H. B. 2808
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Staton)
[Introduced January 31, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article one, chapter five of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-eight,
relating to authorizing use of answering machines by state
agencies, departments and institutions within the executive
branch; providing that if a state agency utilizes an answering
machine during normal working hours the agency shall furnish
to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House a
telephone number or numbers where the telephone will be
immediately answered by a person; requiring that any answering
machine used have and inform users that the numeral zero may
be dialed at any time to speak with a person; and providing for freezing of spending authority where an agency or
department fails to comply.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter five of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-eight, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. THE GOVERNOR.
§5-1-28. Use of answering machines by state agencies.
(a) The governor may authorize any state agency, department or
institution within the executive department to use an answering
machine on its main telephone line, subject to the provisions of
this section.
(b) If any agency, department or institution within the
executive department does utilize a telephone answering machine to
answer telephone calls on its main line for public contact, the
answering machine must present to the public early in the recording
that the caller may immediately push zero and immediately be
transferred to a live operator, and the answering machine must
actually perform the transfer.
(c) If any agency, department or institution within the executive department does utilize a telephone answering machine to
answer telephone calls on its main line for public contact, that
agency shall, at least quarterly, certify to the president of the
Senate and the speaker of the House, in writing, at least two
telephone numbers that will be answered by a person during the
normal working hours of the office. If the president of the Senate
or the speaker of the House fail to receive the certification from
any agency,
the president of the Senate or the speaker of the
House, shall notify the auditor and no funds may be expended for
salary or compensation for the agency, department or institution
until the certified report is submitted.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize executive
agencies to use answering machines and requiring that a caller be
able to reach an operator. The bill also requires reports to the
Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate regarding
agency telephone numbers which will be answered by live operators.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.