ENROLLED
H. B. 3021
(By Delegates Douglas, Collins, Varner, Stalnaker, Willison, Flanigan and
Perdue)
[Passed March 12, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section three, article fourteen,
chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the West
Virginia commission for the deaf and hard-of-hearing;
establishing authority over the commission to the department
of health and human resources.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article fourteen, chapter five of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSION FOR THE DEAF AND
HARD-OF-HEARING.
§5-14-3. Continuation of commission; membership.
The West Virginia commission for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
is hereby continued within the department of health and human resources consisting of fifteen persons, eight of whom shall serve
ex officio. The remaining members are appointed by the governor by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commission shall
meet no less than four times annually. All meetings and activities
held by the commission shall be attended by at least two qualified
interpreters who shall be hired at the commission's expense or
provided free of charge by agencies, organizations or individuals
willing to volunteer qualified interpreters. The members are:
(1) The secretary, or his or her designee, of the department
of health and human resources; the commissioner, or his or her
designee, of the division of labor; the director, or his or her
designee, of the division of health; the state superintendent of
schools, or his or her designee, of the state board of education;
the director, or his or her designee, of the division of
rehabilitation; the director, or his or her designee, of the
division of handicapped children's services in the division of
human services; the chairman, or his or her designee, of the
advisory council for the education of exceptional children; and the
superintendent, or his or her designee, of the West Virginia School
for the deaf, all of whom serve ex officio; and
(2)Seven persons appointed by the governor, at least three of
whom are deaf or hard-of-hearing, one of whom is the parent of a
deaf child, one of whom is a certified teacher of the
hearing-impaired, one audiologist and one otolaryngologist. Of the
three deaf people, at least two shall be selected from a list of four people recommended by the board of the West Virginia
association of the deaf.