ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 367
(By Senators Anderson, Bailey, Chafin, Helmick, Jackson, Love,
Plymale, Prezioso, Sharpe, Walker, Boley, Dugan, McKenzie, Minear
and Sprouse)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported March 18, 1997.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and three, article two,
chapter five-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four-a, all generally relating to the West Virginia
development office; allowing the chair of tourism to appoint
a designee to serve on the council for community and economic
development; removing obsolete language regarding initial
appointments to the council; removing obsolete language
regarding the development of a reorganization plan for the
development office and the report to the governor and the
Legislature on the reorganization; providing for the amount of
matching grants available to participating economic
development corporations and authorities under the certified
development community program; allowing the development office to enter into contractual agreements with eligible regional
councils to provide funding for obtaining federal matching
grants and for other purposes; specifying the amount of the
state allocation; and requiring the development office to
develop eligibility criteria.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and three, article two, chapter five-b of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section four-a,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA DEVELOPMENT OFFICE.
§5B-2-2. Council for community and economic development created;
members, appointment and expenses; meetings; appointment and
compensation of director.
(a)
There is hereby continued within the West Virginia
development office a The council for community and economic
development,
which within the West Virginia development office, is
a body corporate and politic, constituting a public corporation and
government instrumentality. Membership on the council
shall
consist consists of:
(1) Nine members to be appointed by the governor, with the
advice and consent of the Senate, representing community or
regional interests, including economic development, commerce,
banking, manufacturing, the utility industry, the mining industry, the telecommunications/data processing industry, small business,
labor, tourism or agriculture:
Provided, That one member appointed
pursuant to this subsection shall be a member of a regional
planning and development council. Of the nine members representing
community or regional interests, three members shall be from each
congressional district of the state and shall be appointed in such
a manner as to provide a broad geographical distribution of members
of the council;
(2) Two at-large members to be appointed by the governor with
the advice and consent of the Senate;
(3) One member to be appointed by the governor from a list of
two persons recommended by the speaker of the House of Delegates;
(4) One member to be appointed by the governor from a list of
two persons recommended by the president of the Senate;
(5) The president of the West Virginia economic development
council; and
(6) The chair
, or his or her designee, of the tourism
commission created pursuant to the provisions of section eight of
this article.
(b)
Not later than the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-two, the governor shall appoint the thirteen
appointed members of the council for staggered terms. The terms of
the board members first taking office on or after the effective
date of this legislation shall expire as designated by the governor
at the time of the nomination, three at the end of the first year, three at the end of the second year, three at the end of the third
year and four at the end of the fourth year, after the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two. As these original
appointments expire, each subsequent appointment shall be The
governor shall appoint
the appointed members of the council for
a
full four-year
term terms. Any member whose term has expired shall
serve until his
or her successor has been duly appointed and
qualified. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve only
for the unexpired term. Any member
shall be is eligible for
reappointment. In cases of any vacancy in the office of a member,
such the vacancy shall be filled by the governor in the same manner
as the original appointment.
(c) Members of the council
shall not be are not entitled to
compensation for services performed as members, but
shall be are
entitled to reimbursement for all reasonable and necessary expenses
actually incurred in the performance of their duties. A majority
of the members
shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of
conducting business. The council shall elect its chair for a term
to run concurrent with the term of office of the member elected as
chair. The chair is eligible for successive terms in that
position.
(d) The council shall employ an executive director of the West
Virginia development office,
who is qualified for the position by
reason of
his or her extensive education and experience in the
field of professional economic development.
to The executive director shall serve at the will and pleasure of the council. The
salary of the director shall be fixed by the council. The director
shall have overall management responsibility and administrative
control and supervision within the West Virginia development
office. It is the intention of the Legislature that the director
shall provide professional and technical expertise in the field of
professional economic and tourism development in order to support
the policymaking functions of the council, but that the director
is
not
be a public officer, agent, servant or contractor within the
meaning of section thirty-eight, article VI of the constitution of
the state and
is not
be a statutory officer within the meaning of
section one, article two, chapter five-f of this code. Subject to
the provisions of the contract provided for in section four of this
article, the director
is authorized to may hire and fire economic
development representatives employed pursuant to the provisions of
section five of this article.
§5B-2-3. Powers and duties of council for community and economic
development.
(a) The council for community and economic development shall
enhance economic growth and development through the development of
a comprehensive economic development strategy for West Virginia.
