H. B. 2138
(By Delegates Schoen and Blair)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-2A-4 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, 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 §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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 which retain an
institutional board of advisors shall develop their master plans subject to the
provisions of section one, article six of this chapter.
(1) 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 or council, as appropriate.
(2) Each master plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(A) A detailed demonstration of how the master plan will be used to meet the
goals and objectives of the institutional compact;
(B) 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;
(C) Documentation of the involvement of the commission or council, as
appropriate, institutional constituency groups, clientele of the institution and
the general public in the development of all segments of the institutional
master plan.
(3) 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 or council, as appropriate, 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 workforce 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 course
work 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 commission 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 and the
Council, administer a system for the management of personnel matters, including,
but not limited to, personnel classification, compensation and discipline for
employees at the institutions under their jurisdiction;
(k) Administer a system for hearing employee grievances and appeals.
Notwithstanding any other provision 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 said article 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
appropriate chancellor as to those employees employed by the commission or
council;
(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 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 the president pursuant to section
six, article one-b of this chapter;
(o) Employ all faculty and staff at the institution under its jurisdiction. Such
employees operate under the supervision of the president, but are employees of
the governing board;
(p) Submit to the commission or council, as appropriate, no later than the first
day of November of each year an annual report of the performance of the
institution under its jurisdiction during the previous fiscal year as compared
to stated goals in its master plan and institutional compact;
(q) 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;
(r) Provide and transfer funding and property to certain corporations pursuant
to section ten, article twelve of this chapter;
(s) Delegate, with prescribed standards and limitations, the part of its power
and control over the business affairs of the institution to the president 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 enter such delegation in the minutes of the meeting when the decision
was made and shall notify the commission or council, as appropriate. Any such
delegation of power and control may be rescinded by the appropriate governing
board, the commission or council, as appropriate, at any time, in whole or in
part, except that the c ommission may not revoke delegations of authority made
by the governing boards of Marshall University or West Virginia University as
they relate to the state institutions of higher education known as Marshall
University and West Virginia University;
(t) Unless changed by the commission or the council, as appropriate, 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;
(u) 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;
(v) The governing boards in consultation with the appropriate 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;
(w) Transfer of funds. --
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
(x) 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;
(y) Each governing board which has under its jurisdiction an administratively
linked community and technical college or a regional campus offering community
and technical college education programs shall create within the administrative
structure of its governing board a subcommittee for community and technical
college education. The subcommittee shall have at least four members, one of
whom is the chairperson of the board of advisors of the community and technical
college or, in the case of the Governing Board of West Virginia University, both
the member representing the community and technical college and the member
representing the regional campus; and
(z) A governing board may contract and pay for disability insurance for a class
or classes of employees at a state institution of higher education under its
jurisdiction.
(aa) 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.