H. B. 2733
(By Delegates Craig, Morgan,
Campbell, Amores and Stalnaker)
[Introduced January 28, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section two-a, article nine, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to criminal investigation and
special audits divisions of state tax division; and increasing
amount of unencumbered funds in special revenue account for
those divisions that is not transferred to general fund at end
of fiscal year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two-a, article nine, chapter eleven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. CRIMES AND PENALTIES.
§11-9-2a. Criminal investigation division established; funding of
same.
(a) Criminal investigation division. -- A criminal investigation division consisting of no more than twelve
investigators, of which one investigator shall serve as division
director, plus necessary support staff, all of whom are exempt from
the classified service, is hereby established in the state tax
division for the purpose of assuring compliance with laws and rules
pertaining to the taxes, fees or credits administered under article
ten of this chapter, including, but not limited to, the provisions
of articles twenty, twenty-one and twenty-three, chapter
forty-seven of this code, but not including income taxes, imposed
on individuals by article twenty of this chapter.
(b) Special audits division. -- A special audits division
consisting of no more than eight tax examiners, plus necessary
support staff, all of whom are covered by the classified service,
is hereby established in the auditing section of the state tax
division for purposes of assuring compliance with laws and rules
pertaining to taxes, fees or credits administered under article ten
of this chapter, including, but not limited to, the provisions of
articles twenty, twenty-one and twenty-three, chapter forty-seven
of this code, but not including income taxes imposed on individuals
by article twenty-one of this chapter.
(c) The Legislature hereby finds that the enforcement of the
laws and rules pertaining to the taxes, fees or credits
administered under article ten of this chapter, as such are applicable to persons whose residence or principal place of
business is outside of the state of West Virginia, requires greater
efforts and investigation than required for resident persons
subject thereto, and does further find that there is a greater rate
of noncompliance with said laws and rules by such nonresident
persons. Therefore, the criminal investigation division and the
special audits division created in subsections (a) and (b) of this
section are hereby directed to expend a significant amount of their
efforts to ensure compliance with the laws and rules pertaining to
taxes, fees or credits administered under article ten of this
chapter in accordance with the authority provided in this section,
by persons whose residence or principal place of business is
located outside the state of West Virginia.
(d) Deposits of certain fees. -- Charitable bingo fees imposed
by article twenty, chapter forty-seven of this code; charitable
raffle fees imposed by article twenty-one of said chapter; and
charitable raffle boards and games fees imposed by article
twenty-three of said chapter in an amount not to exceed the amount
appropriated by the Legislature in any fiscal year shall be
deposited in a special revenue account established in the office of
the treasurer. The special revenue account shall be used to support
compliance expenditures relating to the establishment, operation,
maintenance and support of the criminal investigation division established in subsection (a) of this section and the special
audits division established in subsection (b) of this section. Such
expenditures may include, but shall not be limited to, employee
compensation, equipment, office supplies and travel expenses. On
the last day of each fiscal year, unencumbered funds in the special
revenue account in excess of seventy-five one hundred fifty
thousand dollars shall be transferred to the general revenue fund.
(e) Investigators. -- Investigators employed in the criminal
investigation division shall have a background in accounting or law
enforcement or related fields pursuant to article twenty-nine,
chapter thirty of this code, or its equivalent. Any investigator
so designated by the tax commissioner shall have all the lawful
powers delegated to members of the division of public safety except
the power to carry firearms and shall have the authority to enforce
the provisions of this article and the criminal provisions of any
other article of this code to which this article applies, in any
county or municipality of this state. The tax commissioner shall
establish such additional standards as he or she considers
applicable or necessary. Any employee shall, before entering upon
the discharge of his or her duties, execute a bond with security in
the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, payable to the
state of West Virginia, conditioned for the faithful performance of
the employee's duties and the bond shall be approved as to form by the attorney general and shall be filed with the secretary of state
for preservation in that office. The division of public safety,
any county sheriff or deputy sheriff and any municipal police
officer upon request by the tax commissioner is hereby authorized
to assist the tax commissioner in enforcing the provisions of this
article and any criminal penalty provision of any article of this
code to which this article applies.
(f) Class A license plates. -- Notwithstanding the provisions
of article three, chapter seventeen-a of this code, upon
application by the tax commissioner and payment of fees, the
commissioner of motor vehicles shall issue a maximum of twenty
Class A license plates to be used on state owned or leased vehicles
assigned to investigators employed in the criminal investigation
division.
(g) Reports. -- On the first day of July of each year,
beginning in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the
tax commissioner shall present a written report to the joint
committee on government operations on the division's compliance
with the provisions of this section, including, but not limited to,
activities of the divisions created by this section and
disbursement of funding.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase from $75,000 to
$150,000 the amount of funds in the 7073 special revenue account
for support of the State Tax Department's Criminal Investigation
Division and Special Audits Division that may be carried over from
one fiscal year to the next.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.