HB4967 S JUD AMT #1 3-4

Curia  7824

The Committee on the Judiciary moved to amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting therefor a new title, to read as follows:

Eng. Com. Sub. for House Bill 4967— A Bill to amend and reenact §22-22-1, §22-22-2, §22-22-3, §22-22-4, §22-22-5, §22-22-6, §22-22-7, §22-22-8, §22-22-9, §22-22-10, §22-22-11, §22-22-12, §22-22-13, §22-22-14, §22-22-15, §22-22-16, of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, to repeal §22-22-17 of said code, and amend and reenact §22-22-18 and §22-22-20, all relating to the administration of the Voluntary Remediation and Redevelopment Act to provide new liability protections for those who wish to purchase and redevelop former industrial properties; defining terms; providing for rulemaking by the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection; clarifying procedures involving the Brownfields Revolving Fund; revising public notice provisions concerning the fund; providing that the Secretary may limit the liability of lenders, innocent purchasers, landowners, de minimis contributors, or others who have limited responsibility for contamination under the Hazardous Waste Management Act, the Water Pollution Control Act, the Groundwater Protection Act or any other applicable law; providing that bona fide prospective purchasers are not liable for a containment at a brownfield site if certain conditions are met; providing that an innocent land owner who holds title or security interest in a brownfield site are not liable for contamination at a brownfield site if defined conditions are met; providing that a person that owns contiguous real property that is contaminated by a release of a hazardous substance from real property that is not owned by that person is not liable for contamination under defined conditions; and providing that the Secretary may require anyone responsible for contamination to remediate sites where substances have been improperly managed.

Adopted

Rejected