Introduced Version
Senate Bill 421 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 421
(By Senators Bowman, Bailey and Craigo)
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[Introduced January 25, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections three, five and six,
article one-a, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all
relating to the public land corporation; requirements for
leasing minerals; approval of the attorney general; and
contracting for consulting services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three, five and six, article one-a, chapter
twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1A. REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURES.
§20-1A-3. Public land corporation, powers and duties.
(a) The corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to:
(1) Acquire from any persons or the state auditor or any
local, state or federal agency, by purchase, lease or other
agreement, any lands necessary and required for public use;
(2) Acquire by purchase, condemnation, lease or agreement,
receive by gifts and devises, or exchange, rights-of-way,
easements, waters and minerals suitable for public use;
(3) Sell or exchange public lands where it is determined
that the sale or exchange of such tract meets any or all of the
following disposal criteria:
(A) Such The tract was acquired for a specific purpose and
the tract is no longer required for that or any other state
purpose; or
(B) Disposal of such the tract serves important public
objectives including, but not limited to, expansion of
communities and economic development which cannot be achieved on
lands other than public lands and which clearly outweigh other
public objectives and values including, but not limited to,
recreation and scenic values which would be served by
maintaining such the tract in state ownership; or
(C) Such The tract, because of its location or other
characteristics, is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part
of the public lands and is not suitable for management by
another state department or agency.
There is hereby created in the state treasury a special
public land corporation fund into which shall be paid all
proceeds from public land sales and exchanges. The corporation
may acquire public lands from use of the payments made to the
fund, along with any interest accruing to said fund. The
corporation shall report annually, just prior to the beginning of the regular session of the Legislature, to the finance
committees of the Legislature on the financial condition of the
special fund.
(4) Sell, purchase or exchange lands or stumpage for the
purpose of consolidating lands under state or federal government
administration subject to the disposal criteria specified in
subdivision three of this section;
(5) Negotiate and effect loans or grants from the government
of the United States or any agency thereof for acquisition and
development of such lands as may be authorized by law to be
acquired for public use;
(6) Expend the income from the use and development of public
lands for the following purposes:
(A) Liquidate obligations incurred in the acquisition,
development and administration of such lands, until all such
obligations have been fully discharged;
(B) Purchase, develop, restore and preserve for public use,
sites, structures, objects and documents of prehistoric,
historical, archaeological, recreational, architectural and
cultural significance to the state of West Virginia; and
(C) Obtain grants or matching moneys available from the
government of the United States or any of its instrumentalities
for prehistoric, historic, archaeological, recreational,
architectural and cultural purposes.
(7) The corporation shall have the authority to Designate
lands, to which it has title, for development and administration for the public use including recreation, wildlife stock grazing,
agricultural rehabilitation and homesteading or other
conservation activities;
(8) The corporation shall have authority to Enter into
leases as a lessor for the development and extraction of
minerals, including coal, oil, gas, sand and or gravel, except
as otherwise circumscribed herein: Provided, That leases for
the development and extraction of minerals shall be made in
accordance with the provisions of sections five and six of this
article. The corporation shall reserve title and ownership to
the mineral rights in all cases.
(9) It shall Convey, assign, or allot lands to the title
or custody of proper departments or other agencies of state
government for administration and control within the functions
of such departments or other agencies as provided by law;
(10) The corporation shall Make proper lands available for
the purpose of cooperating with the government of the United
States in the relief of unemployment and hardship or for any
other public purpose.
(b) There is hereby created in the state treasury a special
public land corporation fund into which shall be paid all
proceeds from public land sales and exchanges and rents,
royalties and other payments from mineral leases. The
corporation may acquire lands from the moneys in the fund,
including any interest accruing to the fund. The corporation
shall report annually, just prior to the beginning of the regular session of the Legislature, to the finance committees of
the Legislature on the financial condition of the special fund.
