ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 760
(By Senators White and Hunter)
____________
[Passed March 9, 2006; in effect ninety days from passage.]
____________
AN ACT to amend and reenact §22A-9-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that a former director
of the West Virginia University School of Mines may be
selected to serve on the Mine Inspectors' Examining Board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22A-9-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. MINE INSPECTORS' EXAMINING BOARD.
§22A-9-1. Mine Inspectors' Examining Board.
The Mine Inspectors' Examining Board is continued. It
consists of five members who shall be appointed by the Governor, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Members so
appointed may be removed only for the same causes and in like
manner as elective state officers. One of the members of the board
shall be a representative of the public, who shall be the director or a former director of the School of Mines at West Virginia
University. Two members of the board shall be persons who by
reason of previous training and experience may reasonably be said
to represent the viewpoint of coal mine operators and two members
shall be persons who by reason of previous training and experience
may reasonably be said to represent the viewpoint of coal mine
workers.
The Director of the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training is an ex officio member of the board and shall serve as
secretary of the board, without additional compensation; but the
director has no right to vote with respect to any matter before the
board.
The members of the board, except the public representative,
shall be appointed for overlapping terms of eight years, except
that the original appointments shall be for terms of two, four, six
and eight years, respectively. Any member whose term expires may
be reappointed by the Governor. Members serving on the effective
date of this article may continue to serve until their terms
expire.
Each member of the board shall be paid the same compensation,
and each member of the board shall be paid the expense
reimbursement, as is paid to members of the Legislature for their
interim duties as recommended by the Citizens Legislative
Compensation Commission and authorized by law for each day or portion thereof engaged in the discharge of official duties. Any
such amounts shall be paid out of the State Treasury upon a
requisition upon the State Auditor, properly certified by such
members of the board.
The public member is chair of the board. Members of the
board, before performing any duty, shall take and subscribe to the
oath required by section five, article IV of the Constitution of
West Virginia.
The Mine Inspectors' Examining Board shall meet at such times
and places as shall be designated by the chair. It is the duty of
the chair to call a meeting of the board on the written request of
three members or the Director of the Office of Miners' Health,
Safety and Training. Notice of each meeting shall be given in
writing to each member by the secretary at least five days in
advance of the meeting. Three members is a quorum for the
transaction of business.
In addition to other duties expressly set forth elsewhere in
this article, the board shall:
(1) Establish, and from time to time revise, forms of
application for employment as mine inspectors, which shall include
the applicant's social security number, and forms for written
examinations to test the qualifications of candidates for that
position;
(2) Adopt and promulgate reasonable rules relating to the examination, qualification and certification of candidates for
appointment as mine inspectors and hearing for removal of
inspectors, required to be held by section twelve, article one of
this chapter. All of such rules shall be printed and a copy
thereof furnished by the secretary of the board to any person upon
request;
(3) Conduct, after public notice of the time and place
thereof, examinations of candidates for appointment as mine
inspector. By unanimous agreement of all members of the board, one
or more members of the board or an employee of the Office of
Miners' Health, Safety and Training may be designated to give a
candidate the written portion of the examination;
(4) Prepare and certify to the Director of the Office of
Miners' Health, Safety and Training a register of qualified
eligible candidates for appointment as mine inspectors. The
register shall list all qualified eligible candidates in the order
of their grades, the candidate with the highest grade appearing at
the top of the list. After each meeting of the board held to
examine such candidates, and at least annually, the board shall
prepare and submit to the Director of the Office of Miners' Health,
Safety and Training a revised and corrected register of qualified
eligible candidates for appointment as mine inspector, deleting
from such revised register all persons: (a) Who are no longer
residents of West Virginia; (b) who have allowed a calendar year to expire without, in writing, indicating their continued availability
for such appointment; (c) who have been passed over for appointment
for three years; (d) who have become ineligible for appointment
since the board originally certified that such person was qualified
and eligible for appointment as mine inspector; or (e) who, in the
judgment of at least four members of the board, should be removed
from the register for good cause;
(5) Cause the secretary of the board to keep and preserve the
written examination papers, manuscripts, grading sheets and other
papers of all applicants for appointment as mine inspector for such
period of time as may be established by the board. Specimens of
the examinations given, together with the correct solution of each
question, shall be preserved permanently by the secretary of the
board;
(6) Issue a letter or written notice of qualification to each
successful eligible candidate;
(7) Hear and determine proceedings for the removal of mine
inspectors in accordance with the provisions of this article;
(8) Hear and determine appeals of mine inspectors from
suspension orders made by the director pursuant to the provisions
of section four, article one of this chapter: Provided, That an
aggrieved inspector, in order to appeal from any order of
suspension, shall file such appeal in writing with the Mine
Inspectors' Examining Board not later than ten days after receipt of notice of suspension. On such appeal the board shall affirm the
act of the director unless it be satisfied from a clear
preponderance of the evidence that the director has acted
arbitrarily;
(9) Make an annual report to the Governor and the director
concerning the administration of mine inspection personnel in the
state service, making such recommendations as the board considers
to be in the public interest.