Senate Bill No. 179
(By Senators Craigo and Plymale)
____________
[Introduced January 21; referred to the Committee
on Transportation; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL 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 a new section,
designated section five-a, all relating to authorizing the
commissioner of highways to fix and collect tolls, pledge
tolls as security for notes, and use toll collections for
payment of notes, maintenance and related costs.
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 a new section,
designated section five-a, 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 in the state;
(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
considered 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 division 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 the commissioner
to be expedient and
practicable;
(12) Discontinue, vacate and close any road or highway, or any part thereof, of any road or highway 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 the
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 to bridges and fix and determine grades and
elevations therefor for road rights-of-way, bridges and
approaches to bridges;
(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 any 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 the commissioner's orders, to compel compliance with
requirements of law and to protect and preserve the state road
and highway system or any part thereof of the state;
(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 the
commissioner
by law;
(25) Delegate powers and duties to his
appointees and
employees who shall act by and under
his the commissioner's
direction and be responsible to him the commissioner
for their
acts;
(26) Designate and define such any construction and
maintenance districts within the state road system as may be that
are 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 of the United States government 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 of those supplies and materials to other
governmental agencies and institutions by exchange, trade or sale
thereof of the supplies and materials;
(36) Investigate road conditions, official conduct of
department personnel and fiscal and financial affairs of the
department and hold hearings and make findings thereon on these
matters or on any other matters within the jurisdiction of the
department;
(37) Establish road policies and administrative practices;
and
(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; and
(39) Take actions necessary to alleviate such those conditions as that the governor may declare has declared 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.
(a) In connection with any issue of notes hereunder under
this article, the commissioner may pledge or assign, as security
for the payment of the principal of or interest on such the
notes, any of the following:
(a) (1) Any amounts to be received from the United States of
America, or any agency or instrumentality thereof of the United
States, as reimbursements of the costs incurred in connection
with the surface transportation improvements to be financed by
such the notes, together with the rights and interests of the
state with respect to such the reimbursement;
(b) (2) 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; seventeen
(c) (3) The proceeds of any such notes pending their use or of notes which may be issued to renew or refund such the notes;
(d) (4) The proceeds of any insurance or letters of credit
or similar arrangements undertaken in connection with the
acquisition, construction or financing of such the surface
transportation improvements;
(5) The proceeds of any tolls, or portions of tolls, charged
and collected by authority of this article and designated by the
commissioner as security for the payment of the principal of or
interest on the notes:
(e) (6) 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 the pledge or dedicated for such that purpose by
the Legislature from proprietary revenues of the state.
(b) Any such pledge or assignment shall be is valid and
binding from the time it is made, and the lien of such the pledge
or assignment shall be is enforceable and need not be perfected
by delivery or any filing or further act. Such The lien shall be
valid against all parties having claims of any kind in tort,
contract or otherwise, irrespective of whether such the parties have notice of the lien of such the pledge or assignment.
(c) 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 under this
article, setting forth therein in the agreements the 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 the notes, and
including therein in the agreements provisions restricting the
individual right of action of holders as is customary in such the
trust agreements to protect and enforce the rights and remedies
of the trustee and the holders. All expenses incurred in
carrying out such the agreement may be treated as a part of the
cost of construction of the surface transportation improvements
affected by the agreement.
§17-17A-5a. Authority for tolls for payment of notes, maintenance, and related costs.
For highway projects constructed after the first day of May,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, the commissioner of
highways may fix, revise, charge and collect tolls for the use of
highway projects and the different parts or sections of the
highway projects. The tolls shall be fixed and adjusted in
respect of the aggregate of tolls from the project or projects in
connection with which the notes of any issue may have been issued
to provide a fund sufficient with other revenues, if any, to pay
the cost of constructing, maintaining, repairing and operating
the project or projects; to pay the principal of and the interest
on the notes as they become due and payable; and to create
reserves for these purposes. The tolls are not subject to
supervision or regulation by any other commission, board, bureau,
department or agency of the state. The tolls, except the part
of the tolls as may be necessary to pay the cost of construction,
maintenance, repair and operation and to provide the reserves for
their payment as may be provided in the notes or in the trust
agreement securing the notes, shall be set aside at regular
intervals as may be provided in the notes or the trust agreement in a sinking fund which is pledged to, and charged with the
payment of: (1) The interest upon the notes as the interest
falls due;(2) the principal of the notes as it falls 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 provided in
the trust agreement. The use and disposition of moneys to the
credit of the sinking fund is subject to the provisions of the
notes or of the trust agreement. The moneys in the sinking fund,
less the reserve as may be provided in the notes or trust
agreement, if not used within a reasonable time for the purchase
of notes for cancellation, shall be applied to the redemption of
the notes at the redemption price then applicable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the
commissioner of highways to fix and collect tolls on new highway
construction projects, to pledge toll moneys collected to secure
payment of notes and associated costs, and to use toll moneys for
maintenance of the work constructed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
Section five-a, article seventeen-a, chapter seventeen is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been
omitted.