H

H. B. 2937

(By Delegates Schoen, Boggs, Blair and Hall)

[Introduced February 10, 2003; referred to the

Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article two-a, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to prohibiting abortions at state college or university medical facilities, except when the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the abortion.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section four, article two-a, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2A. INSTITUTIONAL BOARDS OF GOVERNORS.

§18B-2A-4. Powers and duties of governing boards generally.

Each governing board separately has the following powers and duties:

(a) Determine, control, supervise and manage the financial, business and education policies and affairs of the state institutions of higher education under its jurisdiction;

(b) Develop a master plan for the institutions under its jurisdiction; except the administratively linked community and technical colleges shall develop their master plans subject to the provisions of section one, article six of this chapter. The ultimate responsibility for developing and updating the master plans at the institutional level resides with the board of governors or board of advisors, as applicable, but the ultimate responsibility for approving the final version of the institutional master plans, including periodic updates, resides with the commission. Each master plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) A detailed demonstration of how the master plan will be used to meet the goals and objectives of the institutional compact;

(2) A well-developed set of goals outlining missions, degree offerings, resource requirements, physical plant needs, personnel needs, enrollment levels and other planning determinates and projections necessary in such a plan to assure that the needs of the institution's area of responsibility for a quality system of higher education are addressed;

(3) Documentation of the involvement of the commission, institutional constituency groups, clientele of the institution and the general public in the development of all segments of the institutional master plan.

The plan shall be established for periods of not less than three nor more than six years and shall be revised periodically as necessary, including the addition or deletion of degree programs as, in the discretion of the appropriate governing board, may be necessary.

(c) Prescribe for the institutions under its jurisdiction, in accordance with its master plan and the compact for each institution, specific functions and responsibilities to meet the higher education needs of its area of responsibility and to avoid unnecessary duplication;

(d) Direct the preparation of a budget request for the institutions under its jurisdiction, such request to relate directly to missions, goals and projections as found in the institutional master plans and the institutional compacts;

(e) Consider, revise and submit to the commission a budget request on behalf of the institutions under its jurisdiction;

(f) Review, at least every five years, all academic programs offered at the institutions under its jurisdiction. The review shall address the viability, adequacy and necessity of the programs in relation to its institutional master plan, the institutional compact and the education and work force needs of its responsibility district. As a part of the review, each governing board shall require the institutions under its jurisdiction to conduct periodic studies of its graduates and their employers to determine placement patterns and the effectiveness of the education experience. Where appropriate, these studies should coincide with the studies required of many academic disciplines by their accrediting bodies;

(g) The governing boards shall ensure that the sequence and availability of academic programs and courses offered by the institutions under their jurisdiction is such that students have the maximum opportunity to complete programs in the time frame normally associated with program completion. Each governing board is responsible to see that the needs of nontraditional college-age students are appropriately addressed and, to the extent it is possible for the individual governing board to control, to assure core coursework completed at institutions under its jurisdiction is transferable to any other state institution of higher education for credit with the grade earned;

(h) Subject to the provisions of article one-b of this chapter, the appropriate governing board has the exclusive authority to approve the teacher education programs offered in the institution under its control. In order to permit graduates of teacher education programs to receive a degree from a nationally accredited program and in order to prevent expensive duplication of program accreditation, the chancellor may select and utilize one nationally recognized teacher education program accreditation standard as the appropriate standard for program evaluation;

(i) Utilize faculty, students and classified employees in institutional-level planning and decision making when those groups are affected;

(j) Subject to the provisions of federal law and pursuant to the provisions of article nine of this chapter and to rules adopted by the commission, administer a system for the management of personnel matters, including, but not limited to, personnel classification, compensation, and discipline for employees of the institutions under their jurisdiction;

(k) Administer a system for hearing employee grievances and appeals. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the contrary, the procedure established in article six-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code is the exclusive mechanism for hearing prospective employee grievances and appeals. In construing the application of article six-a, chapter twenty-nine to grievances of higher education employees, the following apply:

(1) "Chief administrator" means the president of a state institution of higher education as to those employees employed by the institution and the chancellor as to those employees employed by the commission;

(2) The state division of personnel may not be a party to nor have any authority regarding a grievance initiated by a higher education employee; and

(3) The provisions of this section supersede and replace the grievance procedure set out in article twenty-nine, chapter eighteen of this code for any grievance initiated by a higher education employee after the first day of July, two thousand one.

