Introduced Version
Senate Bill 671 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 671
(By Senator Sypolt)
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[Introduced February 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on
Education.]
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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 institutions of higher education under its jurisdiction;
(b) Develop a master plan for the institutions under its
jurisdiction, except the administratively linked community and
technical colleges which retain an institutional board of advisors
shall develop their master plans subject to the provisions of
section one, article six of this chapter.
(1) The ultimate responsibility for developing and updating
the master plans at the institutional level resides with the board
of Governors, or board of advisors, as applicable, 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 such a plan to assure that the needs of
the institution's area of responsibility for a quality system of
higher education are addressed;
(C) Documentation of 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 six 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, may be
necessary;
(c) Prescribe for the institutions under its jurisdiction, in
accordance with its master plan and the compact for each
institution, specific functions and responsibilities 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
institutions under its jurisdiction, such request to relate
directly to missions, goals and projections as found in the
institutional master plans and the institutional compacts;
(e) Consider, revise and submit to the commission or council,
as appropriate, a budget request on behalf of the institutions
under its jurisdiction;
(f) Review, at least every five years, all academic programs
offered at the institutions under its jurisdiction. The review
shall address the viability, adequacy and necessity of the programs
in relation to its 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 institutions 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) The governing boards shall ensure that the sequence and
availability of academic programs and courses offered by the
institutions under their 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 institutions 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, the appropriate governing board has the exclusive
authority to 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 utilize one nationally recognized teacher education program accreditation
standard as the appropriate standard for program evaluation;
(i) Utilize 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 institutions under their 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 six-a, chapter
twenty-nine of this code is the exclusive mechanism for hearing
prospective employee grievances and appeals. In construing the
application of said article to grievances of higher education
employees, the following apply:
(1) "Chief administrator" means the president of a state
institution of higher education as to those employees employed by
the institution and the appropriate chancellor as to those
employees employed by the commission or council;
(2) The State Division of Personnel may not be a party to nor
have any authority regarding a grievance initiated by a higher education employee; and
(3) The provisions of this section supersede and replace the
grievance procedure set out in article twenty-nine, chapter
eighteen of this code for any grievance initiated by a higher
education employee after the first day of July, two thousand one;
(l) Solicit and utilize or expend voluntary support, including
financial contributions and support services, for the institutions
under its jurisdiction;
(m) Appoint a president for the institutions 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. Such 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 the first day of November of each year an annual report
of the performance of the institution under its jurisdiction during
the previous fiscal year as compared to stated goals 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 are permitted to 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 institutional compact. If a governing board
elects to delegate any of its power and control under the
provisions of this subsection, it shall enter such delegation in
the minutes of the meeting when the decision was made and shall
notify the commission or council, as appropriate. Any such
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, the governing boards shall continue to abide by
existing rules setting forth standards for acceptance of advanced
placement credit for their respective institutions. Individual
departments at institutions of higher education may, upon approval
of the institutional faculty Senate, require higher scores on the
advanced placement test than scores designated by the appropriate
governing board when the credit is to be used toward meeting a
requirement of the core curriculum for a major in that department;
(u) Each governing board, or its designee, shall 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 institutions 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) The governing boards in consultation with the appropriate
chancellor and the Secretary of the Department of Administration
shall 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 institutions under their jurisdiction. Each such personnel transaction shall be accompanied
by the appropriate standardized system or forms which will be
submitted to the respective governing board and the Department of
Finance and Administration;
(w) Transfer of funds. --
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the governing boards may transfer funds from any account
specifically appropriated for their use to any corresponding line
item in a general revenue account at any agency or institution
under their jurisdiction as long as such transferred funds are used
for the purposes appropriated.
(2) The governing boards may transfer funds from appropriated
special revenue accounts for capital improvements under their
jurisdiction to special revenue accounts at agencies or
institutions under their jurisdiction as long as such transferred
funds are used for the purposes appropriated.
(x) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the governing boards may acquire legal services as are
considered necessary, including representation of the governing
boards, their institutions, 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 boards may, but are not required to, call upon the
Attorney General for legal assistance and representation as provided by law;
(y) Each governing board which has under its jurisdiction an
administratively linked community and technical college or a
regional campus offering community and technical college education
programs shall create within the administrative structure of its
governing board a subcommittee for community and technical college
education. The subcommittee shall have at least four members, one
of whom is the chairperson of the board of advisors of the
community and technical college or, in the case of the Governing
Board of West Virginia University, both the member representing the
community and technical college and the member representing the
regional campus; and
(z) A governing board may contract and pay for disability
insurance for a class or classes of employees at a state
institution of higher education under its jurisdiction.
(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.