Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 5 > Article 1 - The Governor

• Accrued benefit: means on behalf of any member two and one-quarter percent of the member's final average salary multiplied by the member's years of credited service: . See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all amounts deducted from the annual compensation of a member or paid on his or her behalf pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Active member: means a member who is active and contributing to the plan. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Active military duty: means full-time active duty with any branch of the armed forces of the United States, including service with the National Guard or reserve military forces when the member has been called to active full-time duty and has received no compensation during the period of that duty from any board or employer other than the armed forces. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates as set and adopted by the retirement board in accordance with the provisions of this article: . See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Adjacent county: means a nonparticipating county that directly borders any participating county in a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agency: means any branch, department or unit of the state government, however designated or constituted. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• alcohol test: means a procedure conducted to determine if an individual is under the influence of alcohol. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annual compensation: means the wages paid to the member during covered employment within the meaning of Section 3401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, but determined without regard to any rules that limit the remuneration included in wages based upon the nature or location of employment or services performed during the plan year plus amounts excluded under Section 414(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code and less reimbursements or other expense allowances, cash or noncash fringe benefits or both, deferred compensation, and welfare benefits. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Annuity starting date: means the first day of the first calendar month following receipt of the retirement application by the board or the required beginning date, if earlier: . See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Apprenticeship program: means a program offered by an employer to provide supervised on-the-job training to employees approved by the United States Department of Labor. See West Virginia Code 21-1E-2
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Authority: means a multicounty trail network authority created pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Beneficiary: means a natural person who is entitled to, or will be entitled to, an annuity or other benefit payable by the plan. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Board: means the board of a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board created pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Career technical education: means programs of study, clusters, and pathways approved by the West Virginia Board of Education pursuant to state board policy. See West Virginia Code 21-1E-2
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Charter: shall mean , except where specific reference is made to a particular type of charter, either a special legislative charter (whether or not amended under the provisions of former §. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• City: is a word of art and shall mean, include, and be limited to any Class I, Class II, and Class III city, as classified in section three of this article (except in those instances where the context in which used clearly indicates that a particular class of city is intended), heretofore or hereafter incorporated as a municipal corporation under the laws of this state, however created and whether operating under: (i) A special legislative charter. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Commission: means the Natural Resources Commission. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Commission: means the occupational safety and health review commission established under this article. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
• Commissioner: means a member of the advisory commission of the Natural Resources Commission. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Commissioner: means the labor commissioner or his designated agent. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
• commissioner: means the Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Labor, or his or her authorized representatives. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conservation easement: means a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property, whether appurtenant or in gross, imposing limitations or affirmative obligations, the purposes of which include, but are not limited to, retaining or protecting for the public benefit the natural, scenic or open-space values of real property. See West Virginia Code 20-12-3
• construction: as used in this article , means any construction, reconstruction, improvement, enlargement, painting, decorating or repair of any public improvement let to contract the value of which contract is over $100,000. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Contiguous counties: means a group of counties in which each county shares the border of at least one other county in the group. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• contractor: means any employer working on a public improvement without regard to whether they are serving as the prime or subcontractor to another. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Convict: means a person confined in a penitentiary or correctional facility of this or any other state, or of the United States. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Covered employment: means either: (1) Employment as a Natural Resources Police Officer and the active performance of the duties required of a Natural Resources Police Officer. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Credited service: means the sum of a member's years of service, active military duty, disability service, eligible annual and sick leave service. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means either:

  (1) An unmarried person under age 18 who is:

  (A) A natural child of the member. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2

