Senate Bill No. 253
(By Senators White, Love, Bailey, Wiedebusch,
Dittmar, Ball and Chafin)
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[Introduced March 6, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance .]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections eleven and fifteen, article
fourteen, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to the refunded gasoline and special fuel excise tax in
certain instances being credited to division of natural
resources; and dedication of funds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections eleven and fifteen, article fourteen, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 14. GASOLINE AND SPECIAL FUEL EXCISE TAX.
§11-14-11. Refund of tax because of certain nonhighway uses;
statute of limitations and effective date.
(a) The tax imposed by this article shall be refunded to any
person who shall buy in quantities of twenty-five gallons or
more, at any one time, tax-paid gasoline or special fuel, when
consumed for the following purposes:
(1) As a special fuel for internal combustion engines not
operated upon highways of this state; or
(2) Gasoline consumed to operate tractors and gas engines or
threshing machines for agricultural purposes, when
such the
operation is not, in whole or in part, upon the highways of this
state; or
(3) Gasoline used by any railway company, subject to
regulation by the public service commission of West Virginia, for
any purpose other than upon the highways of this state; or
(4) Gasoline consumed in the business of manufacturing or
producing natural resources or in mining or drilling therefor, or
in the transportation of natural resources solely by means of
unlicensed vehicles or vehicles licensed under the motor vehicle
laws of this state, either as a motor fuel or for any other
purpose and which gasoline is not in any part used upon the
highways of this state; or
(5) Gasoline consumed in motorboats or other watercraft
operated upon the
navigable waters of this state:
Provided, That
any unrefunded taxes in this category are to be credited to the
division of natural resources as outlined in section fifteen of
this article; or
(6) Gasoline or special fuel used to power a power take-off
unit on a motor vehicle. When a motor vehicle with auxiliary
equipment uses fuel and there is no auxiliary motor for such
equipment or separate tank for such a motor, the person claiming
the refund may present to the tax commissioner a statement of his
or her claim and shall be allowed a refund for fuel used in
operating a power take-off unit on a cement mixer truck or
garbage truck equal to twenty-five percent of the tax imposed by
this article paid on all fuel used in such a truck.
(b)
Such The tax shall be refunded upon presentation to the
commissioner of an affidavit accompanied by the original or top
copy sales slips or invoices, or certified copies thereof, from
the distributor or producer or retail dealer, showing
such the
purchases, together with evidence of payment thereof, which
affidavit shall set forth the total amount of
such the gasoline
or special fuel purchased and consumed by
such the user, other
than upon any highways of this state, and how used; and the tax
commissioner upon the receipt of
such the affidavit and
such the
paid sales slips or invoices shall cause to be refunded
such the
tax paid on gasoline or special fuel purchased and consumed as
aforesaid.
(c) The right to receive any refund under the provisions of
this section shall not be assignable,
except as provided in
subsection(a), subdivision(5) of this section, and any assignment thereof shall be void and of no effect, nor shall any payment be
made to any person other than the original person entitled
thereto using gasoline or special fuel as hereinbefore in this
section set forth. The tax commissioner shall cause a refund to
be made under the authority of this section only when the claim
for
such the refund is filed with the tax commissioner, upon
forms prescribed by the tax commissioner, within six months from
the month of purchase or delivery of the gasoline or special
fuel, except that any application for refund made under authority
of subdivision (2) above shall be filed within twelve months from
the month of purchase or delivery of
such the gasoline or special
fuel. Any claim for a refund not timely filed
shall may not be
construed to be or constitute a moral obligation of the state of
West Virginia for payment.
Such The claim for refund shall also
be subject to the provisions of section fourteen, article ten of
this chapter.
(d)
Effective date. -- The provisions of this section as
hereby amended shall apply to all gasoline and special fuels
purchased or delivered on or after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred
eighty-six ninety-seven, and the provisions
of this section in effect prior to the said first day of July,
shall apply to gasoline and special fuels purchased or delivered
prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-six ninety-seven.
§11-14-15. Disposition of tax collected.
All tax collected under the provisions of this article shall
be paid into the state treasury and shall be used only for the
purpose of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair
of highways, matching of federal
monies moneys available for
highway purposes and payment of the interest and sinking fund
obligations on state bonds issued for highway purposes.
Provided, That for fiscal year one thousand nine hundred
eighty-nine-ninety, twenty-five million dollars shall be used
only for bridge repair and replacement and all amounts remaining
shall next be used for payment of the interest and sinking fund
obligations on state bonds issued for highway purposes:
Provided, however, That any amounts remaining after funding these
priorities shall next be used in matching any federal amounts
available for expenditure on the Appalachian highway system in
this State: Provided further, That any amounts remaining after
funding these priorities shall be used for the maintenance,
reconstruction and construction of state highways
Unless necessary for such bond requirements, five
fourteenths of the tax collected under the provisions of this
article shall be used for feeder and state local service highway
purposes,
and any unclaimed refunds of gasoline and special fuel
taxes collected for fuel consumed in motorboats and other
watercraft operated upon the waters of this state shall be credited to the division of natural resources as follows: Ninety
percent to the law-enforcement section and ten percent to the
administration section, to be used for the promotion of boating
safety education, purchases and maintenance of boats and boating
or boating-related equipment, and to the enforcement of laws and
rules of boating provided by general law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to distribute the
unrefunded taxes collected on gasoline and special fuels consumed
in motorboats and other watercraft to promote boating safety
education, to purchase and maintain boats and boating equipment
under the auspices of the division of natural resources, and to
enforce existing laws and rules of boating.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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