(c) The corporation shall report annually to the Legislature
on its public land holdings and all its leases, its financial
condition and its operations and shall make such recommendations
to the Legislature as deemed proper concerning the acquisition,
leasing, development, disposition and use of public lands.
(d) All state agencies, institutions, divisions and
departments shall make an inventory of the public lands of the
state as may be by law specifically allocated to and used by
each and provide to the corporation a list of such public lands
and minerals, including their current use, intended use or best
use to which such land lands and minerals may be put: Provided,
That the state department division of highways need not provide
such the inventory of public lands allocated to and used by it.
The inventory shall identify those parcels of land which have no
present or foreseeable useful purpose to the state of West
Virginia. The inventory shall be submitted annually to the
corporation by the first day of August. one thousand nine
hundred eighty-nine The corporation shall compile such the
inventory of all public lands and minerals and report annually
to the Legislature by no later than the first day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety, on its public land holdings
lands and minerals and the land holdings lands and minerals of
the other agencies, institutions, divisions or departments of
this state which are required to report their holdings to the corporation as set forth hereinabove in this subsection, and its
financial condition and its operations.
During the continuance of the Blennerhassett historical park
commission, the public land corporation and its members shall
consult with and keep the said Blennerhassett historical park
commission fully informed as to any official action to be taken
or proposed to be taken pursuant to this act regarding or
affecting Blennerhassett Island and its prehistoric, historic,
archaeological, architectural, cultural and recreational
significance or development or any of the powers and duties of
the Blennerhassett historical park commission.
§20-1A-5. Public land corporation to hold public hearing before
sale, lease, exchange or transfer of land or
minerals.
(a) Prior to any final decision of any state agency to sell,
lease as a lessor, exchange or transfer land or minerals, the
public land corporation shall:
(1) Prepare and reduce to writing the reasons and supporting
data regarding such the sale, lease, or exchange or transfer of
land or minerals. The written reasons required under this
section shall be available for public inspection at the office
of the county clerk at the county courthouse of each county in
which the affected land is lands or minerals are located during
the two successive weeks before the date of the public hearing
required by this section;
(2) Provide for a public hearing to be held at a reasonable time and place within each county in which the affected land is
lands or minerals are located to allow interested members of the
public to attend the hearing without undue hardship. Members of
the public may be present, submit statements and testimony and
question the corporation's representative appointed pursuant to
this section;
(3) Not less than thirty days prior to such the public
hearing, provide notice to all members of the Legislature, to
the head of the governing body of any political subdivision
having zoning or other land use regulatory responsibility in the
geographic area within which the public lands or minerals are
located and to the head of any political subdivision having
administrative or public services responsibility in the
geographic area within which the lands or minerals are located;
(4) Cause to be published a notice of the required public
hearing. The notice shall be published as a Class II legal
advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article
three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area
shall be each county in which the affected land is lands or
minerals are located. The public hearing shall be held no
earlier than the fourteenth successive day and no later than the
twenty-first successive day following the first publication of
the notice. The notice shall contain the time and place of the
public hearing along with a brief description of the affected
land lands or minerals;
(5) Cause a copy of the required notice to be posted in a conspicuous place at the affected land for members of the public
to observe. Such The notice shall remain posted for two
successive weeks prior to the date of the public hearing;
(6) Appoint a representative of the corporation who shall
conduct the required public hearing. The corporation's
representative shall have full knowledge of all the facts and
circumstances surrounding the proposed sale, lease, exchange or
transfer. The representative of the corporation conducting the
public hearing shall make the results of the hearing available
to the corporation for its consideration prior to the board
making decisions regarding the affected lands or minerals.
