Senate Bill No. 39
(By Senators Sypolt and Deem)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to prohibiting abortions at state
college or university medical facilities except when the
abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving
the abortion.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. INSTITUTIONAL BOARDS OF GOVERNORS.
§18B-2A-4. Powers and duties of governing boards generally.
Each governing board separately has the following powers and
duties:
(a) Determine, control, supervise and manage the financial,
business and education policies and affairs of the state
institution of higher education under its jurisdiction;
(b) Develop a master plan for the institution under its
jurisdiction.
(1) The ultimate responsibility for developing and updating
the master plans at the institutional level resides with the board
of Governors, but the ultimate responsibility for approving the
final version of the institutional master plans, including periodic
updates, resides with the commission or council, as appropriate.
(2) Each master plan shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
(A) A detailed demonstration of how the master plan will be
used to meet the goals and objectives of the institutional compact;
(B) A well-developed set of goals outlining missions, degree
offerings, resource requirements, physical plant needs, personnel
needs, enrollment levels and other planning determinates and
projections necessary in a plan to assure that the needs of the
institution's area of responsibility for a quality system of higher
education are addressed;
(C) Document the involvement of the commission or council, as
appropriate, institutional constituency groups, clientele of the
institution and the general public in the development of all
segments of the institutional master plan.
(3) The plan shall be established for periods of not less than
three nor more than five years and shall be revised periodically as
necessary, including the addition or deletion of degree programs as, in the discretion of the appropriate governing board, are
necessary;
(c) Prescribe for the institution under its jurisdiction, in
accordance with its master plan and compact, specific functions and
responsibilities to achieve the goals, objectives and priorities
established in articles one and one-d of this chapter to meet the
higher education needs of its area of responsibility and to avoid
unnecessary duplication;
(d) Direct the preparation of a budget request for the
institution under its jurisdiction, which relates directly to
missions, goals and projections as found in the institutional
master plan and the institutional compact;
(e) Consider, revise and submit to the commission or council,
as appropriate, a budget request on behalf of the institution under
its jurisdiction;
(f) Review, at least every five years, all academic programs
offered at the institution under its jurisdiction. The review
shall address the viability, adequacy and necessity of the programs
in relation to established state goals, objectives and priorities,
the institutional master plan, the institutional compact and the
education and workforce needs of its responsibility district. As
a part of the review, each governing board shall require the
institution under its jurisdiction to conduct periodic studies of
its graduates and their employers to determine placement patterns and the effectiveness of the education experience. Where
appropriate, these studies should coincide with the studies
required of many academic disciplines by their accrediting bodies;
(g) Ensure that the sequence and availability of academic
programs and courses offered by the institution under its
jurisdiction is such that students have the maximum opportunity to
complete programs in the time frame normally associated with
program completion. Each governing board is responsible to see
that the needs of nontraditional college-age students are
appropriately addressed and, to the extent it is possible for the
individual governing board to control, to assure core course work
completed at the institution under its jurisdiction is transferable
to any other state institution of higher education for credit with
the grade earned;
(h) Subject to the provisions of article one-b of this
chapter, approve the teacher education programs offered in the
institution under its control. In order to permit graduates of
teacher education programs to receive a degree from a nationally
accredited program and in order to prevent expensive duplication of
program accreditation, the commission may select and use one
nationally recognized teacher education program accreditation
standard as the appropriate standard for program evaluation;
(i) Use faculty, students and classified employees in
institutional-level planning and decision making when those groups are affected;
(j) Subject to the provisions of federal law and pursuant to
the provisions of article nine of this chapter and to rules adopted
by the commission and the council, administer a system for the
management of personnel matters, including, but not limited to,
personnel classification, compensation and discipline for employees
at the institution under its jurisdiction;
(k) Administer a system for hearing employee grievances and
appeals. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the procedure established in article two, chapter six-c
of this code is the exclusive mechanism for hearing prospective
employee grievances and appeals;
(l) Solicit and use or expend voluntary support, including
financial contributions and support services, for the institution
under its jurisdiction;
(m) Appoint a president for the institution under its
