H. B. 2572
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Ashley)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Introduced March 17, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article one, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating generally to the
state tax division; increasing salary of tax commissioner;
eliminating requirement that commissioner's office be in
capitol building; and specifying effective date.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article one, 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 1. SUPERVISION.
§11-1-1. Office of tax commissioner continued and designated the
state tax division; appointment, term, oath bond, and
compensation of commissioner; powers and duties generally; sections of division; assistant tax
commissioner; assistant attorneys general to assist
commissioner.
(a) The office of the tax commissioner shall be continued in
all respects as heretofore constituted in the state government,
but is hereby designated as the state tax division of the
department of tax and revenue.
(b) The tax commissioner shall be the chief executive
officer of the department tax division and shall be appointed by
the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
to serve at the will and pleasure of the governor for the term
for which the governor was elected and until a successor has been
appointed and qualified. The tax commissioner in office when
this section takes effect [March 11, 1967] shall, unless sooner
removed, continue to serve until his term expires, and his
successor has been appointed and has qualified.
(c) The tax commissioner, before entering upon the duties of
his or her office, shall take the oath or affirmation prescribed
by Section 5 of Article IV of the Constitution. He or she shall
give bond with good security, to be approved by the governor, in
the penalty of five fifteen thousand dollars. The salary of the
tax commissioner shall be sixteen sixty-five thousand dollars a
year or the amount specified in section two-a, article seven, chapter six of this code, whichever amount is greater. He The
commissioner shall be repaid his or her actual disbursements for
traveling expenses. He The commissioner shall be provided with
an office in the capitol space occupied by the tax division in
Charleston and with such furniture, office equipment and clerical
assistance as shall be necessary.
(d) The tax commissioner shall have control and supervision
of the state tax department division and shall be responsible for
the work of each of its divisions sections or other subunits.
Each division section or bureau shall be headed by a director
appointed by the tax commissioner and who shall be responsible to
the tax commissioner for the work of his or her division section
or bureau. The tax commissioner may create such divisions
sections or bureaus and employ such staff or employees as may be
necessary to administer the state tax laws for which he or his
department the tax commissioner or tax division is responsible,
within the amount appropriated for operation of the tax division
by the Legislature. and he The commissioner shall have authority
to appoint an assistant tax commissioner who shall be his or her
principal assistant. The powers and duties vested in the tax
commissioner by this chapter and any other provisions of law may
be delegated by him the commissioner to such the assistant or
other employees, but the tax commissioner shall be responsible for all official acts of such delegates.
(e) The tax commissioner, if he or she deems such action
necessary, may request the attorney general to appoint assistant
attorneys general who shall perform such duties as may be
required by the tax commissioner. The attorney general, in
pursuance of such request, may select and appoint assistant
attorneys general, with the consent of the tax commissioner, to
serve during the will and pleasure of the attorney general, and
such the assistants shall be paid out of any funds made available
for that purpose by the Legislature to the state tax department
division.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the salary of
the Tax Commissioner to $65,000 per year and to eliminate the
requirement that the Tax Commissioner have an office in the
Capitol Building.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.