Senate Bill No. 688
(By Senators Unger and McKenzie)
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[Introduced February 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §9-10-1, §9-10-2,
§9-10-3 and §9-10-4, all relating to the West Virginia
Courtesy Patrol Program; providing purpose; addressing
operation and scope of the Courtesy Patrol Program; and
providing educational services to courtesy patrol participants
after program enrollment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §9-10-1, §9-10-2,
§9-10-3 and §9-10-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. WEST VIRGINIA COURTESY PATROL PROGRAM.
§9-10-1. Purpose.
The West Virginia Legislature recognizes the need to provide assistance to motorists who are stranded on four-lane expressways
in the state, especially in the rural areas, from a tourism
perspective, a safety perspective, and to meet the state's Homeland
Security and Amber Alert initiative. We also recognize the need to
find innovative ways to transition welfare recipients into
self-sufficient roles in the private sector.
The Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia, a nonprofit
corporation has operated the West Virginia Courtesy Patrol since
its inception. The courtesy patrol program has been a great
success for the State of West Virginia and has accomplished and
continues to accomplish the goals of the program. The West
Virginia Courtesy Patrol is identified by the United States
Department of Labor as a national model for best practices on
innovative approaches to job creation with welfare recipients
transitioning into the work force. The program possesses one of
the highest job retention percentages in the country for a
transitional program of the type. To that extent, the West
Virginia Legislature expresses a desire to continue the courtesy
patrol program in its current form under the direction of the
Department of Health and Human Resources or Division of Tourism.
§9-10-2. Operation and scope of the courtesy patrol program.
(a) The courtesy patrol program will continue in its current
form under direction of the Department of Health and Human
Resources or Division of Tourism.
(b) The courtesy patrol program will be operated by a
nonprofit corporation, under contract with the Department of Health
and Human Resources or Division of Tourism.
(c) The nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the courtesy
patrol program must offer AmeriCorps educational awards to
qualified program participants.
(d) The courtesy patrol program will continuously patrol a
designated area of highway looking for and providing assistance to
disabled vehicles and stranded motorists. The patrol units will
also watch for debris in the roadway, spilled loads, accidents,
obstructions to traffic and other potential hazards or abnormal
occurrences, notify appropriate highway and enforcement personnel
of the location and nature of the situation, monitor bridges,
overlooks, and interchanges for suspicious activity, and continue
its role in the state's Amber Alert System for abducted children.
(e) Each year, the commissioner shall request in the budget
for the Department of Health and Human Resources or the Division of
Tourism that the Legislature appropriate funds for the courtesy
patrol program.
(f) The Department of Health and Human Resources or the
Division of Tourism is required to find a fleet of vehicles to
operate the courtesy patrol program, to continue funding of other
proper motor vehicles as needed, and to continue the funding of
other required materials to be used by the work force created by this section in the operation of the courtesy patrol.
(g) The Department of Health and Human Resources or the
Division of Tourism shall provide all necessary equipment for the
courtesy patrol trucks to accomplish the goals of this legislation.
(h) The Department of Health and Human Resources or the
Division of Tourism shall provide all of the gasoline necessary for
the operations of the courtesy patrol.
§9-10-3. Program participants.
(a) The courtesy patrol will utilize participants who receive
governmental assistance and benefits and noncustodial parents of
children who receive governmental assistance thereby reducing the
number of individuals receiving such benefits in addition to
providing job training and educational benefits to participants.
(b) The Department of Health and Human Resources shall refer
eligible and qualified individuals to the courtesy patrol program.
(c) The Department of Health and Human Resources shall ensure
that individuals who are referred to the courtesy patrol program
have received certain minimum job readiness training, as determined
by the nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the courtesy patrol
program prior to being employed in the courtesy patrol program.
(d) The Department of Health and Human Resources is
responsible for any expenses for personal equipment required for
the courtesy patrol participants for employment in the courtesy
patrol program. The personal equipment will include, but not be limited to, uniforms and pages.
(e) The Department of Health and Human Resources may use
funding from any source to meet the requirements of the previous
subsection, including accounts designated as personal accounts for
the program participants.
(f) The Department of health and Human Resources may use
private contractors, including the nonprofit corporation chosen to
operate the courtesy patrol program to provide the job readiness
training required in subsection (c), section three, article two-d
of this chapter.
(g) No participant in the courtesy patrol program will be
considered to be an employee of the nonprofit corporation chosen to
operate the courtesy patrol program until they have completed the
job readiness training required in subsection (c), section three,
article two-d of this chapter, and have been accepted for
employment by the nonprofit corporation.
(h) The courtesy patrol program is designed as a transitional
employment opportunity for the participants where the participants
are employed for two years while they gain the skills necessary to
become employable outside the courtesy patrol program.
(i) The program participants will receive at least minimum
wage for time spent working in the courtesy patrol program after
the participants become employed.
§9-10-4. Education services to courtesy patrol participants after program enrollment.
(a) All participants in the courtesy patrol program shall
participate in educational services designed to make the
participants self-sufficient and employable after leaving the
courtesy patrol program.
(b) After a participant becomes employed in the courtesy
patrol program, the nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the
courtesy patrol program shall refer each participant to the
Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College for
education services.
(c) Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College
shall develop an individualized education plan for each
participant.
(d) No program participant will be required to participate in
more than six hours of educational services per week.
(e) The time spent by participants in educational services is
not considered time spent working for which wages are payable.
However, any time spent in the educational services described in
this section will count toward the satisfaction of the work
requirements of section seven, article nine, chapter nine of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to continue the Courtesy
Patrol under the direction of the Department of Health and Human
Resources
or Division of Tourism.
The article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.