Senate Bill No. 289

(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, Chafin, Plymale, Sprouse, Bailey, Edgell, Kessler, Minard, Ross, Caldwell, Sharpe, Hunter, Helmick, Fanning, Bowman, Mitchell, Rowe, Unger, Anderson, McCabe, Burnette and Prezioso)

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[Introduced January 23, 2002; referred to the Committee on Government Organization.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one, two and three, article four-b, chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating generally to the state computer donation program; including legislative findings; expanding the eligible organizations to encompass an educational facility, nonprofit organization or other public, charitable or educational enterprise or organization; providing for legislative rulemaking by the state auditor to implement the computer donation program; and eliminating the date requirement for presenting the rules to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one, two and three, article four-b, chapter twelve of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 4B. COMPUTER DONATION PROGRAM.
§12-4B-1. Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds that:
(a) Public schools Educational facilities, nonprofit organizations, juvenile detention centers, and municipal and county public safety offices or other public, charitable or educational enterprises or organizations are always in need of computers, telecommunications devices and or other technological equipment, while the acquisition of such is a costly enterprise;
(b) The state auditor must frequently purchase such computers, telecommunications devices and other technological equipment as is necessary for their interaction with national and international financial services industries;
(c) The purchase by the state auditor of modern computers, telecommunications devices and other technological equipment frequently results in the surplus of such existing equipment;
(d) Surplus equipment is generally obsolete and as such may no longer be used effectively by agency employees;
(e) Although the computers, telecommunications devices or other technological equipment is no longer useful in interacting with the financial services industry, they may still be useful items for a less complex and less high-speed dependent use;
(f) Heretofore, the state auditor has stripped the equipment for spare parts for other machines, and that this continued practice does not necessarily result in the equipment's highest and best remaining use; and
(g) Rather than break down the equipment for spare parts or send obsolete machines to the surplus property unit of the state purchasing division where they may languish with lack of use, it would be in the best interest of the state that any obsolete computers, telecommunications devices or technological equipment be donated by the state auditor's office to public schools educational facilities, nonprofit organizations, juvenile detention centers, and municipal and county public safety offices or other public, charitable or educational enterprises or organizations.
§12-4B-2. Computer donation program created.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the state auditor is hereby authorized within his or her agency to create a computer donation program for public schools educational facilities, nonprofit organizations , juvenile detention centers, and municipal and county public safety offices or other public, charitable or educational enterprises or organizations in this state. This program authorizes the state auditor's office to donate equipment to those entities which would otherwise be transferred to the surplus property unit of the purchasing division.
(b) The program shall be administered by a director as appointed or employed by the state auditor. The auditor may either appoint the director from existing staff from his or her office, or may employ a director from existing funds.
(c) The director shall keep records and accounts that indicate the equipment donated, the age of the equipment, the reasons for declaring it obsolete, and to which public school educational facility, nonprofit organization, juvenile detention center, or municipal or county public safety office, or other public, charitable or educational enterprise or organization the equipment was donated.
§12-4B-3. Legislative rules.
The state auditor shall propose legislative rules in accordance with the provisions of article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code which shall detail the regulations for the public notice implementing of the program, the method of receiving requests for participation in the program, any compliance and reporting information required of participants in the program, and the method of selecting recipients of equipment. The rules shall provide for fair and impartial selection of equipment recipients. The rules shall be presented for approval to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability by the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand organizations eligible under the state computer donation program and to provide legislative rulemaking by the state auditor to implement the program.

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