H. B. 4399
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Marshall, Beach,
Shook, Fragale, Frazier, Manypenny,
Miley, Staggers and Williams)
[Introduced February 8, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §18B-2D-1, §18B-2D-2,
§18B-2D-3 and §18B-2D-4, all relating to the Higher Education
Merit Screening Advisory Committee, legislative findings;
creation of the Higher Education Merit Screening Advisory
Committee; purpose, composition and terms of the committee;
meetings and quorum; compensation and expenses; powers and
duties of the committee.
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 §18B-2D-1, §18B-2D-2,
§18B-2D-3 and §18B-2D-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2D. HIGHER EDUCATION SCREENING ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
§18B-2D-1. Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) The aim of appointments to governing boards of state universities, colleges and community colleges should be to place
the most able, experienced and deserving citizens on the public
boards of higher education;
(2) State universities, colleges and community colleges are
ultimately owned by the state's citizens, and these institutions
uniquely serve broad social, cultural and economic purposes that
have long-term effects on the citizenry's quality of life;
(3) It is vital that those responsible for university
governance be as independent of political ideologies or partisan
interests as possible;
(4) A mechanism for recruiting and screening candidates for
appointments to governing boards of state universities, colleges
and community colleges would help ensure that only the most
talented, energetic, committed individuals are appointed to the
boards of public higher education; and
(5) There is a need for a coordinated approach for finding
qualified applicants, given that there are twenty governing boards
for higher education institutions, each of which may have differing
needs, constituencies and geographical considerations.
§18B-2D-2. Creation of committee; purpose; composition; terms;
meetings; quorum.
(a) There is hereby created the Higher Education Merit
Screening Advisory Committee.
(b) The purpose of the committee is to review and evaluate
potential appointees for appointments to the governing boards of state universities, colleges and community colleges, and to make
recommendations to the Governor.
(c) The committee shall have a total of nine members to be
appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. On making
appointments to the committee, the Governor shall assure broad
geographical and political representation, assure equal
representation of men and women, inasmuch as possible, assure no
less than proportional representation of the two leading political
parties of the state, assure that appointments reflect the minority
racial composition of the state, and assure that appointments
represent diversity in occupation, including business and labor.
Each member of the committee shall serve for a term of six years,
which is renewable once. One third of the members shall be
appointed each even-numbered year. The members of the committee
shall select a chairperson, who shall serve a three-year term.
(d) The committee meets at least once during each quarter. Of
the nine members of the committee, five members shall constitute a
quorum. Due to the private nature of discussion of candidate's
qualifications, the meetings of the committee shall be exempt from
the open meeting law, provided by section three, article nine-a,
chapter six of this code.
§18B-2D-3. Compensation; expenses.
Members of the committee shall serve without compensation.
All members shall be reimbursed for all actual and necessary
expenses incurred in the performance of his or her duties, upon presentation of an itemized sworn statement thereof, including
travel.
§18B-2D-4. Powers and duties of committee.
The Committee has the following powers and duties:
(1) Develop a statement of the selection criteria to be
applied, which shall include a criterion that members represent
diversity in geography, gender, race, occupation, and experience,
which shall be distributed to potential candidates;
(2) Develop a description of the responsibilities and duties
of a member of a governing board of a state university, college or
community college, which shall be distributed to potential
candidates;
(3) Develop and implement a process for evaluating potential
appointees to higher education governing boards, based on
substantive qualifications, including merit and experience;
(4) Interview all candidates for appointments to the higher
education governing boards; and
(5) Make recommendations to the Governor at least thirty days
prior to the expiration of terms for which recommendations have
been requested to fill vacancies on higher education governing
boards: Provided, That the committee shall recommend at least two
and not more than three candidates for each vacancy, including
those being asked to fill unfulfilled or partial terms: Provided,
however, That if the recommendations of the committee are
considered to be unacceptable by the Governor, the committee shall provide the Governor with new recommendations.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Higher
Education Merit Screening Advisory Committee to make
recommendations to the Governor for appointments to governing
boards of state universities, colleges and community colleges. The
bill provides for the composition of the board, as well as its
powers and duties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added