ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2254
(By Delegate Warner)
[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section eight, article two-a, chapter
seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact section
five, article seventeen-a of said chapter; and to further
amend said article by adding thereto two new sections,
designated sections five-a and five-b, all relating to
authorizing the commissioner of highways to fix and collect
tolls for transit over authorized highway projects; pledging
tolls as security for special obligation notes; uses and
control of tolls; roads upon which tolls may be charged; and
report to joint committee on government and finance.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article two-a, chapter seventeen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that section five, article
seventeen-a of said chapter be amended and reenacted; and that
said article be further amended by adding thereto two new
sections, designated sections five-a and five-b, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.
§17-2A-8. Powers, duties and responsibilities of commissioner.
In addition to all other duties, powers and responsibilities
given and assigned to the commissioner in this chapter, the
commissioner may:
(1) Exercise general supervision over the state road program
and the construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of
state roads and highways;
(2) Determine the various methods of road construction best
adapted to the various sections and areas of the state and
establish standards for the construction and maintenance of roads
and highways therein;
(3) Conduct investigations and experiments, hold hearings
and public meetings and attend and participate in meetings and
conferences within and without the state for purposes of
acquiring information, making findings and determining courses of
action and procedure relative to advancement and improvement of the state road and highway system;
(4) Enter private lands to make inspections and surveys for
road and highway purposes;
(5) Acquire, in name of the department, by lease, grant,
right of eminent domain or other lawful means, all lands and
interests and rights in lands necessary and required for roads,
rights-of-way, cuts, fills, drains, storage for equipment and
materials, and road construction and maintenance in general;
(6) Procure photostatic copies of any or all public records
on file at the state capitol of Virginia which may be deemed
necessary or proper in ascertaining the location and legal status
of public road rights-of-way located or established in what is
now the state of West Virginia, which photostatic copies, when
certified by the commissioner, may be admitted in evidence, in
lieu of the original, in any of the courts of this state;
(7) Plan for and hold annually a school of good roads, of
not less than three or more than six days' duration, for
instruction of his or her employees, which school shall be held
in conjunction with West Virginia University and may be held at
the university or at any other suitable place in the state;
(8) Negotiate and enter in reciprocal contracts and
agreements with proper authorities of other states and of the United States relating to and regulating the use of roads and
highways with reference to weights and types of vehicles,
registration of vehicles and licensing of operators, military and
emergency movements of personnel and supplies and all other
matters of interstate or national interest;
(9) Classify and reclassify, locate and relocate,
expressway, trunkline, feeder and state local service roads, and
designate by number the routes within the state road system;
(10) Create, extend or establish, upon petition of any
interested party or parties or on the commissioner's own
initiative, any new road or highway as may be found necessary and
proper;
(11) Exercise jurisdiction, control, supervision and
authority over local roads, outside the state road system, to the
extent determined by him or her to be expedient and practicable;
(12) Discontinue, vacate and close any road or highway, or
any part thereof, the continuance and maintenance of which are
found unnecessary and improper, upon petition and hearing, or
upon investigation initiated by the commissioner;
(13) Close any state road while under construction or repair
and provide a temporary road during the time of such construction
or repair;
(14) Adjust damages occasioned by construction,
reconstruction or repair of any state road or the establishment
of any temporary road;
(15) Establish and maintain a uniform system of road signs
and markers;
(16) Fix standard widths for road rights-of-way, bridges and
approaches thereto and fix and determine grades and elevations
therefor;
(17) Test and standardize materials used in road
construction and maintenance, either by governmental testing and
standardization activities or through contract by private
agencies;
(18) Allocate the cost of retaining walls and drainage
projects, for the protection of a state road or its right-of-way,
to the cost of construction, reconstruction, improvement or
maintenance;
(19) Acquire, establish, construct, maintain and operate, in
the name of the department, roadside recreational areas along and
adjacent to state roads and highways;
(20) Exercise general supervision over the construction and
maintenance of airports and landing fields under the jurisdiction
of the West Virginia state aeronautics commission, of which the commissioner is a member, and make a study and general plan of a
