H. B. 2035
(By Delegates Linch, Pino, Trump and Kelley)
[Introduced January 16, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article twelve, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section five,
article twelve of said chapter, all relating to excepting
certain board members of local development authorities from
being in violation of the state ethics law by serving on an
authority board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article twelve, chapter seven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, be amended
and reenacted; and that section five, article twelve of said
chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES
§7-12-4. Qualifications of members.
All members of the board of the authority shall be citizens of
the county or municipality in which the authority is intended to
operate, and bona fide residents of the municipality or county by which they are appointed. Any person employed by, owning an
interest in, or otherwise associated with a public utility company
as defined in chapter twenty-four, article one, section two of this
code, or bank as defined in chapter thirty-one-a, article one,
section two to this code, may serve as a board member and shall not
be disqualified from serving as a board member because of a
conflict of interest as defined in chapter sixty-one, article ten,
section fifteen of this code, and shall not be subject to
prosecution under the provisions of chapter sixty-one, article ten,
section fifteen of this code, when the violation is created solely
as a result of his or her relationship with the bank or public
utility. This member must recuse himself or herself from board
participation regarding the conflicting issue as provided for in
section five of this article.
§7-12-5. Compensation of members; expenses; recusal of
member from voting where conflict of interest
involved.
(A) No member of the authority shall receive any compensation,
whether in formal salary, per diem allowance or otherwise, in
connection with his or her services as such member. Each member
shall, however, be entitled to reimbursement by the authority for
any necessary expenditures in connection with the performance of
his or her general duties as such member.
(B) Each member present during any meeting of the authority
when any question is put, shall vote unless he or she is
immediately and particularly interested therein. Whenever a person associated with a public utility or bank as set out in section four
of this article has a conflict of interest between the board and
that public utility or bank, then he or she must recuse himself or
herself from any vote, discussion or other activity associated with
the board or its members that creates the conflict of interest.
Before such a question is put, any member having direct personal or
pecuniary interest therein shall announce this fact and request to
be excused from voting. The presiding officer of the meeting or a
majority of the members present may then excuse the member from
voting upon the question. The disqualifying interest must be such
as affects the members directly, and not as one of a class.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow persons associated
with an utility or bank to serve on a local development authority
without creating an ethics violation per WVC §61-10-15, when the
authority has dealings or does business with the utility or bank
and the associated person recuses him or herself from the
conflicting activity.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
This bill was recommended for passage at the 1995 legislative
session by the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary.