ARTICLE 7. COMPENSATION AND ALLOWANCES.

§6-7-1. State officials, officers and employees to be paid at least twice per month; new employees paid in arrears; effective date.

All full-time and part-time salaried and hourly officials, officers and employees of the state, state institutions of higher education and the Higher Education Policy Commission shall be paid at least twice per month, and under the same procedures and in the same manner as the State Auditor currently pays agencies: Provided, That on and after July 1, 2002, all new officials, officers and employees of the state, a state institution of higher education and the Higher Education Policy Commission, statutory officials, contract educators with higher education and any exempt official who does not earn annual and sick leave, except elected officials, shall be paid one pay cycle in arrears. The term "new employee" does not include an employee who transfers from one state agency, a state institution of higher education or the Higher Education Policy Commission to another state agency, another state institution of higher education or the Higher Education Policy Commission without a break in service: Provided, however, That, after July 1, 2014, all state employees paid on a current basis will be converted to payment in arrears. For accounting purposes only, any payments received by such employees at the end of the pay cycle of the conversion pay period will be accounted for as a credit due the state. Notwithstanding any other code provision to the contrary, any such credit designation made for accounting of this conversion will be accounted for by the Auditor at the termination of an employee's employment and such accounting shall be documented in the employee's final wage payment. Nothing contained in this section is intended to increase or diminish the salary or wages of any official, officer or employee.

§6-7-2. Salaries of certain state officers.

(a) Beginning in the calendar year 2005, and for each calendar year after that, salaries for each of the state Constitutional officers are as follows:

(1) The salary of the Governor is $95,000 per year;

(2) The salary of the Attorney General is $80,000 per year;

(3) The salary of the Auditor is $75,000 per year;

(4) The salary of the Secretary of State is $70,000 per year;

(5) The salary of the Commissioner of Agriculture is $75,000 per year; and

(6) The salary of the state Treasurer is $75,000 per year.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, beginning in the calendar year 2009, and for each calendar year thereafter, salaries for each of the state Constitutional officers shall be as follows:

(1) The salary of the Governor shall be $150,000 per year;

(2) The salary of the Attorney General shall be $95,000 per year;

(3) The salary of the Auditor shall be $95,000 per year;

(4) The salary of the Secretary of State shall be $95,000 per year;

(5) The salary of the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be $95,000 per year; and

(6) The salary of the state Treasurer shall be $95,000 per year.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section, beginning calendar year 2025, and beginning in the calendar year of each fourth year thereafter, the salary of the Governor shall be set by the Salary Table For Locality Pay Area of Rest of U.S. as published by the United States Office of Personnel Management. The salary of the Governor shall be equal to the amount set as Grade 15, Step 10 on the Salary Table For Locality Pay Area of Rest of U.S. at the beginning of that calendar year and shall not be increased or diminished for the duration of the four year term of office beginning in that calendar year.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section, beginning calendar year 2025, and beginning in the calendar year of each fourth year thereafter, the salary of the Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Treasurer shall be set by the Salary Table General Schedule Increase as published by the United States Office of Personnel Management. The salary of the Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Treasurer shall be equal to the amount set as Grade 15, Step 4 on the Salary Table General Schedule Increase at the beginning of that calendar year and shall not be increased or diminished for the duration of the four year terms of each of those offices beginning in that calendar year.

§6-7-2a. Terms of certain appointive state officers; appointment; qualifications; powers and salaries of officers.

(a) Each of the following appointive state officers named in this subsection shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each of the appointive state officers serves at the will and pleasure of the Governor for the term for which the Governor was elected and until the respective state officers’ successors have been appointed and qualified. Each of the appointive state officers are subject to the existing qualifications for holding each respective office and each has and is hereby granted all of the powers and authority and shall perform all of the functions and services heretofore vested in and performed by virtue of existing law respecting each office.

