COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2413
(By Delegates Webster, Miley, Barker, Brown, Ferro, Fleischauer,
Hutchins, Hunt, Wooton, Ellem and Hamilton)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 20, 2009]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-12 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §8-22-
25 of said code, all relating to the age hiring restrictions
for new applicants to municipal police departments.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §8-22-25 of said code
be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. LAW AND OTHER; POLICE FORCE OR DEPARTMENTS POWERS,
AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT
OFFICIALS AND POLICEMEN; POLICE MATRONS; SPECIAL
SCHOOL ZONE AND PARKING LOT OR PARKING BUILDING;
POLICE OFFICERS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN
POLICE DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-12. Form of application; age and residency requirements;
exceptions.
The policemen's civil service commission in each Class I and
Class II city shall require individuals applying for admission to
any competitive examination provided for under the civil service
provisions of this article or under the rules and regulations of
said commission to file in its office, within a reasonable time
prior to the proposed examination, a formal application in which
the applicant shall state under oath or affirmation:
(1)
His The applicant's full name, residence and post-office
address;
(2)
His The applicant's United States citizenship, age and
the place and date of his
or her birth;
(3)
His The applicant's state of health and his physical
capacity for the public service;
(4)
His The applicant's business and employments and
residences for at least three previous years; and
(5) Such other information as may reasonably be required,
touching upon the applicant's qualifications and fitness for the
public service.
Blank forms for such Applications shall be furnished by the
commission, without charge, to all individuals requesting the
same. The commission may require, in connection with such
application, such certificates of citizens, physicians and others, having pertinent knowledge concerning the applicant, as
the good of the service may require.
Not withstanding any other provision of this code, no
application for original appointment shall be received if the
individual applying is less than eighteen years of age or more
than
thirty-five forty-five years of age at the date of his
application:
Provided, That in the event any applicant formerly
served upon the paid police department of the city to which he
makes application, for a period of more than his probationary
period, and resigned from the department at a time when there
were no charges of misconduct or other misfeasance pending
against such applicant, within a period of two years next
preceding the date of his application, and at the time of his
application resides within the corporate limits of the city in
which the paid police department to which he seeks appointment by
reinstatement is located, then such individual shall be eligible
for appointment by reinstatement in the discretion of the
policemen's civil service commission, even though such applicant
shall be over the age of
thirty-five forty-five years, and such
applicant, providing his former term of service so justifies, may
be appointed by reinstatement to the paid police department
without a competitive examination, but such applicant shall
undergo a medical examination; and if such individual shall be so
appointed by reinstatement to the paid police department, he shall be the lowest in rank in the department next above the
probationers of the department.
Any applicant for original appointment
must have been a
resident for one year, during some period of time prior to the
date of his application, may be required to become a resident of
the city in which he seeks to become a member of the paid police
department:
Provided, That if the commission deems it necessary
it may consider for original appointment or for reinstatement
under the preceding proviso of this section, applicants who are
not residents of the city but who have been residents of the
county in which the city or any portion of the territory thereof
is located for a period of at least one year.
ARTICLE 22. RETIREMENT BENEFITS GENERALLY; POLICEMEN'S PENSION
AND RELIEF FUND; FIREMEN'S PENSION AND RELIEF
FUND; PENSION PLANS FOR EMPLOYEES OF WATERWORKS
SYSTEM, SEWERAGE SYSTEM OR COMBINED WATERWORKS
AND SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
§8-22-25. Retirement pensions.
(a) Any member of a paid police or fire department who is
entitled to a retirement pension hereunder, and who has been in
the honorable service of such department for twenty years, may,
upon written application to the board of trustees, be retired
from all service in such department without medical examination or disability. On such retirement the board of trustees shall
authorize the payment of annual retirement pension benefits
commencing upon his retirement or upon his attaining the age of
fifty years, whichever is later, payable in twelve monthly
installments for each year of the remainder of his life, in an
amount equal to sixty percent of such member's average annual
salary or compensation received during the three twelve-
consecutive-month periods of employment with such department in
which such member received his highest salary or compensation
while a member of the department, or an amount of five hundred
dollars per month, whichever is greater.