jurisdiction subject to the provisions of section six, article
one-b of this chapter;
(n) Conduct written performance evaluations of the president
pursuant to section six, article one-b of this chapter;
(o) Employ all faculty and staff at the institution under its
jurisdiction. The employees operate under the supervision of the
president, but are employees of the governing board;
(p) Submit to the commission or council, as appropriate, no later than November 1 of each year an annual report of the
performance of the institution under its jurisdiction during the
previous fiscal year as compared to established state goals,
objectives, and priorities, and goals stated in its master plan and
institutional compact;
(q) Enter into contracts or consortium agreements with the
public schools, private schools or private industry to provide
technical, vocational, college preparatory, remedial and customized
training courses at locations either on campuses of the public
institution of higher education or at off-campus locations in the
institution's responsibility district. To accomplish this goal,
the boards may share resources among the various groups in the
community;
(r) Provide and transfer funding and property to certain
corporations pursuant to section ten, article twelve of this
chapter;
(s) Delegate, with prescribed standards and limitations, the
part of its power and control over the business affairs of the
institution to the president in any case where it considers the
delegation necessary and prudent in order to enable the institution
to function in a proper and expeditious manner and to meet the
requirements of its master plan and institutional compact. If a
governing board elects to delegate any of its power and control
under the provisions of this subsection, it shall enter the delegation in the minutes of the meeting when the decision was made
and shall notify the commission or council, as appropriate. Any
delegation of power and control may be rescinded by the appropriate
governing board, the commission or council, as appropriate, at any
time, in whole or in part, except that the commission may not
revoke delegations of authority made by the governing boards of
Marshall University or West Virginia University as they relate to
the state institutions of higher education known as Marshall
University and West Virginia University;
(t) Unless changed by the commission or the council, as
appropriate, continue to abide by existing rules setting forth
standards for acceptance of advanced placement credit for the
institution under its jurisdiction. Individual departments at a
state institution of higher education may, upon approval of the
institutional faculty Senate, require higher scores on the advanced
placement test than scores designated by the governing board when
the credit is to be used toward meeting a requirement of the core
curriculum for a major in that department;
(u) Consult, cooperate and work with the State Treasurer and
the State Auditor to update as necessary and maintain an efficient
and cost-effective system for the financial management and
expenditure of special revenue and appropriated state funds at the
institution under its jurisdiction that ensures that properly
submitted requests for payment be paid on or before due date but, in any event, within fifteen days of receipt in the State Auditor's
office;
(v) In consultation with the appropriate chancellor and the
Secretary of the Department of Administration, develop, update as
necessary and maintain a plan to administer a consistent method of
conducting personnel transactions, including, but not limited to,
hiring, dismissal, promotions and transfers at the institution
under its jurisdiction. Each personnel transaction shall be
accompanied by the appropriate standardized system or forms which
shall be submitted to the respective governing board and the
Department of Finance and Administration;
(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, transfer funds from any account specifically appropriated
for its use to any corresponding line item in a general revenue
account at any agency or institution under its jurisdiction as long
as such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated;
(x) Transfer funds from appropriated special revenue accounts
for capital improvements under its jurisdiction to special revenue
accounts at agencies or institutions under its jurisdiction as long
as such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated;
(y) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, acquire legal services that are necessary, including
representation of the governing board, its institution, employees
and officers before any court or administrative body. The counsel may be employed either on a salaried basis or on a reasonable fee
basis. In addition, the governing board may, but is not required
to, call upon the Attorney General for legal assistance and
representation as provided by law;
and
(z) Contract and pay for disability insurance for a class or
classes of employees at a state institution of higher education
under its jurisdiction;
and
(aa) The governing boards shall prohibit the performance of an
abortion at any institution or facility under the respective
jurisdiction of the governing boards, except when the performance
of the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman
receiving the abortion.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit abortions at
state college or university medical facilities, except when the
abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the
abortion.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.