H.B.2502
(By Delegates Palumbo, Houston, Hrutkay, Paxton,
Canterbury, and Evans)
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[Introduced February 18, 2005;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §22-26-5 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the joint legislative oversight
commission on state water resources and membership thereof.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §22-26-5 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
§22-26-5. Joint legislative oversight commission on state water
resources.
(a) The president of the Senate and the speaker of the House
of Delegates shall each designate
five seven members of their
respective houses, at least
one two of whom shall be
a member
members of the minority party, to serve on a joint legislative
oversight commission charged with immediate and ongoing oversight
of the water resources survey and registration.
Three of the appointments from the Senate and three of the appointments from the
House of Delegates shall be the chairpersons of the following
standing committees: finance, the judiciary and natural resources.
The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Delegates shall select the other members of the Commission to
provide for representation of the divergent water quantity issues
of the various hydrological regions of the state. This commission
shall be known as the "Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on
State Water Resources" and shall regularly investigate and monitor
all matters relating to the water resources survey and the need for
a water resources strategy and policy.
(b) The expenses of the commission, including the cost of
conducting the survey and monitoring any subsequent strategy and
those incurred in the employment of legal, technical,
investigative, clerical, stenographic, advisory and other
personnel, are to be approved by the joint committee on government
and finance and paid from legislative appropriations.
(c) The secretary shall report, at a minimum of quarterly, in
sufficient detail for the commission to monitor the water resources
survey and to develop recommendations resulting from the survey.
The secretary shall submit an annual report to the commission by
the thirty-first day of December each year. The secretary shall
also file a final report on the water resources survey no later
than the thirty-first day of December, two thousand six.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide representation
on the Commission on State Water Resources from various
hydrological regions of the state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)