H. B. 4047
(By Delegate Modesitt)
[Introduced January 14, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
ten, relating to permitting the lateral transfer of municipal
police officers and deputy sheriffs from one law-enforcement
agency to another.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-10. Lateral transfer from law-enforcement agencies.
A municipal police officer or county deputy sheriff of this
state may make application to any other municipal police department
or county sheriff's office of this state for a lateral transfer.
A municipal police officer may apply for a lateral transfer from
one municipal police department to another municipal police
department or from a municipal police department to any county
sheriff's office. A county deputy sheriff may apply for a lateral
transfer from one county sheriff's office to any other county
sheriff's office or from a county sheriff's office to a municipal
police department. The applicant must first be employed as a
contributing member of either of the deputy sheriff's pension and
retirement system or a contributing member of a municipal pension
and retirement system. The lateral transfer applicant is eligible
for appointment by lateral transfer in the discretion of the
appropriate civil service commission of the agency to which the
applicant has made application for employment, or in the case of a
noncivil service agency, in the discretion of the agency applied
to, as long as the applicant is not sixty-five years of age or
older. A municipal police officer or deputy sheriff may be
appointed for lateral transfer without a competitive examination, but may be required to submit to a medical examination. In the
case of a civil service agency, the lateral transfer applicant
shall be placed at the top of the applicant list of the appropriate
agency. If the applicant is appointed by lateral transfer, as
provided in this section, the applicant shall be the lowest in rank
in the municipal police department or sheriff's office, next above
any persons on probationary status.
Upon appointment, the applicant shall be given credit for all
contributory time in service for which the applicant has previously
acquired from time in service with the agency from which the
applicant has transferred employment: Provided, That if the
appointee is required to be a contributing member of a pension and
retirement system other than one in which the appointee was a
contributing member prior to appointment, the appointee shall
transfer or withdraw his or her accumulated contributions from the
pension and retirement system to which he or she was a contributing
member and shall then transfer or contribute the appropriate amount
of contributions into the applicable pension and retirement system
for which the newly appointed applicant is required to be a
contributing member. The amount of contribution required to obtain
the previous service credit shall be set by the appropriate pension and retirement board for which the employing agency is a
contributing member,
in order that the appointee does not acquire
more than an equal amount of service credit that the appointee had
at the time of the lateral transfer between agencies.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the lateral
transfer of municipal police officers and deputy sheriffs from one
law-enforcement agency to another.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.