(l) Solicit and utilize or expend voluntary support, including financial contributions and support services, for the institutions under its jurisdiction;

(m) Appoint a president or other administrative head for the institutions under its jurisdiction subject to the provisions of section six, article one-b of this chapter;

(n) Conduct written performance evaluations of each institution's president pursuant to section six, article one-b of this chapter;

(o) Submit to the commission no later than the first day of November of each year an annual report of the performance of the institutions under its jurisdiction during the previous fiscal year as compared to stated goals in its master plan and institutional compact;

(p) Enter into contracts or consortium agreements with the public schools, private schools or private industry to provide technical, vocational, college preparatory, remedial and customized training courses at locations either on campuses of the public institution of higher education or at off-campus locations in the institution's responsibility district. To accomplish this goal, the boards are permitted to share resources among the various groups in the community;

(q) Provide and transfer funding and property to certain corporations pursuant to section ten, article twelve of this chapter;

(r) Delegate, with prescribed standards and limitations, the part of its power and control over the business affairs of a particular institution under its jurisdiction to the president or other administrative head of the institution in any case where it considers the delegation necessary and prudent in order to enable the institution to function in a proper and expeditious manner and to meet the requirements of its institutional compact. If a governing board elects to delegate any of its power and control under the provisions of this subsection, it shall notify the chancellor. Any such delegation of power and control may be rescinded by the appropriate governing board or the chancellor at any time, in whole or in part;

(s) Unless changed by the chancellor, the governing boards shall continue to abide by existing rules setting forth standards for acceptance of advanced placement credit for their respective institutions. Individual departments at institutions of higher education may, upon approval of the institutional faculty senate, require higher scores on the advanced placement test than scores designated by the appropriate governing board when the credit is to be used toward meeting a requirement of the core curriculum for a major in that department;

(t) Each governing board, or its designee, shall consult, cooperate and work with the state treasurer and the state auditor to update as necessary and maintain an efficient and cost-effective system for the financial management and expenditure of special revenue and appropriated state funds at the institutions under its jurisdiction that ensures that properly submitted requests for payment be paid on or before due date, but in any event, within fifteen days of receipt in the state auditor's office;

(u) The governing boards in consultation with the chancellor and the secretary of the department of administration shall develop, update as necessary and maintain a plan to administer a consistent method of conducting personnel transactions, including, but not limited to, hiring, dismissal, promotions and transfers at the institutions under their jurisdiction. Each such personnel transaction shall be accompanied by the appropriate standardized system or forms which will be submitted to the respective governing board and the department of finance and administration;

(v) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the governing boards may transfer funds from any account specifically appropriated for their use to any corresponding line item in a general revenue account at any agency or institution under their jurisdiction as long as such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated. The governing boards may transfer funds from appropriated special revenue accounts for capital improvements under their jurisdiction to special revenue accounts at agencies or institutions under their jurisdiction as long as such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated; and

(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the governing boards may acquire legal services as are considered necessary, including representation of the governing boards, their institutions, employees and officers before any court or administrative body. The counsel may be employed either on a salaried basis or on a reasonable fee basis. In addition, the governing boards may, but are not required to, call upon the attorney general for legal assistance and representation as provided by law; and

(x) The governing boards shall prohibit the performance of an abortion at any institution or facility under the respective jurisdiction of the governing boards, except when the performance of the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the abortion.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit abortions at state college or university medical facilities, except when the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the abortion.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.