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WEST virginia
legislature
2017 SECOND
EXTRAORDInaRY session
By
[
A BILL to amend the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto two new sections,
designated §29-6-4a and §29-6-4b, all relating generally to requiring the
Commissioner of Highways and Tax Commissioner to implement special hiring
procedure for personnel positions in their respective divisions; establishing
requirements for this special hiring procedure; exempting Division of Highways
and Tax Division from certain hiring procedures; instituting new procedures;
authorizing new schedules of compensation; exempting Division of Personnel from
certain grievance claims; providing for retention of due process, anti-favoritism
and anti-discrimination requirements; requiring the Commissioner of Highways to
propose legislative rules; and authorizing the Tax Commissioner to propose
emergency rules.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto two new sections,
designated §29-6-4a and §29-6-4b, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM.
§29-6-4a. Special Appointment Procedures for Division
of Highways Personnel.
(a) Legislative Intent.--
(1) The Legislature
commissioned a performance audit to assess and improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of the division’s core operations.
One key issue was that the Division of Highways has long had difficulty filling
positions which are essential to constructing and maintaining the state’s
highways. The hiring and retention processes must be streamlined to effectively
and efficiently meet the personnel needs of the division while still affording
applicants and employees the due process protections of classified service.
(2) The Legislature has
recently approved increased funding for the roads and highways of the state
which will exacerbate its staffing shortage, which currently consists of
several hundred vacancies.
(3) The purpose of this
section is to allow the Division of Highways to appoint qualified applicants to
vacant and new personnel positions in the division in a timely manner and to
ensure that the Division of Highways maintains an adequate workforce to
maintain safe roadways for the citizens of West Virginia.
(b) Definitions. - As used in this section:
(1) “Commissioner” means
the Commissioner of the Division of Highways or his or her designee; and
(2) “Division” means the
Division of Highways.
(c) Special Hiring Procedure; Requirements -- The commissioner shall
implement the special merit based application and appointment procedure created
in this section for all the employees of the division to ensure and provide for
the selection of competent and qualified personnel. The special application and
appointment procedure required by this section shall go into effect on December
1, 2017, and shall meet the following requirements:
(1) The Division of
Personnel shall continue to provide competitive registers of eligible
applicants when requested by the division within five business days of
receiving the request;
(2) The Division of
Personnel shall continue to prepare, maintain, and share a list of disqualified
candidates who are not suitable for positions in state government;
(3) Any position to be
filled internally shall be posted for five calendar days before the division
may select an applicant. For positions to be filled with an applicant from
outside of the division, the position shall be posted for not more than
fourteen calendar days;
(4) Postings shall be
viable for one year;
(5) Notwithstanding any
provision of the code or of any rule to the contrary, the division is
authorized to interview and hire any person listed on the Transportation Worker
I register for employment as a Transportation Worker I without regard to the
person’s position on said register;
(6) The division shall
have full authority to evaluate applicants for appointment or promotion to
positions within the classified service and classified-exempt service. The
division shall have sole authority to determine whether applicants meet minimum
position requirements;
(7) The division shall
have full authority to make classification determinations by using the
classification system approved by the State Personnel Board. The division may
independently submit to the State Personnel Board recommendations for the
approval of new classifications or the amendment of current classifications;
(8) The division shall
have full authority to exercise its discretion regarding the application of the
Division of Personnel’s system of compensation for positions within the
classified and classified-exempt service. The division may independently submit
to the State Personnel Board recommendations for the approval of a special pay
scale for the division’s personnel;
(9) Notwithstanding any
provision of the code or of any rule to the contrary, the Division of Personnel
shall not be a mandatory party to any public employee grievance filed against
the division. The Division of Personnel shall not be a signatory to, and may
not override or otherwise challenge, the division’s decisions regarding
settlement terms and conditions in employee grievances or other legal
proceedings;
(10) The Division of
Personnel shall facilitate or perform any action necessary to initiate or
complete the division’s employment transactions, including but not limited to,
posting positions on applicable systems, initiating public service
announcements when requested by the division, and processing necessary forms;
(11) The division shall
comply with all applicable record retention requirements provided by law;
(12) The division is
authorized to process multiple leaves of absence simultaneously within the
wvOASIS system;
(13) The division shall
have the flexibility to utilize all vacant position numbers when posting to
fill a vacancy and to post vacant positions utilizing multiple classifications
when the commissioner determines it to be necessary and in the best interest of
the agency; and
(14) For purposes of
this section, a vacancy created when an employee of the division goes on
terminal leave shall be posted upon receipt of the notice that the employee has
begun such leave.