"Comprehensive economic development strategy" means a plan that
outlines strategies and activities designed to continue, diversify
or expand the economic base of the state as a whole; create jobs;
develop a highly skilled work force; facilitate business access to capital, including venture capital; advertise and market the
resources offered by the state with respect to the needs of
business and industry; facilitate cooperation among local, regional
and private economic development enterprises; improve
infrastructure on a state, regional and community level; improve
the business climate generally; and leverage funding from sources
other than the state, including federal and private sources.
(b) The council shall develop a plan for the internal
reorganization of the West Virginia development office. The plan
shall evaluate programs and policies in place within the governor's
office of community and industrial development on the first day of
February, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, with respect to
their efficacy in yielding results with respect to economic
development and is authorized to terminate, by resolution of the
council, programs and policies which are either inactive, or
ineffective in design or in application, in enhancing economic
development. In developing its reorganization plan, the council
shall consider the following initiatives:
(1) Creation of a competitiveness council composed of public
and private members having as its primary goal the generation of
new ideas for economic development and meeting on a periodic basis
to develop broad ranging recommendations for the governor and the
Legislature;
(2) Creation of a private nonprofit corporation for rural
innovation to attract federal and foundation funding to develop and implement rural economic development initiatives;
(3) Creation of a consortium for work force readiness composed
of members from vocational-technical-occupational education and
higher education to develop initiatives for work force development,
which may include mobile technology training centers;
(4) Creation of a one-stop capital access program to attract
capital from sources inside and outside the state; to work with the
private sector, including lending institutions; to assist
entrepreneurs and businesses to access capital; and to coordinate
all state economic development loan programs;
(5) Creation of a seed capital fund to be used for small
business start-ups. Loans from the interest on the fund would
match loans from private sources on a one-to-one basis to assist
new small businesses in need of operating capital; and
(6) Promotion of cooperation among municipalities and counties
in funding physical infrastructure, including regional business
parks. and
(7)(b) The council shall develop a
plan for the creation of
regional economic development corporations or authorities and
certified development community program and provide funding
assistance to
such the participating economic development
corporations or authorities through a matching grant program. The
council shall establish criteria for awarding
funding assistance to
such matching grants to the corporations or authorities within the
limits of funds appropriated by the Legislature for the program.
The matching grants to corporations or authorities eligible under
the criteria shall be in the amount of thirty thousand dollars for
each fiscal year, if sufficient funds are appropriated by the
Legislature. The West Virginia development office shall recognize
existing county, regional or multi-county corporations or
authorities where appropriate.
In developing its plan, the West Virginia development office
shall consider resources and technical support available through
other agencies, both public and private, including, but not limited
to, the state college and university systems; the West Virginia
housing development fund; the West Virginia economic development
authority; the West Virginia parkways, economic development and
tourism authority; the West Virginia roundtable; the West Virginia
chamber of commerce; regional planning and development councils;
regional partnership for progress councils; and state
appropriations.
(c) On or before the first day of December, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-two, the council shall report to the governor and
the Legislature on its plan for the internal reorganization of the
West Virginia development office, including its recommendations
with respect to necessary legislation.
(d)(e) The council shall conduct a comprehensive survey of
value-added products and report the results of the survey to the
Legislature on or before the thirty-first day of December, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-two. The survey shall determine the following:
(1) What products are produced in West Virginia to which value
is added at some location outside the state, and what value is
added to the product;
(2) Current West Virginia businesses which add value to
products produced in or outside the state, and what value is added;
(3) Opportunities which exist in the state to create jobs by
establishing businesses to add value to products produced in or
outside the state; and
(4) Products that are utilized by businesses in the state that
are received from sources outside the state.
(e)(c) The council shall promulgate rules
and regulations to
carry out the purposes and programs of the West Virginia
development office to include generally the programs available, and
the procedure and eligibility of applications relating to
assistance under
such the programs. These rules
and regulations
shall are not
be subject to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code, but shall be filed with the secretary of state.
§5B-2-4a. State allocation to regional councils.
The West Virginia development office may enter into
contractual agreements with the regional councils formed under the
provisions of section five, article twenty-five, chapter eight of
this code to provide funding to the regional councils to be used to
obtain federal matching grants and for other purposes determined to
be appropriate by the development office. The state allocation to each eligible regional council shall be forty thousand dollars.
The West Virginia development office shall develop criteria to
determine a regional council's eligibility for the state
allocation.
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