H. B. 2724
(By Delegates Spencer and Moore)
[Introduced January 30, 2007; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §17-2E-1, §17-2E-2,
§17-2E-3 and §17-2E-4, all relating to the West Virginia
Courtesy Patrol; providing a purpose; addressing the operation
and scope of the courtesy patrol program; and providing
education services to courtesy patrol participants after
program enrollment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §17-2E-1, §17-2E-2,
§17-2E-3 and §17-2E-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2E. THE WEST VIRGINIA COURTESY PATROL PROGRAM.
§17-2E-1. Purpose.
The West Virginia Legislature recognizes the need to provide
safety assistance to motorists who are stranded on four-lane expressways in the state, especially in rural areas, in addition to
remaining positioned to continue intelligent transportation systems
applications, and meet the state's Homeland Security and Amber
Alert initiatives. We also recognize the need to find innovative
ways to transition welfare recipients into self-sufficient roles in
the private sector.
In its seven years of existence, the West Virginia Courtesy
Patrol has provided various services to over one-hundred fifty
thousand motorists twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,
three hundred sixty-five days per year. Under the Governor's
alternative funding proposal, the courtesy patrol will be
significantly reduced to operating either ten or sixteen hours per
day, seven days per week, three hundred sixty-five days per year.
These alternatives will result in the loss of no less than
forty-eight jobs throughout the State of West Virginia.
The West Virginia Courtesy Patrol has helped West Virginia
earn approximately fourteen millions dollars in federal high
performance bonuses. The Department of Health and Human Resources
continues to receive and remains eligible for various high
performance bonuses due to the courtesy patrol's ability to provide
full-time employment, coupled with education and training
opportunities. Under the Governor's plan (Bid Option B) the
Department of Health and Human Resources' ability to leverage and
access these funds will decrease dramatically due to a decline in job placements, diminished job retention statistics, and fewer
earnings gain rate successes.
The Citizens Conservation Corps of West Virginia, a nonprofit
corporation has operated the West Virginia courtesy patrol since
its inception. The courtesy patrol program has been a great
success for the State of West Virginia and has accomplished and
continues to accomplish the goals of the program. The West
Virginia Courtesy Patrol is identified by the United States
Department of Labor as a national model for best practices on
innovative approaches to job creation with welfare recipients
transitioning into the work force. The program possesses one of
the highest job retention percentages in the country for a
transitional program of the type.
The West Virginia Courtesy Patrol has placed over twelve
hundred former welfare recipients into employment at wages ranging
from five dollars, fifty cents per hour to fifteen dollars,
fifty-four cents per hour
. Under the Governor's plan to
dramatically curtail the operations of this award-winning program,
up to thirty-seven full-time driver equivalents/positions and
eleven communication center equivalents/positions will be
eliminated on an annual basis. Importantly, the location of the
West Virginia Courtesy Patrol Communications Center is Welch,
McDowell County, West Virginia - one of the most economically
distressed counties in the state. Economic and employment opportunities must be protected.
To that extent, the West Virginia
Legislature expresses a desire to continue the courtesy patrol
program in its current form.
§17-2E-2. Operation and scope of the courtesy patrol program.
(a) The courtesy patrol program will continue in its current
form, continuing to operate twenty-four hours a day, maintaining
its two thousand-four--two thousand-five staffing levels and will
remain under the Division of Highways.
(b) The courtesy patrol program will be operated by a
nonprofit corporation, under contract with the Division of
Highways.
(c) The nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the courtesy
patrol program must offer AmeriCorps educational awards to
qualified program participants.
(d) The courtesy patrol program will continuously patrol a
designated area of highway looking for and providing assistance to
disabled vehicles and stranded motorists. The patrol units will
also watch for debris in the roadway, spilled loads, accidents,
obstructions to traffic and other potential hazards or abnormal
occurrences, notify appropriate highway and enforcement personnel
of the location and nature of the situation, monitor bridges,
overlooks, and interchanges for suspicious activity, and continue
its role in the state's Amber Alert System for abducted children.
(e) Each year, the commissioner shall request in the budget for the Division of Highways that the Legislature appropriate funds
for the courtesy patrol program.
(f) The Division of Highways is required to continue funding
to furnish the fleet of vehicles to operate the courtesy patrol
program, to continue funding of other proper motor vehicles as
needed, and to continue the funding of other required materials to
be used by the work force created by this section in the operation
of the courtesy patrol.
(g) The Division of Highways shall provide all necessary
equipment for the courtesy patrol trucks to accomplish the goals of
this legislation.
(h) The Division of Highways shall provide all of the gasoline
necessary for the operations of the courtesy patrol.
§17-2E-3. Program participants.
(a) The courtesy patrol will utilize participants who receive
governmental assistance and benefits and noncustodial parents of
children who receive governmental assistance thereby reducing the
number of individuals receiving such benefits in addition to
providing job training and educational benefits to participants.
(b) The Department of Health and Human Resources shall refer
eligible and qualified individuals to the courtesy patrol program.
(c) The Department of Health and Human Resources shall ensure
that individuals who are referred to the courtesy patrol program
have received certain minimum job readiness training, as determined by the nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the courtesy patrol
program prior to being employed in the courtesy patrol program.
(d) The Department of Health and Human Resources is
responsible for any expenses for personal equipment required for
the courtesy patrol participants for employment in the courtesy
patrol program. The personal equipment will include, but not be
limited to, uniforms and pagers.
(e) The Department of Health and Human Resources may use
funding from any source to meet the requirements of the previous
subsection, including accounts designated as personal accounts for
the program participants.
(f) The Department of Health and Human Resources may use
private contractors, including the nonprofit corporation chosen to
operate the courtesy patrol program to provide the job readiness
training required in subsection (c), section three, article two-d
of this chapter.
(g) No participant in the courtesy patrol program will be
considered to be an employee of the nonprofit corporation chosen to
operate the courtesy patrol program until they have completed the
job readiness training required in subsection (c), section three,
article two-d of this chapter, and have been accepted for
employment by the nonprofit corporation.
(h) The courtesy patrol program is designed as a transitional
employment opportunity for the participants where the participants are employed for two years while they gain the skills necessary to
become employable outside the courtesy patrol program.
(i) The program participants will receive at least minimum
wage for time spent working in the courtesy patrol program after
the participants become employed.
§17-2E-4. Education services to courtesy patrol participants after
program enrollment.
(a) All participants in the courtesy patrol program shall
participate in educational services designed to make the
participants self-sufficient and employable after leaving the
courtesy patrol program.
(b) After a participant becomes employed in the courtesy
patrol program, the nonprofit corporation chosen to operate the
courtesy patrol program shall refer each participant to the
Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College for
education services.
(c) Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College
shall develop an individualized education plan for each
participant.
(d) No program participant will be required to participate in
more than six hours of educational services per week.
(e) The time spent by participants in educational services is
not considered time spent working for which wages are payable.
However, any time spent in the educational services described in this section will count toward the satisfaction of the work
requirements of section seven, article nine, chapter nine of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to continue the courtesy
patrol program in its current form, to be administered by a
nonprofit organization that can also offer qualified participants
AmeriCorps educational grants.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.