COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 667
(By Senators Jackson, Plymale, Mitchell, Ross, Bailey, Snyder and Kessler)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported March 1, 1999.]
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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 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; proposing the creation of a program to donate the technological property to the public schools; proposing rules to administer this article; 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.
§12-4bB-1. Extended use of computer, telecommunications and other technological items subject to obsolescence,; legislative findings.
The Legislature finds and declares:
(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 public schools are always in need of computers, telecommunications devices and other forms of technology,. hHowever, the acquisition of such technology is costly;
(c) That the state auditor must frequently purchase computers and telecommunications equipment that are necessary for his or her interaction with national and international financial services industries;
(d) That the purchase by the state auditor of equipment that enables him or her to interact with the financial services industry frequently results in the release of existing computers, telecommunications devices and other equipment. This existing equipment is then pushed on through the respective agencies until the equipment may no longer be used effectively by agency employees;
(e) That although the computers, telecommunications equipment or other technological items are no longer useful in interacting with financial services industries, there may still be use of the items 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 and this continued practice does not necessarily result in the property's highest and best remaining use; and
(g) That 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 public schools for the state auditor to create a program whereby he or she may donate the obsolete items to the public schools.
§12-4bB-2. Creation of computer and telecommunications program.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the code to the contrary, the state auditor is 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. Under the program, equipment is donated to public schools that otherwise would have gone to the state's surplus property agency.
(b) The program shall be administered by a director appointed by the state auditor. The state auditor may appoint an existing staff person as director or employ, from existing funds, a director to administer the program.
(c) The director shall keep records and accounts needed to show what equipment was donated; the age of the equipment; reasons for its obsolescence; and to what public school the equipment was donated.
§12-4bB-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:
(a) Detail his or her regulations for the public notice of the program;
(b) Set forth a method of receiving requests for participation in the program;
(c) Set forth a method of selection. The selection shall be fair and impartial; and
(d) Set forth any compliance and reporting information he or she anticipates requiring from participants in the donation program.
§12-4bB-4. Severability.
If any provision of this article or the application of this article 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.