Senate Bill No. 127
(By Senators Wooton and Bailey)
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[Introduced January 27, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section forty, article three, chapter
five-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to leases entered
into by the secretary of the department of administration.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty, article three, chapter five-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-40. Selection of grounds, etc.; acquisition by contract
or lease; long-term leases; requiring approval of secretary
for permanent changes.
The secretary shall have sole authority to select and to
acquire by contract or lease, in the name of the state, all
grounds, buildings, office space or other space, the rental of
which is necessarily required by any spending unit, upon a
certificate from the chief executive officer or his designee ofsaid spending unit that the grounds, buildings, office space or
other space requested is necessarily required for the proper
function of said spending unit, that the spending unit will be
responsible for all rent and other necessary payments in
connection with the contract or lease and that satisfactory
grounds, buildings, office space or other space is not available
on grounds and in buildings now owned or leased by the state.
The secretary shall, before executing any rental contract or
lease, determine the fair rental value for the rental of the
requested grounds, buildings, office space or other space, in the
condition in which they exist, and shall contract for or lease
said premises at a price not to exceed the fair rental value
thereof.
The secretary is hereby authorized to enter into long-term
agreements for buildings, land and space for periods longer than
one fiscal year:
Provided, That such long-term lease agreements
shall not be for periods in excess of forty years,
except that
the secretary may, in the case of the adjutant general's
department, enter into lease agreements for a term of fifty years
or more, so as to comply with federal regulatory requirements,
and shall contain, in substance, all the following provisions:
(1) That the department of administration, as lessee, shall have
the right to cancel the lease without further obligation on the
part of the lessee upon giving thirty days' written notice to the
lessor, such notice being given at least thirty days prior to the
last day of the succeeding month; (2) that the lease shall beconsidered canceled without further obligation on the part of the
lessee if the state Legislature or the federal government should
fail to appropriate sufficient funds therefor or should otherwise
act to impair the lease or cause it to be canceled; and (3) that
the lease shall be considered renewed for each ensuing fiscal
year during the term of the lease unless it is canceled by the
department of administration before the end of the then current
fiscal year.
A spending unit which is granted any grounds, buildings,
office space or other space leased in accordance with this
section may not order or make permanent changes of any type
thereto, unless the secretary has first determined that the
change is necessary for the proper, efficient and economically
sound operation of the spending unit. For purposes of this
section, a "permanent change" means any addition, alteration,
improvement, remodeling, repair or other change involving the
expenditure of state funds for the installation of any tangible
thing which cannot be economically removed from the grounds,
buildings, office space or other space when vacated by the
spending unit.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the secretary of
the department of administration to enter into leases of fifty or
more years exclusively for the adjutant general's department.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.