Senate Bill No. 323

 (By Senators Bailey, Bowman, Whitlow, Blatnik, Scott, Dittmar, Oliverio, Walker, Wiedebusch, Helmick, Love, Plymale, Macnaughtan, Yoder, Wagner, Schoonover, Anderson, Jackson, Dugan, Minear, Grubb, Sharpe, Chafin, Deem, Tomblin, Mr. President, Miller and Ross)
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[Introduced February 7, 1996; referred to the Committee on Military; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nineteen, article five, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to death registration; certificates; filing; payment of fee to file certificate; and veterans' memorial grave marker fund.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nineteen, article five, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. VITAL STATISTICS.
§16-5-19. Death registration.

(a) A death certificate for each death which occurs in this state shall be filed with the local registrar of the registration district in which the death occurs within three days after such the death, and prior to removal of the body from the state, and shall be registered by such the registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section: Provided, That:
(1) If the place of death is unknown, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which a dead body is found within three days after the finding;
(2) If death occurs in a moving conveyance, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which the dead body is first removed from such the conveyance; and
(3) If the death occurs in a district other than where the deceased resided, a death certificate shall be filed in the registration district in which the death occurred and in the district in which the deceased resided.
(b) The funeral director or person acting for him or her who first assumes custody of a dead body shall file the death certificate. He or she shall obtain the necessary personal data from the next of kin or the best qualified person or source available. He or she shall obtain the medical certification of the cause of death from the person responsible for making such the certification.
(c) The medical certification shall be completed and signed within twenty-four hours after death by the physician in charge of the patient's care for the illness or condition which results in death except when inquiry is required pursuant to article twelve, chapter sixty-one of this code or other applicable provision of this code.
(d) When death occurs without medical attendance and inquiry is not required pursuant to article twelve, chapter sixty-one of this code or other applicable provisions of this code, the local health officer shall investigate the cause of death and complete and sign the medical certification within twenty-four hours after receiving notice of the death.
(e) When death occurs in a manner subject to investigation, the coroner or other officer or official charged with the legal duty of making such the investigation shall investigate the cause of death and shall complete and sign the medical certification within twenty-four hours after making determination of the cause of death.
(f) In order that each county may have a complete record of the deaths occurring in said the county, the local registrar shall transmit each month to the county clerk of his or her county a copy of the certificates of all deaths occurring in said the county, and if any person shall die dies in a county other than that county within the state in which such the person last resided prior to death, then the state registrar shall, if possible, also furnish a copy of such the death certificate to the clerk of the county commission of the county wherein such the person last resided, from which copies the clerk shall compile a record of such the deaths and shall enter the same in a systematic and orderly way in a well-bound register of deaths for that county, which such the register shall be a public record. The form of said the death register shall be prescribed by the state registrar of vital statistics.
(g) There is established a special fund in the state treasury designated the "Veterans' Memorial Grave Marker Fund". The local registrar shall collect a sum of one dollar for each death certificate filed to be deposited into the veterans' memorial grave marker fund. The fund shall be administered by the director of the division of veterans' affairs and moneys deposited therein disbursed solely for providing grave markers for veterans' graves without such in perpetual cemeteries in this state.
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(NOTE: This bill would require a one dollar fee for filing a death certificate. It also establishes the veterans' memorial grave marker fund where the fee will be deposited for use in providing grave markers for veterans' graves.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)

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MILITARY COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS


On page _____, by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
That section ten, article twenty-two-a, chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22A. RACE TRACK VIDEO LOTTERY.
§29-22A-10. Accounting and reporting; commission to provide communications protocol data; distribution of net terminal income; remittance through electronic transfer of funds; establishment of accounts and nonpayment penalties; commission control of accounting for net terminal income; settlement of accounts; manual reporting and payment may be required; request for reports; examination of accounts and records.

