ENROLLED
H. B. 2653
(By Delegate Michael)
[Passed April 10, 1997; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact sections five-a and six, article
thirteen-a, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating
to the distribution of dedicated oil, gas and coal severance
taxes to counties and municipalities; removing the
requirement that the proceeds from the taxes be
appropriated; continuing and redisignating certain funds;
and requirements for budgeting additional tax on severance,
extraction and production of coal.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections five-a and six, article thirteen-a, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-5a. Dedication of ten percent of oil and gas severance
tax for benefit of counties and municipalities; distribution of major portion of such dedicated
tax to oil and gas producing counties;
distribution of minor portion of such dedicated
tax to all counties and municipalities; reports;
rules; special funds in the office of state
treasurer; methods and formulae for distribution
of such dedicated tax; expenditure of funds by
counties and municipalities for public purposes;
and requiring special county and municipal
budgets and reports thereon.
(a) Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-six, five percent of the tax attributable to the
severance of oil and gas imposed by section three-a of this
article is hereby dedicated for the use and benefit of counties
and municipalities within this state and shall be distributed to
the counties and municipalities as provided in this section.
Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-seven, and thereafter, ten percent of the tax attributable
to the severance of oil and gas imposed by section three-a of
this article is hereby dedicated for the use and benefit of
counties and municipalities within this state and shall be
distributed to the counties and municipalities as provided in
this section.
(b) Seventy-five percent of this dedicated tax shall be
distributed by the state treasurer in the manner specified in
this section to the various counties of this state in which the oil and gas upon which this additional tax is imposed was located
at the time it was removed from the ground. Those counties are
referred to in this section as the "oil and gas producing
counties". The remaining twenty-five percent of the net proceeds
of this additional tax on oil and gas shall be distributed among
all the counties and municipalities of this state in the manner
specified in this section.
(c) The tax commissioner is hereby granted plenary power and
authority to promulgate reasonable rules requiring the furnishing
by oil and gas 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.
(d) In order to provide a procedure for the distribution of
seventy-five percent of the dedicated tax on oil and gas to the
oil and gas producing counties, the special fund known as the
oil and gas county revenue fund established in state treasurer's
office by chapter two hundred forty-two, acts of the Legislature,
regular session, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, as
amended and reenacted in the subsequent act of the Legislature,
is hereby continued. In order to provide a procedure for the
distribution of the remaining twenty-five percent of the
dedicated tax on oil and gas to all counties and municipalities
of the state, without regard to oil and gas having been produced in those counties or municipalities, the special fund known as
the all counties and municipalities revenue fund established in
state treasurer's office by chapter two hundred forty-two, acts
of the Legislature, regular session, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-five, as amended and reenacted in the subsequent act of
the Legislature, is hereby redesignated as the "all counties and
municipalities oil and gas revenue fund" and is hereby
continued..
Seventy-five percent of the dedicated tax on oil and gas
shall be deposited in the oil and gas county revenue fund and
twenty-five percent of the dedicated tax on oil and gas shall be
deposited in the all counties and municipalities oil and gas
revenue fund, from time to time, as the proceeds are received by
the tax commissioner. The moneys in the funds shall be
distributed to the respective counties and municipalities
entitled to the moneys in the manner set forth in subsection (e)
of this section.
(e) The moneys in the oil and gas county revenue fund and
the moneys in the all counties and municipalities oil and gas
revenue fund shall be allocated among and distributed annually to
the counties and municipalities entitled to the moneys by the
state treasurer in the manner specified in this section. 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 to the moneys on that distribution date. The amount to which an oil and gas producing county is entitled
from the oil and gas county 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 oil and gas revenue fund shall be
determined in accordance with subsection (g) of this section.
After determining, as set forth in subsections (f) and (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 the county or municipality shall
issue and a check drawn thereon making payment of the sum shall
thereafter be distributed to the county or municipality.
(f) The amount to which an oil and gas producing county is
entitled from the oil and gas county revenue fund shall be
determined by:
(1) In the case of moneys derived from tax on the severance
of gas:
(A) Dividing the total amount of moneys in the fund derived
from tax on the severance of gas then available for distribution
by the total volume of cubic feet of gas extracted in this state
during the preceding year; and
(B) Multiplying the quotient thus obtained by the number of
cubic feet of gas taken from the ground in the county during the
preceding year; and
(2) In the case of moneys derived from tax on the severance
of oil:
(A) Dividing the total amount of moneys in the fund derived
from tax on the severance of oil then available for distribution
by the total number of barrels of oil extracted in this state
during the preceding year; and
(B) Multiplying the quotient thus obtained by the number of
barrels of oil taken from the ground in the county during the
preceding year.
