SB648 enr

ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 648
(By Senators Kessler, Helmick, Edgell, Unger, Minard, Prezioso, Anderson, Fanning, Mitchell, Snyder, Plymale, Sharpe, Ross, Rowe, Hunter, Caldwell, Oliverio, Facemyer, Minear, Wooton, Jackson, Craigo, McCabe, McKenzie, Tomblin, Mr. President, Bowman, Redd, Burnette, Love and Bailey)
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[Passed March 9, 2002; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact sections one-a and one-c, article seven, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to increasing salaries for conservation officers; and establishing a new pay plan.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That sections one-a and one-c, article seven, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.

§20-7-1a. Conservation officers salary increase based on length of service.

(a) Effective the first day of July, two thousand two, each conservation officer shall receive and be entitled to an increase in salary based on length of service, including that heretofore and hereafter served as a conservation officer as follows: For five years of service with the division, a conservation officer shall receive a salary increase of six hundred dollars per year payable during his or her next three years of service and a like increase at three-year intervals thereafter, with these increases to be cumulative. A salary increase shall be based upon years of service as of the first day of July of each year and may not be recalculated until the first day of July of the following year.

Conservation officers in service at the time the amendment to this section becomes effective shall be given credit for prior service and shall be paid such salaries as the same length of service will entitle them to receive under the provisions hereof.

(b) This section does not apply to special or emergency conservation officers appointed under the authority of section one of this article.
§20-7-1c. Conservation officers, ranks, salary schedule, base pay, exceptions.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the ranks within the law-enforcement section of the division of natural resources are colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, conservation officer first class, senior conservation officer, conservation officer and conservation officer-in-training. Each officer while in uniform shall wear the insignia of rank as provided by the chief conservation officer.

(b) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand two, and continuing thereafter, conservation officers shall be paid the minimum annual salaries based on the following schedule:
ANNUAL SALARY SCHEDULE (BASE PAY)
SUPERVISORY AND NONSUPERVISORY RANKS
Conservation Officer-In-Training
(first year until end of probation)

$26,337
Conservation Officer (second year)

$29,768
Conservation Officer (third year)

$30,140
Senior Conservation Officer (fourth and fifth year)

$30,440
Senior Conservation Officer First Class
(after fifth year)

$32,528
Senior Conservation Officer (after tenth year)

$33,104
Senior Conservation Officer (after fifteenth year)

$33,528
Corporal (after sixteenth year)

$36,704
Sergeant

$40,880
First Sergeant

$42,968
Lieutenant

$47,144
Captain

$49,232
Major

$51,320
Lieutenant Colonel

$53,408
Colonel

Conservation officers in service at the time the amendment to this section becomes effective shall be given credit for prior service and shall be paid salaries as the same length of service will entitle them to receive under the provisions of this section.

(c) This section does not apply to special or emergency conservation officers appointed under the authority of section one of this article.

(d) Nothing in this section prohibits other pay increases as provided for under section two, article five, chapter five of this code: Provided, That any across-the-board pay increase granted by the Legislature or the governor will be added to, and reflected in, the minimum salaries set forth in this section; and that any merit increases granted to an officer over and above the annual salary schedule listed in subsection (b) of this section are retained by an officer when he or she advances from one rank to another.