An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Law Body
Chap. 105.—An ACT to continue the board of charities and corrections under
the name of State board of public welfare; to provide for the composition
and maintenance of said board; to prescribe its powers, duties and com-
pensation; to provide how the officers, assistants and employees of the board
may be appointed and compensated; to authorize the board to create a
children’s bureau; to provide how county and city boards of public welfare
must or may be appointed, with certain exceptions, and to prescribe the
powers and duties of such local boards; to authorize such local boards to
appoint local superintendents of public welfare, and to prescribe the powers,
duties and compensation of such superintendents if and when appointed ;
also to repeal sections 1888 to 1902, inclusive, of the Code of vie 86]
Approved February 27, 1922.
Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as follows:
Section 1. The board of charities and corrections, consisting of
five members, established by an act approved March thirteenth, nine-
teen hundred and eight, and retained by section eighteen hundred
and eighty-eight of the Code of Virginia of nineteen hundred and
nineteen, shall be continued under the name of State board of public
welfare; and wherever the words “board of charities and correc-
tions,” or other words denoting that board appear in any statute here-
tofore or hereafter enacted, the same shall be construed to mean the
State board of public welfare provided for in this act. The members
of the board of charities and corrections who may be in office when
this act takes effect shall continue in office as members of the State
board of public welfare, and on February fifteenth in every year, the
governor shall, subject to confirmation by the Senate, appoint one
member of the last named board for a term of five years commencing
on that date, to succeed the member whose term then expires by
limitation. Appointments to fill vacancies caused by death, resigna-
tion, removal, or any other cause, before the expiration of such terms,
shall be made for the residue of such terms in the same manner. No
director, officer, or employee of an institution subject to the terms of
this act shall be appointed a member of such board. The members
of the said board may at any time be removed by the governor for
cause.
Section 2. The rooms in the State library building, occupied by
the board of charities and corrections on the passage of this act,
shall be the rooms of the State board of public welfare until other-
wise provided by law, or ordered by the governor and the register
of the land office and superintendent of grounds and buildings.
Section 3. The State board of public welfare shall hold its meet-
ings at least semi-annually, and oftener whenever called in session by
the chairman thereof. The chairman shall be annually elected by the
members of the board from among their number, and the board may
make such rules and regulations for the conduct of its proceedings as
it may deem proper. The members of the board shall receive no
compensation for their services, except as hereinafter provided. Wher-
ever the word “board” is used hereafter in this act, the same shall
mean the State board of public welfare unless the context indicates
otherwise.
Section 4.° The board shall appoint, to serve during its pleasure,
an executive officer, to be known as the commissioner of public wel-
fare, who shall be paid for his services, in addition to necessary travel-
ing expenses, such annual salary as may be appropriated by law for
the purpose. No person while a member of the board, or within
twelve months after retirement therefrom, shall be eligible for this
ofice. The board may appoint an assistant commissioner of public
welfare, who, if appointed, shall serve during the pleasure of the
board, and shall receive such annual salary as may be appropriated
by law for the purpose. All other assistants and emplovees attached
to the board shall be appointed by the commissioner of public wel-
fare, subject to the approval of the board. The salaries of the com-
missioner, assistant commissioner, and employees, and all other ex-
penses of the board shall be paid out of the State treasury, on warrants
of the auditor of public accounts, issued on certificates signed by
the chairman of the board. All necessary printing and binding for
the board shall be done through the superintendent of public printing,
and shall be paid for out of the general printing fund.
Section 5. The members of the said board, and the commissioner
and assistant commissioner shall, before entering upon the discharge
of their duties, take an oath faithfully to perform the duties imposed
upon them by this act. Before entering upon the discharge of their
duties, the commissioner and assistant commissioner shall each execute
a bond, payable to the Commonwealth, in such sums as may be re-
quired by the board, with sufficient surety, which bonds shall be filed
in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth.