• Dependent parent: means the father or mother of the member who was claimed as a dependent by the member for Federal Income Tax purposes at the time of the member's death. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Director: means the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Director: means Director of the Division of Natural Resources. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Disability service: means service credit received by a member, expressed in whole years, fractions thereof or both, equal to one half of the whole years, fractions thereof, or both, during which time a member receives disability benefits under §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• dispute: includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure or conditions of employment or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• division: means the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• drug of abuse: means any substance listed under subsection (h) of this section and any other substance the employer chooses to test for. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• drug test: means a procedure using at least a nine-panel drug screen in urine specimens that are collected from individuals for the purpose of scientifically analyzing the specimens to determine if the individual ingested, was injected or otherwise exposed to a drug of abuse. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Effective date: means January 2, 2021. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Employee: means any public employee of the state, or any state agency. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
• Employee: includes any employee, and shall not be limited to the employees of a particular employer, unless otherwise explicitly provided in this article, and among others shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice, and who has not obtained any other regular and substantially equivalent employment, but shall not include any individual employed in the production of agricultural products or the processing or marketing of agricultural products by the producer thereof, or in the domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual employed by his parent or spouse, or any individual having the status of an independent contractor, or any individual employed as a supervisor, or any individual employed by any person who is not an employer as herein defined. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• employee: means any person hired or permitted to perform hourly work for wages by a person, firm or corporation in the construction industry. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• employee: means a laborer, mechanic or other worker. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Employer: includes any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly, who employs fifteen or more persons, but shall not include the United States or any wholly owned United States government corporation, or any federal reserve bank, or any person subject to the provisions of the "National Labor Relations Act" as amended, unless the national labor relations board has declined to assert jurisdiction over such person, or any person subject to the "Railway Labor Act" as amended from time to time, or any labor organization, other than when acting as an employer, or the State of West Virginia or any political subdivision or agency thereof, or any corporation or association operating a hospital, if no part of the net earnings inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• employer: means any person, firm or corporation employing one or more employees on any public improvement and includes all contractors and subcontractors. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• Employer error: means an omission, misrepresentation, or deliberate act in violation of relevant provisions of the West Virginia Code or of the West Virginia Code of State Rules or the relevant provisions of both the West Virginia Code and of the West Virginia Code of State Rules by the participating public employer that has resulted in an underpayment or overpayment of contributions required. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Extradition: The formal process of delivering an accused or convicted person from authorities in one state to authorities in another state.
• Fee: means the amount of money asked in return for an invitation to enter or go upon a recreational area of a trail network, including a one-time fee for a particular event, amusement, occurrence, adventure, incident, experience, or occasion as set by an authority, which may differ in amount for different categories of participants. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Final average salary: means the average of the highest annual compensation received for covered employment by the member during any five consecutive plan years within the member's last 10 years of service. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officer Retirement Fund created pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• gainful employment: means employment in which an individual may earn up to an amount that is determined by the United States Social Security Administration as substantial gainful activity and still receive total disability benefits. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Holder: means :

  (1) A governmental body empowered to hold an interest in real property under the laws of this state or the United States. See West Virginia Code 20-12-3

• Hour of service: means :

  (1) Each hour for which a member is paid. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2

• Hunt: means to pursue, chase, catch or take any wild birds or wild animals. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Inconsistent or in conflict with: shall mean that a charter or ordinance provision is repugnant to the constitution of this state or to general law because such provision: (i) Permits or authorizes that which the constitution or general law forbids or prohibits. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Labor organization: means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• Lands: means land, waters and all other appurtenances connected therewith. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means a valid and current certification or license issued by the Commissioner of Labor in accordance with the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 21-1E-2
• local labor market: means every county in West Virginia, and any county outside of West Virginia if any portion of that county is within fifty miles of the border of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• Medical examination: means an in-person or virtual examination of a member's physical or mental health, or both, by a physician or physicians selected or approved by the board. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• medical review officer: means a physician who holds a certificate authorizing them to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery, has knowledge of substance abuse disorders, has the appropriate medical training to interpret and evaluate positive drug and alcohol test results together with a person'. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Member: means a person first hired as a Natural Resources Police Officer, as defined in subsection (z) of this section, on or after January 2, 2021, or a Natural Resources Police Officer first hired prior to the effective date and who elects to become a member pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Monthly salary: means the portion of a member's gross annual compensation which is paid to him or her per month. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Natural Resources Police Officer: means any person regularly employed in the service of the division as a law-enforcement officer on or after the effective date of this article, and who is eligible to participate in the fund. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• nine-panel drug screen: means a drug-testing program that tests for marijuana, cocaine, opiates including hydromorphone, oxycodone, hydrocodone, phencyclidine, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, methadone and propoxyphene at the substance screening and confirmation limits where provided under federally mandated drug and alcohol testing programs or otherwise accepted as the industry standard. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Normal form: means a monthly annuity which is one-twelfth of the amount of the member's accrued benefit which is payable for the member's life. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Normal retirement age: means the first to occur of the following: (1) Attainment of age 55 years and the completion of 15 or more years of service. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• owner of land: means a person vested with title to real estate and those with the ability to exercise control over real estate and includes, but is not limited to, a tenant, lessee, licensee, holder of a dominant estate, or other lawful occupant. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Partially disabled: means a member's inability to engage in the duties of a Natural Resources Police Officer by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Participant: means any person using a recreational area of a trail network for recreational purposes. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Participating county: means one of the three or more counties forming a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Person: except as otherwise defined elsewhere in this chapter, means the plural "persons" and shall include individuals, partnerships, corporations or other legal entities. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Person: means one or more individuals. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
• Person: means any public or private corporation, institution, association, society, firm, organization, or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Person: includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• Physical or mental impairment: is a n impairment that results from an anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormality that is demonstrated by medically accepted clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Plan: means the West Virginia Natural Resources Police Officers Retirement System established by this article. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Plan year: means the 12-month period commencing on July 1 of any designated year and ending the following June 30. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Preservation easement: means a nonpossessory interest in an historical building. See West Virginia Code 20-12-3
• Preserve: means all duly licensed private game farmlands, or private plants, ponds or areas, where hunting or fishing is permitted under special licenses or seasons other than the regular public hunting or fishing seasons. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Professional employee: means (a) any employee engaged in work (i) predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• property: includes , but is not limited to, roads, water, watercourses, private ways, buildings, premises, structures, and machinery or equipment, when attached to the realty. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• public authority: means any officer, board, commission or agency of the State of West Virginia and its subdivisions, including counties and municipalities. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• public authority: as used in this article , means any officer, board or commission or other agency of the State of West Virginia, its counties or municipalities or any political subdivision thereof, authorized by law to enter into a contract for the construction of a public improvement, including any institution supported, in whole or in part, by public funds of the State of West Virginia and this article applies to expenditures of these institutions made, in whole or in part, from public funds. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Public Employees Retirement System: means the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement System created by §. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• public improvement: includes , the construction of all buildings, roads, highways, bridges, streets, alleys, sewers, ditches, sewage disposal plants, waterworks, airports and all other structures that may be let to contract by a public authority, excluding improvements funded, in whole or in part, by federal funds. See West Virginia Code 21-1C-2
• public improvement: as used in this article , includes all buildings, roads, highways, bridges, streets, alleys, sewers, ditches, sewage disposal plants, waterworks, airports and all other structures upon which construction may be let to contract by the State of West Virginia, its counties or municipalities or any political subdivision thereof. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• random drug testing: means a procedure in which employees who perform safety-sensitive tasks are selected to undergo a drug test by a statistically valid random selection method without prearrangement or planning. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• reasonable cause: means a belief based on facts and inferences based primarily upon, but not limited to: (1) Observable phenomena, such as direct observation of use, possession or distribution of alcohol or a drug of abuse, or of the physical symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse, such as, but not limited to, slurred speech, dilated pupils, odor of an alcoholic beverage or a drug of abuse, changes in affect or dynamic mood swings. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recreational area: means the recreational trails and appurtenant facilities, including trail head centers, parking areas, camping facilities, picnic areas, recreational areas, historic or cultural interpretive sites, and other facilities or attractions that are a part of a multicounty trail network authority system. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Recreational purposes: means :