(b) Any member of any such department who is entitled to a
retirement pension under the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section and who has been in the honorable service of such
department for more than twenty years at the time of his
retirement shall receive, in addition to the sixty percent
authorized in said subsection (a):
(1) Two additional percent, to be added to the sixty percent
for each of the first five additional years of service completed
at the time of retirement in excess of twenty years of service up
to a maximum of seventy percent; and
(2) One additional percent, to be added to such maximum of
seventy percent, for each of the first five additional years of
service completed at the time of retirement in excess of twenty-five years of service up to a maximum of seventy-five
percent.
The total additional credit provided for in this subsection
may not exceed fifteen additional percent.
(c) Any member of any such department whose service has been
interrupted by duty with the armed forces of the United States as
provided in section twenty-seven of this article prior to the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-one, shall be
eligible for retirement pension benefits immediately upon
retirement, regardless of his age, if he shall otherwise be
eligible for such retirement pension benefits.
Any member or previously retired member of any such
department who has served in active duty with the armed forces of
the United States as described in section twenty-seven of this
article, whether prior to or subsequent to becoming a member of a
paid police or fire department covered by the provisions of this
article, shall receive, in addition to the sixty percent
authorized in subsection (a) of this section and the additional
percent credit authorized in subsection (b) of this section, one
additional percent for each year so served in active military
duty, up to a maximum of four additional percent. In no event,
however, may the total benefit granted to any member exceed
seventy-five percent of the member's annual average salary
calculated in accordance with subsection (a) of this section.
(d) Any member of a paid police for fire department shall be
retired at the age of sixty-five years in the manner provided in
this subsection: Provided, however that any member of a paid
police department who has not served the number of years required
to qualify for a pension because he made application for
employment at or near age 45, or who resigned from service and
was lawfully reinstated, may continue to be employed until the
member has served the minimum number of years to qualify for a
pension. When a member of the paid police or fire department
reaches the age of sixty-five years, the said board of trustees
shall notify the mayor of this fact, within thirty days of such
member's sixty-fifth birthday. The mayor shall cause such
sixty-five-year-old member of the paid police or fire department
to retire within a period of not more than thirty additional days
after reaching age 65 or qualifying for a retirement after the
age of 65 whichever occurs latest in time. Upon retirement under
the provisions of this subsection, such member shall receive
retirement pension benefits payable in twelve monthly
installments for each year of the remainder of his life in an
amount equal to sixty percent of such member's average annual
salary or compensation received during the three
twelve-consecutive-month periods of employment with such
department in which such member received his highest salary or
compensation while a member of the department, or an amount of five hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater. If such
member has been employed in said department for more than twenty
years, the provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall
apply.
(e) It shall be the duty of each member of a paid police or
fire department at the time a fund is hereafter established to
furnish the necessary proof of his date of birth to the said
board of trustees, as specified in section twenty-three of this
article, within a reasonable length of time, said length of time
to be determined by the said board of trustees. Then the board
of trustees and the mayor shall proceed to act in the manner
provided in subsection (d) of this section and shall cause all
members of the paid police or fire department who are over the
age of sixty-five years to retire in not less than sixty days
from the date the fund is established. Upon retirement under the
provisions of this subsection (e), such member, whether he has
been employed in said department for twenty years or not, shall
receive retirement pension benefits payable in twelve monthly
installments for each year of the remainder of his life in an
amount equal to sixty percent of such member's average annual
salary or compensation received during the three twelve-
consecutive-month periods of employment with such department in
which such member received his highest salary or compensation
while a member of the department, or an amount of five hundred dollars per month, whichever is greater. If such member has been
employed in said department for more than twenty years, the
provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall apply.