ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 578
(By Wagner, Bailey, Bowman, Buckalew, Miller,
Plymale, Walker and White)
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[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization;
reported March 1, 1995.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section three, article sixteen,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
continuing the public employees insurance agency and the
public employees insurance agency advisory board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article sixteen, chapter five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-3. Public employees insurance agency continued;
appointment, qualification, compensation and duties of
director of agency; employees; civil service coverage;
director vested after specified date with powers of public employees insurance board; expiration of agency.
(a) The public employees insurance agency, heretofore
created, is continued, and shall consist of the director, the
finance board, the advisory board and such employees as may be
authorized by law. The director shall be appointed by the
governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. He or she
shall serve at the will and pleasure of the governor, unless
earlier removed from office for cause as provided by law. The
director shall have at least three years experience in health
insurance administration prior to appointment as director. The
director shall receive an annual salary established by the
governor not to exceed fifty-five thousand dollars and actual
expenses incurred in the performance of official business. The
director shall employ such administrative, technical and
clerical employees as shall be required for the proper
administration of the insurance programs herein provided. The
director shall perform such duties as are required of him or
her under the provisions of this article and shall be the chief
administrative officer of the public employees insurance
agency.
(b) All positions in the agency, except for the director
and his or her personal secretary, shall be included in the classified service of the civil service system pursuant to
article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code. Any person
required to be included in the classified service by the
provisions of this subsection who was employed in any of the
positions included herein on or after the effective date of
this article shall not be required to take and pass qualifying
or competitive examinations upon or as a condition to being
added to the classified service: Provided,
That no person
required to be included in the classified service by the
provisions of this subsection who was employed in any of the
positions included herein as of the effective date of this
section shall be thereafter severed, removed or terminated in
his or her employment prior to his or her entry into the
classified service except for cause as if such person had been
in the classified service when severed, removed or terminated.
(c) The director shall be responsible for the
administration and management of the public employees insurance
agency as provided for in this article and in connection
therewith shall have the power and authority to make all rules
and regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions of this
article. Nothing in section four or five of this article shall
limit the director's ability to manage on a day-to-day basis the group insurance plans required or authorized by this
article, including, but not limited to, administrative
contracting, studies, analyses and audits, eligibility
determinations, utilization management provisions and
incentives, provider negotiations, provider contracting and
payment, designation of covered and noncovered services,
offering of additional coverage options or cost containment
incentives, pursuit of coordination of benefits and
subrogation, or any other actions which would serve to
implement the plan or plans designed by the finance board.
(d) The public employees insurance agency shall terminate
in the manner provided in article ten, chapter four of this
code, on the first day of July, two thousand one, unless
extended by legislation enacted before the termination date:
Provided, That the public employees insurance agency advisory
board, created in section six of this article, shall terminate
in the manner provided in article ten, chapter four of this
code on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-six.