Senate Bill No. 444
(By Senators Chafin, Laird, Deem, D. Facemire and Foster)
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[Introduced February 2, 2010; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance
.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-1A-4 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the
maximum cash award the Employee Suggestion Award Board may
make; requiring the board to report to the Legislature every
five years regarding effect of inflation; and allowing the
Governor to make a secondary award for suggestions if the
suggestion is implemented in one or more additional state
agencies.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-1A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION AWARD PROGRAM.
§5A-1A-4. Awards.
(a) The maximum cash award approved
shall be is limited to
twenty percent of the first year's estimated savings, as
established by the head of the affected spending unit, or
ten
thousand dollars $16,000 whichever is less.
Any A cash award
approved by the board shall be charged by the head of the
affected spending unit against the appropriation item or items to
which
such the estimated savings apply.
(b) Beginning in December 2014 and every five years after
that, the board shall submit a report to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance containing:
(1) The amount the maximum award amount would need to be
adjusted to compensate for inflation; and
(2) Its recommendation, if any, addressing the amount the
maximum award amount should be changed.
(c) After the board has made an award for a suggestion, the
Governor may make one secondary award of up to twenty percent of
the additional savings realized by implementing the suggestion in
one or more other state agencies, not to exceed $5,000. The
Governor shall pay secondary awards from funds appropriated by
the Legislature for secondary awards.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to:
(1) Increase the maximum cash award the Employee Suggestion
Award Board may make for an individual award to $16,000;
(2) Require the board to report to the Legislature every
five years the amount the maximum award amount would need to be adjusted to compensate for inflation and give its recommendation,
if any, addressing the amount the maximum award amount should be
changed; and
(3) Allow the Governor to make a secondary award of up to
$5,000 for suggestions the board has approved if the suggestion
is implemented in one or more additional state agencies.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage
during the 2010 Regular Session of the Legislature by the
Employee Suggestion Award Board.