Senate Bill No. 266
(By Senators Unger and Love)
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[Introduced January 22, 2004; referred to the Committee
on .]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §7-1-3oo, relating to
permitting county commissions to contract for deputy sheriffs
to provide extraordinary police or security services to public
or private entities.
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 §7-1-3oo, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3oo. Extraordinary police or security services by deputy
sheriffs for public or private entities.
Consistent with section fifteen-a, article fourteen of this
chapter, and in cooperation with the county sheriff, a county
commission may contract with public, quasi-public, military or private entities to provide extraordinary police or security
services by deputy sheriffs when it is determined by the county
commission to be in the public interest. The county sheriff shall
assign personnel, equipment or facilities considered necessary
under the contract and the sheriff's office shall be reimbursed for
the wages, overtime wages, benefits and costs of providing the
contract services as negotiated between the parties. The
compensation paid to deputy sheriffs by virtue of contracts for
which this section provides shall be paid from a special account
and shall be excluded from any formulation used to calculate an
employee's benefits. No deputy sheriff may be required to accept
any assignment made pursuant to this section. A sheriff may use
off-duty deputies from other counties to fulfill the contract needs
if deputies from the sheriff's county are unable to provide
sufficient services after completing their assigned official
duties. The deputies selected from other counties shall be
selected in compliance with provisions of article fourteen, chapter
seven of this code. If the county civil service commission has not
prescribed rules as required in section fifteen-a, article fourteen
of this chapter, before a sheriff is allowed to grant additional
police work to deputies, the sheriff shall prepare a plan setting
forth the terms and conditions under which the deputy sheriffs may
engage in additional police work. The plan shall be submitted to
the county commission and is subject to the approval of the county commission.
Every deputy sheriff who works under the contract shall be
paid according to the hours and overtime hours actually worked
notwithstanding a status as exempt personnel under the Federal Fair
Labor Standards Act or applicable state statutes. Every contract
entered into under this section shall contain the provision that in
the event of public disaster or emergency where the reassignment to
official duty of all deputies is required, neither the county
commission, the sheriff nor any deputy sheriffs is liable for any
damages incurred as the result of the reassignment. Further, any
entity contracting with a county commission under this section
shall also agree as part of that contract to hold harmless and
indemnify the county, the county commission, the sheriff, the
deputy sheriffs and all other county personnel from any liability
arising out of employment under the contract. The employment of
deputy sheriffs to provide security in circumstances involving
labor disputes is expressly prohibited.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to specifically provide for
a county commission, in cooperation with the sheriff, to contract
with public or private entities to provide extraordinary police or
security services using deputy sheriffs working in addition to
their official duties, when the contract is determined to be in the
public interest.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.