Senate Bill No. 605
(By Senators Wooton, Redd, Burnette, Mitchell, Rowe, Hunter and
Snyder)
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[Introduced February 15, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-two, article eighteen,
chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
certification fee for hazardous waste generators; authorizing
the fee to be set by legislative rule; setting forth fee
requirements; and authorizing first-year expenditures.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two, article eighteen, chapter twenty-two
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 18. HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT.
§22-18-22. Appropriation of funds; hazardous waste management
fund.
(a) The net proceeds of all fines, penalties and forfeitures
collected under this article shall be appropriated as directed by
article XII, section 5 of the constitution of West Virginia. For
the purposes of this section, the net proceeds of such the fines,
penalties and forfeitures shall be deemed considered the proceeds
remaining after deducting therefrom those sums appropriated by the
Legislature for defraying the cost of administering this article.
All permit application fees collected under this article shall be
paid into the state treasury into a special fund designated "The
Hazardous Waste Management Fund." In making the appropriation for
defraying the cost of administering this article, the Legislature
shall first take into account the sums included in such that
special fund prior to deducting such additional sums as may be
needed from the fines, penalties and forfeitures collected pursuant
to this article.
(b) Effective on the first day of January, two thousand three,
and each year after, there is imposed an annual certification fee
for all generators of hazardous waste, as defined by the federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended. The fee will
be set by rule promulgated in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The rules
established shall, at a minimum, set different fee rates for large
and small quantity generators of hazardous waste. The total amount
of fees generated must, at a minimum, be adequate to meet the matching requirements for all federal grants which support the
hazardous waste management program.
(c) The revenues collected from the annual certification fee
shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the
"Hazardous Waste Management Fund," established in this section. In
addition to the annual certification fee, all civil assessments,
fines, penalties and forfeitures, imposed pursuant to the authority
of this article along with any other moneys, designated from
whatever source derived may be deposited into the fund. The
secretary is authorized to invest the fund to earn a reasonable
rate of return on the unexpended balance. The fund shall be an
interest bearing account and any interest accruing on investments
and unexpended moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
Expenditures from the fund shall be for the purposes set forth in
this article and are not authorized from collections, but are to be
made only in accordance with appropriation by the Legislature and
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twelve
of this code and upon the fulfillment of the provisions set forth
in article two, chapter five-a of this code: Provided, That for
the fiscal year ending the thirtieth day of June, two thousand
four, expenditures are authorized from collections rather than
pursuant to an appropriation by the Legislature. Amounts collected
which are found from time to time to exceed the funds needed for
purposes set forth in this article may be transferred to other accounts by appropriation of the Legislature.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize a
hazardous
waste generator fee to raise sufficient funds to meet the federal
matching fund requirements of the hazardous waste program
.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.