statewide system of airports and landing fields;
(21) Provide traffic engineering services to municipalities
of the state upon request of the governing body of any such
municipality and upon such terms as may be agreeably arranged;
(22) Institute complaints before the public service
commission or any other appropriate governmental agency relating
to freight rates, car service and movement of road materials and
equipment;
(23) Invoke any appropriate legal or equitable remedies to
enforce his or her orders, to compel compliance with requirements
of law and to protect and preserve the state road and highway
system or any part thereof;
(24) Make and promulgate rules and regulations for the
government and conduct of personnel, for the orderly and
efficient administration and supervision of the state road
program and for the effective and expeditious performance and
discharge of the duties and responsibilities placed upon him or
her by law;
(25) Delegate powers and duties to his or her appointees and
employees who shall act by and under his or her direction and be
responsible to him or her for their acts;
(26) Designate and define such construction and maintenance
districts within the state road system as may be found expedient
and practicable;
(27) Contract for the construction, improvement and
maintenance of the roads;
(28) Have authority to comply with provisions of present and
future federal aid statutes and regulations, including execution
of contracts or agreements with and cooperation in programs of
the United States government and any proper department, bureau or
agency thereof relating to plans, surveys, construction,
reconstruction, improvement and maintenance of state roads and
highways;
(29) Prepare budget estimates and requests;
(30) Establish a system of accounting covering and including
all fiscal and financial matters of the department;
(31) Have authority to establish and advance a right-of-way
acquisition revolving fund, a materials revolving fund and an
equipment revolving fund;
(32) Enter into contracts and agreements with and cooperate
in programs of counties, municipalities and other governmental
agencies and subdivisions of the state relating to plans,
surveys, construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance and supervision of highways, roads, streets, and other travel
ways when and to the extent determined by the department to be
expedient and practical;
(33) Report, as provided by law, to the governor and the
Legislature;
(34) Purchase materials, supplies and equipment required for
the state road program and system;
(35) Dispose of all obsolete and unusable and surplus
supplies and materials, which cannot be used advantageously and
beneficially by the department in the state road program, by
transfer thereof to other governmental agencies and institutions
by exchange, trade or sale thereof;
(36) Investigate road conditions, official conduct of
department personnel and fiscal and financial affairs of the
department and hold hearings and make findings thereon or on any
other matters within the jurisdiction of the department;
(37) Establish road policies and administrative practices;
(38) Fix and revise from time to time tolls for transit over
highway projects constructed by the division of highways after
the first day of May, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, that
have been authorized by the provisions of section five-b, article
seventeen-a of this chapter; and
(39) Take actions necessary to alleviate such conditions as
the governor may declare to constitute an emergency, whether or
not the emergency condition affects areas normally under the
jurisdiction of the department of highways.
ARTICLE 17A. CONSTRUCTION FINANCING FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION
IMPROVEMENTS.
§17-17A-5. Security for notes; trust agreements.
In connection with any issue of notes hereunder, the
commissioner may pledge or assign, as security for the payment of
the principal of or interest on such notes, any of the following:
(a) Any amounts to be received from the United States of
America, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, as
reimbursements of the costs incurred in connection with the
surface transportation improvements to be financed by such notes,
together with the rights and interests of the state with respect
to such reimbursement;
(b) Any amounts in the state road fund which may properly be
applied to the reimbursements of any such costs pursuant to
article three of this chapter;
(c) The proceeds of any such notes pending their use or of
notes which may be issued to renew or refund such notes;
(d) The proceeds of any insurance or letters of credit or similar arrangements undertaken in connection with the
acquisition, construction or financing of such surface
transportation improvements;
(e) The proceeds of any tolls, or portions of tolls, charged
and collected pursuant to the provisions of sections five-a and
five-b of this article that are designated by the commissioner as
security for the payment of the principal of or interest on notes
issued for the purposes described in section five-a of this
article; and
(f) Any other amounts specifically designated for the
purpose of paying any such costs, but only to the extent
appropriated by the Legislature and paid from general revenues
prior to such pledge or dedicated for such purpose by the
Legislature from proprietary revenues of the state.
