Senate Bill No. 450
(By Senators Kessler, Dempsey, Hunter and Love)
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[Introduced February 1, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §31-20-27 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Regional Jail and
Correctional Facility Authority; defining "nonuniformed
employees"; providing correctional officers and nonuniformed
employees employed by the authority at regional jails and the
Northern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility are covered
by civil service.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31-20-27 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
AUTHORITY.
§31-20-27. Correctional officers and nonuniformed employees; regional jails; priority of hiring; civil service
coverage.
(a) For the purposes of this article, nonuniformed employees
means all regional jail employees who are not correctional
officers, including, but not limited to, receptionists,
secretaries, office assistants, accounting technicians, building
maintenance staff, correctional counselors, correctional program
specialists, and the regional jail administrator, but not the
executive director.
(a) (b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the authority, when employing correctional officers
and
nonuniformed employees to complete the approved staffing plan of a
regional jail
completed after the effective date of this section.
shall employ any correctional officer applying for a position as a
correctional officer at a regional jail who was employed in good
standing at a county jail facility in the region at the time of its
closing or at a prison facility operated by the Division of
Corrections: Provided, That the regional jail is located within
the same region as the prison facility that was closed due to
relocation of the prison facility to a site outside the region.
Only those correctional officers, who are employees in good
standing at the time the prison facility is closed, are eligible
for transfer under the provisions of this subsection. Correctional
officers, employed under the provisions of this subsection, shall be employed shall do so at a salary and with benefits consistent
with the approved plan of compensation of the Division of
Personnel, created under section five, article six, chapter
twenty-nine of this code. All correctional officers
and
nonuniformed employees employed under this subsection shall also be
covered by the policies and procedures of the education and state
employees grievance board, created under section five, article
six-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
and the classified-exempt
service protection policies of the division of personnel
(b) © The authority shall, when employing correctional
officers to fill positions within the approved staffing plan of any
regional jail, employ any correctional officer applying for a
position as a correctional officer at a regional jail who was
previously employed as a correctional officer in good standing at
any local jail facility: Provided, That the local jail facility is
located within the same region as the regional jail at the time of
the local jail facility's closing or reduction in size and was
reduced in size or closed prior to or due to the completion of the
regional jail within the region. Correctional officers
and
nonuniformed employees employed under the provisions of this
subsection shall be employed at a salary and with benefits
consistent with the approved plan of compensation of the Division
of Personnel, created under section five, article six, chapter
twenty-nine of this code. Only those county correctional officers who are employees in good standing at the time the local jail
facility is closed are eligible for transfer under the provisions
of this subsection. All correctional officers
and nonuniformed
employees employed under this subsection shall also be covered by
the policies and procedures of the education and state employees
grievance board created under section five, article six-a, chapter
twenty-nine of this code.
and the classified-exempt service
protection of the division of personnel
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, on and after the first day of July, two thousand six, any
person then employed or to be employed by the Regional Jail and
Correctional Facility Authority as a correctional officer in a
regional jail or at the Northern Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility shall, within the limitations contained in section two,
article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code, be placed in the
civil service system as a covered employee.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that, on and
after July 1, 2006, correctional officers and nonuniformed
employees employed by the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility
Authority and the Northern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility
be transferred into the civil service system as covered employees.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.