  (A) Any outdoor activity undertaken, or practice or instruction in any such activity, for the purpose of exercise, relaxation, or pleasure, including, but not limited to any one or any combination of the following noncommercial recreational activities: Hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, kayaking, camping, picnicking, hiking, rock climbing, bouldering, bicycling, horseback riding, spelunking, nature study, water skiing, winter sports, and visiting, viewing, or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or scientific sites, aircraft, or ultralight operations on private airstrips or farms, or otherwise using land for purposes of the user. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2

• Regular interest: means the rate or rates of interest per annum, compounded annually, as the board adopts in accordance with the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Representative: includes any individual or labor organization. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• Required beginning date: means April 1 of the calendar year following the later of: (i) The calendar year in which the member attains age 72. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Retirant: means any member who commences an annuity payable by the retirement system. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• retirement: means a member's termination from the employ of a participating public employer and the commencement of an annuity by the plan. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Retirement income payments: means the annual retirement income payments payable under the plan. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supervisor: means any individual having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• Surviving spouse: means the person to whom the member was legally married at the time of the member's death and who survived the member. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• Take: means to hunt, shoot, pursue, lure, kill, destroy, catch, capture, keep in captivity, gig, spear, trap, ensnare, wound or injure any wildlife, or attempt to do so. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Third-party right of enforcement: means a right provided in a conservation or preservation easement, in order to enforce any of its terms, granted to a governmental body, charitable corporation, charitable association or charitable trust, which, although eligible to be a holder, is not a holder. See West Virginia Code 20-12-3
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Totally disabled: means a member's inability to engage in substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determined physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. See West Virginia Code 20-18-2
• under the influence of alcohol: means a concentration of eight hundredths of one percent or more by weight of alcohol in an individual'. See West Virginia Code 21-1D-2
• Unfair labor practice: means any unfair labor practice specified in section four of this article. See West Virginia Code 21-1A-2
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• whoever: includes corporations, societies, associations and partnerships, and other similar legal business organizations. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Wildlife: means wild birds, wild animals, game and fur-bearing animals, fish (including minnows), reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans and all forms of aquatic life used as fish bait, whether dead or alive. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Wildlife refuge: means any land set aside by action of the director as an inviolate refuge or sanctuary for the protection of designated forms of wildlife. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Workplace: means a place where public employees are assigned to work but shall not include any place where public employees are assigned to work that is inspected and regulated in accordance with federal occupational safety and health standards or mine safety and health administration standards, or facilities under the authority of the department of corrections, the department of health, or the Legislature. See West Virginia Code 21-3A-2
• Writ of certiorari: An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal.