Bill Text: WV HB4371 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Adding Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees who work at institutions managed by the Commissioner to the Survivor Benefits Act
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-15 - To House Finance [HB4371 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2022-HB4371-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2022 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 4371
By Delegates Steele, Barrett, Reynolds, Smith, and
Wamsley
[By Request of the Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation]
[Introduced January 25, 2022;
Referred
to the Select Committee on Jails and Prisons then Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5H-1-2 and §5H-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to adding Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees working at institutions managed by the commissioner to the Survivor Benefits Act; defining the qualifying acts for eligibility for payment of survivor benefits for Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation personnel to include but not be limited to, training functions, administrative meetings, corrections or parole incidents or activities, interactions with inmates, former inmates, inmates or former inmates’ family or associates, parolees, former parolees, former parolees’ family or associates, and travel to or from any of these activities; and creating a retroactive effective date of March 14, 2020.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. WEST VIRGINIA EMERGENCY RESPONDERS SURVIVOR BENEFIT ACT.
§5H-1-2. First responder survivor benefit.
(a) Terms. — For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Emergency responder” means a paid or volunteer firefighter,
EMS personnel, law-enforcement agency personnel, or Division of Forestry
personnel, or Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation personnel assigned
to and working at an institution managed by the commissioner as described in
§15A-3-12(a) of this code.
(2) “Emergency response duties” means:
(A) (1) For a firefighter, EMS provider, or
law-enforcement agency personnel, participation in any role of a fire
department, EMS agency, or law-enforcement agency function, including, but not
limited to: Training functions; administrative meetings; fire department, EMS
agency, or law-enforcement incidents or service calls; apparatus, equipment, or
station maintenance; and fundraisers, including travel to or from such
functions; and
(B) (2) For a Division of Forestry employee,
participation in Division of Forestry wildland fire fighting, emergency, or
disaster response operations, including, but not limited to, travel to and from
the locations of wildland fires, emergencies, or disasters; and
(3) For a Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation employee, participation in any role in the division, including, but not limited to, training functions; administrative meetings; corrections or parole incidents or activities; interactions with inmates, former inmates, inmates or former inmates’ family or associates, parolees, former parolees, former parolees’ family, or associates; and travel to or from any of these activities.
(3) “Law-enforcement agency” means any duly authorized
state, county, or municipal organization employing one or more persons whose
responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the state or any county or
municipality thereof: Provided, That neither the Public Service
Commission nor any state institution of higher education nor any resort area
district is a law-enforcement agency.
(4) “Travel” includes riding upon or in any apparatus or
vehicle which is owned or used by the fire department, EMS agency,
law-enforcement agency, or the Division of Forestry, or any other vehicle going
to, or directly returning from, an emergency responder’s home, place of
business, or other place where he or she shall have has been
prior to participating in a fire department function, EMS agency function, law-enforcement
agency function, or a Division of Forestry wildland fire-fighting operation, or
upon the authorization of the chief of the department, agency head, or other
person in charge.
(b) An emergency responder
who dies as a proximate result of the performance of his or her emergency
response duties is eligible for the survivor benefits established by this act
article.
(c) Within 30 days after
the death of an eligible emergency responder, the department or agency head
shall submit certification of the death to the Governor’s Office. Certification
of the death shall include the name of the certified fire department, EMS
agency, law-enforcement agency, or Division of Forestry program, the name of
the deceased emergency responder, the name or names and addresses of the
beneficiary or beneficiaries, any documentation designating a beneficiary or
beneficiaries, and a description of the circumstances that qualify the deceased
individual for survivor benefits under this act article.
(d) Upon receipt of the certification of the death from the certified fire department, EMS agency, law-enforcement agency, or Division of Forestry program, the state shall, from moneys from the State Treasury, General Fund, pay to the certified fire department, EMS agency, law-enforcement agency, or Division of Forestry program the sum of $100,000 in the name of the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the emergency responder eligible for the survivor benefit. Within five days of receipt of this sum from the state, the fire department, EMS agency, law-enforcement agency, or Division of Forestry Program shall pay the sum as a benefit to the surviving designated beneficiary or beneficiaries. If there is no surviving designated beneficiary, then the sum shall be paid as if the decedent had designated as beneficiaries those persons who are entitled to inherit the decedent’s intestate estate, in the proportions established by §42-1-3 and §42-1-3a of this code. It is the responsibility of the certified fire department, EMS agency, law-enforcement agency, or Division of Forestry program to document the beneficiary or beneficiaries above mentioned for purposes of reporting to the Governor’s Office.
(e) Any death ruled by a physician to be a result of an injury sustained during performance of emergency response duties makes a deceased emergency responder eligible for this benefit, regardless of when the death occurs.
(f) The death of an eligible emergency responder qualifies his or her beneficiaries for only one state survivor benefit, paid pursuant to the provisions of this section, regardless of the amount.
(g) Every department or agency head employing persons to which this article applies shall provide notice of the benefit provided hereby to such employees and encourage covered employees to provide a written designation of beneficiary to be maintained in the employee’s personnel file.
(h) A person applying to the State Fire Marshal for certification as a firefighter shall provide a written designation of beneficiary using forms and procedures prescribed by the State Fire Marshal.
(i) A person applying to the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health for emergency medical services personnel certification shall provide a written designation of beneficiary using forms and procedures prescribed by the commissioner.
§5H-1-3. Effective date.
(a) The effective date for
this act article is January 1, 2007. The operation of the
amendments to this article enacted during the year 2012 shall be effective
retroactively to January 1, 2012.
(b) The operation of the amendments to this article enacted during the 2018 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature shall be effective retroactively to January 1, 2018.
(c) The operation of the amendments to this article enacted during the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be effective retroactively to March 14, 2020.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees who work at institutions managed by the Commissioner to the Survivor Benefits Act; define the qualifying acts for eligibility for payment of survivor benefits for Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation personnel to include but not be limited to training functions, administrative meetings, corrections or parole incidents or activities, interactions with inmates, former inmates, inmates or former inmates’ family or associates, parolees, former parolees, former parolees’ family or associates, and travel to or from any of these activities; and create a retroactive effective date of March 14, 2020.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
