Senate Bill No. 285
(By Senators White and Barnes)
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[Introduced February 18, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure; then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17A-2-7 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring the Commissioner of
the Division of Motor Vehicles to provide mobile unit(s) to
remote counties of West Virginia to assist the citizens in
those areas in obtaining their new or renewed driver's
license.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17A-2-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES.
§17A-2-7. Commissioner of motor vehicles - Organization of
division; assistants and employees.
The commissioner shall organize the department division in
such manner as he or she may deem necessary to properly segregate and conduct the work of the department division. The commissioner
shall employ such assistants and employees as may be necessary for
the efficient operation of his or her department division, who
shall possess all of the qualifications which may from time to time
be prescribed for such positions by the commissioner. The duties
and salaries of such assistants and employees shall be fixed by the
commissioner, who shall have authority to remove any such assistant
or employee at his or her will and pleasure. The total
compensation paid to assistants and employees shall not exceed in
any one year the appropriation made by the Legislature for that
purpose.
The commissioner shall require every employee who collects
fees or handles funds or who has custody of equipment and supplies
belonging to the state to take the Constitutional oath and give an
official bond, with corporate surety, properly conditioned and in
a sum to be fixed by the commissioner, which bond shall be approved
by him or her and filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
The cost of such bond shall be borne by the department division as
a part of the operating cost of the department division.
Notwithstanding any other provision in this article, the
commissioner shall provide an adequate number of mobile units with
all necessary equipment to issue a new driver's license or renew an
existing driver's license, to be operated by two employees of the
commissioner and to be provided to the remote counties of West Virginia to assist the citizens of each county at least two days a
month who need a new or renewed driver's license.
The commissioner shall collect an additional $1 per year fee
for every new or renewed driver's license to pay for the expenses
incurred by the Division of Motor Vehicles in operating said mobile
units. The commissioner shall pay the State Treasurer the total
amount of this fee collected pursuant to section twenty-one of this
article, with the expense of the administration of these mobile
units appropriated for that purpose from the state road funds
pursuant to section twenty-two of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Commissioner
of the Division of Motor Vehicles to provide mobile unit(s) to
remote counties of West Virginia to assist the citizens in those
areas in obtaining their new or renewed driver's license.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.