Senate Bill No. 149
(By Senator Sypolt)
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[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to prohibiting abortions at state
college or university medical facilities except when the
abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving
the abortion.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. INSTITUTIONAL BOARDS OF GOVERNORS.
§18B-2A-4. Powers and duties of governing boards generally.
Each governing board separately has the power and duty to:
(a) Determine, control, supervise and manage the financial,
business and education policies and affairs of the state
institutions of higher education under its jurisdiction;
(b) Develop a master plan for the institutions under its jurisdiction, except the administratively linked community and
technical colleges which retain an institutional board of advisors
shall develop their master plans subject to the provisions of
section one, article six of this chapter.
(1) The ultimate responsibility for developing and updating
the master plans at the institutional level resides with the board
of governors, or board of advisors, as applicable, but the ultimate
responsibility for approving the final version of the institutional
master plans, including periodic updates, resides with the
commission or council, as appropriate.
(2) Each master plan shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
(A) A detailed demonstration of how the master plan will be
used to meet the goals and objectives of the institutional compact;
(B) A well-developed set of goals outlining missions, degree
offerings, resource requirements, physical plant needs, personnel
needs, enrollment levels and other planning determinates and
projections necessary in a plan to assure that the needs of the
institution's area of responsibility for a quality system of higher
education are addressed;
(C) Document the involvement of the commission or council, as
appropriate, institutional constituency groups, clientele of the
institution and the general public in the development of all
segments of the institutional master plan.
(3) The plan shall be established for periods of not less than
three nor more than six years and shall be revised periodically as
necessary, including the addition or deletion of degree programs
as, in the discretion of the appropriate governing board, may be
necessary;
(c) Prescribe for the institutions under its jurisdiction, in
accordance with its master plan and the compact for each
institution, specific functions and responsibilities to meet the
higher education needs of its area of responsibility and to avoid
unnecessary duplication;
(d) Direct the preparation of a budget request for the
institutions under its jurisdiction, which relates directly to
missions, goals and projections as found in the institutional
master plans and the institutional compacts;
(e) Consider, revise and submit to the commission or council,
as appropriate, a budget request on behalf of the institutions
under its jurisdiction;
(f) Review, at least every five years, all academic programs
offered at the institutions under its jurisdiction. The review
shall address the viability, adequacy and necessity of the programs
in relation to its institutional master plan, the institutional
compact and the education and workforce needs of its responsibility
district. As a part of the review, each governing board shall
require the institutions under its jurisdiction to conduct periodic studies of its graduates and their employers to determine placement
patterns and the effectiveness of the education experience. Where
appropriate, these studies should coincide with the studies
required of many academic disciplines by their accrediting bodies;
(g) Ensure that the sequence and availability of academic
programs and courses offered by the institutions under their
jurisdiction is such that students have the maximum opportunity to
complete programs in the time frame normally associated with
program completion. Each governing board is responsible to see
that the needs of nontraditional college-age students are
appropriately addressed and, to the extent it is possible for the
individual governing board to control, to assure core course work
completed at institutions under its jurisdiction is transferable to
any other state institution of higher education for credit with the
grade earned;
(h) Subject to the provisions of article one-b of this
chapter, approve the teacher education programs offered in the
institution under its control. In order to permit graduates of
teacher education programs to receive a degree from a nationally
accredited program and in order to prevent expensive duplication of
program accreditation, the commission may select and use one
nationally recognized teacher education program accreditation
standard as the appropriate standard for program evaluation;
(i) Use faculty, students and classified employees in institutional-level planning and decision making when those groups
are affected;
(j) Subject to the provisions of federal law and pursuant to
the provisions of article nine of this chapter and to rules adopted
by the commission and the council, administer a system for the
management of personnel matters, including, but not limited to,
personnel classification, compensation and discipline for employees
at the institutions under their jurisdiction;
(k) Administer a system for hearing employee grievances and
appeals. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the procedure established in article two, chapter six-c
of this code is the exclusive mechanism for hearing prospective
employee grievances and appeals;
(l) Solicit and use or expend voluntary support, including
financial contributions and support services, for the institutions
under its jurisdiction;
(m) Appoint a president for the institutions under its
jurisdiction subject to the provisions of section six, article
one-b of this chapter;
(n) Conduct written performance evaluations of the president
pursuant to section six, article one-b of this chapter;