Section 6. The board is hereby authorized, and it shall be its
dutv, as a whole, or by a committee of its members, or by its agents,
to visit, inspect and examine, once a year or oftener, all State, county,
municipal, and private institutions which are of an cleemosynary, a
charitable, correctional, or reformatory character, or which are for the
care, confinement, custody, or training of the defective, dependent,
neglected, delinquent, or criminal classes, except that the hospitals
for the insane, the penitentiary, the industrial schools, and the reforma-
tories shall be visited as often as once in every six months and by
at least two members of the board. The board shall also inspect and
report on the workings and results of the chartered institutions and
associations engaged in the care and protection of the homeless,
mentally defective, dependent, negletced or delinquent children or
adults. The board shall make reports regarding the condition of said
institutions or associations, the care of their inmates, the efficiency
of their administration, and such other matters as it may deem proper.
All reports shall be duly signed and filed in the office of the board,
and such extracts and recommendations thereof as the commissioner of
public welfare deems advisable shall be transmitted to the chairman
of the boards of supervisors of the counties, the presidents of the
councils of the cities, and the officials who are in charge of the
respective institutions. The officers and all other persons in charge
of, or connected in any way with the administration or management
of such public institutions, are hereby required to furnish to the
board, its committee or agents, all information, statistics and reports
required and to allow the said board, its committee or agents, free
access to the inmates, departments and records at any and all times
upon the visitation to any of said institutions by said board, its com-
mittee or agents, they shall have the power to interview any of its
inmates without the presence of any manager or employe of said
institution. Every superintendent or chief officer having charge of
an institution of a charitable or penal nature shall make full and
complete reports to the board whenever required, which reports shall
contain such information as may be required. Any person inter-
fering with the board, its committee or agents, in the discharge of
their official duties, or refusing to disclose information concerning the
institutions embraced in this act, when lawfully requested, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. .
Section 7. All plans for public institutions of either a charitable
or penal nature shall, before adoption by county or city authorities,
be submitted to the board, which shall promptly return the same
with such suggestions and recommendations as it may deem proper.
Section 8. Whenever the governor considers it proper or neces-
sary to investigate the management of any institution receiving aid
from the State and required to be inspected under the provisions of
this act, he may direct the board, or any committee or agent thereof,
to make said investigation. The board, committee, or agent desig-
nated by the governor shall have power to administer oaths and to
summon officers, employees or other persons to attend as witnesses
and to enforce their attendance, and to compel them to produce docu-
ments and give evidence. Each member of the board conducting any
such investigation shall be paid out of the funds of the institution in-
vestigated, his necessary expenses and five dollars per day during
actual service.
Section 9. The board shall encourage and direct the training of
prospective county or city superintendents of public welfare, collect
and publish statistics regarding the dependent, defective, and delin-
quent classes, both in and out of institutions, within the State, and
such other data as may be deemed of value in assisting the public
authorities and other social agencies of the State in improving the
care of these classes and in correcting conditions that contributed to
their increase. The board shall also, in its discretion, initiate and
conduct conferences designed to accomplish such ends and to further
co-ordination of effort in this field.
Section 10. The board shall biennially prepare and submit to the
governor, not later than December first prior to the meeting of each
regular session of the general assembly, a full and complete report of
its acts and doings during the preceding two years, stating in detail
all expenses incurred, all officers and agents employed, and showing
the actual condition of all State and other public institutions under
its supervision. The report shall also contain such suggestions as
the board may deem necessary or pertinent to make. Such reports
shall be printed by the superintendent of public printing and the
board shall cause a copy thereof to be filed in the clerk’s office of
each circuit and corporation court of the State. A copy shall also
be sent by the board to each of the institutions mentioned therein.
