COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2572
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Ashley
[By Request of the Executive])
(Originating in the Committee on Finance)
[March 28, 1997]
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 the bond and salary of tax
commissioner; requiring that the tax commissioner be
provided office equipment; and providing that a person
selected by the attorney general at the request of the tax
commissioner to be appointed as special attorney general may
not be appointed without the consent of the tax
commissioner.
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 department division; appointment, term, oath, bond and compensation of commissioner;
powers and duties generally; divisions sections of
department 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 state 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 has 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 office, shall take the oath or affirmation prescribed by
Section 5 of Article IV of the Constitution. He The tax
commissioner 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 tax commissioner shall be repaid his or her actual disbursements for traveling expenses. He The tax
commissioner shall be provided with an office in the capitol 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 of expenditures appropriated for operation of
the tax division by the Legislature. and he The tax 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 tax 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..