(o) Employ all faculty and staff at the institution under its
jurisdiction. The employees operate under the supervision of the
president, but are employees of the governing board;
(p) Submit to the commission or council, as appropriate, no
later than the first day of November of each year an annual report
of the performance of the institution under its jurisdiction during
the previous fiscal year as compared to stated goals in its master
plan and institutional compact;
(q) Enter into contracts or consortium agreements with the
public schools, private schools or private industry to provide
technical, vocational, college preparatory, remedial and customized
training courses at locations either on campuses of the public
institution of higher education or at off-campus locations in the
institution's responsibility district. To accomplish this goal,
the boards may share resources among the various groups in the
community;
(r) Provide and transfer funding and property to certain
corporations pursuant to section ten, article twelve of this
chapter;
(s) Delegate, with prescribed standards and limitations, the
part of its power and control over the business affairs of the
institution to the president in any case where it considers the
delegation necessary and prudent in order to enable the institution
to function in a proper and expeditious manner and to meet the
requirements of its institutional compact. If a governing board
elects to delegate any of its power and control under the
provisions of this subsection, it shall enter the delegation in the minutes of the meeting when the decision was made and shall notify
the commission or council, as appropriate. Any delegation of power
and control may be rescinded by the appropriate governing board,
the commission or council, as appropriate, at any time, in whole or
in part, except that the commission may not revoke delegations of
authority made by the governing boards of Marshall University or
West Virginia University as they relate to the state institutions
of higher education known as Marshall University and West Virginia
University;
(t) Unless changed by the commission or the council, as
appropriate, continue to abide by existing rules setting forth
standards for acceptance of advanced placement credit for their
respective institutions. Individual departments at institutions of
higher education may, upon approval of the institutional faculty
senate, require higher scores on the advanced placement test than
scores designated by the appropriate governing board when the
credit is to be used toward meeting a requirement of the core
curriculum for a major in that department;
(u) Consult, cooperate and work with the State Treasurer and
the State Auditor to update as necessary and maintain an efficient
and cost-effective system for the financial management and
expenditure of special revenue and appropriated state funds at the
institutions under its jurisdiction that ensures that properly
submitted requests for payment be paid on or before due date but, in any event, within fifteen days of receipt in the State Auditor's
office;
(v) In consultation with the appropriate chancellor and the
Secretary of the Department of Administration, develop, update as
necessary and maintain a plan to administer a consistent method of
conducting personnel transactions, including, but not limited to,
hiring, dismissal, promotions and transfers at the institutions
under their jurisdiction. Each personnel transaction shall be
accompanied by the appropriate standardized system or forms which
shall be submitted to the respective governing board and the
Department of Finance and Administration;
(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, transfer funds from any account specifically appropriated
for their use to any corresponding line item in a general revenue
account at any agency or institution under their jurisdiction as
long as such transferred funds are used for the purposes
appropriated;
(x) Transfer funds from appropriated special revenue accounts
for capital improvements under their jurisdiction to special
revenue accounts at agencies or institutions under their
jurisdiction as long as such transferred funds are used for the
purposes appropriated;
(y) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, acquire legal services that are necessary, including representation of the governing boards, their institutions,
employees and officers before any court or administrative body.
The counsel may be employed either on a salaried basis or on a
reasonable fee basis. In addition, the governing boards may, but
are not required to, call upon the Attorney General for legal
assistance and representation as provided by law;
(z) For each governing board which has under its jurisdiction
an administratively linked community and technical college or a
regional campus offering community and technical college education
programs, create within the administrative structure of its
governing board a subcommittee for community and technical college
education. The subcommittee shall have at least four members, one
of whom is the chairperson of the board of advisors of the
community and technical college or, in the case of the Governing
Board of West Virginia University, both the member representing the
community and technical college and the member representing the
regional campus;
and
(aa) Contract and pay for disability insurance for a class or
classes of employees at a state institution of higher education
under its jurisdiction;
and
(bb) The governing boards shall prohibit the performance of an
abortion at any institution or facility under the respective
jurisdiction of the governing boards, except when the performance
of the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the abortion.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit abortions at
state college or university medical facilities, except when the
abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the
abortion.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.