Section 11. The board is hereby authorized and empowered to
create a children’s bureau, and if such bureau be created, the com-
missioner of public welfare may, subject to the approval of the board,
appoint a director of the bureau and such assistants as may be neces-
sary. The children’s bureau, subject to the control of the board, shall
have general supervision of the interests and welfare of the mentally
defective, dependent, delinquent and neglected children of Virginia ;
shall investigate conditions bearing upon this subject, and shall from
time to time recommend to the board of public welfare and to public
and private agencies measures, curative and remedial, and preventive
or constructive for the improvement of conditions and the better safe-
guarding the welfare of the children of the State. The board 1s here-
by authorized and empowered to receive mentally defective, delinquent,
dependent and neglected children committed to it by courts or justices,
and all children declared by any court or justice to be delinquent and
not suitable for probation shall be committed to the State board of
public welfare, which board is authorized to establish one or more
receiving homes for the care, supervision and study of mentally
defective, delinquent, dependent or neglected children thus committed
to it, or to make arrangements with satisfactory persons, institutions,
or agencies, or with cities maintaining places of detentson for chil-
dren, for the temporary care of its wards. The board is further
authorized to make a careful physical and mental examination of
every such child, to investigate in detail the personal and family
history of the child and its environment, and to place children in
approved family homes, in suitable licensed institutions all within
the State of Virginia, unless by written consent of its parent or
guardian with suitable licensed agencies, or in State institutions.
Children committed to State institutions dealing exclusively with
children by the board shall take precedence as to admission over all
others and shall in all cases be received into the said State institution
as soon as possible. Children placed in family homes or institutions
may be transferred for reasons deemed sufficient by the board.
Section 12. The circuit court of each county of the State, or the
judge thereof in vacation, shall, and the corporation or hustings
court, or the judge thereof in vacation, of each city of the first class,
may, appoint, from a list of eligibles submitted by the State board
of public welfare, a county or city board of public welfare consisting
of not less than three, nor more than seven members, preferably the
latter number. The first appointments under this section, except in
cities of the first class, shall be made not later than two years from
the date of the passage of this act. Each member of a county or city
board of public welfare shall be a resident of the county or city for
which the particular board is appointed, and the terms of the mem-
bers of each board shall be so arranged that one or more (but not all)
shall expire annually. No appointments shall be made for a term
longer than four years. Upon the expiration of the term of a mem-
ber, his successor shall be appointed, upon the recommendation of
the State board of public welfare, for a term of four years. Any
member of a county or city board may be removed at any time for
cause by the State board of public welfare, by and with the approval,
entered of record, of the court or judge making the appointment.
But this section is subject to the following qualification. In cities of
the first class having departments of public welfare, or like depart-
ments, at the passage of this act, city board of welfare shall not be
appointed; but the councils or other governing bodies of such cities
shall, by ordinance, apportion the powers and duties by this act con-
ferred and imposed upon county and city boards and superintendents
of public welfare among the officers or departments of the particular
city government in such manner as they may deem wise. For the
purpose of this act, cities of the second class shall in all respects be
deemed to be parts of the counties in which the same are situated, and
residents of any such city shall, for the purposes of this act, be deemed
to be residents of the county in which the city is situated.
Section 13. The clerk of the court shall immediately notify the
members of the county or city board of their appointment, and such
members shall, within fifteen days after their notification, meet at
some convenient place and organize by electing a chairman from
among their number. The county or city board shall thereafter meet
bi-monthly @n the second Tuesday of the month, and on other oc-
casions on call of the chairman, or in pursuance of action by the
board. Minutes of the attendance and of the transactions of all
meetings of the board shall be kept on file by the secretary of the
board and copies thereof shall be transmitted to the State board of
public welfare within three days after each meeting. The State board
may declare the place of any county or city member vacant upon three
consecutive absences, without reasonable excuse, by such member from
the meetings of his board, and the court shall appoint a successor upon
the request of, and from an eligibility list submitted by the State
board. The county or city superintendent of public welfare, if one
has been appointed as hereinafter provided, shall act as secretary of
his board. In counties and cities where no such superintendent has
been appointed, the local board shall elect a secretary from among
their number. The secretary shall file a report of such organization
signed by himself and the chairman, with the clerk of the circuit
court of the county or the corporation court of the city, and with
the State board of public welfare. The members of each of the afore-
said county and city boards shall serve without pay. But no member
shall enter upon the discharge of his duties unless and until he shall
have taken the usual oaths of office before the court or judge which
appointed him, or the clerk thereof in vacation.
