
ARTICLE 1B. NATIONAL GUARD.
§15-1B-16. Pay and allowances.
(a) Pay and allowances for officers and enlisted personnel of
the National Guard for drill, encampment or other duty for training
prescribed or ordered by the federal government, shall be such as
are provided by the laws of the United States.
(b) Officers and enlisted personnel of the National Guard in
active service of the state shall receive the same pay and
allowances, in accordance with their rank and service, as are
prescribed for the Armed Forces of the United States: Provided,
That no member of the National Guard shall receive base pay of less
than seventy-five one hundred dollars per day while he or she is in
active service of the state.
(c) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this article,
members of the National Guard, may, with their consent, perform
without pay, or without pay and allowances, any duties prescribed
by section thirteen of this article pursuant to competent orders
therefor: Provided, That necessary expenses may be furnished such
personnel within the discretion of the adjutant general.
§15-1B-21. Tuition and fees for guard members at institutions of
higher education.
(a) Any member of the National Guard who is enrolled in a
course of undergraduate or post-graduate study and is attending any
accredited college, university, business or trade school located in
West Virginia or is attending any aviation school located in West
Virginia for the purpose of taking college-credit courses, may be
entitled to payment of tuitions and fees at that college,
university, business or trade school or aviation school during the
period of his or her service in the National Guard: Provided, That
the Adjutant General may prescribe criteria of eligibility for
payment of tuition and fees at the college, university, business or
trade school or aviation school: Provided, however, That the
payment is contingent upon appropriations being made by the
Legislature for this express purpose.
(b) The amount of the payment for members attending a
state-supported school shall be determined by the Adjutant General
and may not exceed the actual amount of tuition and fees at the
school. The amount of the payment for members attending a private
school shall be determined by the Adjutant General, but in no event may it exceed the highest amounts payable at any state-supported
school.
(c) Any member of the National Guard who is enrolled in a
course of postgraduate study and is attending any accredited
college or university located in West Virginia, and is receiving
payments under the Army continuing education system, may be
entitled to payment of tuition and fees at that college or
university during his or her period of service in the National
Guard: Provided, That the sum of payments received under this
subsection and the Army continuing education system may not exceed
the actual amount of tuition and fees at the school and in no event
may exceed the highest amounts payable at any state-supported
school. The payments are contingent upon appropriations being made
by the Legislature for this express purpose For the purposes of
this section, postgraduate study includes the pursuit of a masters,
doctoral or professional degree.
(d) The Adjutant General may, in lieu of the tuition payment
authorized by this section, pay an amount equal to the amount of
tuition which otherwise would have been paid, directly to members
of the West Virginia National Guard who are participating in the
PROMISE scholarship program provided in article seven, chapter
eighteen-c of this code.
(e) A member of the West Virginia National Guard who is
receiving payments for tuition and fees under this section, and is
discharged from the military service due to wounds or injuries
received in the line of duty, may continue to receive payments for tuition and fees under this section as if he or she were still a
member of the West Virginia National Guard.
(f) The Adjutant General shall administer the tuition and fee
payments authorized under this section and shall propose policies
to implement the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set the salary of the
Adjutant General at the pay and allowance of an officer of the same
rank on active duty. The bill also sets a minimum base pay for
members of the National Guard and provides tuition payment for the
cost of post-graduate courses of members.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.