H. B. 2854
(By Delegates Faircloth, Blair and Trump)
[Introduced February 4, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Government
Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article fourteen,
chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing the age
of eligibility for police officers' civil service appointment
to employment to forty-five years.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article fourteen, chapter eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. LAW AND ORDER; POLICE FORCE OR DEPARTMENTS; POWERS,
AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS
AND POLICEMEN; POLICE MATRONS; SPECIAL SCHOOL ZONE
AND PARKING LOT OR PARKING BUILDING POLICE OFFICERS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN POLICE
DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-12. Form of application; age and residency requirements;
exceptions.
The policemen' civil service commission in each Class I and
Class II city shall require individuals applying for admission to
any competitive examination provided for under the civil service
provisions of this article or under the rules and regulations of
said commission to file in its office, within a reasonable time
prior to the proposed examination, a formal application in which
the applicant shall state under oath or affirmation:
(1) His or her full name, residence and post-office address;
(2) His or her
United States citizenship, age and the place
and date of his birth;
(3) His or her
state of health and his physical capacity for
the public service;
(4) His or her
business and employments and residences for at
least three previous years; and
(5) Such other information as may reasonably be required,
touching upon the applicant's qualifications and fitness for the
public service.
Blank forms for such applications shall be furnished by the commission, without charge, to all individuals requesting the same.
The commission may require, in connection with such application,
such certificates of citizens, physicians and others, having
pertinent knowledge concerning the applicant, as the good of the
service may require.
No application for original appointment shall be received if
the individual applying is less than eighteen years of age or more
than thirty-five forty-five years of age at the date of his
application: Provided, That in the event any applicant formerly
served upon the paid police department of the city to which he
makes application, for a period of more than his probationary
period, and resigned from the department at a time when there were
no charges of misconduct or other misfeasance pending against such
applicant, within a period of two years next preceding the date of
his application, and at the time of his application resides within
the corporate limits of the city in which the paid police
department to which he seeks appointment by reinstatement is
located, then such individual shall be eligible for appointment by
reinstatement in the discretion of the policemen's civil service
commission, even though such applicant shall be over the age of
thirty-five forty-five years, and such applicant, providing his former term of service so justifies, may be appointed by
reinstatement to the paid police department without a competitive
examination, but such applicant shall undergo a medical
examination; and if such individual shall be so appointed by
reinstatement to the paid police department, he shall be the lowest
in rank in the department next above the probationers of the
department.
Any applicant for original appointment must have been a
resident for one year, during some period of time prior to the date
of his application, of the city in which he seeks to become a
member of the paid police department: Provided, That if the
commission deems it necessary it may consider for original
appointment or for reinstatement under the preceding proviso of
this section, applicants who are not residents of the city but who
have been residents of the county in which the city or any portion
of the territory thereof is located or in an adjacent county to the
county in which the city is located for a period of at least one
year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand age and residency
eligibility for persons seeking employment as police officers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.