Senate Bill No. 26

(By Senators Hunter, Mitchell, Love, Redd and Rowe)

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[Introduced; referred to the Committee

on Government Organization.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-seven, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the regional jail and correctional facility authority; correctional officers employed by the authority at regional jails; and the northern regional jail and correctional facility to be covered by civil service.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-seven, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY.

§31-20-27. Correctional officers; regional jails; priority of hiring; civil service coverage.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the authority, when employing correctional officers to complete the approved staffing plan of a regional jail completed after the effective date of this section, shall employ any correctional officer applying for a position as a correctional officer at a regional jail who was employed in good standing at a county jail facility in the region at the time of its closing or at a prison correctional facility operated by the division of corrections: Provided, That the regional jail is located within the same region as the prison correctional facility that was closed due to relocation of the prison correctional facility to a site outside the region. Only those correctional officers, who are employees in good standing at the time the prison correctional facility is closed, are eligible for transfer under the provisions of this subsection. Correctional officers, employed under the provisions of this subsection, shall be employed at a salary and with benefits consistent with the approved plan of compensation of the division of personnel, created under section five, article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code. All correctional officers employed under this subsection shall also be covered by the policies and procedures of the education and state employees grievance board, created under section five, article six-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code. and the classified-exempt service protection policies of the division of personnel
(b) The authority shall, when employing correctional officers to fill positions within the approved staffing plan of any regional jail, employ any correctional officer applying for a position as a correctional officer at a regional jail who was previously employed as a correctional officer in good standing at any local jail facility: Provided, That the local jail facility is located within the same region as the regional jail at the time of the local jail facility's closing or reduction in size and was reduced in size or closed prior to or due to the completion of the regional jail within the region. Correctional officers employed under the provisions of this subsection shall be employed at a salary and with benefits consistent with the approved plan of compensation of the division of personnel, created under section five, article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code. Only those county correctional officers who are employees in good standing at the time the local jail facility is closed are eligible for transfer under the provisions of this subsection. All correctional officers employed under this subsection shall also be covered by the policies and procedures of the education and state employees grievance board created under section five, article six-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code. and the classified-exempt service protection of the division of personnel
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, on and after the first day of July, two thousand two, any person then employed or to be employed by the regional jail and correctional facility authority as a correctional officer in a regional jail or at the northern regional jail and correctional facility shall, within the limitations contained in section two, article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code, be placed in the civil service system as a covered employee.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that, on and after July 1, 2002, correctional officers employed by the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority and the northern regional jail and correctional facility shall be placed in the civil service system as covered employees.

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