Bill Text: WV SB689 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to tie votes by Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-21 - To Energy, Industry, and Mining [SB689 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2022-SB689-Introduced.html
WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2022 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
Senate Bill 689
By Senators Smith and Phillips
[Introduced February 21,
2022; referred
to the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining]
A BILL to amend and reenact §22A-6-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to tie votes by the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety; and providing that the Director of the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training or his or her designee may vote to break the tie.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 6. BOARD OF COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY.
§22A-6-3. Board continued; membership; method of nomination and appointment; meetings; vacancies; quorum.
(a) The Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety is continued, and commencing July 1, 2010, is a separate independent board within the Department of Commerce. The board consists of six voting members and one ex officio, nonvoting member who are residents of this state, and who are appointed as follows:
(1) The Governor shall
appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three members to
represent the viewpoint of those operators in this state. When such the
members are to be appointed, the Governor shall request from the major trade
association representing operators in this state a list of three nominees for
each such position on the board. All such nominees shall be persons with
special experience and competence in health and safety. There shall be
submitted with such the list a summary of the qualifications of
each nominee. If the full lists of nominees are submitted in accordance with
the provisions of this subdivision, the Governor shall make the appointments
from the persons so nominated. For purposes of this subdivision, the major
trade association representing operators in this state is that association
which represents operators accounting for over one half of the coal produced in
mines in this state in the year prior to the year in which the appointment is
to be made.
(2) The Governor shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three members who can reasonably be expected to represent the viewpoint of the working miners of this state. When members are to be appointed, the Governor shall request from the major employee organization representing coal miners within this state a list of three nominees for each position on the board. The highest ranking official within the major employee organization representing coal miners within this state shall submit a list of three nominees for each such position on the board. The nominees shall have a background in health and safety. The Governor shall make the appointments from the requested list of nominees.
(3) All appointments made by the Governor under the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection shall be with the advice and consent of the Senate; and
(4) The Director of the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training or his or her designee shall serve as an ex officio, nonvoting member.
(b) Members serving on the board on January 1, 2017, shall continue to serve for a minimum of three years until June 30, 2020. The term is three years. Members are eligible for reappointment.
(c) Commencing on July 1, 2017, the board shall assume all powers and responsibilities of the Board of Miners’ Training, Education and Certification established pursuant to article seven of this chapter, the mine inspectors’ examining board established pursuant to §22A-9-1 et seq. of this code, and the Mine Safety Technology Task Force established pursuant to §22A-1-1 et seq. of this code.
(d) The Governor shall
appoint, subject to the approval of a majority of the members of the board
appointed under subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a) of this section, a
Health and Safety Administrator in accordance with the provisions of §22A-6-6
of this code, who shall certify all official records of the board. The Health
and Safety Administrator shall be a full-time officer of the Board of Coal Mine
Health and Safety with the duties provided for in §22A-6-6 of this code. The
Health and Safety Administrator shall have such education and experience as the
Governor deems necessary to properly investigate areas of concern to the board
in the development of rules governing mine health and safety. The Governor
shall appoint as Health and Safety Administrator a person who has an
independent and impartial viewpoint on issues involving mine safety. The Health
and Safety Administrator shall be a person who has not been during the two
years immediately preceding appointment, and is not during his or her term, an
officer, trustee, director, substantial shareholder, contractor, consultant or
employee of any coal operator, or an employee or officer of an employee
organization or a spouse of any such person. The Health and Safety
Administrator shall have the expertise to draft proposed rules and shall
prepare such rules as are required by this code and on such other areas as will
improve coal mine health and safety.
(e) The board shall meet at
least once during each calendar month, or more often as may be necessary, and
at other times upon the call of the chair, or upon the request of any three
members of the board. Under the direction of the board, the Health and Safety
Administrator shall prepare an agenda for each board meeting giving priority to
the promulgation of rules as may be required from time to time by this code,
and as may be required to improve coal mine health and safety. The Health and
Safety Administrator shall provide each member of the board with notice of the
meeting and the agenda as far in advance of the meeting as practical, but in
any event, at least five days prior thereto. No meeting of the board shall
may be conducted unless said notice and agenda are given to the board
members at least five days in advance, as provided herein, except in cases of
emergency, as declared by the director, in which event members shall be
notified of the board meeting and the agenda: Provided, That upon
agreement of a majority of the quorum present, any scheduled meeting may be
ordered recessed to another day certain without further notice of additional
agenda.
When proposed rules are to
be finally adopted by the board, copies of such the proposed
rules shall be delivered to members not less than five days before the meeting
at which such action is to be taken. If not so delivered, any final adoption or
rejection of rules shall be considered on the second day of a meeting of the
board held on two consecutive days, except that by the concurrence of at least
four members of the board, the board may suspend this rule of procedure and
proceed immediately to the consideration of final adoption or rejection of
rules. When a member fails to appear at three consecutive meetings of the board
or at one half of the meetings held during a one-year period, the Health and
Safety Administrator shall notify the member and the Governor of such fact.
Such member shall be removed by the Governor unless good cause for absences is
shown.
(f) Whenever a vacancy on the board occurs, nominations and appointments shall be made in the manner prescribed in this section: Provided, That in the case of an appointment to fill a vacancy, nominations of three persons for each such vacancy shall be requested by and submitted to the Governor within 30 days after the vacancy occurs by the major trade association or major employee organization, if any, which nominated the person whose seat on the board is vacant. The vacancy shall be filled by the Governor within 30 days of his or her receipt of the list of nominations.
(g) A quorum of the board is four members which shall include at least two members representing the viewpoint of operators and at least two members representing the viewpoint of the working miners, and the board may act officially by a majority of those members who are present, except that no vote of the board may be taken unless all six voting members are present.
(h) Notwithstanding any provision of this section or code to the contrary, if an issue to be decided by the board ends in a tie vote of the board members, the Director of the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training or his or her designee, may vote to break the tie.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the Director of the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training or his or her designee may vote to break tie votes by the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
