ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2938
(By Delegates Boggs, M. Poling, Tucker, Martin,
Stemple, Fragale, Paxton, Perry, Evans and D. Poling)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 23, 2007]
A BILL to amend and reenact §30-29-1 and §30-29-5 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to motor carrier
inspectors and weight enforcement officers of the Public
Service Commission; including motor carrier inspector and
weight enforcement officers employed by the Public Service
Commission in the definition of law-enforcement officer; and
requiring certification as a law-enforcement officer of
persons hired as motor carrier inspectors and weight
enforcement officers after the first day of July, two thousand
seven.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-29-1 and §30-29-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.
§30-29-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears in the context:
"Approved law-enforcement training academy" means any
training facility which is approved and authorized to conduct
law-enforcement training as provided in this article;
"Chief executive" means the Superintendent of the State
Police; the chief conservation officer of the Division of Natural
Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; any
administrative deputy appointed by the chief conservation officer
of natural resources; or the chief of any West Virginia municipal
law-enforcement agency;
"County" means the fifty-five major political subdivisions of
the state;
"Exempt rank" means any noncommissioned or commissioned rank
of sergeant or above;
"Governor's committee on crime, delinquency and correction" or
"Governor's committee" means the Governor's committee on crime,
delinquency and correction established as a state planning agency
pursuant to section one, article nine, chapter fifteen of this
code;
"Law-enforcement officer" means any duly authorized member of
a law-enforcement agency who is authorized to maintain public peace
and order, prevent and detect crime, make arrests and enforce the
laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof, other than
parking ordinances, and includes those persons employed as
campus
police
officers at state institutions of higher education in
accordance with the provisions of section five, article four, chapter eighteen-b of this code,
and persons employed by the Public
Service Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight
enforcement officers charged with enforcing commercial motor
vehicle safety and weight restriction laws
although those
institutions and agencies may not be considered law-enforcement
agencies. The term also includes those persons employed as rangers
by the Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority in accordance
with the provisions of section six, article fourteen, chapter
twenty of this code, although the authority may not be considered
a law-enforcement agency: Provided, That the subject rangers shall
pay the tuition and costs of training. As used in this article,
the term "law-enforcement officer" does not apply to the chief
executive of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency or any
watchman or special conservation officer;
"Law-enforcement official" means the duly appointed chief
administrator of a designated law-enforcement agency or a duly
authorized designee;
"Municipality" means any incorporated town or city whose
boundaries lie within the geographic boundaries of the state;
"Subcommittee" or "law-enforcement training subcommittee"
means the subcommittee of the Governor's committee on crime,
delinquency and correction created by section two of this article;
and
"West Virginia law-enforcement agency" means any duly
authorized state, county or municipal organization employing one or
more persons whose responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the state or any county or municipality thereof: Provided, That
neither the Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority, the
Public Service Commission nor any state institution of higher
education may be deemed a law-enforcement agency.
§30-29-5. Certification requirements.
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) below, no
person may be employed as a law-enforcement officer by any West
Virginia law-enforcement agency or by any state institution of
higher education or by the Public Service Commission of West
Virginia on or after the effective date of this article unless the
person is certified, or is certifiable in one of the manners
specified in subsections (c) through (e) below, by the Governor's
committee as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements promulgated
pursuant to this article: Provided, That the provisions of this
section shall not apply to persons hired by the Public Service
Commission as motor carrier inspectors and weight enforcement
officers prior to the first day of July, two thousand seven.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (g) below, a person who
is not certified, or certifiable in one of the manners specified in
subsections (c) through (e) below, may be conditionally employed as
a law-enforcement officer until certified: Provided, That within
ninety calendar days of the commencement of employment or the
effective date of this article if the person is already employed on
the effective date, he or she makes a written application to attend
an approved law-enforcement training academy. The person's employer shall provide notice, in writing, of the ninety-day
deadline to file a written application to the academy within thirty
calendar days of that person's commencement of employment. The
employer shall provide full disclosure as to the consequences of
failing to file a timely written application. The academy shall
notify the applicant in writing of the receipt of the application
and of the tentative date of the applicant's enrollment. Any
applicant who, as the result of extenuating circumstances
acceptable to his or her law-enforcement official, is unable to
attend the scheduled training program to which he or she was
admitted may reapply and shall be admitted to the next regularly
scheduled training program. An applicant who satisfactorily
completes the program shall, within thirty days of completion, make
written application to the Governor's committee requesting
certification as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement
qualification and training program requirements. Upon determining
that an applicant has met the requirements for certification, the
Governor's committee shall forward to the applicant documentation
of certification. An applicant who fails to complete the training
program to which he or she is first admitted, or was admitted upon
reapplication, may not be certified by the Governor's committee:
Provided, however, That an applicant who has completed the minimum
training required by the Governor's committee may be certified as
a law-enforcement officer, notwithstanding the applicant's failure
to complete additional training hours required in the training
program to which he or she originally applied.
