H. B. 4140
(By Delegates Amores, Kominar,
Palumbo, Webster and Armstead)
[Introduced January 27, 2004; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §6B-2-5a, relating to
requiring the ethics commission to establish a code of conduct
for state administrative law judges, including civil penalties
and sanctions for violations.
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 section, designated §6B-2-5a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA ETHICS COMMISSION; POWERS AND DUTIES;
DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS
AND EMPLOYEES; APPEARANCES BEFORE PUBLIC AGENCIES;
CODE OF CONDUCT FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES.
§6B-2-5a. Code of conduct for state administrative law judges.
(a) As used in this section, "state administrative law judge" means any public employee, public officer or contractor functioning
as a hearing officer, referee, trial examiner or other position in
state government to whom the authority to conduct an administrative
adjudication has been delegated by an agency or by statute and who
exercises independent and impartial judgment in conducting hearings
and in issuing recommended decisions or reports containing findings
of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with applicable
statutes or rules, but does not include any person whose conduct is
subject to the code of judicial conduct promulgated by the West
Virginia supreme court of appeals.
(b) In accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code, the commission shall propose rules for legislative
approval establishing a code of conduct for state administrative
law judges, which shall incorporate the following major provisions:
(1) A state administrative law judge shall uphold the
integrity and independence of the administrative judiciary;
(2) A state administrative law judge shall avoid impropriety
and the appearance of impropriety in all activities;
(3) A state administrative law judge shall perform the duties
of the office impartially and diligently;
(4) A state administrative law judge shall regulate the
judge's extra-judicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict
with judicial duties;
(5) A state administrative law judge shall refrain from political activity inappropriate to the office; and
(6) Appropriate civil penalties and sanctions for violations.
In proposing the rules, the commission shall consider the
model codes of judicial conduct for state administrative law judges
as drafted by the National Association of Administrative Law Judges
and the American Bar Association.
(c) The legislative rules shall provide that an individual
agency may develop a code of conduct for its own administrative law
judges, which shall supersede the general code of conduct
established under this section, if the commission determines that
it is in substantial compliance with the objectives of the code
proposed by the commission. Upon granting a waiver to an agency,
the commission shall retain a copy of the agency's code to be made
available to the public.
(d) The commission shall propose the legislative rules by the
first day of October, two thousand four, so that it may be
considered by the Legislature at the regular session in the year
two thousand five, and the commission may not promulgate an
emergency rule on this matter in the interim.
This section
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.