The annual salary of each named appointive state officer is as follows:

Commissioner, Division of Highways, $92,500; Commissioner, Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, $90,000; Director, Division of Natural Resources, $75,000; Superintendent, State Police, $85,000; Commissioner, Division of Financial Institutions, $75,000; Commissioner, Division of Culture and History, $65,000; Commissioner, Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, $75,000; Commissioner, Division of Motor Vehicles, $75,000; Director, Human Rights Commission, $55,000; Commissioner, Division of Labor, $70,000; Chairperson, Board of Parole, $55,000; members, Board of Parole, $50,000; members, Employment Security Review Board, $17,000; and Commissioner, Workforce West Virginia, $75,000. Secretaries of the departments shall be paid an annual salary as follows: Health and Human Resources, $95,000: Provided, That effective July 1, 2013, the Secretary of the Department of Human Services, the Secretary of the Department of Health, and the Secretary of the Department of Health Facilities shall be paid an annual salary not to exceed $175,000; Transportation, $95,000: Provided, however, That if the same person is serving as both the Secretary of Transportation and the Commissioner of Highways, he or she shall be paid $120,000; Revenue, $95,000; Military Affairs and Public Safety, $95,000; Administration, $95,000; Education and the Arts, $95,000; Commerce, $95,000; Veterans’ Assistance, $95,000; and Environmental Protection, $95,000: Provided further, That any officer specified in this subsection whose salary is increased by more than $5,000 as a result of the amendment and reenactment of this section during the 2011 regular session of the Legislature shall be paid the salary increase in increments of $5,000 per fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, up to the maximum salary provided in this subsection.

(b) Each of the state officers named in this subsection shall continue to be appointed in the manner prescribed in this code and shall be paid an annual salary as follows:

Director, Board of Risk and Insurance Management, $80,000; Director, Division of Rehabilitation Services, $70,000; Director, Division of Personnel, $70,000; Executive Director, Educational Broadcasting Authority, $75,000; Secretary, Library Commission, $72,000; Director, Geological and Economic Survey, $75,000; Executive Director, Prosecuting Attorneys Institute, $80,000; Executive Director, Public Defender Services, $70,000; Commissioner, Bureau of Senior Services, $75,000; Executive Director, Women’s Commission, $45,000; Director, Hospital Finance Authority, $35,000; member, Racing Commission, $12,000; Chairman, Public Service Commission, $85,000; members, Public Service Commission, $85,000; Director, Division of Forestry, $75,000; and Executive Director of the Health Care Authority, $80,000.

(c) Each of the following appointive state officers named in this subsection shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each of the appointive state officers serves at the will and pleasure of the Governor for the term for which the Governor was elected and until the respective state officers’ successors have been appointed and qualified. Each of the appointive state officers are subject to the existing qualifications for holding each respective office and each has and is hereby granted all of the powers and authority and shall perform all of the functions and services heretofore vested in and performed by virtue of existing law respecting each office.

The annual salary of each named appointive state officer shall be as follows:

Commissioner, State Tax Division, $92,500; Insurance Commissioner, $92,500; Lottery Director, $110,000; Director, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, $65,000; and Adjutant General, $125,000.

(d) No increase in the salary of any appointive state officer pursuant to this section may be paid until and unless the appointive state officer has first filed with the State Auditor and the Legislative Auditor a sworn statement, on a form to be prescribed by the Attorney General, certifying that his or her spending unit is in compliance with any general law providing for a salary increase for his or her employees. The Attorney General shall prepare and distribute the form to the affected spending units.

(e) The annual salary of each appointive state officer named in this section shall continue in the amount as set forth in this section from the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted in 2020, until the position held by the officer is vacated or until July 1, 2020, whichever occurs first. After the vacancy or after July 1, 2020, whichever occurs first, unless otherwise prohibited by law, the annual salary of each appointed state officer named in this section shall be fixed by the Governor within the current budget allocation. In the event the annual salary fixed by the Governor for an appointed state officer named in this section exceeds the amount set forth in this section for the appointed state officer, the amount of the annual salary for the appointed state officer shall be set forth in a line-item in the budget bill, and payment of an annual salary to the appointed state officer may not exceed that amount but may be lower than the salary approved in the budget bill or established in this section. The salary of a newly appointed state officer named in this section shall be included in the appointment letter for the position.

The amendment and reenactment of this section in the third extraordinary session of the Legislature, 2021, shall not operate to reduce the salary of any appointive state officer whose salary has been increased pursuant to this subsection since July 1, 2020.

