Senate Bill No. 137

(By Senators Craigo, Dittmar, Ross, Helmick, Sharpe and Anderson)

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[Introduced February 27, 1997; referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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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 the additional tax to coal-producing counties; distribution of minor portion of the additional tax to all counties and municipalities; reports; rules; creation of special funds in office of state treasurer; method and formulas for distribution of the 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 thereof of the coal by the producer, multiplied by thirty-five one hundredths of one percent. The tax imposed by this subsection shall be is in addition to the tax imposed by section three of this article, and this additional tax is hereinafter referred to 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 of the net proceeds by the Legislature, be distributed by the state treasurer in the manner hereinafter 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 hereinafter referred to 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 in this section.
(c) Such The 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 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 propose reasonable rules for promulgation under ariticlearticle three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code 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 may also hereby granted plenary power and authority to promulgate such propose other reasonable rules for promulgation under ariticlearticle three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code 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 the additional tax on coal to such the 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 the additional tax on coal to all counties and municipalities of the state, without regard to coal having been produced, therein in the counties and municipalities 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 the additional tax on coal shall be deposited in the "county coal revenue fund" and twenty-five percent of such the net proceeds shall be deposited in the "all counties and municipalities revenue fund," from time to time, as such the proceeds are received by the tax commissioner. The moneys in such the funds shall, after appropriation thereof of the moneys by the Legislature, be distributed to the respective counties and municipalities entitled thereto 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 revenue fund" shall be allocated among and distributed quarterly to the counties and municipalities entitled thereto to the moneys by the state treasurer in the manner hereinafter 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 thereto 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 shall be is 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 the fund or funds making payment of such the sum shall thereafter be distributed to such the 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 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 such the 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 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 is the "municipalities' portion" of the county's "base share." The percentage of such the latter portion to which each municipality in the county is entitled shall be determined by multiplying the total of such 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 such the "coal severance tax revenue funds", 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 such 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 the coal-producing areas of each county to be determined generally by the state tax commissioner: 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 however, That said 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 the 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 the revenue shall submit to the tax commissioner on forms provided by the tax commissioner a special budget, detailing how such the revenue is to be spent during the subsequent fiscal year. Such The budget shall be followed in expending such this revenue unless a subsequent budget is approved by the state tax commissioner. All unexpended balances remaining in said the special fund at the close of a fiscal year shall be reappropriated to the budget for the subsequent fiscal year. Such 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 annually 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 the additional tax by the tax commissioner.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement in present law that any line item be funded 100 percent of the preceding year's expenditure before budgeting coal severance tax revenue for this item.

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