Senate Bill No. 306
(By Senators Green, White, Laird, Chafin, Edgell, Yost, Minard,
Bowman and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 19, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §24B-5-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to pipeline companies paying a
special license fee to the Public Service Commission; and
increasing the maximum amount of revenue from $300,000 per
annum to $400,000 per annum.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24B-5-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. EMPLOYEES OF COMMISSION; FUNDING.
§24B-5-3. Funding; property and revenue license fees.
(a) Every pipeline company shall pay a special license fee in
addition to those now required by law. The amount of such fees
shall be fixed by the Public Service Commission and levied by it
upon each of such pipeline companies according to the number of
three-inch equivalent pipeline miles included in its pipeline facilities and shall be apportioned among such pipeline companies
upon the basis of the pipeline companies' reports submitted to the
commission in such form as the commission may prescribe, so as to
produce a revenue of not more than
three hundred thousand dollars
$400,000 per annum, which fees shall be paid on or before July 1 in
each year.
(b) Such sums collected under subsection (a) of this section
shall be paid into the State Treasury and kept as a special fund,
designated the Public Service Commission Pipeline Safety Fund, to
be appropriated as provided by law for the purpose of paying the
salaries, compensation, costs and expenses of its employees. Any
balance in said fund at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert
to the treasury, but shall remain in said fund and may be
appropriated as provided in this subsection. All funds which
heretofore were in the Public Service Commission Gas Pipeline
Safety Fund shall be transferred to the Public Service Commission
Pipeline Safety Fund.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the maximum
annual assessment from $300,000 to $400,000.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)