Senate Bill No. 327

(By Senator Chafin)

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[Introduced March 13, 1997; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to establish the "Robert C. Byrd Expressway Authority"; functions; members; appointment; powers and duties; officers; bylaws; rules and regulations; compensation; authority as corporate body; and severability.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ROBERT C. BYRD EXPRESSWAY AUTHORITY.
§1. Expressway authority created; functions.
There is hereby created a Robert C. Byrd Expressway Authority, to promote and advance the construction of a modern highway, otherwise known as Corridor G, through Kanawha, Boone, Lincoln, Logan and Mingo counties and to coordinate with counties, municipalities, state and federal agencies, public nonprofit corporations, private corporations, associations, partnerships and individuals for the purpose of planning, assisting and establishing recreational, tourism, industrial, economic and community development of the Robert C. Byrd expressway for the benefit of the region and all West Virginians.
§2. Members; appointment; officers; bylaws; rules and regulations; compensation.
(a) The authority consists of five voting members and two ex officio nonvoting members. All members shall be appointed before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight.
(b) Each of the county commissions of the counties of Kanawha, Boone, Lincoln, Logan and Mingo shall appoint one voting member to the commission. The terms of the voting members initially appointed by a county commission are as follows: One member from Kanawha, Boone and Lincoln counties shall be appointed for a term of one year and one member from Logan and Mingo counties shall be appointed for a term of two years. All successive appointments are for terms of four years. Any voting member may be removed for cause by the appointing county commission.
(c) The two ex officio nonvoting members are the commissioner of highways, or his or her designee, and the executive director of the West Virginia development office, or his or her designee. All terms of ex officio nonvoting members are for four years.
(d) Should a vacancy occur, the person appointed to fill the vacancy shall serve only for the unexpired portion thereof. All members are eligible for reappointment.
(e) The authority shall meet annually on the third Monday in July and monthly on a day and at a time that the authority designates in its bylaws. A special meeting may be called by the president, the secretary or any two members of the authority and may be held only after all members are given notice of the meeting in writing. The presence of three voting members constitutes a quorum for all meetings. At each annual meeting of the authority, it shall elect a president, secretary and treasurer. The authority shall adopt bylaws, rules and regulations as may be necessary for its operation and management.
§3. Powers of authority.
The authority, as a public corporation and governmental instrumentality exercising public powers of the state, may exercise all powers necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this article, including, but not limited to, the power:
(1) To acquire, own, hold, and dispose of property, real and personal, tangible and intangible;
(2) To lease property, whether as lessee or lessor, and to acquire or grant through easement, license or other appropriate legal form, the right to develop and use property and open it to the use of the public;
(3) To sue and be sued;
(4) To adopt, use and alter a corporate seal;
(5) To promote economic development and tourism along the Robert C. Byrd expressway;
(6) To advocate actions consistent with its plan of economic development and tourism or its provisions to or before any governmental entity or any private person or entity;
(7) To otherwise act in an advisory capacity with regard to any aspects of the Robert C. Byrd expressway at the request of or without the request of any governmental entity or private person or entity;
(8) To zone property adjacent to the expressway;
(9) To regulate advertising along the expressway; and
(10) To regulate the speed limit on the expressway.
The authority may own any of the real estate or real property herein described for development and is responsible for operating or maintaining the parkway.
Each voting member of the authority shall be compensated monthly by the governing body that appointed him or her, in an amount to be fixed by the governing body.
§4. Body corporate.
The authority hereby created is a public corporation with all the powers and duties thereof.
§5. Severability.
If any provision of this act is held invalid, that invalidity does not affect other provisions hereof which can be given effect without the invalid provision, and to this end, the provisions of this act are severable.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the Robert C. Byrd Expressway Authority.

This local act is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.