Section 14. It shall be the duty of each county or city board of
public welfare, by personal visitation or otherwise, to keep itself
fully advised of the conditions and management of all institutions of
a charitable or penal nature in its county, or city, and to that end shall
have full authority to inspect such institutions and shall be given
full access to the accounts and records thereof; to interest itself in
all matters pertaining to the social welfare of the people of its county,
or city, and to direct the activities of the superintendent of public
welfare, where there is one, and to co-operate with the juvenile and
domestic relations courts and all other agencies operating for the
social betterment of the county or city. The county or city board
of public welfare shall, when it may deem it advisable and expedient,
elect from a list of eligibles submitted by the State board, a county
or city superintendent of public welfare and such assistants as the
local board may deem necessary who shall hold office at the pleasure
of the local board or until their successors are appointed and quali-
fied. The county or city board shall, upon the request of the State
board, officially consider the discharge and replacement of any county
or city superintendent. The salaries of the said officer and his as-
sistants shall be fixed by the county board of supervisors, or thé
governing body of the city, if in their discretion such officers are
necessary and shall be paid out of the county or city treasury. Two
or more counties, or a city of the first class and a county, may unite
in providing for a local superintendent of public welfare, and the
expenses incident to such employment may be divided in such manner
as they may agree upon.
Section 15. Each county and city superintendent of public welfare
shall be the executive officer of the board appointing him. Before
entering upon the discharge of his duties, every such superintendent
shall take the usual oaths of office before the court which appointed
his board, or the judge thereof in vacation, and shall also enter into
bonds with surety to be approved by the court or judge, in such
sum as the court or judge may fix, conditioned upon the faithful dis-
charge of his duties. Every such superintendent is hereby vested
with the powers of a police officer or constable. Under the super-
vision, control and direction of such local board, and in co-operation
with other public and private agencies, he shall have power, and it
shall be his duty:
(a) To have the care and supervision of the poor and to admin-
ister the funds now administered by the overseers of the poor.
(b) To administer mothers’ aid funds, if any, in accordance with
the provisions of State law.
(c) Under direction of the State board of public welfare, to look
after and supervise the conditions of persons paroled from hospitals
for the insane and colonies for the epileptic and feeble-minded, and
from other State institutions.
(d) To act as the agent of the State board in relation to any
work to be done by said board within the county or city.
(e) To have oversight of persons in the county or city released
on probation or on parole from the penitentiary, reformatories, in-
dustrial schools and all paroled prisoners in the county or city.
(f{) Under direction of the State board to have supervision of
dependent children placed in the county or city by the State board.
(g) To assist the State board in finding employment for the
unemployed. .
(h) To investigate the causes of distress, under the direction
of the State board, and to make such other investigations as the
State board may direct.
(1) To act as chief probation officer for the county or city, and
as such to enforce and administer the probation laws within the
county or city.
(j) To foster co-operation and intelligent division of work be-
tween all public and private charitable and social agencies in the
county or city to the end that public resources and charitable dona-
tions may be conserved and the needs of the county or city be ade-
quately cared for.
The records of the cases handled and business transacted by the
local superintendent shall be kept in such manner and form as may
be prescribed by the State board of public welfare. He shall each
year prepare and keep on file a full report of his work and proceed-
ings during the year, and shall file one copy of such report with the
county clerk, or the clerk of his corporation or hustings court, and
another with the State board of public welfare.
Section 16. Sections eighteen hundred and eighty-eight to nine-
teen hundred and two, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia are hereby
repealed.