Senate Bill No. 141
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced February 16, 2001; referred to the Select
Committee on Economic Development; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article two-c, chapter thirteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four-a, relating to applications for financing or tax
incentives for industrial projects and commercial projects
provided by state, county or local governments, agencies or
public bodies corporate; naming the new section "The Golden
Rule Financing and Tax Incentives Disclosure Act"; requiring
applications to be made and to contain information relating
to the applicant, the entity to own the project and their
substantial investors; requiring information on past projects receiving financing or tax incentives; requiring an
impact statement regarding existing and predicted employment
of persons within a 100-mile radius of the planned project;
requiring warranties to be set out in the application as to
whether the granting authorities and affected employees will
receive notice of any relocation or subcontracting of
substantial operations away from the project site, and
whether financing or tax incentives will be repaid and
whether or not the granting authorities will have an option
for first right of refusal to replace the entity owning the
project following such notice and whether or not employees
affected by the relocation or subcontracting will be
provided severance pay or other benefits if their jobs at
the project site are lost or relocated; and specifying that
applications be filed public documents.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two-c, chapter thirteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
four-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2C. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT BOND ACT.
§13-2C-4a. The golden rule financing and tax incentives
disclosure act; applications for tax or financing
incentives; impact on employment; conditions on
warranties regarding relocation of operations;
filing of applications.
(a) This section shall be known as "The Golden Rule
Financing and Tax Incentives Disclosure Act."
(b) All applications to state, county or local governments,
agencies or public bodies corporate seeking financing or tax
incentives for incentives for an industrial project or commercial
project pursuant to the authority of this article or pursuant to
article thirteen-c or thirteen-d, chapter eleven of the code,
shall set forth the following:
(1) A statement of the financing or tax incentives sought
from the granting authority for the proposed project at issue,
and all permits required for the project;
(2) The identities of all persons and entities having a
substantial investment or ownership interest in the applicant and
in the entity to own the proposed project;
(3) A statement of whether or not the applicant, the entity to own the proposed project, or their substantial investors or
owners, have before applied for or received in the state or
outside the state, any financing or tax incentives for other
industrial projects or commercial projects, identifying the
granting authority or authorities which were to provide those
financing or tax incentives, and the date and nature of any
financing or tax incentives granted;
(4) A statement of the impact on existing and predicted
employment during the time of the construction of the project
through the period in which the incentives applied for are to
continue, as to persons residing within a hundred-mile radius of
the site of the proposed project, including the number of
employees to be located at the site during construction and
thereafter, and any existing employees not part of the project
who foreseeably may be discharged or laid off in that one
hundred-mile radius area, as a result of the proposed project;
(5) A statement of the notices, procedures and benefits plan
for relocating workers employed by the applicant, the entity to
own the project, or any of their substantial investors, who may
be laid off, discharged or relocated to the project site, from
the time of construction through the period during which the proposed incentives are to be in effect;
(6) A statement warranting whether or not the applicant, the
entity to own the project and their substantial investors and
owners will agree for themselves and their successors and assigns
on such terms and conditions as shall be specified in the
application, if any: (A) To provide their employees and any
granting authorities providing financing or tax incentives for
the proposed project at least twelve months' notice of a plan to
relocate or subcontract substantial operations, in whole or part,
away from the site of the proposed project; (B) to repay any
financing or tax incentives to the granting authorities in the
event of a plan to relocate or subcontract substantial
operations, in whole or part, away from the site; (C) to give
granting authorities, up to twelve months from the date of
notice, an option for first right of refusal to find another
entity to continue or change operations at the project site for
the purpose of retraining jobs at the project site; and (D) to
provide severance pay or other benefits to any employees of the
applicant or the entity to own the proposed project or any of
their substantial investors or owners, whose jobs are lost or
relocated as a result of the proposed project; and
(7) All applicants for financing and tax incentives from
state, county or local governments, agencies or public bodies
corporate pursuant to this article or pursuant to article
thirteen-c or thirteen-d, chapter eleven of the code, shall be
filed as public documents prior to any activities, investigation,
consideration or other action by the granting authority or
authorities.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require disclosure of
certain information by applicants for financing or tax incentives
to be provided by state, county and local authorities for
industrial projects and commercial projects.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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