H. B. 2483
(By Delegates DeLong, Mahan, Morgan,
Azinger and Hamilton)
[Introduced January 24, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §20-1A-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to granting the public land
corporation the authority to condemn certain abandoned
structures in the waters of the state causing or contributing
to flooding or erosion; requiring owner to remove certain
abandoned structures; authorizing repayment to public land
corporation for certain costs incurred; authorizing citations
for violations of right of entry; and establishing civil
penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-1A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURES.
§20-1A-3. Public land corporation, powers and duties.
(a) The corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to:
(1) Acquire from any persons or the State Auditor or any
local, state or federal agency, by purchase, lease or other
agreement, any lands necessary and required for public use;
(2) Acquire by purchase, condemnation, lease or agreement,
receive by gifts and devises, or exchange, rights-of-way,
easements, waters and minerals suitable for public use;
(3) Condemn by right of eminent domain, in accordance with the
procedures set forth in chapter fifty-four, article two of this
code, any structure, including, but not limited to, culverts,
pipes, bridges, railroad trestles and low water crossings located
in a streambed of the state, which was granted a right of entry by
the public land corporation, upon a finding that the structure is
abandoned, that the structure obstructs, inhibits or otherwise
alters the flow of the watercourse and causes or increases the
likelihood of flooding or streambed erosion, or causes accumulation
of materials behind the structure that alters or otherwise inhibits
the flow and direction of the watercourse. Any such structure that
has been placed in a streambed without the required right of entry
into the streambed from the public land corporation or any
structure that varies from the structure which was granted a right
of entry, shall be removed at the owner's expense upon request of
the corporation. Any such structure which is not removed within
a reasonable amount of time by the owner shall be removed by the
public land corporation at the owner's expense. The public land corporation may use any lawful means necessary to collect
reimbursement from the owner. All reimbursement moneys shall be
deposited into the Planning and Development-Public Land Corporation
Fund;
(3) (4) Sell or exchange public lands where it is determined
that the sale or exchange of such tract meets any or all of the
following disposal criteria:
(A) The tract was acquired for a specific purpose and the
tract is no longer required for that or any other state purpose;
(B) Disposal of the tract serves important public objectives
including, but not limited to, expansion of communities and
economic development which cannot be achieved on lands other than
public lands and which clearly outweigh other public objectives and
values including, but not limited to, recreation and scenic values
which would be served by maintaining the tract in state ownership;
or
(c) The tract, because of its location or other
characteristics, is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part of
the public lands and is not suitable for management by another
state department or agency.
(4) (5) Sell, purchase or exchange lands or stumpage for the
purpose of consolidating lands under state or federal government
administration subject to the disposal criteria specified in
subdivision (3) of this section;
(5) (6) Negotiate and effect loans or grants from the
government of the United States or any agency thereof for
acquisition and development of lands as may be authorized by law to
be acquired for public use;
(6) (7) Expend the income from the use and development of
public lands for the following purposes:
(A) Liquidate obligations incurred in the acquisition,
development and administration of lands, until all obligations have
been fully discharged;
(B) Purchase, develop, restore and preserve for public use,
sites, structures, objects and documents of prehistoric,
historical, archaeological, recreational, architectural and
cultural significance to the State of West Virginia; and
(c) Obtain grants or matching moneys available from the
government of the United States or any of its instrumentalities for
prehistoric, historic, archaeological, recreational, architectural
and cultural purposes.
(7) (8) Designate lands, to which it has title, for
development and administration for the public use including
recreation, wildlife stock grazing, agricultural rehabilitation and
homesteading or other conservation activities;
(8) (9) Enter into leases as a lessor for the development and
extraction of minerals, including coal, oil, gas, sand or gravel,
except as otherwise circumscribed herein: Provided, That leases for the development and extraction of minerals shall be made in
accordance with the provisions of sections five and six of this
article. The corporation shall reserve title and ownership to the
mineral rights in all cases;
(9) (10) Convey, assign, or allot lands to the title or
custody of proper departments or other agencies of state government
for administration and control within the functions of departments
or other agencies as provided by law;
(10) (11) Make proper lands available for the purpose of
cooperating with the government of the United States in the relief
of unemployment and hardship or for any other public purpose.
(b) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special
Public Land Corporation Fund into which shall be paid all proceeds
from public land sales and exchanges and rents, royalties and other
payments from mineral leases. The corporation may acquire public
lands from use of the payments made to the fund, along with any
interest accruing to the fund. The corporation shall report
annually, just prior to the beginning of the regular session of the
Legislature, to the finance committees of the Legislature on the
financial condition of the special fund. The corporation shall
report annually to the Legislature on its public land holdings and
all its leases, its financial condition and its operations and
shall make such recommendations to the Legislature concerning the
acquisition, leasing, development, disposition and use of public lands.
(c) All state agencies, institutions, divisions and
departments shall make an inventory of the public lands of the
state as may be by law specifically allocated to and used by each
and provide to the corporation a list of such public lands and
minerals, including their current use, intended use or best use to
which lands and minerals may be put: Provided, That the Division
of Highways need not provide the inventory of public lands
allocated to and used by it. The inventory shall identify those
parcels of land which have no present or foreseeable useful purpose
to the State of West Virginia. The inventory shall be submitted
annually to the corporation by the first day of August. The
corporation shall compile the inventory of all public lands and
minerals and report annually to the Legislature by no later than
the first day of January, on its public lands and minerals and the
lands and minerals of the other agencies, institutions, divisions
or departments of this state which are required to report their
holdings to the corporation as set forth in this subsection, and
its financial condition and its operations.
(d) A right of entry granted by the public land corporation is
a privilege in the nature of a permit. Failure to obtain a right
of entry into a streambed or changing the structure permitted in a
streambed without obtaining an amended right of entry is a
violation punishable by a civil penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars per day the violation exists. Any employee of the public
land corporation and any conservation officer may enter private
property to investigate a potential violation and may issue a
citation to a landowner if a violation exists. A landowner may
appeal a citation as a final agency decision under the provisions
of article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. All fines
collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the
Planning and Development-Public Land Corporation Fund.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Public Land
Corporation to condemn abandoned structures located in waterways
that it finds inhibits water flow and exacerbates flooding or
stream-bank erosion and to grant the Corporation enforcement
authority.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.