Senate Bill No. 258
(By Senators Whitlow, Helmick, Ross and Sharpe)
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[Introduced February 3, 1995; referred to the Committee
on Transportation; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one, two, four, five and
six, article three-a, chapter seventeen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to the creation of an industrial access road fund
and providing funding therefor; specifying purposes for
which moneys from the fund may be used; requiring that
counties and municipalities guarantee proposed projects;
specifying the criteria upon which the highways commissioner
is to base his or her decision to allocate funds; approval
of division of highways of proposed industrial access
highway; request for funds by resolution of governing body
of county or municipality; consultation by the division of
highways; restrictions on use of the fund; limits on amount
of funds to be allocated; disbursements from the fund; and
annual audit of the fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one, two, four, five and six, article three-a,
chapter seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. INDUSTRIAL ACCESS ROAD FUND.
§17-3A-1. Industrial access road fund created; construction
guarantees by municipalities and counties.
(a) Any other provision of this code notwithstanding, there
is hereby created in the state treasury the "industrial access
road fund," hereinafter referred to as "the fund." There shall
be deposited into the fund one half of one percent of all state
tax collections which are otherwise specifically dedicated by the
provisions of this code to the state road fund. At the end of
each fiscal year, all unused moneys in the fund shall revert to
the state road fund. Upon the effective date of the amendment to
this section, there shall be deposited into the fund one and
one-half percent of all state tax collections which are otherwise
specifically dedicated by the provisions of this code to the
state road fund, or such percentage of those tax collections that
will produce three million dollars for each fiscal year.
(b) The moneys in the fund shall be expended by the
department division of highways for constructing and maintaining
industrial access roads within counties and municipalities to
industrial sites on which manufacturing, distribution, processing
or other similar establishments, economic development activities, including publicly owned airports, are already constructed or are
under firm contract to be constructed. In the event there is no
industrial site already constructed or for which the construction
is under firm contract, a county or municipality may guarantee to
the department division of highways by bond or other acceptable
device that an industrial site will be constructed and, if no
industrial site, acceptable to the department division of
highways, is constructed within the time limits of the bond, such
bond shall be forfeited.
§17-3A-2. Division of highways to determine construction of
industrial access roads.
In determining whether or not to construct or improve any
industrial access road, and in determining the nature of the road
to be constructed, the department division of highways shall base
its decision on the costs of the industrial access road in
relation to the volume and nature of the traffic to be generated
as a result of developing the industrial site within the total
industrial area. In making a decision on any industrial site,
the total volume of traffic to be generated shall be considered
in regard to the overall cost of the project. The department
division of highways shall consult and work closely with the
governor's office of community and industrial development West
Virginia development office in determining the use of industrial
access road funds.
Prior to a formal request for the use of moneys from the fund to provide access to new or expanding industrial sites, the
location of the industrial access road shall be submitted for
approval of the department division of highways. The department
division of highways shall consider the cost of the industrial
access road as it relates to the project's location and as it
relates to the possibility of future extensions of the road to
serve other possible industrial sites as well as the future
development of the surrounding area.
Prior to the allocation of moneys from the fund for the
construction or maintenance of an industrial access road to an
industry proposing to locate or expand in a county or
municipality, the governing body of the county or municipality
shall, by resolution, request moneys from the fund and shall be
responsible for the preliminary negotiations with the industries
and other interested parties. The department division of
highways shall be available for consultation with the governing
bodies of the counties or municipalities and other interested
parties, and may prepare surveys, plans, engineering studies and
cost estimates for the proposed industrial access road.
§17-3A-4. Restrictions on use of fund.
(a) The fund may not be used for the adjustment of utilities
or for the construction of industrial access roads to schools,
hospitals, libraries, armories, office buildings, shopping
centers, apartment buildings, amusement facilities, government
installations or similar facilities, whether public or private. The fund may not be used to construct industrial access roads on
private property.
(b) Moneys from the fund may not be allocated until the
governing body of the county or municipality certifies to the
department division of highways that the industrial site is
constructed and operating or is under firm contract to be
constructed or operated, or upon the presentation of acceptable
surety in accordance with section one of this article.
(c) Not more than three hundred thousand dollars of
unmatched moneys from the fund may be allocated for use in any
one county in any fiscal year. The maximum amount of unmatched
moneys which may be allocated from the fund is ten percent of the
capital outlay fair market value, including, but not limited to,
both debt and equity investment, of the designated industrial
establishment. The amount of unmatched funds allocated may be
supplemented with additional matched moneys from the fund, in
which case the matched moneys allocated from the fund may not
exceed one hundred fifty thousand dollars, to be matched equally
from sources other than the fund. The amount of matched moneys
which may be allocated from the fund over and above the unmatched
funds may not exceed five percent of the capital outlay fair
market value, including, but not limited to, both debt and equity
investment, of the designated industrial site.
(d) Funds may only be allocated to those items of
construction and engineering which are essential to providing an adequate facility to serve the anticipated traffic. Funds may
not be allocated for items such as storm sewers, curbs, gutters
and extra pavement width unless necessary to extend or connect an
existing access road.
§17-3A-5. Disbursements from fund.
Any claim of a contractor or others, not otherwise provided
for, for labor done or for materials, services or supplies
furnished to the department division of highways pursuant to the
provisions of this article, shall be audited by the commissioner
of the department division of highways. If the commissioner
determines that the claim is valid and correct, the commissioner
shall issue a requisition of the department division upon the
state auditor therefor, showing the nature of the claim and
specifying whether the claim is for labor done or materials,
services or supplies furnished for the construction or
maintenance of state roads, or for other purposes, and the
auditor shall issue his warrant upon the state treasurer
therefor. The treasurer shall issue the warrant to the person,
firm or corporation entitled thereto, out of the funds in the
treasury provided for that purpose. The cost of acquiring a
right-of-way shall be paid out of the fund.
§17-3A-6. Annual audit to be made of receipts and expenditures
of fund.
The Legislature, acting through the joint committee on
government and finance, shall cause an annual audit to be made by a resident independent certified public accountant of all books,
accounts and records relating to all receipts and expenditures
of the fund. The commissioner shall make available to the
independent auditor or auditors performing the audit all of the
department's division's books, accounts and records pertaining
to all moneys received and expended. The auditor or auditors
performing the audit shall make available annually the audit
report with copies thereof to the members of the Legislature,
the governor, the commissioner of the department division of
highways, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the
attorney general and the state auditor. The audit report shall
be available to the public in the office of the secretary of
state.
The Legislature, acting through the joint committee on
government and finance, shall obtain the services of a resident
independent certified public accountant for this purpose, the
cost of which shall be payable out of funds appropriated by the
Legislature. Any audits of the funds which have been made by any
official auditing agency of the United States government shall be
accepted in lieu of the state audit.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand Industrial
Access Roads within counties for distribution and other economic
activities. It includes increasing the maximum amount of moneys
that may be allocated from the industrial access road fund for
use in any one county in any fiscal year.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.