Senate committee backs bill giving director discretion over mine inspector appointments
March 28, 2025 | 2025 Legislature WV, West Virginia
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A Senate committee on an unspecified date approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 883 that gives the director of the Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training broader discretion in appointing mine inspectors and related personnel.
The substitute directs the director to have “full discretion and authority in the original appointment of all mine inspectors, mine safety instructors, electrical inspectors, underground mine inspectors, surface mine inspectors, and general inspectors,” and it changes procedures related to testing, registers of eligible candidates and tenure, according to committee counsel.
The bill also requires that the director report appointments and application and testing information to the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety and allows the board to be present during applicant testing and to access inspector applications, counsel said. Counsel told the committee the substitute would require the board to transfer records and equipment it holds from the former Mine Inspectors Examining Board to the Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training.
Under current law the director must select mine inspectors from a list of candidates provided by the board and must prepare a register of candidates; the substitute preserves registers but changes procedures when the register contains three or fewer candidates, counsel said. The substitute removes an eligibility requirement that an inspector be 55 years of age or younger and changes how tenure is conferred, requiring completion of a one‑year probationary period for eligibility rather than granting automatic tenure at the end of probation under current law, counsel said.
There was no recorded roll-call vote in committee. The committee approved the language of the committee substitute by voice vote and the vice chair moved that the committee substitute be reported to the full Senate with recommendation that it do pass; that motion carried, the committee chair said.
No amendments to the committee substitute were recorded in the available transcript excerpts, and no further discussion or dissenting statements were recorded in the committee’s voice votes.
The committee’s action sends the committee substitute for Senate Bill 883 to the full Senate with a recommendation for passage.
Votes at a glance: The committee agreed to the committee substitute and reported it to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass (voice votes; tallies not specified).
The substitute directs the director to have “full discretion and authority in the original appointment of all mine inspectors, mine safety instructors, electrical inspectors, underground mine inspectors, surface mine inspectors, and general inspectors,” and it changes procedures related to testing, registers of eligible candidates and tenure, according to committee counsel.
The bill also requires that the director report appointments and application and testing information to the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety and allows the board to be present during applicant testing and to access inspector applications, counsel said. Counsel told the committee the substitute would require the board to transfer records and equipment it holds from the former Mine Inspectors Examining Board to the Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training.
Under current law the director must select mine inspectors from a list of candidates provided by the board and must prepare a register of candidates; the substitute preserves registers but changes procedures when the register contains three or fewer candidates, counsel said. The substitute removes an eligibility requirement that an inspector be 55 years of age or younger and changes how tenure is conferred, requiring completion of a one‑year probationary period for eligibility rather than granting automatic tenure at the end of probation under current law, counsel said.
There was no recorded roll-call vote in committee. The committee approved the language of the committee substitute by voice vote and the vice chair moved that the committee substitute be reported to the full Senate with recommendation that it do pass; that motion carried, the committee chair said.
No amendments to the committee substitute were recorded in the available transcript excerpts, and no further discussion or dissenting statements were recorded in the committee’s voice votes.
The committee’s action sends the committee substitute for Senate Bill 883 to the full Senate with a recommendation for passage.
Votes at a glance: The committee agreed to the committee substitute and reported it to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass (voice votes; tallies not specified).
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