ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 417
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Sprouse,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Passed April 4, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §7-12-9b, relating
generally to joint development entities; providing that
municipalities, county development authorities or municipal
development authorities, or both, may organize and jointly own
joint development entities for the purpose of developing and
owning local economic development projects; describing the
powers, duties and authority of joint development entities;
and providing that joint development entities, as political
subdivisions of the State of West Virginia, are exempt from
all state and local taxation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §7-12-9b, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 12. COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES.
§7-12-9b. Joint development entities.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
citizens of this state would benefit from coordinated economic
development efforts and that to encourage cooperation and
coordination, municipalities and county and municipal development
authorities should be authorized to organize and jointly own all of
the partnership, ownership and membership interests in a
partnership, corporation or limited liability company for the sole
purpose of undertaking jointly through their joint ownership of or
membership in the partnership, corporation or limited liability
company any project or projects that an authority established
pursuant to this article would be permitted to undertake.
(b) Any combination of two or more municipalities, municipal
development authorities or county development authorities may
jointly form and hold all of the partnership, ownership or
membership interests in a partnership, corporation or limited
liability company, the sole purpose of which is to develop and own
one or more joint economic development projects (for purposes of
this section, a "joint development entity"). No person or entity
other than a municipality, municipal development authority or
county development authority may own any ownership or membership
interest in a joint development entity. Any existing partnership,
corporation or limited liability company is a joint development entity on and after the effective date of this section if: (i) It
was organized for the purposes described in this subsection prior
to the effective date of this section; and (ii) the partnership,
ownership or membership interests in it meet the requirements of
this subsection on and after the effective date of this section.
(c) To the extent consistent with and not prohibited by or in
conflict with the restrictions and limitations on, or the rights
and attributes of, a joint development entity set forth in this
section, the applicable general law governing partnerships,
corporations or limited liability companies govern the
organization, existence, duration, powers, governance and
dissolution of a joint development entity and the rights and
responsibilities of the partners, owners or members of a joint
development entity.
(d) A joint development entity is a public corporation and a
political subdivision and instrumentality of its partners, owners
or members and has the powers, rights and privileges of an
authority set forth in sections seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
twelve and fourteen of this article in addition to those granted to
partnerships, corporations and limited liability companies under
applicable general law.
(e)For West Virginia tax purposes, a joint development
entity is a political subdivision of the State of West Virginia and
is exempt from all state and local taxation and all real and personal property owned by a joint development entity, or which the
joint development entity may acquire to be leased, sold or
otherwise disposed of, is exempt from taxation by the state or any
county, municipality or other levying body as public property.