Senate Bill No. 202
(By Senators Bowman, Unger, Jenkins, Weeks, Kessler, McCabe,
Caldwell, White, Fanning, Rowe, Minard, Prezioso, Plymale,
Sharpe, Ross, Dempsey, Love, Facemyer, McKenzie, Smith, Harrison,
Boley, Minear, Sprouse, Guills, Helmick, Oliverio, Hunter,
Chafin, Edgell and Tomblin)
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[Introduced January 19, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Military; and then to the Committee on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §9A-1-2 and §9A-1-3 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to including Gulf War
and Afghanistan conflict veterans on the veterans council.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §9A-1-2 and §9A-1-3 of the code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DIVISION OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS.
§9A-1-2. Veterans' council; administration of division.
There shall be is established a "veterans' council" which
shall consist consisting of seven nine members who shall must be
citizens and residents of this state and who have served in and been honorably discharged or separated under honorable conditions
from the armed forces of the United States and whose service was
within a time of war as defined by the laws of the United States,
either Public Law No. 2 -- 73rd Congress, or Public Law No. 346 --
78th Congress,
and any and all amendments thereto. At least one
member of the council shall must be a veteran of World War II, at
least one member of the council shall must be a veteran of the
Korean Conflict and, at least two members of the council shall must
be veterans of the Vietnam era, at least one member must be a
veteran of the first Gulf War and at least one member must be a
veteran of the Afghanistan Conflict. The members of the veterans'
council shall must be selected with special reference to their
ability and fitness to effectuate the purposes of this article.
The West Virginia division of veterans' affairs shall be
administered by A director and such veterans' affairs officers,
assistants and employees as may be deemed advisable, shall
administer the West Virginia division of veterans' affairs.
§9A-1-3. Appointment of veterans' council members; term of office;
removal.
The term of office of the members of the veterans' council
shall be is six years, and they shall members must be appointed by
the governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate:
Provided, That upon the adoption of this article, the governor as
aforesaid shall appoint two members for a term of two years, two members for a term of four years and one member for a term of six
years, and thereafter the successors of each member shall be
appointed for the term of six years: Provided, however, That upon
the expansion of the council from five to seven to nine members,
the governor shall initially appoint one new member for a term of
four years and shall initially appoint the other new member for a
term of six years. Thereafter the successors of these members
shall be appointed for the term of six years. In case of a vacancy
in the veterans' council, the appointment shall be is for the
remainder of the unexpired term. A member of the veterans' council
shall be is subject to removal by the governor for cause, but shall
may have upon his own request an open hearing before the governor
on the complaints or charges lodged against him. The action of the
governor shall be is final.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand the Veterans
Council from seven to nine members to include representatives of
the first Gulf War and the Afghanistan Conflict.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.