§6-7-3. Provision for clerical assistance, stationery, offices, traveling expenses and contingent fund.

It shall be the duty of the Governor to ascertain and report to the Legislature at each regular session the amount deemed necessary to provide each of the officers mentioned in section two of this article with sufficient clerical and office assistance, stationery and equipment for the proper discharge of the duties of the office, and, where offices are not furnished in the capitol building, with proper offices and light, heat and janitor's services for the same; and where any such officer is required in the proper discharge of the duties of his office to travel or journey from place to place, the amount necessary to provide for such purpose; and, where the circumstances may warrant it, the amount necessary to provide for a contingent fund to cover stationery, blank books, blanks, advertising, printing, fuel, lights, postage, express charges, office supplies, furniture, and any other necessary article that may not be otherwise specially provided for.

§6-7-3a. How and by whom compensation of other officers, assistants and employees fixed.

The compensation of officers, assistants, and employees in state departments, agencies or institutions whose salary is not otherwise fixed by law, shall be determined in accordance with personnel classifications and uniform salary schedules established as provided by law. Subject to such classifications and schedules the amount of the compensation shall be fixed as follows:

1. The salary of an officer in the state government who is appointed by the Governor shall be fixed by the Governor.

2. The compensation to be received by a subordinate officer, assistant, or employee in the state government shall be fixed by the person who appoints or employs the subordinate officer, assistant or employee.

3. The compensation to be received by persons employed in state institutions under the control of the board of Governors of West Virginia University shall be fixed by such board of Governors.

4. The compensation to be received by persons employed in state institutions under the control of the state Board of Education shall be fixed by the state Board of Education.

5. The compensation to be received by persons employed in state institutions under the control of the state commissioner of public institutions shall be fixed by the state commissioner of public institutions.

§6-7-4.

Repealed.

Acts, 1973 Reg. Sess., Ch. 30

§6-7-5. Mileage and expenses of judges.

A judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals and of a circuit court shall be entitled to an allowance for mileage at the rate of 15¢ for each mile, to be computed according to the distance by the nearest practicable route necessarily traveled from his place of residence, to the place of holding any term of court in a county other than that of his residence, and from such place to his residence; and a judge of the circuit court shall be paid the sum of $35 per day as expenses while holding court in a county other than that in which he resides: Provided, That no judge of a circuit court shall be paid mileage and expenses for holding more than ten terms of court in any county in any one year, including regular, adjourned and special terms. The mileage and expenses provided for in this article shall be paid to any judge out of the State Treasury as and when the salary of such judge is payable.

§6-7-6. Allowance to circuit judges for stationery, postage and stenographic help.

Each judge of the circuit court shall, in accordance with the rules of the Supreme Court of Appeals, be allowed stenographic help necessary in the discharge of the duties of his office, and each judge shall be allowed necessary stationery, payment of postage, and necessary supplies for his office. The judge shall be reimbursed for the actual amounts expended by for stationery, supplies and postage. Payment for stenographic help shall be made directly to the person performing the stenographic work. Such amounts shall be paid monthly out of the state Treasury, but not until the judge submits an itemized statement covering the same.

§6-7-7. No extra compensation; salaries not to be increased or diminished during term.

No extra compensation shall be granted or allowed to any public officer, agent, servant or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered, nor shall the salary of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office.

§6-7-8. Public carriage for state officials and employees and the university of West Virginia board of trustees and the board of directors of the state college system.

State law-enforcement officials, including, but not limited to, the director of the division of public safety, the Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, the director of the Office of Emergency Services, the director of the Division of Natural Resources, the director of the Division of Environmental Protection, the commissioner of the Division of Corrections, the state Fire Marshal, state fire administrator and officials of the university of West Virginia board of trustees and the board of directors of the state college system at the discretion of the respective chancellor thereof, have the authority to use, and permit and allow or disallow their designated employees to use, publicly provided carriage to travel from their residences to their workplace and return: Provided, That such usage is subject to the supervision of such official and is directly connected with and required by the nature and in the performance of such official's or designated employee's duties and responsibilities.