ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 683
(By Senator Love)
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[Introduced February 23, 1998; 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 one and three, article
thirteen-c, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all
relating to the drinking water treatment revolving fund;
requiring that set-aside accounts be created for activities
required by the federal safe water drinking act; authorizing
the division of health to draw federal capitalization awards
and deposit the moneys in the fund and the set-aside
accounts; authorizing the division of health to administer
the set-aside accounts; and eliminating certain deposit
requirements for fund moneys.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and three, article thirteen-c, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 13C. DRINKING WATER TREATMENT REVOLVING FUND ACT.
§16-13C-1. Definitions.
Unless the context in which used clearly requires a
different meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Authority" means the water development authority
provided for in section four, article one, chapter twenty-two-c
of this code.
(2) "Capacity development" means the technical, managerial
and financial capability of a public water system.
(3) "Cost" means the cost of all labor, materials,
machinery, equipment, lands, property, rights and easements,
plans and specifications and all other expenses necessary or
incident to the acquisition, construction, improvement,
expansion, extension, repair or rehabilitation of all or part of
a project.
(4) "Disadvantaged community" means the service area of a
public water system that meets affordability criteria established
after public review and comment by the state.
(5) "Federal safe drinking water act" means the federal statute commonly known as the "Safe Drinking Water Act", 42
U.S.C. 300f et seq., as enacted, amended, and as may be
subsequently amended.
(6) "Fund" means the West Virginia drinking water treatment
revolving fund created in this article.
(7) "Instrumentality" means the division of health which has
the primary responsibility for administering the fund and this
article pursuant to requirements of the federal safe drinking
water act.
(8) "Local entity" means any municipality, public utility,
or person, including any individual, firm, partnership,
association, not-for-profit corporation or other corporation
organized and existing under the laws of the state which may
construct and operate an eligible project.
(9) "Public water system" means that term as defined in
section nine-a, article one, chapter sixteen of the code.
(10) "Project" means a project for improving a drinking
water system for the purpose of achieving or maintaining
compliance with applicable state and federal drinking water
regulations.
(11) "Set-aside accounts" means those accounts that
may
shall be set up for activities required by the federal Safe
Drinking Water Act and the moneys for these accounts may be taken from the federal capitalization grant for these nonproject
activities before the capitalization grant is deposited into the
fund.
(12) "Small system" means a public water system serving ten
thousand or fewer persons.
§16-13C-3. Drinking water treatment revolving fund; duties of
division of health and water development authority; set- aside accounts.
(a) There is continued in the office of the state treasurer
a
permanent and perpetual special fund to be known as the "West
Virginia drinking water treatment revolving fund". The fund
shall be administered and managed in accordance with the
provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
The division
of health may draw all or a portion of those moneys available
under capitalization agreements and with the capitalization grant
awards from the United States environmental protection agency
under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and to deposit such
moneys into the fund and the set-aside accounts.
(b) The fund,
less the set-aside account moneys, shall be
administered and managed by the water development authority under
the direction of the division of health. The fund shall be
comprised of moneys appropriated to the fund by the Legislature,
moneys allocated to the state by the federal government expressly for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a drinking water
treatment revolving fund
and set-aside accounts, all receipts
from loans made from the fund, all income from the investment of
moneys held in the fund, and all other sums designated for
deposits to the fund from any source, public or private. Moneys
in the fund shall be used solely to make loans or provide other
allowable financial assistance to eligible projects for public
water systems, as described in the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act.
(c) In order to carry out the administration and management
of the fund, the authority
is and the division of health are
authorized to employ officers, employees, agents, advisors and
consultants, including attorneys, financial advisors, engineers,
other technical advisors and public accountants, and
notwithstanding any provisions of this code to the contrary, to
determine their duties and compensation without the approval of
any other agency or instrumentality.
(d) The authority shall propose legislative rules for
promulgation in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to govern the pledge of loans
to secure bonds of the authority.
(e)
All moneys belonging to the fund shall be kept in
appropriate depositories and secured in conformance with the provisions of this code. Disbursements from the fund shall be
authorized for payment by the director of the authority or the
director's designee.
Any depository or officer of the depository
to which moneys of the fund are paid shall act as trustee of the
moneys and shall hold and apply them solely for the purposes for
which the moneys are provided under this article. Moneys in the
fund shall not be commingled with other money of the authority.
Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary,
amounts in the fund shall be deposited by the authority in one or
more banking institutions: Provided, That any moneys so
deposited shall be deposited in a banking institution located in
this state. The banking institution shall be selected by the
authority by competitive bid. If not needed for immediate use or
disbursement, moneys in the fund may be invested or reinvested by
the authority in obligations or securities which are considered
lawful investments for public funds under this code.
(f) Pursuant to the provisions of the federal Safe Drinking
Water Act, set-aside accounts
may shall be set up in accounts
separate from the drinking water treatment revolving fund. These
set-aside accounts shall include, but not be limited to,
administration costs, source water protection, operator training
and certification, technical assistance to systems, local
assistance, and other state activities permitted by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The division of health shall
direct the
authority to establish and administer the set-aside accounts as
permitted by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. An application
fee may be charged and deposited into the administrative account
to defray the cost of administering the program.