Senate Bill No. 421

(By Senators Bowman, Bailey and Craigo)

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[Introduced January 25, 2002; referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact sections three, five and six, article one-a, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to the public land corporation; requirements for leasing minerals; approval of the attorney general; and contracting for consulting services.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three, five and six, article one-a, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1A. REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURES.
§20-1A-3. Public land corporation, powers and duties.

(a) The corporation is hereby authorized and empowered to:
(1) Acquire from any persons or the state auditor or any local, state or federal agency, by purchase, lease or other agreement, any lands necessary and required for public use;
(2) Acquire by purchase, condemnation, lease or agreement, receive by gifts and devises, or exchange, rights-of-way, easements, waters and minerals suitable for public use;
(3) Sell or exchange public lands where it is determined that the sale or exchange of such tract meets any or all of the following disposal criteria:
(A) Such The tract was acquired for a specific purpose and the tract is no longer required for that or any other state purpose; or
(B) Disposal of such the tract serves important public objectives including, but not limited to, expansion of communities and economic development which cannot be achieved on lands other than public lands and which clearly outweigh other public objectives and values including, but not limited to, recreation and scenic values which would be served by maintaining such the tract in state ownership; or
(C) Such The tract, because of its location or other characteristics, is difficult and uneconomic to manage as part of the public lands and is not suitable for management by another state department or agency.
There is hereby created in the state treasury a special public land corporation fund into which shall be paid all proceeds from public land sales and exchanges. The corporation may acquire public lands from use of the payments made to the fund, along with any interest accruing to said fund. The corporation shall report annually, just prior to the beginning of the regular session of the Legislature, to the finance committees of the Legislature on the financial condition of the special fund.
(4) Sell, purchase or exchange lands or stumpage for the purpose of consolidating lands under state or federal government administration subject to the disposal criteria specified in subdivision three of this section;
(5) Negotiate and effect loans or grants from the government of the United States or any agency thereof for acquisition and development of such lands as may be authorized by law to be acquired for public use;
(6) Expend the income from the use and development of public lands for the following purposes:
(A) Liquidate obligations incurred in the acquisition, development and administration of such lands, until all such obligations have been fully discharged;
(B) Purchase, develop, restore and preserve for public use, sites, structures, objects and documents of prehistoric, historical, archaeological, recreational, architectural and cultural significance to the state of West Virginia; and
(C) Obtain grants or matching moneys available from the government of the United States or any of its instrumentalities for prehistoric, historic, archaeological, recreational, architectural and cultural purposes.
(7) The corporation shall have the authority to Designate lands, to which it has title, for development and administration for the public use including recreation, wildlife stock grazing, agricultural rehabilitation and homesteading or other conservation activities;
(8) The corporation shall have authority to Enter into leases as a lessor for the development and extraction of minerals, including coal, oil, gas, sand and or gravel, except as otherwise circumscribed herein: Provided, That leases for the development and extraction of minerals shall be made in accordance with the provisions of sections five and six of this article. The corporation shall reserve title and ownership to the mineral rights in all cases.
(9) It shall Convey, assign, or allot lands to the title or custody of proper departments or other agencies of state government for administration and control within the functions of such departments or other agencies as provided by law;
(10) The corporation shall Make proper lands available for the purpose of cooperating with the government of the United States in the relief of unemployment and hardship or for any other public purpose.
(b) There is hereby created in the state treasury a special public land corporation fund into which shall be paid all proceeds from public land sales and exchanges and rents, royalties and other payments from mineral leases. The corporation may acquire lands from the moneys in the fund, including any interest accruing to the fund. The corporation shall report annually, just prior to the beginning of the regular session of the Legislature, to the finance committees of the Legislature on the financial condition of the special fund.
(c) The corporation shall report annually to the Legislature on its public land holdings and all its leases, its financial condition and its operations and shall make such recommendations to the Legislature as deemed proper concerning the acquisition, leasing, development, disposition and use of public lands.
(d) All state agencies, institutions, divisions and departments shall make an inventory of the public lands of the state as may be by law specifically allocated to and used by each and provide to the corporation a list of such public lands and minerals, including their current use, intended use or best use to which such land lands and minerals may be put: Provided, That the state department division of highways need not provide such the inventory of public lands allocated to and used by it. The inventory shall identify those parcels of land which have no present or foreseeable useful purpose to the state of West Virginia. The inventory shall be submitted annually to the corporation by the first day of August. one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine The corporation shall compile such the inventory of all public lands and minerals and report annually to the Legislature by no later than the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety, on its public land holdings lands and minerals and the land holdings lands and minerals of the other agencies, institutions, divisions or departments of this state which are required to report their holdings to the corporation as set forth hereinabove in this subsection, and its financial condition and its operations.
During the continuance of the Blennerhassett historical park commission, the public land corporation and its members shall consult with and keep the said Blennerhassett historical park commission fully informed as to any official action to be taken or proposed to be taken pursuant to this act regarding or affecting Blennerhassett Island and its prehistoric, historic, archaeological, architectural, cultural and recreational significance or development or any of the powers and duties of the Blennerhassett historical park commission.
§20-1A-5. Public land corporation to hold public hearing before sale, lease, exchange or transfer of land or minerals.

