H. B. 2044
(By Delegate Marshall)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Government
Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-27-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to designating urban mass
transportation authorities as transportation coordinating
bodies for their service areas; describing the coordinating
responsibility; and addressing review of subordinate plans.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-27-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS -- URBAN MASS
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS.
PART V. DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLAN.
§8-27-12. Study and plan of operation; notice and hearing;
adoption of transportation plan; coordinating
responsibilities.
The authority, as soon as practical after its organization,
shall prepare a comprehensive plan with respect to a program for a
unified or officially coordinated system as a part of a
comprehensively planned development of the urban area within its
service area.
Said The program, to the maximum extent feasible,
shall provide for the participation of privately owned systems.
In the preparation of a comprehensive plan, an authority shall
make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of the existing
conditions and probable future changes of
such the conditions
within its service area. The comprehensive plan shall be made for
the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated,
adjusted and harmonious development of systems within the service
area which, in accordance with present and future needs and
resources, will best promote the health, safety and general welfare
of the inhabitants of the service area, as well as the orderly and
economical development and expansion of the service area.
Prior to the adoption of a comprehensive plan, the authority
shall submit its tentative plan to the governing bodies of the
participating governments and hold a public hearing in the service
area on the plan. At least thirty days prior to the date set for
hearing, the authority shall publish a notice of the time and place
of the hearing as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with
the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code,
and the publication area for
such the publication
shall be is the service area of the authority. After a public hearing has been
held, the authority may by resolution adopt the comprehensive plan
and may from time to time amend, supplement or change the
comprehensive plan in the same manner in which it was adopted.
The authority shall act as the designated transportation
coordinating body for its service area in all instances and in all
circumstances which may be warranted or directed by the state or
federal government. The coordinating responsibility involves and
requires the review, assessment, evaluation and determination
regarding integration and implementation with the authority's
existing comprehensive plan. The authority shall also review any
subordinate plan offered for amendment or integration in an
inclusive manner involving public hearing and adoption by
resolution.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to designate urban mass
transportation authorities as transportation coordinating bodies
for their service areas.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.