Senate Bill No. 208
(By Senators Bowman, Minard, Hunter, Sharpe, Mitchell,
Kessler,
Snyder, Edgell, Fanning, Ross, Helmick, Walker,
Anderson,, Dittmar, McCabe, Ball, Unger, Schoonover, Minear,
Chafin and Redd)
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[Introduced January 26, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article five-p, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
ten-a; and to amend and reenact section ten, article twenty- two-a, chapter twenty-nine of said code, all relating to
dedicating an adequate portion of revenue received from
video lottery proceeds by the state to fund a program
designed to pay for most of the cost of prescription drugs
for residents of the state over the age of sixty-five who are above poverty level yet who cannot afford the cost of
prescription drugs they
need.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article five-p, chapter sixteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; that said article five-p be further
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten- a; and that section ten, article twenty-two-a, chapter twenty- nine be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 16. PUBLIC HEALTH.
ARTICLE 5P. SENIOR SERVICES.
§16-5P-6. Powers and duties generally.
The commissioner shall be the executive and administrative
head of the bureau and shall have the power and duty to:
(a) Exercise general supervision of the bureau;
(b) Propose legislative rules for the effective and
expeditious performance and discharge of the duties and
responsibilities placed upon the commissioner by law;
(c) Conduct and coordinate studies of the problems of the
state's older people;
(d) Encourage and promote the establishment of local programs and services for the aging;
(e) Conduct programs of public education on the problems of
the aging;
(f) Review state programs for the aging, and annually make
recommendations to the governor and the Legislature;
(g) Encourage and assist governmental and private agencies to
coordinate effective efforts on behalf of the aging;
(h) Coordinate statewide local and voluntary efforts to serve
the aging and develop programs at the local level;
(i) Supervise fiscal management and responsibilities of the
bureau;
(j) Keep an accurate and complete record of all bureau
proceedings, record and file all bonds and contracts and assume
responsibility for the custody and preservation of all papers and
documents of the bureau;
(k) Submit an annual report to the governor on the condition,
operation and functioning of the bureau;
(l) Invoke any legal or special remedy for the enforcement of
orders or the provisions of this chapter;
(m) Standardize administration, expedite bureau business, revise rules and promote the efficiency of the service;
(n) Provide a program of continuing professional, technical
and specialized instruction for the personnel of the bureau and
local service providers; and
(o) Receive on behalf of the state any grant or gift and
accept the same, so that the title shall pass to the state. All
moneys from grants or gifts shall be deposited with the state
treasurer in a special fund and shall be used for the purposes
set forth in the grant or gift.
(p) Administer the program provided for in section ten-a of
this article by dispensing sums as subsidies for prescription
drugs provided to persons over the age of sixty-five by qualified
pharmaceutical providers.
§16-5P-10a. Program providing for subsidies for prescription
drug charges to seniors.
(a) The bureau shall, from those funds received pursuant to
the provisions of section ten, article twenty-two-a, chapter ten,
administer funds in accordance with the provisions of this
section, to subsidize qualified providers of pharmaceuticals that
provide prescription drugs to persons over the age of sixty-five
who do not qualify for public assistance by virtue of being above the federal poverty level but who do not otherwise have adequate
income to afford the cost of the particular prescription drugs
for which they are in need. Funds administered as payment for
prescription drugs under the provisions of this section shall be
paid directly to qualified pharmaceutical providers upon proof of
provision of the covered prescription drug to an eligible person.
(b) The bureau shall propose legislative rules in order to
accomplish the following in the administration of moneys to
subsidize qualified persons for the cost of prescription drugs.
(1) Provide guidelines of eligibility under the program for
persons over the age of sixty-five years based on income and the
need for prescription drugs;
(2) Determine, based on the uniform application of criteria,
which providers of pharmaceuticals are permitted to participate
in the program;
(3) Determine the percentage of subsidy to provide, taking
into account the cost of the particular prescription drug and its
availability and whether an equivalent generic prescription drug
exists at significantly lower cost than the original brand name
pharmaceutical;
(4) Provide criteria to be applied uniformly designed to
determine whether an eligible pharmaceutical provider or eligible
person receiving prescription drugs under this program should be
declared ineligible; and
(5) Provide for a method to verify a prescription drug has
actually been dispensed to an eligible person before making
payment of a subsidy.
CHAPTER 29. MISCELLANEOUS BOARDS AND OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 22A. RACETRACK VIDEO LOTTERY ACT.
