COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2692
(By Delegates Proudfoot, Stemple, Damron,
Davis, Evans and Leggett)
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[April 2, 1997]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections one and one-c, article seven,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to adding ranks,
authorizing deputies, and reflecting an already-granted salary
increase in the minimum base pay scale for conservation
officers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and one-c, article seven, chapter twenty of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.
§20-7-1. Chief conservation officer; conservation officers; special, deputy and emergency conservation officers; subsistence allowance; expenses.
The division's law-enforcement policies, practices and
programs shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of the division law-enforcement officer selected by the director and
designated as chief conservation officer as provided in section
thirteen, article one of this chapter.
Under the supervision of the director, the chief conservation
officer shall organize, develop and maintain law- enforcement
practices, means and methods geared, timed and adjustable to
seasonal, emergency and other needs and requirements of the
division's comprehensive natural resources program. All division
personnel detailed and assigned to law-enforcement duties and
services under this section shall be known and designated as
conservation officers and shall be under the immediate supervision
and direction of the chief conservation officer. All conservation
officers shall be trained, equipped and conditioned for duty and
services wherever and whenever required by division law-enforcement
needs.
The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of
the director, is authorized to select and appoint emergency
conservation officers for a limited period of time for effective
enforcement of the provisions of this chapter when considered
necessary because of emergency or other unusual circumstances. The
emergency conservation officers shall be selected from qualified
civil service personnel of the division, except in emergency
situations and circumstances when the director may designate
officers, without regard to civil service requirements and
qualifications, to meet law-enforcement needs. Emergency conservation officers shall exercise all powers and duties
prescribed in section four of this article for full-time salaried
conservation officers except the provisions of subdivision (8) of
said section.
The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of
the director, is also authorized to select and appoint as special
conservation officers any full-time civil service employee who is
assigned to, and has direct responsibility for management of, an
area owned, leased or under the control of the division and who has
satisfactorily completed a course of training established and
administered by the chief conservation officer, when such action is
considered necessary because of law-enforcement needs. The powers
and duties of a special conservation officer, appointed under this
provision, is the same within his or her assigned area as
prescribed for full-time salaried conservation officers. The
jurisdiction of the person appointed as a special conservation
officer, under this provision, shall be limited to the division
area or areas to which he or she is assigned and directly manages.
The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of
the director, is also authorized to appoint as special conservation
officers any full-time civil service forest fire control personnel
who have satisfactorily completed a course of training established
and administered by the chief conservation officer. The
jurisdiction of forest fire control personnel appointed as special
conservation officers is limited to the enforcement of the provisions of article three of this chapter.
The chief conservation officer is authorized to select and
appoint a deputy conservation officer who shall exercise all the
powers set forth in section four of this article. The deputy
conservation officer shall have attended a minimum of one hundred
hours of law enforcement training classes, including in-service
type classes. The deputy conservation officer shall be assigned
such duties as required by the chief conservation officer and shall
not receive either retirement or subsistence allowance.
The chief conservation officer, with the approval of the
director, has the power and authority to revoke any appointment of
an emergency conservation officer or of a special conservation
officer at any time.
Conservation officers are subject to seasonal or other
assignment and detail to duty whenever and wherever required by the
functions, services and needs of the division.
The chief conservation officer shall designate the area of
primary residence of each conservation officer, including himself
or herself. Since the area of business activity of the division
is actually anywhere within the territorial confines of the state
of West Virginia, actual expenses incurred shall be paid whenever
the duties are performed outside the area of primary assignment and
still within the state.
Conservation officers shall receive, in addition to their base
pay salary, a minimum monthly subsistence allowance for their required telephone service, dry cleaning or required uniforms, and
meal expenses while performing their regular duties in their area
of primary assignment in the amount of one hundred thirty dollars
each month. This subsistence allowance does not apply to special
or emergency conservation officers appointed under this section.
§20-7-1c. Conservation officers, ranks, salary schedule, base pay, exceptions.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the ranks within the law-enforcement section of the
division of natural resources shall be colonel, lieutenant colonel,
major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, conservation
officer first class, senior conservation officer, conservation
officer and conservation officer-in-training. Each such officer
while in uniform shall wear the insignia of rank as provided by the
chief conservation officer.
(b) Conservation officers shall be paid the minimum annual
salaries based on the following schedule:
ANNUAL SALARY SCHEDULE (BASE PAY)
SUPERVISORY AND NONSUPERVISORY RANKS
Conservation Officer-In-Training (first year). $ 21,725 $22,025
Conservation Officer (second year). . . . . . .$ 23,914 $24,214
Conservation Officer (third year). . . . . . . $ 24,186 $24,486
Senior Conservation Officer (fourth year). . . .$ 24,398 $24,698
Conservation Officer First Class(after fifth year)$ 25,976 $26,276
Conservation Officer (after tenth year). . . . .$ 27,554 $27,854
Conservation Officer (after fifteenth year). . .$ 28,954 $29,254
Corporal$31,065
Sergeant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 32,577 $32,877
Lieutenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 35,397 $35,697
Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 37,683 $37,983
Major . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 39,966 $40,266
Lieutenant Colonel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 42,008 $42,308
Colonel
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conservation officers in service at the time the amendment to
this section becomes effective shall be given credit for prior
service and shall be paid such salaries as the same length of
service will entitle them to receive under the provisions hereof.
(c) This section does not apply to special or emergency
conservation officers appointed under the authority of section one
of this article.
(d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit other pay increases
as provided for under section two, article five, chapter five of
this code: Provided, That an across-the-board pay increase granted
by the Legislature or the governor is added to, and reflected in,
the minimum salaries set forth in this section; and that merit
increases are retained by an officer when he or she advances from
one rank to another.