Senate Bill No. 110
(By Senators Brackenrich and Wiedebusch)
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[Introduced February 23, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article thirteen,
chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
continuation of the oil and gas inspectors' examining board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article thirteen, chapter twenty-two of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. OIL AND GAS INSPECTORS' EXAMINING BOARD.
ยง22-13-3. Oil and gas inspectors' examining board created;
composition; appointment, term and compensation of members;
meetings; powers and duties generally; continuation
following audit.
(a) There is hereby continued an oil and gas inspectors'
examining board consisting of five members who, except for the
public representative on such board, shall be appointed by the
governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Members may be removed only for the same causes and like manneras elective state officers. One member of the board who shall be
the representative of the public, shall be a professor in the
petroleum engineering department of the school of mines at West
Virginia University appointed by the dean of said school; two
members shall be persons who by reason of previous training and
experience may reasonably be said to represent the viewpoint of
independent oil and gas operators; and two members shall be
persons who by reason of previous training and experience may
reasonably be said to represent the viewpoint of major oil and
gas producers.
The director for the office of oil and gas shall be an ex
officio member of the board and shall serve as secretary of the
board without additional compensation, but he shall have no right
to vote with respect to any matter before the board.
The members of the board, except the public representative,
shall be appointed for overlapping terms of eight years, except
that the original appointments shall be for terms of two, four,
six and eight years, respectively. Any member whose term expires
may be reappointed by the governor.
Each member of the board shall receive seventy-five dollars
per diem while actually engaged in the performance of the work of
the board, and shall receive mileage at the rate of not more than
fifteen cents for each mile actually traveled going from the home
of the member to the place of the meeting of the board and
returning therefrom, which shall be paid out of the state
treasury upon a requisition upon the state auditor, properly
certified by such members of the board.
The public member shall serve as chairman of the board.
Members of the board, before performing any duty, shall take
and subscribe to the oath required by section five, article four
of the constitution of West Virginia.
The board shall meet at such times and places as shall be
designated by the chairman. It shall be the duty of the chairman
to call a meeting of the board on the written request of two
members, or on the written request of said director or the
director of the division of environmental protection. Notice of
each meeting shall be given in writing to each member by the
secretary at least five days in advance of the meeting. Three
voting members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business.
(b) In addition to other powers and duties expressly set
forth elsewhere in this article, the board shall:
(1) Establish, and from time to time revise, forms of
application for employment as an oil and gas inspector and
supervising inspector and forms for written examinations to test
the qualifications of candidates, with such distinctions, if any,
in the forms for oil and gas inspector and supervising inspector
as the board may from time to time deem necessary or advisable;
(2) Adopt and promulgate reasonable rules and regulations
relating to the examination, qualification and certification of
candidates for appointment, and relating to hearings for removal
of inspectors or the supervising inspector, required to be held
by this article. All of such rules and regulations shall be
printed and a copy thereof furnished by the secretary of theboard to any person upon request;
(3) Conduct, after public notice of the time and place
thereof, examinations of candidates for appointment. By
unanimous agreement of all members of the board, one or more
members of the board or an employee of the division of
environmental protection may be designated to give to a candidate
the written portion of the examination;
(4) Prepare and certify to said director and the director of
the division of environmental protection a register of qualified
eligible candidates for appointment as oil and gas inspectors or
as supervising inspectors, with such differentiation, if any,
between the certification of candidates for oil and gas
inspectors and for supervising inspectors as the board may from
time to time deem necessary or advisable. The register shall
list all qualified eligible candidates in the order of their
grades, the candidate with the highest grade appearing at the top
of the list. After each meeting of the board held to examine
such candidates and at least annually, the board shall prepare
and submit to said director and the director of the division of
environmental protection a revised and corrected register of
qualified eligible candidates for appointment, deleting from such
revised register all persons: (a) Who are no longer residents of
West Virginia; (b) who have allowed a calendar year to expire
without, in writing, indicating their continued availability for
such appointment; (c) who have been passed over for appointment
for three years; (d) who have become ineligible for appointment
since the board originally certified that such persons werequalified and eligible for appointment; or (e) who, in the
judgment of at least three members of the board, should be
removed from the register for good cause;
(5) Cause the secretary of the board to keep and preserve
the written examination papers, manuscripts, grading sheets and
other papers of all applicants for appointment for such period of
time as may be established by the board. Specimens of the
examinations given, together with the correct solution of each
question, shall be preserved permanently by the secretary of the
board;
(6) Issue a letter or written notice of qualification to
each successful eligible candidate;
(7) Hear and determine proceedings for the removal of
inspectors or the supervising inspector in accordance with the
provisions of this article;
(8) Hear and determine appeals of inspectors or the
supervising inspector from suspension orders made by said
director pursuant to the provisions of section two, article one,
chapter twenty-two-b of this code: Provided, That in order to
appeal from any order of suspension, an aggrieved inspector or
supervising inspector shall file such appeal in writing with the
oil and gas inspectors' examining board not later than ten days
after receipt of the notice of suspension. On such appeal the
board shall affirm the action of said director unless it be
satisfied from a clear preponderance of the evidence that said
director has acted arbitrarily;
(9) Make an annual report to the governor concerning theadministration of oil and gas inspection personnel in the state
service; making such recommendations as the board considers to be
in the public interest; and
(10) Render such advice and assistance to the director of
the office of oil and gas as he shall from time to time determine
necessary or desirable in the performance of his duties.
(c) After having conducted a preliminary performance audit
through its joint committee on government operations, pursuant to
section nine, article ten, chapter four of this code, the
Legislature hereby finds and declares that the oil and gas
inspectors' examining board within the division of environmental
protection should be continued and reestablished. Accordingly,
notwithstanding the provisions of section four of said article,
the oil and gas inspectors' examining board within the division
of environmental protection shall continue to exist until the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four.
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(NOTE: This bill provides for the continuation of the Oil
and Gas Inspectors' Examining Board until July 1, 1994.)
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
This bill is recommended by the Joint Committee on
Government Operations for passage at the 1993 Regular Session.