Signed by Governor Jim Justice, Jr.

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with senate amendments and further amend a bill that establishes the official operations of the West Virginia Intelligence/Fusion Center, requires its legislative oversight, and establishes other provisions.

Highlights:

• Authorizes the Governor to establish, organize, equip, staff, and maintain a multiagency information fusion center to receive, analyze, and disseminate all hazard, crime, and threat information (Article 9).

• Prohibits the Fusion Center from knowingly participating in any activity, or knowingly cooperating, with any federal agency, or a contractor for any federal agency, when that participation or cooperation involves illegal or improper actions (Article 9).

• Prohibits the Fusion Center from allowing a federal agency or contractor for a federal agency to work inside the Fusion Center when it knows or has reason to know that such federal agency or federal contractor is presently engaged or intends to engage in unlawful intelligence-gathering activity against a citizen of West Virginia (Article 9).

• Establishes the objectives of the Fusion center as collecting, integrating, analyzing, disseminating, and maintaining such information to support local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies, other governmental agencies, and private persons, organizations, entities, or agencies in detecting, preventing, investigating, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from any possible or actual criminal or terrorist activity, as well as any hazard, including to the state’s critical infrastructure (Article 9).

• Defines “terrorism” as foreign or international terrorist groups or individuals, or domestic groups or individuals involved in transnational or domestic terrorism (Article 9).

• Requires the operations of the West Virginia Fusion Center to be overseen by the cabinet secretary and deputy cabinet secretary of the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, with oversight auditing and accountability to the select committee of the Legislature (Article 9).

• Specifies that all state and federal Whistleblower Protection Act protections will apply to any person whose disclosures are found to have been made to report or protect against violation or attempted violation of any and all restrictions and prohibitions against conducting non-law enforcement intelligence operations against US citizens (Article 9).

Full Bill Text