ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2045
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chambers, and Delegate Ashley)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Passed March 3, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact sections four, five and twenty-seven,
article one, chapter twenty-two-c of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating generally to the water development authority;
reinstating annual salaries of appointed board members;
refinancing projects; and increasing the authorized limit on
borrowing of the water development authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections four, five and twenty-seven, article one,
chapter twenty-two-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. WATER DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.
§22C-1-4. Water development authority; water development board;
organization of authority and board; appointment of
board members; their term of office, compensation
and expenses; director of authority.
The water development authority is continued. The authority is a governmental instrumentality of the state and a body
corporate. The exercise by the authority of the powers conferred
by this article and the carrying out of its purposes and duties
are essential governmental functions and for a public purpose.
The authority is controlled, managed and operated by the
seven-member board known as the water development board. The
director of the division of environmental protection, and the
commissioner of the bureau of public health and the state officer
or employee who in the judgment of the governor is most
responsible for economic or community development are members ex
officio of the board. The governor shall designate annually the
member who is the state officer or employee most responsible for
economic or community development. The other four members of the
board are appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, for terms of two, three, four and six
years, respectively. The successor of each such appointed member
shall be appointed for a term of six years in the same manner the
original appointments were made, except that any person appointed
to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term
for which his or her predecessor was appointed shall be appointed
only for the remainder of such term. Each board member serves
until the appointment and qualification of his or her successor.
No more than two of the appointed board members shall at any one
time belong to the same political party. Appointed board members
may be reappointed to serve additional terms.
All members of the board shall be citizens of the state.
Each appointed member of the board, before entering upon his or her duties, shall comply with the requirements of article one,
chapter six of this code and give bond in the sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars in the manner provided in article two, chapter
six of this code. The governor may remove any board member for
cause as provided in article six, chapter six of this code.
Annually the board shall elect one of its appointed members
as chair and another as vice chair, and shall appoint a
secretary-treasurer, who need not be a member of the board. Four
members of the board is a quorum and the affirmative vote of four
members is necessary for any action taken by vote of the board.
No vacancy in the membership of the board impairs the rights of
a quorum by such vote to exercise all the rights and perform all
the duties of the board and the authority. The person appointed
as secretary-treasurer, including a board member if he or she is
so appointed, shall give bond in the sum of fifty thousand
dollars in the manner provided in article two, chapter six of
this code.
The director of the division of environmental protection,
the commissioner of the bureau of public health and the state
officer or employee most responsible for economic or community
development shall not receive any compensation for serving as
board members. Each of the four appointed members of the board
shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars, payable
in monthly installments. Each of the seven board members shall
be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary expenses actually
incurred in the performance of his or her duties as a member of
such board. All such expenses incurred by the board are payable solely from funds of the authority or from funds appropriated for
such purpose by the Legislature and no liability or obligation
shall be incurred by the authority beyond the extent to which
moneys are available from funds of the authority or from such
appropriations.
There shall also be a director of the authority appointed by
the board.
22C-1-5. Authority may construct, finance, maintain, etc.,
water development projects; loans to governmental
agencies are subject to terms of loan agreements.
To accomplish the public policies and purposes and to meet the
responsibility of the state as set forth in this article, the
water development authority may initiate, acquire, construct,
maintain, repair and operate water development projects or cause
the same to be operated pursuant to a lease, sublease or
agreement with any person or governmental agency; may make loans
and grants to governmental agencies for the acquisition or
construction of water development projects by governmental
agencies, which loans may include amounts to refinance debt
issued for existing water development projects of the
governmental agency when the refinancing is in conjunction with
the financing for a new water development project regardless of
the source of the financing for the new project: Provided, That
the amount of the refinancing may not exceed fifty percent of the
aggregate amount of the refinancing of an existing project and
the financing of a new project; and may issue water development
revenue bonds of this state, payable solely from revenues, to pay the cost of projects, or finance projects, in whole or in part,
by loans to governmental agencies. A water development project
shall not be undertaken unless it has been determined by the
authority to be consistent with any applicable comprehensive plan
of water management approved by the director of the division of
environmental protection or in the process of preparation by the
director and to be consistent with the standards set by the state
environmental quality board, for the waters of the state affected
thereby. Any resolution of the authority providing for acquiring
or constructing projects or for making a loan or grant for
projects shall include a finding by the authority that the
determinations have been made. A loan agreement shall be entered
into between the authority and each governmental agency to which
a loan is made for the acquisition or construction of a water
development project, which loan agreement shall include, without
limitation, the following provisions:
(1) The cost of the project, the amount of the loan, the terms
of repayment of the loan and the security therefor, which may
include, in addition to the pledge of all revenues from the
project after a reasonable allowance for operation and
maintenance expenses, a deed of trust or other appropriate
security instrument creating a lien on the project;
(2) The specific purposes for which the proceeds of the loan
shall be expended including the refinancing of existing water
development project debt as provided above, the procedures as to
the disbursement of loan proceeds and the duties and obligations
imposed upon the governmental agency in regard to the construction or acquisition of the project;
(3) The agreement of the governmental agency to impose,
collect, and, if required to repay the obligations of the
governmental agency under the loan agreement, increase service
charges from persons using the project, which service charges
shall be pledged for the repayment of the loan together with all
interest, fees and charges thereon and all other financial
obligations of the governmental agency under the loan agreement;
and
(4) The agreement of the governmental agency to comply with
all applicable laws, rules and regulations issued by the
authority or other state, federal and local bodies in regard to
the construction, operation, maintenance and use of the project.
§22C-1-27. Authorized limit on borrowing.
The aggregate principal amount of bonds and notes issued by
the authority shall not exceed three hundred million dollars
outstanding at any one time: Provided, That in computing the
total amount of bonds and notes which may at any one time be
outstanding, the principal amount of any outstanding bonds or
notes refunded or to be refunded either by application of the
proceeds of the sale of any refunding bonds or notes of the
authority or by exchange for any refunding bonds or notes, shall
be excluded.