ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. J. R. 104

(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Martin, Michael, Mezzatesta, Ashley, Pino and Fleischauer)


[Adopted March 9, 1998]


Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending article ten thereof by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight-a, relating to the authority of the Legislature to define types of improvement projects and to authorize the issuance by counties or municipalities of bonds to be payable from revenues derived from increased real or personal property taxes on such improvement projects in the county or municipality upon approval by majority vote in the county or counties and in the municipality where the proposed project is located; numbering and designating the proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of the proposed amendment.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the State at the next general election to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, which proposed amendment is that article ten thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§8a.Issuance of bonds payable from incremental increases in property taxes:; voter approval required.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this constitution to the contrary, the Legislature by general law may define and prescribe specific types of material improvements to real and personal property which constitute economic development projects and authorize the issuance by counties or municipalities of bonds to finance the public portion of those economic development projects. The Legislature may further determine the rights, remedies and conditions governing the projects, which may be located upon one or more parcels of real estate owned by one or more public or private entities.
The economic development projects shall be entered, valued and assessed on the land and personal property tax records of the appropriate taxing authority. The entries shall be made separately from the property so improved and, if located in more than one county or municipality, by separate entry for each applicable tax rate. The separate assessment is in addition to, and not in lieu of, the assessment for the property prior to the improvement. The bonds are payable from the property taxes on the private portion of the economic development projects.
No tax revenues of the county or municipality may be pledged to, or used for, the payment of the bonds, except for the increased tax revenues. The bonds issued shall be for a term not to exceed 40forty tax years, and may provide for the pledge of any other funds as the owner of the improvements may by contract or otherwise be required to pay. Upon payment in full of the bonds, the increased tax revenues shall revert to the appropriate levying bodies. The increased tax revenues from which the bonds may be paid shall not include taxes from excess levies, bond levies or other special levies.
No bonds may be issued unless the issuance of the bonds is approved by a majority of the voters of the county or counties if it is the issuing body, or if a municipality is the issuing body, by a majority of the voters in both the municipality and the county in which the municipality is located.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, this proposed amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as the "Local Option Economic Development Amendment", and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State Constitution to permit the Legislature to authorize the financing of the public portion of economic development projects through the issuance by counties or municipalities of bonds payable from increases in real and personal property taxes, not including taxes from excess levies, bond levies or other special levies, on the private portion of the economic development projects. Upon payment in full of the bonds, for a term not to exceed forty40 years, the increased tax revenues revert to the appropriate levying bodies. No tax revenues of the county or counties or municipality may be pledged to, or used for, the payment of the bonds, except for the increased tax revenues. No bonds may be issued unless the issuance of the bonds is approved by a majority of the voters of the county if it is the issuing body, or if a municipality is the issuing body, by a majority of the voters in both the municipality and the county in which the municipality is located."