(a) Prior to any final decision of any state agency to sell, lease as a lessor, exchange or transfer land or minerals, the public land corporation shall:
(1) Prepare and reduce to writing the reasons and supporting data regarding such the sale, lease, or exchange or transfer of land or minerals. The written reasons required under this section shall be available for public inspection at the office of the county clerk at the county courthouse of each county in which the affected land is lands or minerals are located during the two successive weeks before the date of the public hearing required by this section;
(2) Provide for a public hearing to be held at a reasonable time and place within each county in which the affected land is lands or minerals are located to allow interested members of the public to attend the hearing without undue hardship. Members of the public may be present, submit statements and testimony and question the corporation's representative appointed pursuant to this section;
(3) Not less than thirty days prior to such the public hearing, provide notice to all members of the Legislature, to the head of the governing body of any political subdivision having zoning or other land use regulatory responsibility in the geographic area within which the public lands or minerals are located and to the head of any political subdivision having administrative or public services responsibility in the geographic area within which the lands or minerals are located;
(4) Cause to be published a notice of the required public hearing. The notice shall be published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area shall be each county in which the affected land is lands or minerals are located. The public hearing shall be held no earlier than the fourteenth successive day and no later than the twenty-first successive day following the first publication of the notice. The notice shall contain the time and place of the public hearing along with a brief description of the affected land lands or minerals;
(5) Cause a copy of the required notice to be posted in a conspicuous place at the affected land for members of the public to observe. Such The notice shall remain posted for two successive weeks prior to the date of the public hearing;
(6) Appoint a representative of the corporation who shall conduct the required public hearing. The corporation's representative shall have full knowledge of all the facts and circumstances surrounding the proposed sale, lease, exchange or transfer. The representative of the corporation conducting the public hearing shall make the results of the hearing available to the corporation for its consideration prior to the board making decisions regarding the affected lands or minerals. The representative of the corporation shall make a report of the public hearing available for inspection by the public or, upon written request of any interested person, provide a written copy thereof and to all individuals previously receiving written notice of the hearing within thirty days following the public hearing; and
(7) If the evidence at the public hearing establishes by a preponderance that the appraisal provided for in subsection (c), section four of this article does not reflect the true, fair market value, the public land corporation shall cause another appraisal to be made. If the evidence at the public hearing establishes by a preponderance that the sale or exchange of land sale, lease, exchange or transfer of lands or minerals does not meet the criteria set forth in subdivision three, section three of this article, the public land corporation shall may not proceed with the sale or exchange of said land sale, lease, exchange or transfer of lands or minerals without judicial approval.
The representative of the corporation conducting the public hearing shall make the results of the hearing available to the corporation for its consideration prior to the board making decisions regarding the affected lands.
(b) No sale, exchange or transfer of land subject to the provisions of this section may be made The corporation may not sell, lease as lessor, exchange or transfer lands or minerals before the thirtieth successive day following the public hearing required by this section, but in no event shall may the sale, lease, exchange or transfer of such lands or minerals be made prior to fifteen days after the report of the public hearings are made available to the public in general.
§20-1A-6. Competitive bidding and notice requirements before the development of minerals.

(a) The corporation may enter into a lease or contract for the development of minerals, gas or oil including coal, oil, gas, sand or gravel, on or under lands in which the corporation holds any right, title or interest: Provided, That no lease or contract may be entered into for the extraction and removal of minerals by surface mining or auger mining of coal.
(b) With the exception of deep mining operations which are already in progress and permitted as of the effective date of this article fifth day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, the extraction of coal by deep mining methods under state forests or wildlife refuges may be permitted only if such the lease or contract provides that no entries, portals, air shafts or other incursions upon and into said the land incident to said the mining operations may be placed or constructed upon said the lands or within three thousand feet of the its boundary. thereof
(c) Any lease or contract entered into shall reserve to the state all rights to subjacent surface support with which the state is seized or possessed of at the time of such lease or contract.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the code to the contrary, nothing herein shall may be construed to permit extraction of minerals oil or gas by any method from, on or under any state park or state recreation area, nor the extraction of minerals by strip or auger mining upon any state forest or wildlife refuge.
(e) The corporation may enter into a lease or contract for the development of minerals oil or gas where such the lease or contract is not prohibited by any other provisions of this code, only after receiving sealed bids therefor, after notice by publication as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code. The area for such publication shall be each county in which such lands the minerals are located.
(f) The minerals oil or gas so advertised may be leased or contracted for development at not less than the fair market value, as determined by an appraisal made by an independent person or firm chosen by the corporation, to the highest responsible bidder, who shall give bond for the proper performance of the contract or lease as the corporation shall designate designates: but Provided, That the corporation shall have the right to may reject any and all bids and to readvertise for bids.
(g) If the foregoing provisions of this section have been complied with, and no bid equal to or in excess of the fair market value of such natural resources is received, the corporation may, at any time during a period of six months after the opening of the bids, lease or contract for the development of such natural resources in such manner as it is deemed appropriate the minerals, but the lease or contract price shall may not be less than the fair market value. of such natural resources advertised
(h) Any lease or contract for the development of minerals entered into after the effective date of this section shall be approved by the office of the attorney general, and shall be made in accordance with the provisions of this section and section five of this article.
(i) The corporation shall consult with competent third parties with experience and expertise in the leasing of minerals, to assist the corporation in carrying out the provisions of this section, including determining fair market value and negotiating terms and conditions of mineral leases. The provisions of article three, chapter five-a of this code, relating to purchasing procedures, do not apply to agreements or contracts for consulting purposes under this subsection.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to impose certain requirements on the sale or leasing of minerals under public lands; to make reports; to hold public hearings; to consult with experts; and to have leases approved by the Attorney General. Obsolete language concerning Blennerhassett Island has been deleted.

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

This bill is recommended by the Joint Committee on Government Operations for passage during the 2002 Regular Session.