Senate Bill No. 16

(By Senator Unger)

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[Introduced January 8, 2003; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section three-ll, relating to permitting county commissions to contract for deputy sheriffs to provide extraordinary police or security services to public or private entities.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter seven 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-ll, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.

§7-1-3ll. Extraordinary police or security services by deputy sheriffs for public or private entities.

Consistent with section fifteen-a, article fourteen of this chapter, and in cooperation with the county sheriff, a county commission may contract with public, quasi-public, military or private entities to provide extraordinary police or security services by deputy sheriffs when it is determined by the county commission to be in the public interest. The county sheriff shall assign personnel, equipment or facilities considered necessary under the contract and the sheriff's office shall be reimbursed for the wages, overtime wages, benefits and costs of providing the contract services as negotiated between the parties. The compensation paid to deputy sheriffs by virtue of contracts for which this section provides shall be paid from a special account and shall be excluded from any formulation used to calculate an employee's benefits. No deputy sheriff may be required to accept any assignment made pursuant to this subsection. A sheriff may use off-duty deputies from other counties to fulfill the contract needs if deputies from the sheriff's county are unable to provide sufficient services after completing their assigned official duties. The deputies selected from other counties must be selected in compliance with provisions of article fourteen, chapter seven. If the county civil service commission has not prescribed rules as required in section fifteen-a, article fourteen of this chapter, before a sheriff is allowed to grant additional police work to deputies, the sheriff must prepare a plan setting forth the terms and conditions under which the deputy sheriffs may engage in additional police work. The plan shall be submitted to the county commission and shall be subject to the approval of the county commission.
Every deputy sheriff who works under the contract shall be paid according to the hours and overtime hours actually worked notwithstanding a status as exempt personnel under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act or applicable state statutes. Every contract entered into under this subsection shall contain the provision that in the event of public disaster or emergency where the reassignment to official duty of all deputies is required, neither the county commission, the sheriff nor any deputy sheriffs may be liable for any damages incurred as the result of the reassignment. Further, any entity contracting with a county commission under this section shall also agree as part of that contract to hold harmless and indemnify the county, the county commission, the sheriff, the deputy sheriffs and all other county personnel from any liability arising out of employment under the contract. The employment of deputy sheriffs to provide security in circumstances involving labor disputes is expressly prohibited.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to specifically provide for a county commission, in cooperation with the sheriff, to contract with public or private entities to provide extraordinary police or security services using deputy sheriffs working in addition to their official duties, when the contract is determined to be in the public interest.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.