SENATE
HOUSE
JOINT
BILL STATUS
STATE LAW
REPORTS
EDUCATIONAL
CONTACT
home
home
Introduced Version Senate Bill 513 History

   |  Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 513

(By Senators Chafin, Jenkins, Stollings, D. Facemire, Kessler, Minard, Yost, Williams, Browning and Unger)

____________

[Introduced February 9, 2010; referred to the Committee on Finance.]

____________




A BILL to amend and reenact §8-15-8b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §8-15-8d; and to amend and reenact §33-3- 14d of said code, all relating to permitting revenues allocated to volunteer and part-time fire departments to be used for workers' compensation premiums and length of service awards; establishing a Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Awards Program Fund; providing the Insurance Commissioner with the rule-making authority for establishing criteria for awards from the fund; eliminating the ten percent portion of the premium tax on taxable insurance premiums allocated to the Teachers Retirement System Reserve Fund; and increasing moneys allocated to volunteer and part-time fire departments by that same amount.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §8-15-8b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §8-15-8d; and that §33-3-14d of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY.

ARTICLE 15. FIRE FIGHTING; FIRE COMPANIES AND DEPARTMENTS; CIVIL SERVICE FOR PAID FIRE DEPARTMENTS.

§8-15-8b. Authorized expenditures of revenues from the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund and the Fire Protection Fund.

Revenues allocated to volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments may be expended only for the items listed in subdivisions (1) through (12) (14) of this section.
Funds received from the state for volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments, pursuant to sections fourteen-d and thirty-three, article three, and section sixteen-a seven, article twelve twelve-c, all of chapter thirty-three of this code, may not be commingled with funds received from any other source. Expenditures may be made for the following:
(1) Personal protective equipment, including protective head gear, bunker coats, pants, boots, combination of bunker pants and boots, coats and gloves;
(2) Equipment for compliance with the national fire protection standard or automotive fire apparatus, NFPA-1901;
(3) Compliance with insurance service office recommendations relating to fire departments;
(4) Rescue equipment, communications equipment and ambulance equipment: Provided, That no moneys received from the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund or the Fire Protection Fund may be used for equipment for personal vehicles owned or operated by volunteer fire company or department members;
(5) Capital improvements reasonably required for effective and efficient fire protection service and maintenance of the capital improvements;
(6) Retirement of debts;
(7) Payment of utility bills;
(8) Payment of the cost of immunizations, including any laboratory work incident to the immunizations, for firefighters against hepatitis-b and other blood borne pathogens: Provided, That the vaccine shall be purchased through the state immunization program or from the lowest cost vendor available: Provided, however, That volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments shall seek to obtain no cost administration of the vaccinations through local boards of health: Provided further, That in the event any volunteer or part volunteer fire company or department is unable to obtain no cost administration of the vaccinations through a local board of health, the company or department shall seek to obtain the lowest cost available for the administration of the vaccinations from a licensed health care provider;
(9) Any filing fee required to be paid to the Legislative Auditor's Office under section fourteen, article four, chapter twelve of this code relating to sworn statements of annual expenditures submitted by volunteer or part volunteer fire companies or departments that receive state funds or grants;
(10) Property/casualty insurance premiums for protection and indemnification against loss or damage or liability;
(11) Operating expenses reasonably required in the normal course of providing effective and efficient fire protection service, which include, but are not limited to, gasoline, bank fees, postage and accounting costs; and
(12) Dues paid to national, state and county associations;
(13) Length of service awards; and
(14) Workers' Compensation premiums.
§8-15-8d. Volunteer Firefighters Length of Service Awards Program Fund; eligibility.
(a) The Volunteer Firefighters Length of Service Awards Program is hereby established.
(b) To be eligible to receive funds from the Volunteer Firefighters Length of Service Awards Program a volunteer or part volunteer fire department must comply with section eight-a of this article and meet the following requirements:
(1) Be enrolled in a qualified length of Service Awards Program approved by the State Insurance Commissioner; and
(2) Comply with all applicable federal and state laws.
(c) The State Insurance Commissioner shall, pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, promulgate such legislative rules as necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.
CHAPTER 33. INSURANCE.

ARTICLE 3. LICENSING, FEES AND TAXATION OF INSURERS.
§33-3-14d. Additional fire and casualty insurance premium tax; allocation of proceeds; effective date.

