Senate Bill No. 667
(By Senators Jackson, Plymale, Mitchell, Ross, Bailey, Snyder
and Kessler)
____________
[Introduced February 22, 1999;
referred to the Committee on Education.]
____________
A BILL to amend chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article four-b, relating
to the duties of the state auditor and the further use by
the public schools of computers, telecommunications and
other technological items that would otherwise be stripped
of any use or value upon their obsolescence and delivered to
the state's surplus property agency; legislative findings;
proposal of creation of program to donate such property to
the public schools; proposal of rules to administer this
section; and severability clause.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article four-b, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 4B. SURPLUS COMPUTER AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROPERTY.
§12-4b-1. Extended use of computer, telecommunications and other
technological items subject to obsolescence,
legislative findings.
(a) That the support for West Virginia's public schools is a
paramount concern of all West Virginians and a priority of all of
state government.
(b) That the public schools are always in need of computers,
telecommunications devices and other forms of technology, however
the acquisition of such is a costly enterprise.
(c) That the state auditor must frequently purchase such
computing and telecommunications equipment as is necessary for
their interaction with the nation's and international financial
services industries.
(d) That each purchase by the state auditor to purchase equipment that enables them to interact with the financial services industry frequently results in the releasing from use of
existing computing, telecommunications and other equipment, which
is then pushed on through the respective agencies until such
equipment may no longer be used effectively by agency employees.
(e) That although the computer, telecommunications equipment
or other technological item is no longer useful in interacting
with the financial services industry, there may still be use of
the item for a less complex and less high speed dependent use.
(f) That, heretofore, the state auditor has stripped these
machines for spare parts for other machines, this continued
practice does not necessarily result in the property's highest
and best remaining use.
(g) Therefore, rather than break down the machines for spare
parts or send obsolete machines to surplus property where they
may languish with lack of use, the Legislature finds that it
would be in the interest of the public schools for the state
auditor to create a program whereby he or she may donate such
obsolete items to the public schools.
§12-4b-2. Creation of computer and telecommunications program.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the code to the contrary, the state auditor is hereby authorized within his or
her agency to create a computer and telecommunications and other
technology equipment donation program for the public schools of
this state by donating equipment to the public schools that
otherwise would have gone to the state's surplus property agency.
(b) Such program shall be administered by a director
appointed by the auditor who may appoint existing staff to
administer this task or employ, from existing funds, a director
to so administer the program.
(c) The director shall keep such records and accounts as to
show what equipment was donated; the age of the equipment and
reasons for determining its obsolescence; and to what public
school the equipment was donated.
§12-4b-3. Proposal of rules for administration of program.
The state auditor shall propose rules for legislative
approval in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code which shall detail his or her
regulations for the public notice of the program, method of
receiving requests for participation in the program, method of
selection and such selection shall be fair and impartial, and any compliance and reporting information he or she anticipates
requiring from participants in the donation program.
§12-4b-4. Severability.
If any provision of this article or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity
shall not affect other provisions or applications of the chapter
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are
severable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enable the State
Auditor to donate obsolete telecommunications, computing and
other technological equipment to public schools through the
administration of a fair and impartial donation program run by
the auditor and operating through legislatively approved rules.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.