(d) Exemption from regular application and appointment requirements -- When
seeking applications or making appointments pursuant to the special procedure
required by subsection (c) of this section, the division is not required to
comply with Division of Personnel procedures for seeking applications and making
appointments to classified service positions as provided in this article or in
any other provision of this code, including those procedures promulgated by
legislative rules, subject however to the following exceptions:
(1) This section does
not exempt the division from the requirements of sections twenty and twenty-one
of this article, including the prohibition against favoritism, discrimination
or unethical practices related to appointment, or the public employee grievance
system; and
(2) The provisions of
this section may not be applied to hiring procedures applicable to any division
classified service position or employee in any manner that disqualifies the
division for eligibility for any federal highway funds or assistance.
(e) Rules. -- The commissioner shall propose legislative rules pursuant
to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code as may
be necessary to implement and comply with the provisions of this section.
(f) The provisions of
this section shall apply notwithstanding any other provision of this article or
article six-A of this chapter to the contrary.
(g) Employees of the
division who are not in the classified-exempt service shall continue to be
covered by the civil service system and may utilize any applicable public
employee grievance process.
§29-6-4b. Special Appointment Procedures for Tax
Division Personnel.
(a) Legislative Intent.--
(1) The Tax Division
of the Department of Revenue has vacancies throughout the division that the division
is having difficulty filling. One key issue the division has long had is
difficulty filling positions which are essential to efficiently and effectively
administering, collecting and enforcing the tax laws of this state. To address
this problem, the hiring and retention processes must be streamlined to
effectively and efficiently meet the personnel needs of the division while
still affording applicants and employees the due process protections of
classified service.
(2) The voters
recently ratified the Roads to Prosperity Amendment of 2017 to the Constitution
of West Virginia, which will result in increased funding for the roads and
highways of the state and the opportunity for in-state and out-of-state
contractors to bid on road projects. The need to ensure that all out-of-state
businesses are properly complying with the tax laws of this state will
exacerbate the division’s staffing shortage, which currently consists of one
hundred vacancies.
(3) The purpose of
this section is to allow the division to appoint qualified applicants to vacant
and new personnel positions in the division in a timely manner and to ensure
that the division maintains an adequate workforce to administer, collect and
enforce the tax laws of this state to ensure a level playing field for in-state
and out-of-state businesses.
(b) Definitions. - As used in this section:
(1) “Commissioner”
means the Commissioner of the Tax Division of the Department of Revenue or his
or her designee; and
(2) “Division” means
the Tax Division.
