H. B. 2453
(By Delegates Kiss (By Request), Love, Ryan,
Facemyer, Mezzatesta, Seacrist and Osborne)
[Introduced February 13, 1995; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article thirteen-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
requirements for budgeting additional tax on severance,
extraction and production of coal.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article thirteen-a, chapter eleven of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
ยง11-13A-6. Additional tax on the severance, extraction and
production of coal; dedication of additional tax
for benefit of counties and municipalities;
distribution of major portion of such additional
tax to coal-producing counties; distribution of
minor portion of such additional tax to all counties and municipalities; reports; rules;
creation of special funds in office of state
treasurer; method and formulas for distribution of
such additional tax; expenditure of funds by
counties and municipalities for public purposes;
special funds in counties and municipalities; and
requiring special county and municipal budgets and
reports thereon.
(a) Additional coal severance tax. -- Upon every person
exercising the privilege of engaging or continuing within this
state in the business of severing coal or preparing coal, or
both, (or both severing and preparing coal) for sale, profit or
commercial use, there is hereby imposed an additional severance
tax, the amount of which shall be equal to the value of the coal
severed or prepared, or both, (or both severed and prepared)
against which the tax imposed by section three of this article is
measured, as shown by the gross proceeds derived from the sale
thereof by the producer multiplied by thirty-five one hundredths
of one percent. The tax imposed by this subsection shall be in
addition to the tax imposed by section three of this article, and
this additional tax is hereinafter in this section referred to as
the "additional tax on coal."
(b) This additional tax on coal is imposed pursuant to the
provisions of section six-a, article ten of the West Virginia Constitution. Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of this
additional tax on coal shall, after appropriation thereof by the
Legislature, be distributed by the state treasurer in the manner
hereinafter specified to the various counties of this state in
which the coal upon which this additional tax is imposed was
located at the time it was severed from the ground. Those
counties are hereinafter in this section referred to as the
"coal-producing counties." The remaining twenty-five percent of
the net proceeds of this additional tax on coal shall be
distributed, after appropriation, among all the counties and
municipalities of this state in the manner hereinafter specified.
(c) Such additional tax on coal shall be due and payable,
reported and remitted as elsewhere provided in this article for
the tax imposed by said section three of this article, and all of
the enforcement and other provisions of this article shall apply
to such additional tax. In addition to the reports and other
information required under the provisions of this article and the
tonnage reports required to be filed under the provisions of
section seventy-seven, article two, chapter twenty-two-a of this
code, the tax commissioner is hereby granted plenary power and
authority to promulgate reasonable rules requiring the furnishing
by producers of such additional information as may be necessary
to compute the allocation required under the provisions of
subsection (f) of this section. The tax commissioner is also hereby granted plenary power and authority to promulgate such
other reasonable rules as may be necessary to implement the
provisions of this section: Provided, That notwithstanding any
language contained in this code to the contrary, the gross amount
of additional tax on coal collected under this article shall be
paid over and distributed without the application of any credits
against the tax imposed by this section.
(d) In order to provide a procedure for the distribution of
seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of such additional tax
on coal to such coal-producing counties, there is hereby
continued in the state treasurer's office the special fund known
as the "county coal revenue fund"; and in order to provide a
procedure for the distribution of the remaining twenty-five
percent of the net proceeds of such additional tax on coal to all
counties and municipalities of the state, without regard to coal
having been produced therein, there is also hereby continued in
the state treasurer's office the special fund known as the "all
counties and municipalities revenue fund."
Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds of such additional
tax on coal shall be deposited in the "county coal revenue fund"
and twenty-five percent of such net proceeds shall be deposited
in the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund," from time
to time, as such proceeds are received by the tax commissioner.
The moneys in such funds shall, after appropriation thereof by the Legislature, be distributed to the respective counties and
municipalities entitled thereto in the manner set forth in
subsection (e) of this section.
(e) The moneys in the "county coal revenue fund" and the
moneys in the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund"
shall be allocated among and distributed quarterly to the
counties and municipalities entitled thereto by the state
treasurer in the manner hereinafter specified. On or before each
distribution date, the state treasurer shall determine the total
amount of moneys in each fund which will be available for
distribution to the respective counties and municipalities
entitled thereto on that distribution date. The amount to which
a coal-producing county is entitled from the "county coal revenue
fund" shall be determined in accordance with subsection (f) of
this section, and the amount to which every county and
municipality shall be entitled from the "all counties and
municipalities revenue fund" shall be determined in accordance
with subsection (g) of this section. After determining as set
forth in subsection (f) and subsection (g) of this section the
amount each county and municipality is entitled to receive from
the respective fund or funds, a warrant of the state auditor for
the sum due to such each county or municipality shall issue and
a check drawn thereon making payment of such sum shall thereafter
be distributed to such each county or municipality.
