Senate Bill No. 524
(By Senators Kessler, Snyder, Unger, Yost, Boley, Foster and
Jenkins)
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[Introduced March 10, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-14-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to raising the upper level age
restriction for new hires for certain law-enforcement agencies
from thirty-five to forty-five years of age.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-14-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. LAW AND ORDER; POLICE FORCE OR DEPARTMENTS; POWERS,
AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS
AND POLICEMEN; POLICE MATRONS; SPECIAL SCHOOL ZONE
AND PARKING LOT OR PARKING BUILDING; POLICE
OFFICERS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR CERTAIN POLICE
DEPARTMENTS.
§8-14-12. Form of application; age and residency requirements;
exceptions.
(a) The policemen's Civil Service Commission in each Class I and Class II city shall require individuals applying for admission
to any competitive examination provided for under the civil service
provisions of this article or under the rules
and regulations of
said commission to file in its office, within a reasonable time
prior to the proposed examination, a formal application in which
the applicant shall state under oath or affirmation:
(1) His
or her full name, residence and post-office address;
(2) His
or her United States citizenship, age and the place
and date of his birth;
(3) His
or her state of health and his physical capacity for
the public service;
(4) His
or her business and employments and residences for at
least three previous years; and
(5) Such other information as may reasonably be required,
touching upon the applicant's qualifications and fitness for the
public service.
(b) Blank forms for such applications shall be furnished by
the commission, without charge, to all individuals requesting the
same. The commission may require, in connection with such
application, such certificates of citizens, physicians and others,
having pertinent knowledge concerning the applicant, as the good of
the service may require.
(c) No application for original appointment shall be received
if the individual applying is less than eighteen years of age or
more than
thirty-five forty-five years of age at the date of his
or
her application:
Provided, That in the event any applicant formerly served upon the paid police department of the city to
which he
or she makes application, for a period of more than his
or
her probationary period, and resigned from the department at a time
when there were no charges of misconduct or other misfeasance
pending against such applicant, within a period of two years next
preceding the date of his
or her application, and at the time of
his application resides within the corporate limits of the city in
which the paid police department to which he
or she seeks
appointment by reinstatement is located, then such individual shall
be eligible for appointment by reinstatement in the discretion of
the policemen's Civil Service Commission, even though such
applicant shall be over the age of
thirty-five forty-five years,
and such applicant, providing his
or her former term of service so
justifies, may be appointed by reinstatement to the paid police
department without a competitive examination, but such applicant
shall undergo a medical examination; and if such individual shall
be so appointed by reinstatement to the paid police department, he
or she shall be the lowest in rank in the department next above the
probationers of the department.
(d) Any applicant for original appointment must have been a
resident for one year, during some period of time prior to the date
of his
or her application, of the city in which he seeks to become
a member of the paid police department:
Provided, That if the
commission deems it necessary it may consider for original
appointment or for reinstatement under the preceding proviso of
this section, applicants who are not residents of the city but who have been residents of the county in which the city or any portion
of the territory thereof is located for a period of at least one
year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the upper age
restriction for new police hires in municipalities from thirty-five
to forty-five years of age.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.