H. B. 2572
(By Delegate Kiss (By Request))
[Introduced February 20, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article thirteen-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
additional coal severance tax; dedication and distribution
of tax; special funds in counties and municipalities;
reports; authority of tax commissioner to promulgate rules;
continuation of county coal revenue fund and all counties
and municipalities revenue fund; entitlement formula;
requiring certain funds be spent in coal-producing areas of
the county; and administration fee.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article thirteen-a, chapter eleven of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-6. Additional tax on the severance, extraction and
production of coal; dedication of additional tax
for benefit of counties and municipalities;
distribution of major portion of such additional
tax to coal-producing counties; distribution of
minor portion of such additional tax to all
counties and municipalities; reports; rules;
creation of special funds in office of state
treasurer; method and formulas for distribution of
such additional tax; expenditure of funds by
counties and municipalities for public purposes;
special funds in counties and municipalities; and
requiring special county and municipal budgets and
reports thereon.
(a) Additional coal severance tax. -- Upon every person
exercising the privilege of engaging or continuing within this
state in the business of severing coal, or preparing coal (or
both severing and preparing coal), for sale, profit or commercial
use, there is hereby imposed an additional severance tax, the
amount of which shall be equal to the value of the coal severed
or prepared (or both severed and prepared), against which the tax
imposed by section three of this article is measured as shown by
the gross proceeds derived from the sale thereof by the producer,
multiplied by thirty-five one hundredths of one percent. The tax imposed by this subsection shall be in addition to the tax
imposed by section three of this article, and this additional tax
is hereinafter in this section referred to as the "additional tax
on coal."
(b) This additional tax on coal is imposed pursuant to the
provisions of section six-a, article X of the West Virginia
Constitution. Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of this
additional tax on coal shall, after appropriation thereof by the
Legislature, be distributed by the state treasurer in the manner
hereinafter specified, to the various counties of this state in
which the coal upon which this additional tax is imposed was
located at the time it was severed from the ground. Those
counties are hereinafter in this section referred to as the
"coal-producing counties." The remaining twenty-five percent of
the net proceeds of this additional tax on coal shall be
distributed, after appropriation, among all the counties and
municipalities of this state in the manner hereinafter specified.
(c) Such additional tax on coal shall be due and payable,
reported and remitted as elsewhere provided in this article for
the tax imposed by said section three of this article, and all of
the enforcement and other provisions of this article shall apply
to such additional tax. In addition to the reports and other
information required under the provisions of this article and the
tonnage reports required to be filed under the provisions of section seventy-seven, article two, chapter twenty-two-a of this
code, the tax commissioner is hereby granted plenary power and
authority to promulgate reasonable rules requiring the furnishing
by producers of such additional information as may be necessary
to compute the allocation required under the provisions of
subsection (f) of this section. The tax commissioner is also
hereby granted plenary power and authority to promulgate such
other reasonable rules as may be necessary to implement the
provisions of this section: Provided, That notwithstanding any
language contained in this code to the contrary, the gross amount
of additional tax on coal collected under this article shall be
paid over and distributed without the application of any credits
against the tax imposed by this section.
(d) In order to provide a procedure for the distribution of
seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of such additional tax
on coal to such coal-producing counties, there is hereby
continued in the state treasurer's office the special fund known
as the "county coal revenue fund"; and in order to provide a
procedure for the distribution of the remaining twenty-five
percent of the net proceeds of such additional tax on coal to all
counties and municipalities of the state, without regard to coal
having been produced therein, there is also hereby continued in
the state treasurer's office the special fund known as the "all
counties and municipalities revenue fund."
Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of such additional
tax on coal shall be deposited in the "county coal revenue fund"
and twenty-five percent of such net proceeds shall be deposited
in the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund," from time
to time, as such proceeds are received by the tax commissioner.
The moneys in such funds shall, after appropriation thereof by
the Legislature, be distributed to the respective counties and
municipalities entitled thereto in the manner set forth in
subsection (e) of this section.
(e) The moneys in the "county coal revenue fund" and the
moneys in the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund"
shall be allocated among and distributed quarterly to the
counties and municipalities entitled thereto by the state
treasurer in the manner hereinafter specified. On or before each
distribution date, the state treasurer shall determine the total
amount of moneys in each fund which will be available for
distribution to the respective counties and municipalities
entitled thereto on that distribution date. The amount to which
a coal-producing county is entitled from the "county coal revenue
fund" shall be determined in accordance with subsection (f) of
this section, and the amount to which every county and
municipality shall be entitled from the "all counties and
municipalities revenue fund" shall be determined in accordance
with subsection (g) of this section. After determining as set forth in subsection (f) and subsection (g) of this section the
amount each county and municipality is entitled to receive from
the respective fund or funds, a warrant of the state auditor for
the sum due to such county or municipality shall issue and a
check drawn thereon making payment of such sum shall thereafter
be distributed to such county or municipality.