(g) The amount to which each county and municipality is
entitled from the all counties and municipalities oil and gas
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 oil and
gas revenue fund by multiplying the total amount in the 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 the latter portion to which each municipality in
the county is entitled shall be determined by multiplying the
total of the 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) Moneys distributed to any county or municipality under
the provisions of this section, from either or both special
funds, 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 purposes as the county commission or
governing body shall determine to be in the best interest of its
respective county or municipality: Provided, That in counties
with population in excess of two hundred thousand, at least
seventy-five percent of the funds received from the oil and gas
county revenue fund shall be apportioned to and expended within
the oil and gas producing area or areas of the county, the oil
and gas producing areas of each county to be determined generally
by the state tax commissioner: Provided, however, That the
moneys distributed to any county or municipality under the
provisions of this section shall not be budgeted for personal
services in an amount to exceed one fourth of the total amount of
the moneys.
(i) On or before the twenty-eighth day of March, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, and each twenty-eighth day of
March thereafter, each county commission or governing body of a
municipality receiving any such moneys shall submit to the tax
commissioner on forms provided by the tax commissioner a special
budget, detailing how the moneys are to be spent during the
subsequent fiscal year. The budget shall be followed in
expending the moneys unless a subsequent budget is approved by
the state tax commissioner. All unexpended balances remaining in
the county or municipality general fund at the close of a fiscal
year shall remain in the general fund and may be expended by the
county or municipality without restriction.
(j) On or before the fifteenth day of December, one thousand
nine hundred ninety-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 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 dedicated tax attributable to the severance
of oil and gas the amount of thirty-five thousand dollars
annually as a fee for the administration of the additional tax by
the tax commissioner.
§11-13A-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;
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 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 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 of the coal by the
producer, multiplied by thirty-five one hundredths of one
percent. The tax imposed by this subsection is in addition to
the tax imposed by section three of this article, and this
additional tax is referred to in this section 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 be distributed by the state
treasurer in the manner specified in this section 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 referred to in this section
as the "coal-producing counties". The remaining twenty-five
percent of the net proceeds of this additional tax on coal shall
be distributed among all the counties and municipalities of this
state in the manner specified in this section.
(c) The additional tax on coal shall be due and payable,
reported and remitted as elsewhere provided in this article for
the tax imposed by section three of this article, and all of the
enforcement and other provisions of this article shall apply to
the 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 the additional tax on
coal to the coal-producing counties, the special fund known as
the "county coal revenue fund" established in the state
treasurer's office by chapter one hundred sixty-two, acts of the
Legislature, regular session, one thousand nine hundred eighty- five, as amended and reenacted in subsequent acts of the
Legislature, is hereby continued. In order to provide a
procedure for the distribution of the remaining twenty-five
percent of the net proceeds of the additional tax on coal to all
counties and municipalities of the state, without regard to coal
having been produced therein, the special fund known as the "all
counties and municipalities revenue fund" established in the
state treasurer's office by chapter one hundred sixty-two, acts
of the Legislature, regular session, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-five, as amended and reenacted in subsequent acts of the
Legislature, is hereby redesignated as the "all counties and
municipalities coal revenue fund" and is hereby continued.
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 the net proceeds shall be deposited in
the all counties and municipalities coal revenue fund, from time
to time, as the proceeds are received by the tax commissioner.
The moneys in the funds shall be distributed to the respective
counties and municipalities entitled to the moneys 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 coal revenue fund
shall be allocated among and distributed quarterly to the
counties and municipalities entitled to the moneys by the state
treasurer in the manner specified in this section. 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 to the moneys 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 is entitled from the all counties and municipalities
coal 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 each county or municipality shall issue and a check
drawn thereon making payment of such amount shall thereafter be distributed to each such 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 the 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 the county during the preceding quarter.
(g) The amount to which each county and municipality is
entitled from the all counties and municipalities coal 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 coal
revenue fund by multiplying the total amount in the 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 is the "municipalities'
portion" of the county's base share. The percentage of the
latter portion to which each municipality in the county is
entitled shall be determined by multiplying the total of the
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 the coal severance tax revenue fund, in compliance with
subsection (i) of this section, 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 the 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 the 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 the revenue unless a subsequent budget is approved by
the state tax commissioner. All unexpended balances remaining in
coal severance tax revenue fund at the close of a fiscal year
shall be reappropriated to the budget of the county commission or
governing body for the subsequent fiscal year. The
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.