WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2022 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 4106
By Delegates Toney, Rowan, Paynter, Booth, Dean, Ferrell, Statler, Cooper, and Ellington
[Introduced January 17, 2022; Referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure then Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §17-16A-6 of the Code of West Virginia,1931, as amended, relating to exempting school buses with students on board from paying turnpike tolls.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 16A. WEST VIRGINIA PARKWAYS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM AUTHORITY.
§17-16A-6. Parkways Authority’s powers.
(a) The Parkways Authority is
hereby authorized and empowered may:
(1) To adopt Adopt
bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;
(2) To adopt An
official seal and alter the same at pleasure;
(3) To maintain Maintain
an office at such place or places within the state as it may designate;
(4) To sue Sue
and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded. Any and all actions
against the Parkways Authority shall be brought only in the county in which the
principal office of the Parkways Authority is located;
(5) To construct, Construct,
reconstruct, improve, maintain, repair, operate or finance projects, at such
locations within the state or adjacent to the state pursuant to a reciprocal
toll enforcement agreement as may be determined by the Parkways Authority: Provided,
That after July 1, 2010, the Parkways Authority is prohibited from constructing
new tourism projects or new economic development projects, but this prohibition
shall may not prevent the authority from entering into lease
agreements, development agreements or other agreements with private businesses
or companies allowing and providing for such private businesses or companies to
acquire, develop, construct and operate motels, lodging facilities or other
businesses and business facilities on land owned by the authority and located
adjacent to the Tamarack project and facilities at Exit 45 of the West Virginia
Turnpike;
(6) To issue Issue
parkway revenue bonds of the State of West Virginia, payable solely from toll
revenues, for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of any one or
more parkway projects;
(7) To issue Issue
parkway revenue refunding bonds of the State of West Virginia, payable solely
from toll revenues, for any one or more of the following purposes:
(A) Refunding any bonds
which shall have been issued under the provisions of this article
or any predecessor thereof; and
(B) Repaying to the state all or any part of the state funds used to upgrade the West Virginia Turnpike to federal interstate standards;
(8) To charge Charge,
fix and revise, from time to time, tolls or fees for transit over each parkway
project constructed or improved or financed by it, by the Department of
Transportation or by the West Virginia Turnpike Commission: Provided,
That the Parkways Authority may not charge tolls or fees for transit over an
existing road without express legislative authorization for the charging of
such tolls or fees: Provided, however, That an existing road does not
include the West Virginia Turnpike, new lanes or sections of an existing road,
the replacement or construction of any bridge or tunnel, or related facilities:
Provided further, That no tolls or fees may be charged to
school buses with students on board for use of the turnpike;
(9) To fix Fix
and revise, rents, fees, or other charges, of whatever kind or character, for
the use of each tourism project or economic development project constructed by
it or for the use of any building, structure or facility constructed by it or
financed in connection with a parkway project;
(10) To acquire Acquire,
hold, lease and dispose of real and personal property in the exercise of its
powers and the performance of its duties under this article;
(11) To acquire Acquire
in the name of the state by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions
and in such manner as it may deem consider proper, or by the
exercise of the right of condemnation in the manner hereinafter provided, such
public or private lands, including public parks, playgrounds or reservations,
or parts thereof or rights therein, rights-of-way, property, rights, easements,
and interests, as it may deem consider necessary for carrying out
the provisions of this article. No compensation shall may be paid
for public lands, playgrounds, parks, parkways or reservations so taken, and
all public property damaged in carrying out the powers granted by this article
shall be restored or repaired and placed in its original condition as nearly as
practicable;
(12) To designate Designate
the locations of, and establish, limit and control such points of ingress to
and egress from, each project as may be necessary or desirable in the judgment
of the Parkways Authority to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of such
the project and to prohibit entrance to such the project
from any point or points not so designated;
(13) To make Make
and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the
performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this article,
and to employ consulting engineers, attorneys, accountants, architects,
construction and financial experts, trustees, superintendents, managers and
such other employees and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix
their compensation. All such expenses shall be payable solely from the proceeds
of parkway revenue bonds or parkway revenue refunding bonds issued under the
provisions of this article or from toll revenues;
(14) To make Make
and enter into all contracts, agreements or other arrangements with any agency,
department, division, board, bureau, commission, authority or other
governmental unit of the state to operate, maintain or repair any project;
(15) To receive Receive
and accept from any federal agency grants for or in aid of the construction of
any project, and to receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of
either money, property, labor, or other things of value, to be held, used and
applied only for the purposes for which such grants and contributions may be
made;
(16) To study Study,
investigate, evaluate and, if feasible, develop and implement a “single fee”
program the purpose of which is to charge a flat fee to owners of motor
vehicles registered in this state who opt into any such program or any other
state which opts into any such program: Provided, That any single fee
program shall apply only to passenger motor vehicles, divided into classes
based on size and usage, and shall not apply to commercial motor vehicles. The
flat fee shall be set by the authority at a rate or amount so that the
aggregate of all toll revenues estimated to be received by the authority at the
time of fixing any such rate or amount, or any increase thereof, provides
sufficient toll revenues consistent with the purposes set forth in section thirteen
of this article and to cover the administrative costs of any such single fee
program. The separate fee shall be collected by adding it to the annual cost of
vehicle registration as an additional fee payable solely to the authority
pursuant to §17A-10-17 of this code. A registered motor vehicle for
which such the single program fee has been paid shall be entitled
to traverse all toll roads within the state without stopping to pay individual
tolls during the effective period of said vehicle registration. The single fee
program may also include comparable provisions which would allow vehicles
registered in other states to traverse West Virginia toll roads in like fashion
to West Virginia vehicles as set forth in this section upon the payment of a
single fee for each and every vehicle registered in such the
state, in accordance with the same classification system adopted for West
Virginia vehicles. The Parkways Authority, in consultation with the Division of
Motor Vehicles, shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with
the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code to implement any
single fee program under this subdivision (16);
(17) To enter Enter
into reciprocal toll enforcement agreements with other toll agencies in this
state or in any other state or foreign country;
(18) To do Do
all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly
granted in this article; and
(19) To file File
the necessary petition or petitions pursuant to federal bankruptcy laws. The
State of West Virginia hereby consents to the application of Title 11 of the
United States Code to the Parkways Authority.
(b) Nothing in this article
shall may be construed to prohibit the issuance of parkway
revenue refunding bonds in a common plan of financing with the issuance of
parkway revenue bonds.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt school buses with students on board from paying turnpike tolls.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.