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ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2028
(By Delegates Douglas, Faircloth and Manuel)
[Passed April 10, 1993; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section three-aa, article one,
chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to county
hazardous materials response teams; allowing county
commissions to bill carriers, owners and generators of
hazardous materials for the cost of services provided to
carriers, owners and generators of hazardous materials
involved in a hazardous materials incident and providing
that any carrier, owner or generator of hazardous materials
failing to pay a bill for cost of services provided is
liable for treble the cost of services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three-aa, article one, chapter seven of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3aa. Authority of county commissions to create and fund ahazardous material accident response program.
In addition to all other powers and duties now conferred by
law upon county commissions, county commissions are hereby
authorized and empowered to create a hazardous material accident
response program. The program may include the establishment of
a hazardous materials response team. The hazardous materials
response team shall include members of the fire departments,
recognized and approved by the West Virginia fire commission in
the county, who are designated by the county commission. The
team shall also include members of emergency medical services
certified pursuant to article four-c, chapter sixteen of this
code who are acting in their official capacity by providing
ambulance or emergency medical services within the county and who
are designated as members of the hazardous materials response
team by the county commission. The team may also include other
people in the community who are recognized as having expertise
with hazardous materials or hazardous material incidents and who
are designated by the county commission to serve on the team.
The purpose of the team is to respond to hazardous material
incidents. The hazardous materials response team shall function
and the members shall serve at the will and pleasure of the
county commission. The team shall operate in cooperation with
the county office of emergency services and other approved fire
departments. The commission is authorized to receive donated
funds and to expend those funds and to expend its own funds for
the acquisition of equipment and materials for use by and
training of the members of the team. The county commission is
hereby authorized to enter into agreements with other counties tocombine or coordinate hazardous material response team training
and for the purchase or lease and use of equipment or materials.
Any carrier, owner or generator of hazardous materials who
receives the services of a county hazardous materials response
team is liable for the cost of necessary services provided by a
county hazardous materials response team. County commissions may
bill a carrier, owner or generator of hazardous materials for any
costs incurred by the team in responding to a hazardous materials
incident in which the carrier, owner or generator is involved:
Provided,
That the carrier, owner or generator may, within thirty
days of receipt of the bill, appeal in writing to the county
commission to request a hearing to address any costs which may be
considered extraordinary for the services of the hazardous
materials response team. The carrier, owner or generator will
hold payment of the costs in abeyance pending the final written
decision of the county commission. Any funds received by the
county commission as a result of billing carrier, owners and
generators of hazardous materials shall be used by the county
commission to implement the provisions of this section and to
reimburse the response teams participants for response costs.
Any carrier, owner or generator involved in a hazardous
materials incident who fails to pay a bill for services provided
by a county hazardous materials incident team within ninety days
shall be liable for treble the cost of the services.
For purposes of this section, the term "generator" means any
person, corporation, partnership, association or other legal
entity, by site location, whose act or process produces hazardous
materials as identified or listed by the director of the divisionof natural resources in regulations promulgated pursuant to
section six, article five-g, chapter twenty of this code, in an
amount greater than twelve thousand kilograms per year.
For purposes of this section, the term "carrier" means any
person engaged in the off-site transportation of hazardous
materials by air, rail, highway or water.
For purposes of this section, "owner" means any person,
corporation, partnership, association or other legal entity whose
hazardous materials are being transported by the entity or by a
carrier.
For the purposes of this section, the term "hazardous
materials" means those materials which are designated as such
pursuant to federal laws and regulations, the designations of
which are adopted by reference as of the effective date of this
section.