COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 3051
(By Delegates Staton and Beane)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 28, 2003]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections seven and ten, article two,
chapter six-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to altering the
certain reportable threshold dollar amounts on certain elected
and appointed public official financial disclosure statements.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections seven and ten, article two, chapter six-b of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA ETHICS COMMISSION; POWERS AND DUTIES;
DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST BY PUBLIC
OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES; APPEARANCES BEFORE
PUBLIC AGENCIES.
§6B-2-7. Financial disclosure statement; contents.
The financial disclosure statement required under this article
shall contain the following information:
(1) The name, residential and business addresses of the person
filing the statement and all names under which the person does
business.
(2) The name and address of each employer of the person.
(3) The identification, by category, of every source of income
over five thousand dollars received during the preceding calendar
year, in his or her own name or by any other person for his or her
use or benefit, by the person filing the statement, and a brief
description of the nature of the services for which the income was
received. This subdivision does not require a person filing the
statement who derives income from a business, profession or
occupation to disclose the individual sources and items of income
that constitute the gross income of that business, profession or
occupation, nor does this subdivision require a person filing the
statement to report the source or amount of income derived by his
or her spouse.
(4) If the person profited or benefited in the year prior to
the date of filing from a contract for the sale of goods or
services to a state, county, municipal or other local governmental
agency either directly or through a partnership, corporation or
association in which such person owned or controlled more than ten
percent, the person shall describe the nature of the goods or
services and identify the governmental agencies which purchased the
goods or services.
(5) Each interest group or category listed below doing business in this state with which the person filing the statement
did business or furnished services and from which the person
received more than twenty percent of the person's gross income
during the preceding calendar year. The groups or categories are
electric utilities, gas utilities, telephone utilities, water
utilities, cable television companies, interstate transportation
companies, intrastate transportation companies, oil or gas retail
companies, banks, savings and loan associations, loan or finance
companies, manufacturing companies, surface mining companies, deep
mining companies, mining equipment companies, chemical companies,
insurance companies, retail companies, beer, wine or liquor
companies or distributors, recreation related companies, timbering
companies, hospitals or other health care providers, trade
associations, professional associations, associations of public
employees or public officials, counties, cities or towns, labor
organizations, waste disposal companies, wholesale companies,
groups or associations seeking to legalize gambling, advertising
companies, media companies, race tracks and promotional companies.
(6) The names of all persons, excluding that person's
immediate family, parents, or grandparents residing or transacting
business in the state to whom the person filing the statement owes,
on the date of execution of this statement in the aggregate in his
or her own name or in the name of any other person more than twelve
thousand five hundred dollars:
Provided, That nothing herein shall
require the disclosure of a mortgage on the person's primary and secondary residences or of automobile loans on automobiles
maintained for the use of the person's immediate family, or of a
student loan, nor shall this section require the disclosure of
debts which result from the ordinary conduct of such person's
business, profession, or occupation or of debts of the person
filing the statement to any financial institution, credit card
company, or business, in which the person has an ownership
interest:
Provided, however, That the previous proviso shall not
exclude from disclosure loans obtained pursuant to the linked
deposit program provided for in article one-a, chapter twelve of
this code or any other loan or debt incurred which requires
approval of the state or any of its political subdivisions.
(7) The names of all persons except immediate family members,
parents and grandparents residing or transacting business in the
state (other than a demand or savings account in a bank, savings
and loan association, credit union or building and loan association
or other similar depository) who owes on the date of execution of
this statement, more, in the aggregate, than twelve thousand five
hundred dollars to the person filing the statement, either in his
or her own name or to any other person for his or her use or
benefit. This subdivision does not require the disclosure of debts
owed to the person filing the statement which debts result from the
ordinary conduct of such person's business, profession or
occupation or of loans made by the person filing the statement to
any business in which the person has an ownership interest.
(8) The source of each gift having a value of over
one hundred
fifty dollars, received from a person having a direct and immediate
interest in a governmental activity over which the person filing
the statement has control, shall be reported by the person filing
the statement when such gift is given to said person in his or her
name or for his or her use or benefit during the preceding calendar
year:
Provided, That gifts received by will or by virtue of the
laws of descent and distribution, or received from one's spouse,
child, grandchild, parents or grandparents, or received by way of
distribution from an inter vivos or testamentary trust established
by the spouse or child, grandchild, or by an ancestor of the person
filing the statement are not required to be reported. As used in
this subdivision any series or plurality of gifts which exceeds in
the aggregate the sum of
one hundred fifty dollars from the same
source or donor, either directly or indirectly, and in the same
calendar year, shall be regarded as a single gift in excess of that
aggregate amount.
§6B-2-10. Violations and penalties.
(a) If any person violates the provisions of subsection (e),
(f) or (g), section five of this article, or violates the
provisions of subdivision (1), subsection (e), section four of this
article, such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by confinement in the county
jail for a period not to exceed six months or shall be fined not
more than one thousand dollars, or both such confinement and fine. If any person violating the provisions of subdivision (1),
subsection (e), section four of this article shall be a member of
the commission or an employee thereof, he or she shall, upon
conviction, be subject to immediate removal or discharge.
(b) If any person violates the provisions of subsection (f),
section six of this article by willfully and knowingly filing a
false financial statement, such person shall, upon conviction
thereof, be deemed guilty of false swearing and shall be punished
as provided in section three, article five, chapter sixty-one of
this code.
(c) If any person knowingly fails or refuses to file a
financial statement required by section six of this article, such
person, upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than
one thousand dollars.
(d) If any complainant violates the provisions of subdivision
(2), subsection
(f) (e), section four, article two of this chapter
by knowingly and willfully disclosing any information made
confidential by an order of the commission, he or she shall be
subject to administrative sanction by the commission as provided
for in subsection
(r) (q), section four of this article.
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