H. B. 4262
(By Delegates Douglas, Kuhn and Border)
[Introduced January 28, 2002
; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
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, 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 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.