(c) Special Hiring Procedure; Requirements
-- The commissioner shall implement the special merit based application and
appointment procedure created in this section for all the employees of the
division to ensure and provide for the selection of competent and qualified
personnel. The special application and appointment procedure required by this
section shall go into effect on December 1, 2017, and shall meet the following
requirements:
(1) The Division of
Personnel shall continue to provide competitive registers of eligible
applicants when requested by the division within five business days of
receiving the request;
(2) The Division of
Personnel shall continue to prepare, maintain, and share a list of disqualified
candidates who are not suitable for positions in state government;
(3) Any position to
be filled internally shall be posted for five calendar days before the division
may select an applicant. For positions to be filled with an applicant from
outside of the division, the position shall be posted for not more than
fourteen calendar days;
(4) Postings shall
be viable for one year;
(5) Notwithstanding
any provision of the code or rule to the contrary, the division is authorized
to interview and hire any person listed on the register for employment as a Tax
and Revenue Auditor 1, Tax and Revenue Auditor 2, Tax and Revenue Auditor 3,
Revenue Agent 1, Revenue Agent 2, Investigator 2, Investigator 3 without regard
to the person’s position on the applicable register;
(6) The division shall have full authority to evaluate applicants
for appointment or promotion to positions within the classified service and
classified-exempt service. The division shall have sole authority to determine
whether applicants meet minimum position requirements;
(7) The division shall have full authority to make classification
determinations by using the classification system approved by the State
Personnel Board. The division may independently submit to the State Personnel
Board recommendations for the approval of new classifications or the amendment
of current classifications;
(8) The division
shall have full authority to exercise its discretion regarding the application
of the Division of Personnel’s system of compensation for positions within the
classified and classified-exempt service. The division may independently submit
to the State Personnel Board recommendations for the approval of a special pay
scale for the division’s personnel;
(9) Notwithstanding
any provision of the code or of any rule to the contrary, the Division of Personnel
shall not be a mandatory party to any public employee grievance filed against
the division. The Division of Personnel shall not be a signatory to, and may
not override or otherwise challenge, the division’s decisions regarding
settlement terms and conditions in employee grievances or other legal
proceedings;
(10) The Division of
Personnel shall facilitate or perform any action necessary to initiate or
complete the division’s employment transactions, including, but not limited to,
posting positions on applicable systems, initiating public service
announcements when requested by the division, and processing necessary forms;
(11) The division
shall comply with all applicable record retention requirements provided by law;
(12) The division is
authorized to process multiple leaves of absence simultaneously within the
wvOASIS system;
(13) The division
shall have the flexibility to utilize all vacant position numbers when posting
to fill a vacancy and to post vacant positions utilizing multiple
classifications when the commissioner determines it to be necessary and in the
best interest of the division; and
(14) For purposes of this section, a vacancy created when an
employee of the division goes on terminal leave shall be posted upon receipt of
the notice that the employee has begun such leave.
(d) Exemption from Regular
Application and Appointment Requirements. -- When seeking applications or making
appointments pursuant to the special procedure required by subsection (c) of
this section, the division is not required to comply with Division of Personnel
procedures for seeking applications and making appointments to classified
service positions as provided in this article or in any other provision of this
code, including those procedures promulgated in procedural or legislative rules
promulgated by the commissioner pursuant to article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code, except that this section does not exempt the division
from the requirements of sections twenty and twenty-one of this article,
including the prohibition against favoritism, discrimination or unethical
practices related to appointment, or the public employee grievance system.
(e) The commissioner
may promulgate an emergency legislative rule pursuant to the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code as may be necessary to
implement and comply with the provisions of this section.
(f) The provisions
of this section shall apply notwithstanding any other provision of this article
or article six-A of this chapter to the contrary.
(g) Employees of the
division who are not in the classified-exempt service shall continue to be
covered by the civil service system and may utilize any applicable public
employee grievance process.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to provide an efficient, fast and fair merit based system of hiring new
employees and retaining current employees while maintaining the current
protections afforded under the classified service. Without this bill, Division of Highways will
not be able to meet the current demand for employees to maintain our roads and
highways much less, the increased demand triggered by increased funding for
highway construction. Without this bill, the Tax Division will not be able to
meet the current demand for employees to administer, collect and enforce the
tax laws of this state.
This bill shortens time frames for
completing personnel actions by the Division of Highways, the Tax Division and
the Division of Personnel. It reduces
the duplicative multi-level approvals of personnel decisions but retains due
process protections. The Joint Committee
on Government and Finance will receive quarterly reports from the Division of
Highways and the Division of Personnel and both agencies are required to
jointly propose emergency and legislative rules to effectuate the provisions of
this section.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.
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