Senate Bill No. 453
(By Senator Buckalew)
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[Introduced February 10, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article twelve,
chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
the office of executive secretary of the state board of risk
and insurance management.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article twelve, chapter twenty-nine of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. STATE INSURANCE.
§29-12-3. State board of insurance; creation, composition,
qualifications, and compensation.
(a) There is hereby created the "state board of insurance of West Virginia" which shall be composed of three members appointed
by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each
of the members shall be a resident of West Virginia possessed of
not less than five years' experience in the business of insurance
and no more than two of such members shall belong to any one
political party. The three original members of such board shall
be appointed for terms of one, two and three years, respectively,
and each subsequent appointment shall be for a term of four
years. In the event a vacancy occurs it shall be filled by
appointment for the unexpired term. No member of the board may
be removed from office by the governor except for official
misconduct, incompetency, neglect of duty or gross immorality.
(b) The insurance commissioner of West Virginia shall serve
as secretary of the board without vote and shall make available
to the board the information, facilities and services of the
office of the state insurance commissioner.
(c) The executive secretary is the chief administrative
officer of all the systems and he or she may not be a member of
the board. The executive secretary is appointed by the secretary
of administration and serves at his or her will and pleasure.
The executive secretary shall perform the duties that are
required of him or her in this article and as the board from time
to time delegates to him or her. The compensation of the executive secretary shall be fixed by the secretary of
administration subject to the approval of the governor. The
executive secretary shall, with the approval of the board, employ
administrative, technical and clerical employees as required for
the effective and efficient execution of his or her duties.
(c) (d) Each member of the board shall receive the sum of
forty dollars per day for each day's services actually performed
for such board as well as all necessary expenses incurred in the
performance of their duties, not exceeding one hundred days in
any one calendar year. The auditor shall pay such compensation
and expenses upon requisition certified by the chairman from
appropriations provided for such purposes.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the
executive secretary of the state board of insurance is the chief
administrative officer of all the systems and is not a member of
the board. Also the executive secretary is appointed by the
secretary of administration and serves at his or her will and
pleasure. The bill also provides that the compensation to be
paid the executive secretary is fixed by the secretary of
administration subject to the governor's approval. Finally, the
executive secretary is authorized to employ staff.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.