(f) The amount to which a coal-producing county is entitled
from the "county coal revenue fund" shall be determined by:
(1) Dividing the total amount of moneys in such fund then
available for distribution by the total number of tons of coal
mined in this state during the preceding quarter; and
(2) Multiplying the quotient thus obtained by the number of
tons of coal removed from the ground in such county during the
preceding quarter.
(g) The amount to which each county and municipality is
entitled from the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund"
shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this
subsection. For purposes of this subsection "population" means
the population as determined by the most recent decennial census
taken under the authority of the United States:
(1) The treasurer shall first apportion the total amount of
moneys available in the "all counties and municipalities revenue
fund" by multiplying the total amount in such fund by the
percentage which the population of each county bears to the total
population of the state. The amount thus apportioned for each
county is the county's "base share."
(2) Each county's "base share" shall then be subdivided into
two portions. One portion is determined by multiplying the "base
share" by that percentage which the total population of all
unincorporated areas within the county bears to the total population of the county, and the other portion is determined by
multiplying the "base share" by that percentage which the total
population of all municipalities within the county bears to the
total population of the county. The former portion shall be paid
to the county and the latter portion shall be the municipalities'
portion of the county's "base share." The percentage of such
latter portion to which each municipality in the county is
entitled shall be determined by multiplying the total of such
latter portion by the percentage which the population of each
municipality within the county bears to the total population of
all municipalities within the county.
(h) All counties and municipalities shall create a "coal
severance tax revenue fund" which shall be the depository for
Moneys distributed to any county or municipality under the
provisions of this section, from either or both special funds
Moneys in such "coal severance tax revenue funds", in compliance
with subsection (i) shall be deposited in the county or municipal
general fund and may be expended by the county commission or
governing body of the municipality for such public purposes as
the county commission or governing body shall determine to be in
the best interest of the people of its respective county or
municipality: Provided, That in counties with population in
excess of two hundred thousand, at least seventy-five percent of
such funds received from the "county coal revenue fund" shall be apportioned to, and expended within the coal-producing area or
areas of the county, said coal-producing areas of each county to
be determined generally by the state tax commissioner: Provided,
however, That in no case shall the moneys distributed under the
provisions of subsection (f) be expended for the payment of wages
to, or the salary of, any county or municipal officer or
employee. Provided, however, That a line item budgeted amount
from the current levy estimated for a county shall be funded at
one hundred percent of the preceding year's expenditure from the
county general fund prior to the use of coal severance tax
revenue fund moneys for the same general purpose: Provided
further, That said coal severance tax revenue fund moneys shall
not be budgeted for personal services in an amount to exceed one
fourth of the total funds available in such fund
(i) On or before the twenty-eighth day of March, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-six, and each twenty-eighth day of
March thereafter, each county commission or governing body of a
municipality receiving such revenue shall submit to the tax
commissioner on forms provided by the tax commissioner a special
budget, detailing how such revenue is to be spent during the
subsequent fiscal year. Such budget shall be followed in
expending such revenue unless a subsequent budget is approved by
the state tax commissioner. All unexpended balances remaining in
said special fund at the close of a fiscal year shall be reappropriated to the budget for the subsequent fiscal year.
Such reappropriation shall be entered as an amendment to the new
budget and submitted to the tax commissioner on or before the
fifteenth day of July of the current budget year
(j) On or before the fifteenth day of December, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-six, and each fifteenth day of December
thereafter, the tax commissioner shall deliver to the clerk of
the Senate and the clerk of the House of Delegates a consolidated
report of the special budgets, created by subsection (i) of this
section, for all county commissions and municipalities as of the
fifteenth day of July of the current year
(k) The state tax commissioner shall retain for the benefit
of the state from the additional taxes on coal collected the
amount of thirty-five thousand dollars annually as a fee for the
administration of such additional tax by the tax commissioner.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that coal
severance taxes received by counties and cities be budgeted in
the same manner as other revenues deposited in the county or
municipal general fund.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.