WEST virginia legislature
2025 regular session
ENGROSSED
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 2679
By Delegates Pritt and Flanigan
[Originating in the Subcommittee on Homeland Security; Reported on March 14, 2025]
A BILL to amend and reenact §7-14-8 of the Code of West Virginia,1931, as amended, relating to amending guidelines for reinstating sheriff's deputies to their former departments after resignation; clarifying that reinstatement is at the discretion of the sheriff; and clarifying that a former deputy sheriff may seek reinstatement within five years of resignation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
## Article 14. form of application; age requirements; exceptions.
(a) The civil service commission in each county shall require persons applying for admission to any competitive examination provided for under this article or under the rules and regulations of the commission to file in its office, within a reasonable time prior to the proposed competitive 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 or her birth;
(3) His or her health and his or her physical capacity for the position of deputy sheriff;
(4) His or her business, employments and residences for at least three previous years; and
(5) Such other information as may reasonably be required, relative to the applicant’s qualifications and fitness for the position of deputy sheriff.
(b) Blank forms for the applications shall be furnished by the commission, without charge, to all persons requesting applications. The commission may require, in connection with the application, such certificates of citizens, physicians or others, having pertinent knowledge concerning the applicant, as the good of the service may require.
(c) No application for original appointment shall be received on and after the effective date of this article, if the person applying is less than eighteen 18 years of age at the date of his or her application. There shall be no other age-based restrictions on applications for original appointments.
(d) Any applicant who formerly served as a deputy sheriff for more than six months before resignation is eligible for reinstatement by appointment in the discretion of the sheriff if:
(1) No charges of misconduct or other misfeasance are pending against the applicant;
(2) The applicant seeks reinstatement within two five years of resignation as a deputy sheriff;
(3) The applicant resides in the same county as the original appointment; and
(4) The applicant completes a medical and psychological examination to certify the applicant can perform the duties of a deputy sheriff.
The commission may reinstate the applicant without a competitive examination in the commission’s discretion.
(e) If an applicant is successfully reinstated as a deputy sheriff pursuant to subsection (d), the applicant shall be the lowest in rank in the sheriff’s office next above the probationers of the office.