(a) The commission shall provide to manufacturers, or applicants applying for a manufacturer's permit, the protocol documentation data necessary to enable the respective manufacturer's video lottery terminals to communicate with the commission's central computer for transmitting auditing program information and for activation and disabling of video lottery terminals.
(b) The gross terminal income of a licensed racetrack shall be remitted to the commission through the electronic transfer of funds. Licensed racetracks shall furnish to the commission all information and bank authorizations required to facilitate the timely transfer of moneys to the commission. Licensed racetracks must provide the commission thirty days' advance notice of any proposed account changes in order to assure the uninterrupted electronic transfer of funds. From the gross terminal income remitted by the licensee to the commission, the commission shall deduct an amount sufficient to reimburse the commission for its actual costs and expenses incurred in administering racetrack video lottery at the licensed racetrack, and the resulting amount after such deduction shall be the net terminal income. The amount deducted for administrative costs and expenses of the commission may not exceed four percent of gross terminal income.
(c) Net terminal income shall be divided as set out in this subsection. The licensed racetrack's share shall be in lieu of all lottery agent commissions and is considered to cover all costs and expenses required to be expended by the licensed racetrack in connection with video lottery operations. The division shall be made as follows:
(1) The commission shall receive thirty percent of net terminal income, which shall be paid into the general revenue fund of the state to be appropriated by the Legislature;
(2) Fourteen percent of net terminal income at a licensed racetrack shall be deposited in the special fund established by the licensee, and used for payment of regular purses in addition to other amounts provided for in article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code;
(3) The county where the video lottery terminals are located shall receive two percent of the net terminal income;
(4) One half of one percent of net terminal income shall be paid for and on behalf of all employees of the licensed racing association by making a deposit into a special fund to be established by the racing commission to be used for payment into the pension plan for all employees of the licensed racing association;
(5) The West Virginia thoroughbred development fund created under section thirteen-b, article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code and the West Virginia greyhound breeding development fund created under section ten, article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code shall receive an equal share of a total of not less than one and one-half percent of the net terminal income: Provided, That for any racetrack which does not have a breeder's program supported by the thoroughbred development fund or the greyhound breeding development fund, the one and one-half percent provided for in this subdivision shall be deposited in the special fund established by the licensee and used for payment of regular purses, in addition to other amounts provided for in subdivision (2) of this subsection and article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code.
(6) The West Virginia thoroughbred breeders classic shall receive one percent of the net terminal income which shall be used for purses. The moneys shall be deposited in the separate account established for the classic under section thirteen, article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code;
(7) A licensee shall receive forty-seven percent of net terminal income;
(8) The tourism promotion fund established in section nine, article one, chapter five-b of this code shall receive three percent of the net terminal income; and
(9) The veterans memorial program shall receive one percent of the net terminal income until sufficient moneys have been received to complete the veterans memorial on the grounds of the state capitol complex in Charleston, West Virginia. The money shall be deposited in the state treasury in the special department of culture and history fund created under section three, article one-i of this chapter: Provided, That after sufficient moneys have been deposited in the fund to complete the veterans memorial, the one percent of net terminal income provided for in this subdivision shall be deposited in the special fund established by the licensee and used for payment of regular purses, in addition to other amounts provided for in subdivision (2) of this subsection and article twenty-three, chapter nineteen of this code. continue to be deposited in the department of culture and history fund and be used by the division of culture and history to: (1) Restore and maintain any and all monuments and memorials located on the grounds of the capitol in Charleston, West Virginia; and (2) twenty thousand dollars, to be administered by the director of the division of veterans' affairs through rules promulgated in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, shall be used for the placement of veterans' grave markers.
(d) Each licensed racetrack shall maintain in its account an amount equal to or greater than the gross terminal income from its operation of video lottery machines, to be electronically transferred by the commission on dates established by the commission. Upon a licensed racetrack's failure to maintain this balance, the commission may disable all of a licensed racetrack's video lottery terminals until full payment of all amounts due is made. Interest shall accrue on any unpaid balance at a rate consistent with the amount charged for state income tax delinquency under chapter eleven of this code, which interest shall begin to accrue on the date payment is due to the commission.
(e) The commission's central control computer shall keep accurate records of all income generated by each video lottery terminal. The commission shall prepare and mail to the licensed racetrack a statement reflecting the gross terminal income generated by the licensee's video lottery terminals. Each licensed racetrack must report to the commission any discrepancies between the commission's statement and each terminal's mechanical and electronic meter readings. The licensed racetrack is solely responsible for resolving income discrepancies between actual money collected and the amount shown on the accounting meters or on the commission's billing statement.
(f) Until an accounting discrepancy is resolved in favor of the licensed racetrack, the commission may make no credit adjustments. For any video lottery terminal reflecting a discrepancy, the licensed racetrack shall submit to the commission the maintenance log which includes current mechanical meter readings and the audit ticket which contains electronic meter readings generated by the terminal's software. If the meter readings and the commission's records cannot be reconciled, final disposition of the matter shall be determined by the commission. Any accounting discrepancies which cannot be otherwise resolved shall be resolved in favor of the commission.
(g) Licensed racetracks shall remit payment by mail if the electronic transfer of funds is not operational or the commission notifies licensed racetracks that remittance by this method is required. The licensed racetracks shall report an amount equal to the total amount of cash inserted into each video lottery terminal operated by a licensee, minus the total value of game credits which are cleared from the video lottery terminal in exchange for winning redemption tickets, and remit such amount as generated from its terminals during the reporting period. The remittance shall be sealed in a properly addressed and stamped envelope and deposited in the United States mail no later than noon on the day when the payment would otherwise be completed through electronic funds transfer.
(h) Licensed racetracks may, upon request, receive additional reports of play transactions for their respective video lottery terminals and other marketing information not considered confidential by the commission. The commission may charge a reasonable fee for the cost of producing and mailing any report other than the billing statements.
(i) The commission has the right to examine all accounts, bank accounts, financial statements and records in a licensed racetrack's possession, under its control or in which it has an interest and the licensed racetrack must authorize all third parties in possession or in control of the accounts or records to allow examination of any of those accounts or records by the commission.

And,

On page one, by striking out the title and substituting therefor a new title, to read as follows:
Eng. Senate Bill No. 323--A Bill to amend and reenact section ten, article twenty-two-a, chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the completion of the veterans memorial by deposit of income from video lottery terminals into the department of culture and history fund; and continuing deposits to the fund upon completion of the veterans' memorial for the purpose of restoring and maintaining monuments located on the capitol grounds and establishing and maintaining the veterans' memorial grave marker fund.