Senate Bill No. 14
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced January 8, 2003; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten-a, article three, chapter
five-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to state, county and
municipal contracts generally; and prohibiting counties and
municipalities from contracting with vendors owing a debt to
the state or any county or municipality.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten-a, article three, chapter five-a of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.
§5A-3-10a. Prohibition for awarding contracts to vendors which owe
a debt to the state; a county or a municipality.
(a) Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning,
for the purposes of this section the terms:
(1) "Debt" means any assessment, penalty, fine, tax or other
amount of money owed to the state because of a judgment, fine,
permit violation, license assessment, penalty or other assessment
presently due and required to be paid to the state or any of its
political subdivisions, including any interest or additional
penalties accrued thereon;
(2) "Debtor" means any individual, corporation, partnership,
association, limited liability company or any other form or
business association owing a debt to the state or any of its
political subdivisions;
(3) "Related party" means a party, whether an individual,
corporation, partnership, association, limited liability company or
any other form or business association or other entity whatsoever
related to any vendor by blood, marriage, ownership or contract
through which the party has a relationship of ownership or other
interest with the vendor, so that the party will actually or by
effect receive or control a portion of the benefit, profit or other
consideration from performance of a vendor contract with the party
receiving an amount that meets or exceeds five percent of the total
contract amount.
(b) No contract or renewal of any contract may be awarded
under this article by the state, a county or a municipality to any
vendor or prospective vendor when the vendor or prospective vendor
or a related party to the vendor or prospective vender is a debtor as defined in this section and the debt owed is an amount greater
than five thousand dollars in the aggregate.
(c) The prohibition of this section does not apply where a
vendor has contested any tax administered pursuant to chapter
eleven of this code, workers' compensation premium, permit fee or
environmental fee or assessment, and the matter has not become
final, or where the vendor has entered into a payment plan or
agreement and the vendor is not in default of any of the provisions
of such plan or agreement.
(d) All bids submitted under this article shall include an
affidavit that the bidder and all related parties do not owe any
debts or, if a debt is owed, that the provisions of subsection (c)
of this section apply.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit counties and
municipalities from contracting with vendors owing a debt to the
state or any county or municipality.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.