§29-22A-10. Accounting and reporting; commission to provide communications protocol data; distribution of net terminal income; remittance through electronic transfer of funds; establishment of accounts and nonpayment penalties; commission control of
accounting for net terminal income; settlement of accounts;
manual reporting and payment may be required; request for
reports; examination of accounts and records.
(a) The commission shall provide to manufacturers, or
applicants applying for a manufacturer's permit, the protocol
documentation data necessary to enable the respective
manufacturer's video lottery terminals to communicate with the commission's central computer for transmitting auditing program
information and for activation and disabling of video lottery
terminals.
(b) The gross terminal income of a licensed racetrack shall
be remitted to the commission through the electronic transfer of
funds. Licensed racetracks shall furnish to the commission all
information and bank authorizations required to facilitate the
timely transfer of moneys to the commission. Licensed racetracks
must provide the commission thirty days' advance notice of any
proposed account changes in order to assure the uninterrupted
electronic transfer of funds. From the gross terminal income
remitted by the licensee to the commission, the commission shall
deduct an amount sufficient to reimburse the commission for its
actual costs and expenses incurred in administering racetrack
video lottery at the licensed racetrack, and the resulting amount
after such deduction shall be the net terminal income. The
amount deducted for administrative costs and expenses of the
commission may not exceed four percent of gross terminal income.
(c) Net terminal income shall be divided as set out in this
subsection. The licensed racetrack's share shall be in lieu of all lottery agent commissions and is considered to cover all
costs and expenses required to be expended by the licensed
racetrack in connection with video lottery operations. The
division shall be made as follows:
(1) The commission shall receive thirty percent of net
terminal income, which shall be paid into the general revenue
fund of the state to be appropriated by the Legislature:
Provided, That, the Legislature shall annually appropriate an
adequate percentage provided for in this subdivision to fund the
senior's program providing for subsidies for prescription drugs
under section ten-a, article five-p, chapter sixteen of this
code.
(2) Fourteen percent of net terminal income at a licensed
racetrack shall be deposited in the special fund established by
the licensee, and used for payment of regular purses in addition
to other amounts provided for in article twenty-three, chapter
nineteen of this code;
(3) The county where the video lottery terminals are located
shall receive two percent of the net terminal income;
(4) One half of one percent of net terminal income shall be paid for and on behalf of all employees of the licensed racing
association by making a deposit into a special fund to be
established by the racing commission to be used for payment into
the pension plan for all employees of the licensed racing
association;
(5) The West Virginia thoroughbred development fund created
under section thirteen-b, article twenty-three, chapter nineteen
of this code and the West Virginia greyhound breeding development
fund created under section ten, article twenty-three, chapter
nineteen of this code shall receive an equal share of a total of
not less than one and one-half percent of the net terminal
income:
Provided, That for any racetrack which does not have a
breeder's program supported by the thoroughbred development fund
or the greyhound breeding development fund, the one and one-half
percent provided for in this subdivision shall be deposited in
the special fund established by the licensee and used for payment
of regular purses, in addition to other amounts provided for in
subdivision (2) of this subsection and article twenty-three,
chapter nineteen of this code;
(6) The West Virginia thoroughbred breeders classic shall receive one percent of the net terminal income which shall be
used for purses. The moneys shall be deposited in the separate
account established for the classic under section thirteen,
article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code;
(7) A licensee shall receive forty-seven percent of net
terminal income;
(8) The tourism promotion fund established in section nine,
article one, chapter five-b of this code shall receive three
percent of the net terminal income; and
(9) The veterans memorial program shall receive one percent
of the net terminal income until sufficient moneys have been
received to complete the veterans memorial on the grounds of the
state capitol complex in Charleston, West Virginia. The moneys
shall be deposited in the state treasury in the division of
culture and history special fund created under section three,
article one-i, chapter twenty-nine of this code:
Provided, That
only after sufficient moneys have been deposited in the fund to
complete the veterans memorial and to pay in full the annual
bonded indebtedness on the veterans memorial, not more than
twenty thousand dollars of the one percent of net terminal income provided for in this subdivision shall be deposited into a
special revenue fund in the state treasury, to be known as the
"John F. 'Jack' Bennett Fund". The moneys in this fund shall be
expended by the division of veterans affairs to provide for the
placement of markers for the graves of veterans in perpetual
cemeteries in this state. The division of veterans affairs shall
promulgate legislative rules pursuant to the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code specifying the
manner in which the funds are spent, determine the ability of the
surviving spouse to pay for the placement of the marker, and
setting forth the standards to be used to determine the priority
in which the veterans grave markers will be placed in the event
that there are not sufficient funds to complete the placement of
veterans grave markers in any one year, or at all. Upon payment
in full of the bonded indebtedness on the veteran's memorial, one
hundred thousand dollars of the one percent of net terminal
income provided for in this subdivision shall be deposited in the
special fund in the division of culture and history created under
section three, article one-i, chapter twenty-nine of this code
and be expended by the division of culture and history to establish a West Virginia veterans memorial archives within the
cultural center to serve as a repository for the documents and
records pertaining to the veterans memorial, to restore and
maintain the monuments and memorial on the capitol grounds, and
not more than twenty thousand dollars be deposited in the "John
F. 'Jack' Bennett Fund":
Provided, however, That five hundred
thousand dollars of the one percent of net terminal income shall
be deposited in the state treasury in a special fund of the
department of administration, created under section five, article
four, chapter five-a of this code to be used for construction and
maintenance of a parking garage on the state capitol complex:
Provided further, That the remainder of the one percent of net
terminal income shall be deposited in a special fund of the
department of administration created under section five, article
four, chapter five-a of this code to be used to maintain and make
repairs to the Morris square properties.
