H. B. 2880
(By Delegates Craig, Hrutkay and Mahan)
[Introduced February 6, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty, article seventeen,
chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing
underground storage tank annual registration fees from owners
of underground storage tanks; and requiring that such increase
in fees be implemented by emergency rule.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty, article seventeen, chapter twenty-two of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
CHAPTER 22. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES.
ARTICLE 17. UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK ACT.
§22-17-20. Appropriation of funds; underground storage tank
administrative fund.
(a) The director secretary shall collect annual registration
fees from owners of underground storage tanks. The registration fee collected under this section shall not exceed twenty-five seventy-
five dollars per tank per year. All such registration fees and the
net proceeds of all fines, penalties and forfeitures collected
under this article including accrued interest shall be paid into
the state treasury into a special fund designated "the underground
storage tank administrative fund" to be used to defray the cost of
administering this article in accordance with rules promulgated
pursuant to section six of this article.: Provided, that the
secretary shall promulgate an emergency rule in accordance with
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, implementing the
increase in registration fees to be effective for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 2003.
(b) The total fee assessed shall be sufficient to assure a
balance in the fund of not to exceed four hundred thousand dollars
at the beginning of each year.
(c) Any amount received pursuant to subsection (a) of this
section which exceeds the annual balance required in subsection (b)
of this section shall be deposited into the leaking underground
storage tank response fund established pursuant to this article to
be used for the purposes set forth therein.
(d) (b) The net proceeds of all fines, penalties and
forfeitures collected under this article shall be appropriated as
directed by article XII, section 5 of the constitution of West
Virginia. For the purposes of this section, the net proceeds of
such fines, penalties and forfeitures are the proceeds remaining
after deducting therefrom those sums appropriated by the Legislature for defraying the cost of administering this article.
In making the appropriation for defraying the cost of administering
this article, the Legislature shall first take into account the
sums included in such special fund prior to deducting such
additional sums as may be needed from the fines, penalties and
forfeitures collected pursuant to this article. At the end of each
fiscal year any unexpended balance of such collected fines,
penalties, forfeitures and registration fees shall not be
transferred to the general revenue fund but shall remain in the
fund.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the current
annual registration fee from twenty-five dollars per tank to
seventy-five dollars per tank. This increase is necessary to fully
fund the underground storage tank administrative fund and carry out
the legislative duties prescribed under article seventeen, chapter
twenty-two of the code of West Virginia.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.