H. B. 2540


(By Delegates C. White, Yeager, Marshall,

Perry, Caputo, Smirl and Azinger)

[Introduced February 26, 2001; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring an employer to provide notice, disclosure and reasonable assistance to a newly hired law-enforcement officer with respect to the preparation and processing of a written application to attend the law-enforcement training academy.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section five, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 29. LAW-ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION.

§30-29-5. Certification requirements.

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (g) below, no person may be employed as a law-enforcement officer by any West
Virginia law-enforcement agency or by any state institution of higher education on or after the effective date of this article unless the person is certified, or is certifiable in one of the manners specified in subsections (c) through (e) below, by the governor's committee as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training program requirements promulgated pursuant to this article.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (g) below, a person who is not certified, or certifiable in one of the manners specified in subsections (c) through (e) below, may be conditionally employed as a law-enforcement officer until certified: Provided, That within ninety calendar days of the commencement of employment or the effective date of this article if the person is already employed on the effective date, he or she makes a written application to attend an approved law-enforcement training academy. The person's employer shall provide notice, in writing, of the ninety-day deadline to file a written application to the academy within thirty calender days of that person's commencement of employment. The employer shall provide full disclosure as to the consequences of failing to file a timely written application, and the employer shall make reasonable efforts to assist the person in preparing and processing the application. The academy shall notify the applicant in writing of the receipt of the application and of the tentative date of the applicant's enrollment. Any applicant who, as the
result of extenuating circumstances acceptable to his or her law-enforcement official, is unable to attend the scheduled training program to which he or she was admitted may reapply and shall be admitted to the next regularly scheduled training program. An applicant who satisfactorily completes the program shall, within thirty days of completion, make written application to the governor's committee requesting certification as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training program requirements. Upon determining that an applicant has met the requirements for certification, the governor's committee shall forward to the applicant documentation of certification. An applicant who fails to complete the training program to which he or she is first admitted, or was admitted upon reapplication, may not be certified by the governor's committee.
(c) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on the effective date of this article and is a graduate of the West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia department of public safety cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training academy. To receive certification, the person shall make written application within ninety calendar days of the effective date of this article to the governor's committee requesting certification.
The governor's committee shall review the applicant's relevant scholastic records and, upon determining that the applicant has met the requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant documentation of certification.
(d) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on the effective date of this article and is not a graduate of the West Virginia basic police training course, the West Virginia department of public safety cadet training program, or other approved law-enforcement training academy, is certifiable as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt from the requirement of attending a law-enforcement training academy if the person has been employed as a law-enforcement officer for a period of not less than five consecutive years immediately preceding the date of application for certification. To receive certification, the person shall make written application within ninety calendar days following the effective date of this article to the governor's committee requesting certification. The application shall include notarized statements as to the applicant's years of employment as a law-enforcement officer. The governor's committee shall review the application and, upon determining that the applicant has met the requirements for certification, shall forward to the applicant documentation of certification.

(e) Any person who begins employment on or after the effective
date of this article as a law-enforcement officer is certifiable as having met the minimum entry level law-enforcement training program requirements and is exempt from attending a law-enforcement training academy if the person has satisfactorily completed a course of instruction in law enforcement equivalent to or exceeding the minimum applicable law-enforcement training curricula promulgated by the governor's committee. To receive certification, the person shall make written application within ninety calendar days following the commencement of employment to the governor's committee requesting certification. The application shall include a notarized statement of the applicant's satisfactory completion of the course of instruction in law enforcement, a notarized transcript of the applicant's relevant scholastic records, and a notarized copy of the curriculum of the completed course of instruction. The governor's committee shall review the application and, if it finds the applicant has met the requirements for certification shall forward to the applicant documentation of certification.
(f) Any person who is employed as a law-enforcement officer on or after the effective date of this article and fails to be certified shall be automatically terminated and no further emoluments shall be paid to such officer by his employer. Any person terminated shall be entitled to reapply, as a private citizen, to the subcommittee for training and certification, and
upon being certified may again be employed as a law-enforcement officer in this state: Provided, That if a person is terminated under this subsection because an application was not timely filed to the academy, and the person's employer failed to provide notice, disclosure or reasonable assistance to that person as set forth in subsection (b) of this section, the employer shall pay the full cost of attending the academy if the person's application to the subcommittee as a private citizen is subsequently approved.
(g) Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting any governing body, civil service commission or chief executive of any West Virginia law-enforcement agency from requiring their law-enforcement officers to meet qualifications and satisfactorily complete a course of law-enforcement instruction which exceeds the minimum entry level law-enforcement qualification and training curricula promulgated by the governor's committee.

(h) The requirement of this section for qualification, training and certification of law-enforcement officers shall not be mandatory during the two years next succeeding the effective date of this article for the law-enforcement officers of a law-enforcement agency which employs a civil service system for its law-enforcement personnel, nor shall such provisions be mandatory during the five years next succeeding the effective date of this article for law-enforcement officers of a law-enforcement agency which does not employ a civil service system for its
law-enforcement personnel: Provided, That such requirements shall be mandatory for all such law-enforcement officers until their law-enforcement officials apply for their exemption by submitting a written plan to the governor's committee which will reasonably assure compliance of all law-enforcement officers of their agencies within the applicable two or five-year period of exemption.
(i) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the governor's committee made pursuant to this article may contest such decision in accordance with the provisions of article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require employers to provide notice to newly hired law-enforcement officers of the 90 day deadline to file a written application to attend the police academy, and to require employers to provide reasonable assistance in the preparation and processing of the officer's application.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.