(f) The amount to which a coal-producing county is entitled
from the "county coal revenue fund" shall be determined by: (1)
Dividing the total amount of moneys in such fund then available
for distribution by the total number of tons of coal mined in
this state during the preceding quarter; and (2) multiplying the
quotient thus obtained by the number of tons of coal removed from
the ground in such county during the preceding quarter.
(g) The amount to which each county and municipality is
entitled from the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund"
shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this
subsection. For purposes of this subsection "population" means
the population as determined by the most recent decennial census
taken under the authority of the United States:
(1) The treasurer shall first apportion the total amount of
moneys available in the "all counties and municipalities revenue
fund" by multiplying the total amount in such fund by the
percentage which the population of each county bears to the total
population of the state. The amount thus apportioned for each county is the county's "base share."
(2) Each county's "base share" shall then be subdivided into
two portions. One portion is determined by multiplying the "base
share" by that percentage which the total population of all
unincorporated areas within the county bears to the total
population of the county, and the other portion is determined by
multiplying the "base share" by that percentage which the total
population of all municipalities within the county bears to the
total population of the county. The former portion shall be paid
to the county and the latter portion shall be the
"municipalities' portion" of the county's "base share." The
percentage of such latter portion to which each municipality in
the county is entitled shall be determined by multiplying the
total of such latter portion by the percentage which the
population of each municipality within the county bears to the
total population of all municipalities within the county.
(h) All counties and municipalities shall create a "coal
severance tax revenue fund" which shall be the depository for
moneys distributed to any county or municipality under the
provisions of this section, from either or both special funds.
Moneys in such "coal severance tax revenue funds," in compliance
with subsection (i) of this section, may be expended by the
county commission or governing body of the municipality for such
public purposes as the county commission or governing body shall determine to be in the best interest of the people of its
respective county or municipality: Provided, That in counties
with population in excess of two hundred thousand at least
seventy-five percent of such the funds received from the county
coal revenue fund shall be apportioned to, and expended within
the coal-producing area or areas of the county, said the
coal-producing areas of each county to be determined generally by
the state tax commissioner: Provided, however, That in all
counties with a population of less than two hundred thousand, at
least twenty percent of the funds received from the county coal
revenue fund shall be apportioned to, and expended within the
coal-producing area or areas of the county, the coal-producing
areas of each county to be determined generally by the state tax
commissioner: Provided however further, That a line item
budgeted amount from the current levy estimated for a county
shall be funded at one hundred percent of the preceding year's
expenditure from the county general fund prior to the use of coal
severance tax revenue fund moneys for the same general purpose:
And provided further, That said the coal severance tax revenue
fund moneys shall not be budgeted for personal services in an
amount to exceed one fourth of the total funds available in such
the fund.
(i) On or before the twenty-eighth day of March, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-six, and each twenty-eighth day of March thereafter, each county commission or governing body of a
municipality receiving such revenue shall submit to the tax
commissioner on forms provided by the tax commissioner a special
budget, detailing how such revenue is to be spent during the
subsequent fiscal year. Such budget shall be followed in
expending such revenue unless a subsequent budget is approved by
the state tax commissioner. All unexpended balances remaining in
said special fund at the close of a fiscal year shall be
reappropriated to the budget for the subsequent fiscal year.
Such reappropriation shall be entered as an amendment to the new
budget and submitted to the tax commissioner on or before the
fifteenth day of July of the current budget year.
(j) On or before the fifteenth day of December, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-six, and each fifteenth day of December
thereafter, the tax commissioner shall deliver to the clerk of
the Senate and the clerk of the House of Delegates a consolidated
report of the special budgets, created by subsection (i) of this
section, for all county commissions and municipalities as of the
fifteenth day of July of the current year.
(k) The state tax commissioner shall retain for the benefit
of the state from the additional taxes on coal collected the
amount of thirty-five thousand dollars annually as a fee for the
administration of such additional tax by the tax commissioner.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require counties with
a population of less than two hundred thousand to expend at least
twenty percent of the funds received from the county coal revenue
fund within the coal-producing areas of the county.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.