The
representative of the corporation shall make a report of the
public hearing available for inspection by the public or, upon
written request of any interested person, provide a written copy
thereof and to all individuals previously receiving written
notice of the hearing within thirty days following the public
hearing; and
(7) If the evidence at the public hearing establishes by a
preponderance that the appraisal provided for in subsection (c),
section four of this article does not reflect the true, fair
market value, the public land corporation shall cause another
appraisal to be made. If the evidence at the public hearing
establishes by a preponderance that the sale or exchange of land
sale, lease, exchange or transfer of lands or minerals
does not
meet the criteria set forth in subdivision three, section three
of this article, the public land corporation shall may not proceed with the sale or exchange of said land sale, lease,
exchange or transfer of lands or minerals without judicial
approval.
The representative of the corporation conducting the public
hearing shall make the results of the hearing available to the
corporation for its consideration prior to the board making
decisions regarding the affected lands.
(b) No sale, exchange or transfer of land subject to the
provisions of this section may be made The corporation may not
sell, lease as lessor, exchange or transfer lands or minerals
before the thirtieth successive day following the public hearing
required by this section, but in no event shall may the sale,
lease, exchange or transfer of such lands or minerals be made
prior to fifteen days after the report of the public hearings
are made available to the public in general.
§20-1A-6. Competitive bidding and notice requirements before
the development of minerals.
(a) The corporation may enter into a lease or contract for
the development of minerals, gas or oil including coal, oil,
gas, sand or gravel, on or under lands in which the corporation
holds any right, title or interest: Provided, That no lease or
contract may be entered into for the extraction and removal of
minerals by surface mining or auger mining of coal.
(b) With the exception of deep mining operations which are
already in progress and permitted as of the effective date of
this article fifth day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, the extraction of coal by deep mining methods under
state forests or wildlife refuges may be permitted only if such
the lease or contract provides that no entries, portals, air
shafts or other incursions upon and into said the land incident
to said the mining operations may be placed or constructed upon
said the lands or within three thousand feet of the its
boundary. thereof
(c) Any lease or contract entered into shall reserve to the
state all rights to subjacent surface support with which the
state is seized or possessed of at the time of such lease or
contract.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the code to the
contrary, nothing herein shall may be construed to permit
extraction of minerals oil or gas by any method from, on or
under any state park or state recreation area, nor the
extraction of minerals by strip or auger mining upon any state
forest or wildlife refuge.
(e) The corporation may enter into a lease or contract for
the development of minerals oil or gas where such the lease or
contract is not prohibited by any other provisions of this code,
only after receiving sealed bids therefor, after notice by
publication as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with
the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code. The area for such publication shall be each county in
which such lands the minerals are located.
(f) The minerals oil or gas so advertised may be leased or contracted for development at not less than the fair market
value, as determined by an appraisal made by an independent
person or firm chosen by the corporation, to the highest
responsible bidder, who shall give bond for the proper
performance of the contract or lease as the corporation shall
designate designates: but Provided, That the corporation shall
have the right to may reject any and all bids and to readvertise
for bids.
(g) If the foregoing provisions of this section have been
complied with, and no bid equal to or in excess of the fair
market value of such natural resources is received, the
corporation may, at any time during a period of six months after
the opening of the bids, lease or contract for the development
of such natural resources in such manner as it is deemed
appropriate the minerals, but the lease or contract price shall
may not be less than the fair market value. of such natural
resources advertised
(h) Any lease or contract for the development of minerals
entered into after the effective date of this section shall be
approved by the office of the attorney general, and shall be
made in accordance with the provisions of this section and
section five of this article.
(i) The corporation shall consult with competent third
parties with experience and expertise in the leasing of
minerals, to assist the corporation in carrying out the
provisions of this section, including determining fair market value and negotiating terms and conditions of mineral leases.
The provisions of article three, chapter five-a of this code,
relating to purchasing procedures, do not apply to agreements or
contracts for consulting purposes under this subsection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to impose certain
requirements on the sale or leasing of minerals under public
lands; to make reports; to hold public hearings; to consult with
experts; and to have leases approved by the Attorney General.
Obsolete language concerning Blennerhassett Island has been
deleted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the code, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.
This bill is recommended by the Joint Committee on
Government Operations for passage during the 2002 Regular
Session.
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