House 5358

2026 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 5358

By Delegates Williams, Hansen, Hamilton, Hornby, and Young

[Introduced February 09, 2026; referred to the Committee on Energy and Public Works then Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new section, designated §17-2A-4c, relating to authorizing the West Virginia Commissioner of Highways to offer locality pay to Division of Highways employees working in certain areas of the state.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.

§17-2A-4c. Authorize incremented pay to certain Division of Highways employees.

(a) The commissioner is authorized to designate localities within the state as ones where offering higher wages is necessary to recruit and retain employees in a competitive manner. Any pay differential provided pursuant to this section may exceed the maximum salary range established for the position classification. The commissioner shall promulgate a policy directive that establishes rules for implementation of this section.

(b) An employee of the Division of Highways working in an area designated by the commissioner as one where locality pay is necessary for maintaining the division’s ability to recruit and retain employees in a competitive manner, may receive a locality pay differential not to exceed $10,000 per year in addition to the personnel’s regular salary or hourly pay.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide employees working for the Division of Highways with locality pay for working in certain jurisdictions designated by the commissioner as jurisdictions that are necessary for maintaining planning, engineering, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and traffic regulation of state road projects.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.