Senate Bill No. 216
(By Senators Wooton and Unger)
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[Introduced February 23, 2001; referred to the Committee
on Military; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article one-a, chapter fifteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section three-b; to
amend and reenact section twenty-one, article one-b of said
chapter; and to further amend said article by adding thereto
a new section, designated section twenty-five, all relating to
authorizing the adjutant general to maintain separate bank
accounts for certain purposes; authorizing the adjutant
general to pay certain members of the West Virginia national
guard directly in an amount equal to tuition payments to which
they are entitled; and providing a two thousand dollar bonus to those members who accept a commission upon graduation from
officer candidate school.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one-a, chapter fifteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
three-b; that section twenty-one, article one-b of said chapter be
amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-five, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. ADJUTANT GENERAL.
§15-1A-3b. Separate bank accounts.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the adjutant general is hereby authorized to establish
and maintain separate bank accounts, including, but not limited to,
accounts for armory and managerial committee funds, the mountaineer
challenge academy stipend fund and funds provided by the
appalachian high intensity drug trafficking area task force.
ARTICLE 1B. NATIONAL GUARD.
§15-1B-21. Tuition and fees for guard members at institutions of
higher education.
(a) Any member of the national guard who is enrolled in a course of undergraduate study and is attending any accredited
college, university, business or trade school located in West
Virginia or is attending any aviation school located in West
Virginia for the purpose of taking college-credit courses, may be
entitled to payment of tuitions and fees at that college,
university, business or trade school or aviation school during the
period of his or her service in the national guard: Provided, That
the adjutant general may prescribe criteria of eligibility for
payment of tuition and fees at the college, university, business or
trade school or aviation school: Provided, however, That such
payment is contingent upon appropriations being made by the
Legislature for this express purpose.
(b) The amount of the payment for members attending a
state-supported school shall be determined by the adjutant general
and may not exceed the actual amount of tuition and fees at the
school. The amount of such payment for members attending a private
school shall be determined by the adjutant general, but in no event
may exceed the highest amounts payable at any state-supported
school.
(c) Any member of the national guard who is enrolled in a
course of postgraduate study and is attending any accredited college or university located in West Virginia, and is receiving
payments under the army continuing education system, may be
entitled to payment of tuition and fees at that college or
university during his or her period of service in the national
guard: Provided, That the sum of payments received under this
subsection and the army continuing education system may not exceed
the actual amount of tuition and fees at the school and in no event
may exceed the highest amounts payable at any state-supported
school. Such payments are contingent upon appropriations being
made by the Legislature for this express purpose.
(d) The adjutant general may, in lieu of the tuition payment
authorized by this section, pay an amount equal to the amount of
tuition which otherwise would have been paid, directly to members
of the West Virginia national guard who are participating in the
PROMISE scholarship provided in article seven, chapter eighteen-c
of this code.
(d)(e) The adjutant general shall administer the tuition and
fee payments authorized under this section and shall propose
policies to implement the provisions of this section.
§15-1B-25. Commissioning bonus.
Upon graduation from the officer candidate school conducted at the regional training institute, Camp Dawson, each member of the
West Virginia army national guard who accepts a commission shall be
entitled to a commissioning bonus of two thousand dollars.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend that authority to
the adjutant general necessary for the more efficient management of
funds and to provide an enlistment bonus for those members of the
army national guard who successfully complete officer candidate
school.
§15-1A-3b and §15-1B-25 are new; therefore, strike-throughs
and underscoring have been omitted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.