§ 15A-12-3 — Joint Oversight Committee

West Virginia § 15A-12-3

• Jurisdiction: West Virginia
• Ch. 15A: DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
• Art. 12: WEST VIRGINIA FUSION CENTER

Text

(a) The Speaker of the House of Delegates and President of the Senate shall establish a select committee which shall have oversight of the information collected by the West Virginia Fusion Center to ensure the proper collection, dissemination, storage, and destruction of information or intelligence. The committee shall be composed of: (1) The Speaker of the House of Delegates and four members of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, no more than two of whom shall be appointed from the same political party; and (2) the President of the Senate and four members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President of the Senate, no more than two of whom shall be from the same political party; and counsel and staff to the Speaker and the Senate President:Provided, That in the event the membership of a political party is less than 15 percent in the House of Delegates or Senate, then the membership of that political party from the legislative house with less than 15 percent membership may be one from that house. The committee shall be chaired by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates. All members appointed to the select committee by the select committee chairs serve until their successors are appointed as provided in this section.The select committee members, counsel, and staff must have the appropriate security clearance in order to obtain information that is classified and shall be subject to the same rules, regulations, and laws as the employees of the West Virginia Fusion Center for safeguarding both classified and law enforcement sensitive information or intelligence. These select committee members, counsel, and staff shall be advised of the restrictions and protocol for handling such information or intelligence and shall sign a statement of understanding as well as a confidentiality agreement.

(b) Members of the select committee may enter and inspect the West Virginia Fusion Center at any time staff is present with select committee counsel and staff, with or without notice to the West Virginia Fusion Center.

(c) Meetings of the select committee shall be confidential and the information and materials, in any medium, including hard copy and electronic, coming to the attention of or placed in the custody of the Select Committee shall not be subject to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act as set forth in §29B-1-1et seq.of this code.

(d) The select committee may conduct proceedings in a confidential executive session for the purpose of conducting business, establishing policy, reviewing investigations, and interrogating a witness or witnesses.

(e) All witnesses appearing before the select committee shall testify under oath or affirmation, and any member of the select committee or its counsel may administer oaths or affirmations to such witnesses. To compel witnesses to attend a hearing or produce any books, records, documents, or papers, or any other tangible thing except where the records, documents, data, or items are protected from disclosure by privilege recognized by state or federal courts, the select committee may issue subpoenas, signed by one of the co-chairs:Provided, That the select committee may specifically authorize or delegate the power to any member of the select committee to sign subpoenas on its behalf. The subpoenas shall be served by any person authorized by law to serve and execute legal process, and service shall be made without charge. Witnesses subpoenaed to attend hearings shall be allowed the same mileage and per diem as is allowed witnesses before any petit jury in this state.

(f) If any person subpoenaed to appear at any hearing shall refuse to appear or to answer inquiries there propounded, or shall fail or refuse to produce books, records, documents, papers, or any other tangible thing within his or her control when the same are demanded, the select committee shall report the facts to the circuit court of Kanawha County or any other court of competent jurisdiction and that court may compel obedience to the subpoena as though the subpoena had been issued by that court in the first instance:Provided, That prior to seeking circuit court relief, the select committee may, in its discretion, first demand the Secretary of Homeland Security or the director of the West Virginia Fusion Center under whom an employee has failed to appear or which has failed to produce requested or subpoenaed material to appear before the select committee and address the basis for the failure to comply and whether compliance will be forthcoming.

(g) The select committee may direct the West Virginia Fusion Center to send its budgetary accounting to the State Auditor:Provided, That if budgetary expenditures are classified, or security or law enforcement sensitive such that disclosure would compromise an investigation, those entry descriptions, but not the expenditure amounts, may be redacted from the West Virginia Fusion Center accounting provided to the State Auditor:Provided, however, That the State Auditor shall bring any accounting issues of concern to the attention of the select committee, upon which the select committee shall subpoena the West Virginia Fusion Center for unredacted copies of the accounting items to be presented for explanation and justification of the necessity and legality of the concerns raised by the State Auditor. The select committee may take whatever action it deems necessary, if any, after review and analysis of the subpoenaed unredacted materials.

Legislative History

2025 Reg. Sess., HB3411; 2024 Reg. Sess., HB4758; 2023 Reg. Sess., HB3562; 2020 Reg. Sess., HB4176