Senate Bill No. 619

(By Senator Snyder)

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[Introduced March 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to granting authority to the school building authority to use school building authority funding to lease school buildings from private contractors who build and maintain the school buildings and premises.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.

 ยง18-9D-3. Powers of authority.
The school building authority has the power:
(1) To sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded;
(2) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;
(3) To contract to acquire and to acquire, in the name of the authority by purchase, lease-purchase not to exceed a term of twenty-five years, or otherwise, real property or rights or easements necessary or convenient for its corporate purposes and to exercise the power of eminent domain to accomplish those purposes;
(4) To authorize agreements between county boards of education and private entities or individuals to lease school buildings and school facilities which have been or will be constructed at the cost of the private individual or entity and which may be maintained by the private entity or individual and to pledge moneys for full or partial funding for such leases in accordance with legislative appropriations and other available moneys as may exist under the provisions of subsection (d), section fifteen of this article.
(4) (5) To acquire, hold and dispose of real and personal property for its corporate purposes;
(5) (6) To make bylaws for the management and rule of its affairs;
(6) (7) To appoint, contract with and employ attorneys, bond counsel, accountants, construction and financial experts, underwriters, financial advisers, trustees, managers, officers and such other employees and agents as may be necessary in the judgment of the authority and to fix their compensation: Provided, That contracts entered into by the school building authority in connection with the issuance of bonds under this article to provide professional and technical services, including, without limitation, accounting, actuarial, underwriting, consulting, trustee, bond counsel, legal services and contracts relating to the purchase or sale of bonds are subject to the provisions of article three, chapter five-a of this code: Provided, however, That notwithstanding any other provisions of this code, any authority of the attorney general of this state relating to the review of contracts and other documents to effectuate the issuance of bonds under this article shall be exclusively limited to the form of the contract and document: Provided further, That the attorney general of this state shall complete all reviews of contracts and documents relating to the issuance of bonds under this article within ten calendar days of receipt of the contract and document for review;
(7) (8) To make contracts and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient to effectuate the intent of and to exercise the powers granted to it by this article;
(8) (9) To renegotiate all contracts entered into by it whenever, due to a change in situation, it appears to the authority that its interests will be best served;
(9) (10) To acquire by purchase, eminent domain or otherwise all real property or interests in the property necessary or convenient to accomplish the purposes of this article;
(10) (11) To require proper maintenance and insurance of any project authorized under this section;
(11) (12) To charge rent for the use of all or any part of a project or buildings at any time financed, constructed, acquired or improved, in whole or in part, with the revenues of the authority;
(12) (13) To assist any county board of education that chooses to acquire land, buildings and capital improvements to existing school buildings and property for use as public school facilities, by lease from a private or public lessor for a term not to exceed twenty-five years with an option to purchase pursuant to an investment contract with the lessor on such terms and conditions as may be determined to be in the best interests of the authority, the state board of education and the county board of education, consistent with the purposes of this article, by transferring funds to the state board of education as provided in subsection (e), section fifteen of this article for the use of the county board of education;
(13) (14) To accept and expend any gift, grant, contribution, bequest or endowment of money to, or for the benefit of, the authority, from the state of West Virginia or any other source for any or all of the purposes specified in this article or for any one or more of such purposes as may be specified in connection with the gift, grant, contribution, bequest or endowment;
(14) (15) To enter on any lands and premises for the purpose of making surveys, soundings and examinations;
(15) (16) To contract for architectural, engineering or other professional services considered necessary or economical by the authority to provide consultative or other services to the authority or to any regional educational service agency or county board requesting professional services offered by the authority, to evaluate any facilities plan or any project encompassed in the plan, to inspect existing facilities or any project that has received or may receive funding from the authority, or to perform any other service considered by the authority to be necessary or economical. Assistance to the region or district may include the development of preapproved systems, plans, designs, models or documents; advice or oversight on any plan or project; or any other service that may be efficiently provided to regional educational service agencies or county boards by the authority;
(16) (17) To provide funds on an emergency basis to repair or replace property damaged by fire, flood, wind, storm, earthquake or other natural occurrence, the funds to be made available in accordance with guidelines of the school building authority;
(17) (18) To transfer moneys to custodial accounts maintained by the school building authority with a state financial institution from the school construction fund and the school improvement fund created in the state treasury pursuant to the provisions of section six of this article, as necessary to the performance of any contracts executed by the school building authority in accordance with the provisions of this article;
(18) (19) To enter into agreements with county boards and persons, firms or corporations to facilitate the development of county board projects and county board facilities plans. The county board participating in an agreement shall pay at least twenty-five percent of the cost of the agreement. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede, limit or impair the authority of county boards to develop and prepare their projects or plans; and
(19) (20) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers given in this article.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to grant authority to the school building authority to use school building authority funding to lease school buildings from private contractors who build or maintain the school buildings and premises.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.