H. B. 2389

(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chambers, and Delegates Fleischauer,
Manuel, Compton, Staton, Douglas and Amores)
[Introduced February 7, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article ten, chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend article two-a, chapter seventeen of said code by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-two; to amend chapter twenty-nine of said code by adding thereto a new article, designated article twenty-a; and to amend and reenact section twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of said code, all relating to improving the economic status of women in the state of West Virginia.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section three, article ten, chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that article two-a, chapter seventeen of said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated article twenty-two; that chapter twenty- nine of said code be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article twenty-a; and that section twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 4. THE LEGISLATURE

§4-10-3. Definitions.

As used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(1) "Committee" means the joint committee on government operations, hereinafter created, to perform duties under this article.
(2) "Department" means any office or division, headed by a gubernatorial appointee, within the state of West Virginia.
(3) "Agency" means any department, division, fund, office, position, system, survey or other entity of state government, however designated, in the state of West Virginia.
(4) "Board" means any board, commission, authority, council, advisory body, or other body, however designated, consisting of two or more members, in the state of West Virginia.
(5) "Performance audit" means to determine for a department, agency, or board whether the department, agency or board is acquiring, protecting and using its resources economically and efficiently; the causes of inefficiencies or fiscally unsound practices; and whether the department, agency or board has complied with laws and regulations concerning matters of economy and efficiency; and a gender impact analysis of the policies, budgets and expenditures of the department, agency or board during the audit period. Also, a performance audit may include determining the extent to which the desired results or benefits established by the legislature are being achieved by the department, agency or board; the effectiveness of organizations, programs, activities or functions; and whether the department, agency or board has complied with laws and regulations applicable to the program.
(6) "Financial audit" means to determine for a department, agency, board or person whether the financial statements of the audited department, agency or board present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows or changes in financial position in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and whether the department, agency or board has complied with laws and regulations for those transactions and events that may have a material effect on the financial statements.
(7) "Preliminary performance review" means to determine the goals and objectives of a department, agency, or board; and to determine the extent to which plan of a department, agency, board has met or is meeting those goals and objectives.
(8) "Gender impact analysis" means a statistical and qualitative comparative analysis of the impact of the department, agency or board on males and females.
CHAPTER 17. ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.
§17-2A-22. Job training and support services for women and
minorities.
The commissioner of highways shall develop and implement a pilot program to train women and minorities in highway construction
jobs with funding as provided for in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Public Law 102-204 (1991).
The Program shall be developed with input from the legislative task force on the economic condition of women, the division of labor, the bureau of job training programs, and organizations advocating nontraditional employment for women.
The program shall be established by the first day of July, one thousand nine-hundred ninety-five and a report thereon submitted to the Legislature no later than the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six.
CHAPTER 29. MISCELLANEOUS BOARDS AND OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 20A. LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF
WOMEN.
§29-20-1. Legislative findings; creation of task force.
The legislature hereby finds that the ability of a woman to be independent is directly related to her ability to support herself financially; that women who are victims of domestic violence cite the inability to support themselves as the primary reason for staying with abusive partners, that women in West Virginia earn forty-two percent less than men and that this wage gap is caused in part by the fact that approximately eighty percent of working women in this state hold jobs which are traditionally dominated by women, where the skills, education and experience required to perform those jobs are undervalued economically; and that seventy-seven per cent of the children in West Virginia under the age of three who live with a single mother live in poverty.
The legislature hereby further finds that between the years of nineteen hundred eighty and nineteen hundred ninety, the participation of women in the labor force increased by thirteen percent, while men's participation during the same time period decreased by ten percent; that women in West Virginia comprise only two percent of skilled trade workers; and the availability of child care and elder care is limited in the majority of counties and there are no licensed child care facilities in some areas of the state, resulting in a lack of access to care for the children or elder dependents of working mothers.
The Legislature hereby further finds that an entity should be created to study, review and examine the economic condition of women in this state with a goal of determining methods by which the Legislature, through the enactment of appropriate laws, may ameliorate and remedy the findings described in this section.
The Legislature, therefore, hereby creates the legislative task force on the economic condition of women.
§29-20a-2. Powers and duties.
The powers and duties of the task force shall include but are not limited to:
(a) Studying the status and effectiveness of laws relating to the employment of women;
(b) Studying the systemic causes resulting in the forty-two percent wage gap between men and women, with an emphasis on resolving barriers to women improving their skills, education and job experience;
(c) Studying the present locations and the need to establish other licensed day care and elder care facilities in the state;
(d) Gathering statistical and other information relevant to the economic condition of women;
(e) Reviewing legislation and programs established in other states relative to improving the economic condition of women: and
(f) Filing a report, on or before the first day of each regular session of the Legislature, which includes recommendations and drafts of legislation necessary to effectuate such recommendations.
§29-20A-3. Appointment of members; terms.
The task force shall consist of:
(1) Three members of the Senate to be appointed by the president of the Senate and three members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the speaker of the House of Delegates. No more than two of the three members appointed by the president of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Delegates, respectively, shall be members of the same political party.
(2) One representative from the business community and one representative from the labor community to be appointed by agreement of the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Delegates.
(3) Three representatives from statewide nonprofit women's organizations whose mission includes a commitment to economic equity to be appointed by agreement of the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Delegates.
(4) One representative from the bureau of children and families, one representative from the child advocate office, to be appointed by the secretary of the department of health and human resources.
(5) One representative from the division of highways to be appointed by the commissioner of highways.
(6) One representative from the division of labor and one representative from the West Virginia development office to be appointed by the commissioner of the bureau of commerce.
(7) One representative from the governor's cabinet on children and families to be appointed by the governor.
(8) One representative from the division of job training programs and one representative from the division of employment service, to be appointed by the commissioner of employment programs.
(9) The director of the office of equal employment opportunity or his or her designee.
The members first appointed shall serve for a term expiring on the thirtieth day of June in the year of the next succeeding regular session of the Legislature. At the commencement of such next succeeding regular session and at the commencement of the regular session every two years thereafter, members of the task force shall be appointed for two-year terms beginning the first day of July in the year of each such regular session. Vacancies on the task force shall be filled for unexpired terms in the same manner as appointments to the task force.
§29-20a-5. Time and place of meetings; officers.
The task force shall hold meetings at such times and places as it may designate. The presiding officers of the task force shall be two co-chairpersons, one to be selected by and from the members appointed from the Senate and one to be selected by and from the members appointed from the House of Delegates.
§29-20A-6. Assistance of other agencies.
The task force may request information from any state offices or agency to assist it in exercising its powers and duties as established in this article, and any such offices or agency is authorized and directed to promptly furnish any requested information.
§29-20A-7. Expenses; reimbursement.
The members of the task force and its assistants shall be reimbursed for all expenses actually and necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties from the fund of the joint committee on government and finance. Compensation and other expenses of the task force may be paid from the fund of the joint committee on government and finance.
CHAPTER 48 DOMESTIC RELATIONS.
ARTICLE 1. MARRIAGE.
§48-1-24. Additional fee to be collected for each marriage license issued.
In addition to any fee heretofore established for the issuance of a marriage license, the county clerk shall collect a sum of
forty-two dollars for each marriage license, thirty-five dollars of which additional sum shall be paid into a special revenue account of the state treasury to be dispersed to local family protection shelters as provided in article two-c of this chapter, and seven dollars of which additional sum shall be collected and received for the sole use of the treasury of the county, to be paid over in accordance with the provisions of article one, chapter fifty-nine of this code.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a legislative task force studying the economic conditions of women in West Virginia.