H. B. 4540
(By Delegates Campbell, Paxton, Williams,
Perry, Poling, Spencer, Tabb, Wysong,
Beach and Duke)
[Introduced February 14, 2006; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the authorization of the
purchase of personal computers and related devices from the
state contract by public school teachers; conditions; and
limitations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-4. Rules of director.
(a) The director shall adopt and amend rules and regulations
promulgate rules to:
(1) Authorize a spending unit to purchase specified
commodities directly and prescribe the manner in which such
purchases shall be made;
(2) Authorize, in writing, a spending unit to purchase
commodities in the open market for immediate delivery in
emergencies, define such emergencies and prescribe the manner in which such purchases shall be made and reported to the director;
and for the purposes mentioned in subdivision (1) and this
subdivision (2), the head of any spending unit, or the financial
governing board of any institution, may, with the approval of the
director, make requisitions upon the auditor for a sum to be known
as an advance allowance account, in no case to exceed five percent
of the total of the appropriations for any such spending unit, and
the auditor shall draw his warrant upon the treasurer for such
accounts; and all such advance allowance accounts shall be
accounted for by the head of the spending unit or institution once
every thirty days or oftener if required by the State Auditor or
director;
(3) Prescribe the manner in which commodities shall be
purchased, delivered, stored and distributed;
(4) Prescribe the time for making requisitions and estimates
of commodities, the future period which they are to cover, the form
in which they shall be submitted and the manner of their
authentication;
(5) Prescribe the manner of inspecting all deliveries of
commodities, and making chemical and physical tests of samples
submitted with bids and samples of deliveries to determine
compliance with specifications;
(6) Prescribe the amount of deposit or bond to be submitted
with a bid or contract and the amount of deposit or bond to be
given for the faithful performance of a contract;
(7) Prescribe a system whereby the director shall be required, upon the payment by a vendor of an annual fee established by the
director, to give notice to such vendor of all bid solicitations
for commodities of the type with respect to which such vendor
specified notice was to be given, but no such fee shall exceed the
cost of giving the notice to such vendor, nor shall such fee exceed
the sum of forty-five dollars per fiscal year, nor shall such fee
be charged to persons seeking only reimbursement from a spending
unit;
(8) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the
purchasing division shall contain provisions for liquidated
damages, remedies, and/or and provisions for the determination of
the amount or amounts which the vendor shall owe as damages, in the
event of default under such contract by such vendor; and
(9) Authorize the purchase of personal computers and related
devices from the state contract by public school teachers for use
outside of the classroom. The computers and related devices shall
not be purchased with public funds, but may be paid for and owned
by teachers individually. No more than one computer and related
device per year may be purchased by each teacher; and
(9) (10) Provide for such other matters as may be necessary to
give effect to the foregoing rules and regulations and the
provisions of this article.
(b) The director shall also adopt and amend rules and
regulations promulgate rules to prescribe qualifications to be met
by any person who, on and after the effective date of this section,
is to be employed in the purchasing division as a state buyer. Such rules and regulations shall provide that no person shall be so
employed as a state buyer unless such person at the time of
employment either is: (1) A graduate of an accredited college or
university; or (2) has at least four years' experience in
purchasing for any unit of government or for any business,
commercial or industrial enterprise. Those persons now serving as
state buyers shall remain subject to the provisions of article six,
chapter twenty-nine of this code, and those persons employed as
state buyers on and after the effective date of this section shall
be subject to the provisions of said article six, chapter
twenty-nine.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the director of
purchasing to promulgate a rule authorizing public school teachers
to purchase one personal computer and related devices per year from
the state contract for use outside the classroom.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.