COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 174

(By Senators Rowe and Weeks)

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[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization;

reported February 5, 2004.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-3-15 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to providing that the purchasing division of the department of administration has regulatory authority over purchases and sales for flood and other emergency relief; and defining "regulatory authority" .

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-3-15 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.

§5A-3-15. Emergency purchases in open market.

(a) The director may authorize, in writing, a state spending unit to purchase in the open market, without filing a requisition or an estimate, specific commodities for immediate delivery to meet bona fide emergencies arising from unforeseen causes, including delays by contractors, delays in transportation and unanticipated volume of work.
(b) A report of any such purchase, together with a record of the competitive bids upon which it was based, shall be submitted at once to the director by the head of the state spending unit concerned, together with a full account of the circumstances of the emergency: Provided, That the director may waive the need for the record of competitive bids. Such The report shall be entered on a record and shall be open to public inspection.
(c) After consultation with the office of emergency services, the director has regulatory authority over state spending unit purchases and sales involving flood and other emergency relief. The regulatory authority includes establishing the procedure for emergency purchases and sales through the legislative rule-making process, pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that the purchasing division of the department of administration has regulatory authority over purchases and sales for flood and other emergency relief.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.