COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2540
(By Delegates C. White, Yeager, Marshall,
Perry, Caputo, Smirl and Azinger)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 7, 2001]
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 certain notices and consequences to a
newly hired law-enforcement officer; providing for
consequences to an employer if an employer fails to provide
certain notices and consequences to a newly hired law-
enforcement officer; and providing for circumstances where a
law-enforcement officer may appeal their termination to the
governor's committee.
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. 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
or disclosure 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.
(j) Any person terminated from employment for not filing an
application to the law-enforcement training academy within ninety
days after commencing employment as a law-enforcement officer may
appeal the termination to the governor's committee for
reconsideration on an individual basis.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.