Clarifying the sheriff’s authority to hire within their office.

HB 4561 Text

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WEST virginia legislature
2026 regular session
ENROLLED
House Bill 4561
By Delegates Brooks, Roop, Pritt, Green, and Martin
[Passed March 10, 2026; in effect 90 days from passage (June 8, 2026)]

AN ACT to amend and reenact §7-14-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to clarifying a sheriff's authority to hire within their own office.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 14. Civil Service for Deputy Sheriffs.

§7-14-13. Vacancies filled by promotions; eligibility for promotion; rights of chief deputy.

Vacancies in positions of deputy sheriff shall be filled, so far as practicable, by promotion from among persons holding positions in the next lower grade. Promotions shall be based upon merit and fitness, to be ascertained by competitive examinations to be provided by the civil service commission, and upon the superior qualifications of the persons promoted, as shown by their previous service and experience:
Provided
, That, except for chief deputy or jailer, no person shall be eligible for promotion from the lower grade to the next higher grade until such person shall have completed at least two years' service in the next lower grade:
Provided, however
, That notwithstanding the provisions of §7-14-1 of this code, any person occupying the office of chief deputy or any deputy sheriff occupying the office of jailer pursuant to the provisions of §7-8-2 of this code in any such county on the effective date of this article, or thereafter appointed to such office, shall, except as hereinafter provided in this section, be and shall continue to be entitled to all of the rights and benefits of the provisions of this article, except that he or she may be removed from such office of chief deputy or jailer without cause and the time spent by such person in the office of such chief deputy or jailer shall be added to the time, if any, served by such person during the entire time he or she was a deputy sheriff of such county prior to his or her appointment as chief deputy or jailer, and shall in all cases of removal, except for removal for just cause, retain the regular rank within said sheriff’s office which he or she held, if any, at the time of his or her appointment to the office of chief deputy or jailer or which he or she has attained, if any, during his or her term of service as chief deputy or jailer. The sheriff may have and appoint more than one chief deputy by and with the advice and consent of the county commission, pursuant to the provisions of §7-7-7 of this code. The provisions of this section shall be construed to apply and to inure to the benefit of all persons who have ever been subject to the provisions of this article. The commission shall have the power to determine in each instance whether an increase in salary constitutes a promotion.
The Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.

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Originated in the House of Delegates.

In effect 90 days from passage.

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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................

Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2026.

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