(d) Each licensed racetrack shall maintain in its account an
amount equal to or greater than the gross terminal income from
its operation of video lottery machines, to be electronically
transferred by the commission on dates established by the commission. Upon a licensed racetrack's failure to maintain this
balance, the commission may disable all of a licensed racetrack's
video lottery terminals until full payment of all amounts due is
made. Interest shall accrue on any unpaid balance at a rate
consistent with the amount charged for state income tax
delinquency under chapter eleven of this code, which interest
shall begin to accrue on the date payment is due to the
commission.
(e) The commission's central control computer shall keep
accurate records of all income generated by each video lottery
terminal. The commission shall prepare and mail to the licensed
racetrack a statement reflecting the gross terminal income
generated by the licensee's video lottery terminals. Each
licensed racetrack must report to the commission any
discrepancies between the commission's statement and each
terminal's mechanical and electronic meter readings. The
licensed racetrack is solely responsible for resolving income
discrepancies between actual money collected and the amount shown
on the accounting meters or on the commission's billing
statement.
(f) Until an accounting discrepancy is resolved in favor of
the licensed racetrack, the commission may make no credit
adjustments. For any video lottery terminal reflecting a
discrepancy, the licensed racetrack shall submit to the
commission the maintenance log which includes current mechanical
meter readings and the audit ticket which contains electronic
meter readings generated by the terminal's software. If the
meter readings and the commission's records cannot be reconciled,
final disposition of the matter shall be determined by the
commission. Any accounting discrepancies which cannot be
otherwise resolved shall be resolved in favor of the commission.
(g) Licensed racetracks shall remit payment by mail if the
electronic transfer of funds is not operational or the commission
notifies licensed racetracks that remittance by this method is
required. The licensed racetracks shall report an amount equal
to the total amount of cash inserted into each video lottery
terminal operated by a licensee, minus the total value of game
credits which are cleared from the video lottery terminal in
exchange for winning redemption tickets, and remit such amount as
generated from its terminals during the reporting period. The remittance shall be sealed in a properly addressed and stamped
envelope and deposited in the United States mail no later than
noon on the day when the payment would otherwise be completed
through electronic funds transfer.
(h) Licensed racetracks may, upon request, receive
additional reports of play transactions for their respective
video lottery terminals and other marketing information not
considered confidential by the commission. The commission may
charge a reasonable fee for the cost of producing and mailing any
report other than the billing statements.
(i) The commission has the right to examine all accounts,
bank accounts, financial statements and records in a licensed
racetrack's possession, under its control or in which it has an
interest and the licensed racetrack must authorize all third
parties in possession or in control of the accounts or records to
allow examination of any of those accounts or records by the
commission.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to dedicate an adequate
portion of revenue received from video lottery proceeds by the state to fund a program designed to pay for most of the cost of
prescription drugs for residents of the state over the age of
sixty-five who are above poverty level yet who cannot afford the
cost of prescription drugs they need. The bill gives the
authority to the bureau on aging to administer payments under the
program while directing it to propose legislative rules to
determine eligible seniors and pharmaceutical providers, among
other things.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
Section 10A is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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