Any such pledge or assignment shall be valid and binding
from the time it is made, and the lien of such pledge or
assignment shall be enforceable and need not be perfected by
delivery or any filing or further act. Such lien shall be valid
against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract
or otherwise, irrespective of whether such parties have notice of
the lien of such pledge or assignment.
The commissioner may enter into an agreement or agreements with any trust company or with any bank having the power of a
trust company, either within or outside of the state, as trustee
for the holders of notes issued hereunder, setting forth therein
such duties of the state and of the commissioner in respect of
the acquisition and construction of surface transportation
improvements, the conservation and application of all moneys, the
insurance of moneys on hand or on deposit, and the rights and
remedies of the trustee and the holders of the notes, as may be
agreed upon with the original purchasers of such notes, and
including therein provisions restricting the individual right of
action of holders as is customary in such trust agreements to
protect and enforce the rights and remedies of the trustee and
the holders. All expenses incurred in carrying out such agreement
may be treated as a part of the cost of construction of the
surface transportation improvements affected by the agreement.
§17-17A-5a. Use of tolls for construction, maintenance, repair
and operating costs; use of tolls to pay special
obligation notes.
For highway projects described in section five-b of this
article that are constructed after the first day of May, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, the commissioner of highways
is hereby authorized to fix, revise, charge and collect tolls for transit over the highway projects and the different parts or
sections thereof. The tolls shall be fixed and adjusted so that
the aggregate of tolls from the project or projects provide a
fund sufficient with other revenues, if any, to pay: (1) The
cost of constructing, maintaining, repairing and operating such
project or projects; and (2) the principal of and the interest on
any notes issued to finance the project or projects as the same
shall become due and payable, and to create reserves for such
purposes. The tolls shall not be subject to supervision or
regulation by any other commission, board, bureau, department or
agency of the state. The tolls, except such part thereof as may
be necessary to pay such cost of construction, maintenance,
repair and operation and to provide such reserves therefor as may
be provided for in the notes or in the trust agreement securing
the same, shall be set aside at such regular intervals as may be
provided in the notes or the trust agreement in a sinking fund
which is hereby pledged to, and charged with the payment of: (1)
the interest upon such notes as such interest shall fall due; (2)
the principal of such notes as the same shall fall due; (3) the
necessary charges of paying agents for paying principal and
interest; and (4) the redemption price or the purchase price of
notes retired by accelerated payment or purchase as therein provided. The use and disposition of moneys to the credit of
such sinking fund shall be subject to the provisions of the notes
or of the trust agreement. The moneys in the sinking fund, less
such reserve as may be provided for in the notes or trust
agreement, if not used within a reasonable time for the purchase
of notes for cancellation as above provided, shall be applied to
the redemption of the notes at the redemption price then
applicable.
17-17A-5b. Designation of class of toll roads.
(a) The commissioner may fix and charge tolls on any road
which meets the following criteria:
(1) The road is a fully controlled access, four lane
highway; and
(2) The road extends from the border of West Virginia and is
a continuation of a fully controlled access four lane highway in
the adjacent state; and
(3) The adjacent state charges tolls on its portion of the
highway immediately adjacent to West Virginia; and
(4) The West Virginia portion of the highway connects to
another fully controlled access four lane highway in West
Virginia.
(b) Not less than one hundred eighty days prior to the final decision of the commissioner to charge tolls on any road
described in subsection (a) of this section, the commissioner
shall provide a report to the joint committee on government and
finance setting forth:
(1) The location and a description of the road;
(2) The provisions of any special obligation notes intended
by the commissioner to be secured, in whole or in part, by tolls
charged on the road and any related trust agreements;
(3) The anticipated amount of tolls to be charged and the
duration of time the commissioner expects tolls to be charged on
the road; and
(4) Such other information that may be required by the joint
committee on government and finance.