(a) (1) For the purpose of providing additional revenue for Municipal Policemen's and Firemen's Pension and Relief Funds and the Teachers Retirement System Reserve Fund and for volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments, there is hereby levied and imposed an additional premium tax equal to one percent of taxable premiums for fire insurance and casualty insurance policies. For purposes of this section, casualty insurance does not include insurance on the life of a debtor pursuant to or in connection with a specific loan or other credit transaction or insurance on a debtor to provide indemnity for payments becoming due on a specific loan or other credit transaction while the debtor is disabled as defined in the policy.
(2) All moneys collected from this additional tax shall be received by the commissioner and paid by him or her into a special account in the State Treasury, designated the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund: Provided, That on or after January 1, 2010, the commissioner shall pay ten percent of the amount collected to the Teachers Retirement System Reserve Fund created in section eighteen, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of this code, twenty-five July 1, 2010 the commissioner shall pay thirty-five percent of the amount collected to the Fire Protection Fund created in section thirty- three of this article for allocation by the treasurer to volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments and sixty-five percent of the amount collected to the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund: Provided, however, That upon notification by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board pursuant to the provisions of section eighteen-b, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code, on or after January 1, 2010 July 1, 2010, or as soon thereafter as the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board is prepared to receive the funds, sixty-five percent of the amount collected by the commissioner shall be deposited in the Municipal Pensions Security Fund created in section eighteen-b, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code. The net proceeds of this tax after appropriation thereof by the Legislature is distributed in accordance with the provisions of this section, except for distribution from proceeds pursuant to subsection (d), section eighteen-a, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code.
(b) (1) Before August 1 of each year, the treasurer of each municipality in which a municipal policemen's or Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund is established shall report to the State Treasurer the average monthly number of members who worked at least one hundred hours per month and the average monthly number of retired members of municipal policemen's or Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund or the Municipal Police Officer's and Firefighters Retirement System during the preceding fiscal year: Provided, That beginning in the year 2010 and continuing thereafter, the report shall be made to the oversight board created in section eighteen-a, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code. These reports received by the oversight board shall be provided annually to the State Treasurer by September 1.
(2) Before the first day of September 1 of each calendar year, the State Treasurer, or the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board, once in operation, shall allocate and authorize for distribution the revenues in the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund which were collected during the preceding calendar year for the purposes set forth in this section. Before September 1 of each calendar year and after the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board has notified the treasurer and commissioner pursuant to section eighteen-b, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code, the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board shall allocate and authorize for distribution the revenues in the Municipal Pensions Security Fund which were collected during the preceding calendar year for the purposes set forth in this section. In any year the actuarial report required by section twenty, article twenty-two, chapter eight of this code indicates no actuarial deficiency in the Municipal Policemen's or Firemen's Pension and Relief Fund, no revenues may be allocated from the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund or the Municipal Pensions Security Fund to that fund. The revenues from the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund shall then be allocated to all other pension and relief funds which have an actuarial deficiency.
(3) The moneys, and the interest earned thereon, in the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund allocated to volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments shall be allocated and distributed quarterly to the volunteer fire companies and departments. Before each distribution date, the State Fire Marshal shall report to the State Treasurer the names and addresses of all volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments within the state which meet the eligibility requirements established in section eight-a, article fifteen, chapter eight of this code)1) Each Municipal Pension and Relief Fund shall have allocated and authorized for distribution a pro rata share of the revenues allocated to Municipal Policemen's and Firemen's Pension and Relief Funds based on the corresponding municipality's average monthly number of police officers and firefighters who worked at least one hundred hours per month during the preceding fiscal year. On and after July 1, 1997, from the growth in any moneys collected pursuant to the tax imposed by this section and interest thereon there shall be allocated and authorized for distribution to each Municipal Pension and Relief Fund, a pro rata share of the revenues allocated to Municipal Policemen's and Firemen's Pension and Relief Funds based on the corresponding municipality's average number of police officers and firefighters who worked at least one hundred hours per month and average monthly number of retired police officers and firefighters. For the purposes of this subsection, the growth in moneys collected from the tax collected pursuant to this section is determined by subtracting the amount of the tax collected during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996, from the tax collected during the fiscal year for which the allocation is being made and interest thereon. All moneys received by Municipal Pension and Relief Funds under this section may be expended only for those purposes described in sections sixteen through twenty-eight, inclusive, article twenty- two, chapter eight of this code.
(2) Each volunteer fire company or department shall receive an equal share of the revenues allocated for volunteer and part- volunteer fire companies and departments.
(3) In addition to the share allocated and distributed in accordance with subdivision (1) of this subsection, each municipal fire department composed of full-time paid members and volunteers and part-volunteer fire companies and departments shall receive a share equal to the share distributed to volunteer fire companies under subdivision (2) of this subsection reduced by an amount equal to the share multiplied by the ratio of the number of full-time paid fire department members who are also members of a Municipal Firemen's Penison and Relief Fund or the Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System to the total number of members of the fire department.
(d) The allocation and distribution of revenues provided in this section are subject to the provisions of section twenty, article twenty-two, and sections eight-a and eight-b, article fifteen, chapter eight of this code.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit revenues allocated to volunteer and part-time fire departments to be used for Workers' Compensation premiums and length of service awards. The bill establishes a Volunteer Firefights Length of Service Awards Program Fund and provides the Insurance Commissioner with the rule-making authority for establishing criteria for awards from the fund. The bill also eliminates the ten percent of the certain premium tax on taxable insurance premiums paid to the Teachers Retirement System Reserve Fund and increases moneys allocated to volunteer and part time fire departments by that same amount.

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

§8-15-8d is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
This Web site is maintained by the West Virginia Legislature's Office of Reference & Information.  |  Terms of Use  |   Email WebmasterWebmaster   |   © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **


X

Print On Demand

Name:
Email:
Phone:

Print