(c) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is a graduate of the West
Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt
from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy. To receive certification, the person shall make written
application within ninety calendar days of the effective date of
this article to the Governor's committee requesting certification.
The Governor's committee shall review the applicant's relevant
scholastic records and, upon determining that the applicant has met
the requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant
documentation of certification.
(d) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
the effective date of this article and is not a graduate of the
West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia State
Police cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement
training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry
level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt
from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training
academy if the person has been employed as a law-enforcement
officer for a period of not less than five consecutive years
immediately preceding the date of application for certification.
To receive certification, the person shall make written application
within ninety calendar days following the effective date of this article to the Governor's committee requesting certification. The
application shall include notarized statements as to the
applicant's years of employment as a law-enforcement officer. The
Governor's committee shall review the application and, upon
determining that the applicant has met the requirements for
certification, shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.
(e) Any person who begins employment on or after the effective
date of this article as a law-enforcement officer is certifiable as
having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement training program
requirements and is exempt from attending a law-enforcement
training academy if the person has satisfactorily completed a
course of instruction in law enforcement equivalent to or exceeding
the minimum applicable law-enforcement training curricula
promulgated by the Governor's committee. To receive certification,
the person shall make written application within ninety calendar
days following the commencement of employment to the Governor's
committee requesting certification. The application shall include
a notarized statement of the applicant's satisfactory completion of
the course of instruction in law enforcement, a notarized
transcript of the applicant's relevant scholastic records, and a
notarized copy of the curriculum of the completed course of
instruction. The Governor's committee shall review the application
and, if it finds the applicant has met the requirements for
certification shall forward to the applicant documentation of
certification.
(f) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on
or after the effective date of this article and fails to be
certified shall be automatically terminated and no further
emoluments shall be paid to such officer by his or her employer.
Any person terminated shall be entitled to reapply, as a private
citizen, to the subcommittee for training and certification, and
upon being certified may again be employed as a law-enforcement
officer in this state: Provided, That if a person is terminated
under this subsection because an application was not timely filed
to the academy, and the person's employer failed to provide notice
or disclosure to that person as set forth in subsection (b) of this
section, the employer shall pay the full cost of attending the
academy if the person's application to the subcommittee as a
private citizen is subsequently approved.
(g) Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting
any governing body, civil service commission or chief executive of
any West Virginia law-enforcement agency from requiring their
law-enforcement officers to meet qualifications and satisfactorily
complete a course of law-enforcement instruction which exceeds the
minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training
curricula promulgated by the Governor's committee.
(h) The requirement of this section for qualification,
training and certification of law-enforcement officers shall not be
mandatory during the two years next succeeding the effective date
of this article for the law-enforcement officers of a
law-enforcement agency which employs a civil service system for its law-enforcement personnel, nor shall such provisions be mandatory
during the five years next succeeding the effective date of this
article for law-enforcement officers of a law-enforcement agency
which does not employ a civil service system for its
law-enforcement personnel: Provided, That such requirements shall
be mandatory for all such law-enforcement officers until their
law-enforcement officials apply for their exemption by submitting
a written plan to the Governor's committee which will reasonably
assure compliance of all law-enforcement officers of their agencies
within the applicable two or five-year period of exemption.
(i) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Governor's
committee made pursuant to this article may contest such decision
in accordance with the provisions of article five, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
(j) Any person terminated from employment for not filing an
application to the law-enforcement training academy within ninety
days after commencing employment as a law-enforcement officer may
appeal the termination to the Governor's committee for
reconsideration on an individual basis.
(k) Beginning the first day of July, two thousand two, until
the thirtieth day of June, two thousand three, any applicant who
has been conditionally employed as a law-enforcement officer who
failed to submit a timely application pursuant to the provisions of
this section, may be conditionally employed as a law-enforcement
officer and may resubmit an application pursuant to subsection (b)
of this section to an approved law-enforcement training academy. If the applicant is accepted, the employer shall pay compensation
to the employee for attendance at the law-enforcement training
academy at the rate provided in section eight of this article.