SB 558 Text

Senate Bill No. 558
(By Senators Love, Kessler, Hunter, Boley, Fanning,
Wells, Facemyer, Helmick, Green, Stollings, Barnes, Unger and Foster)
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[Introduced February 4, 2008; referred to the Committee on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §12-3A-2 and §12-3A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §12-3A-7, all relating to electronic commerce; granting the Auditor and Treasurer the discretion to require certain electronic filing with waivers and exceptions; and authorizing the use of electronic commerce in the sale or disposal of property.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §12-3A-2 and §12-3A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §12-3A-7, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. FINANCIAL ELECTRONIC COMMERCE.
§12-3A-2. Definitions.
(a) "Document" means any authentication, certificate, claim, form, invoice, record, report, requisition, security, statement or other similar item that may be in a tangible or electronic form.
~~(a)~~ (b) "Electronic" means electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, biometric, or any other technology that is similar to these technologies.
~~(b)~~ (c) "Electronic commerce" means using electronic techniques for accomplishing business transactions, including electronic mail or messaging, electronic bulletin board, Internet technology, electronic funds transfers, electronic data interchange (EDI) techniques, and any other related electronic technologies.
~~(c)~~ (d) "Security procedure" means a methodology or procedure for the purpose of:
(1) Preventing access by unauthorized parties;
(2) Verifying that an electronic record or electronic signature is that of a specific party or created by a specific electronic point of origin; or
(3) Detecting error or alteration in the communication, content, or storage of an electronic record since a specific point in time.
~~(d)~~ (e) "WEB commerce" means electronic commerce on the Internet.
§12-3A-3. Financial electronic commerce.
(a) The State Auditor and the State Treasurer shall implement electronic commerce capabilities for each of their offices to facilitate the performance of their duties under this code. The State Treasurer shall competitively bid the selection of vendors needed to provide the necessary banking, investment and related goods and services, and the provisions of article one-b, chapter five, and articles three and seven, chapter five-a of this code shall not apply, unless requested by the State Auditor or State Treasurer.
(b) A ~~record, an authentication, a~~ document or a signature received, issued or used by the Auditor or the Treasurer shall be considered an original and may not be denied legal effect on the ground that it is in electronic form. The Auditor and Treasurer may accept a document for the receipt or disbursements of moneys requiring certification, notarization or verification in an electronic format without the certification, notarization or verification.
(c) The Auditor or Treasurer may, in his or her discretion, require documents filed with or submitted to his or her respective office be filed or submitted in a prescribed electronic format.
(d) The Auditor or Treasurer may, in his or her discretion, may waive:
(1) Any requirements for a document filed or submitted in an electronic format; or
(2) Any requirements for the certification, notarization or verification of a document filed or submitted in an electronic format.
(e) The head of each spending unit is responsible for adopting and implementing security procedures to ensure adequate integrity, security, confidentiality, and auditability of the business transactions of his or her spending unit when utilizing electronic commerce.
§12-3A-7. Method of sale or disposal of property.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision in this code to the contrary, the Treasurer, or any other state spending unit that has the authority to sell or dispose of property in its possession, may do so by using electronic commerce.
(b) The sale of property by the Treasurer, or other state spending unit, by using electronic commerce will, for all purposes,
be deemed a sale of property within the State of West Virginia.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to further permit the use of electronic commerce. The Auditor and Treasurer are granted the discretion to require electronic filing of documents and to waive any requirements in such filing and the certification, notarization or verification of those documents. The bill also defines the term "document" and permits the sale or disposal of property by electronic commerce.

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

§12-3A-7 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.

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