Senate Bill No. 437
(By Senator Tomblin, Mr. President)
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[Introduced February 4, 2003; referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article six, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section forty, article three, chapter five-a of said code, all relating to requiring that the joint committee on government and finance approve any acquisitions, rental contracts, leases or other long-term agreements for state office space, buildings or grounds by the building commission or the secretary of administration.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article six, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section forty, article three, chapter five-a of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 6. STATE BUILDING COMMISSION.
§5-6-4. Powers of commission.
(a) The commission has the power:
(1) To sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded;
(2) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;
(3) To contract to acquire and to acquire, in the name of the commission or of the state, by purchase, lease, lease-purchase or otherwise, real property or rights or easements necessary or convenient for its corporate purposes and to exercise the power of eminent domain to accomplish those purposes;
(4) To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property for its corporate purposes;
(5) To make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs;
(6) With the consent of the attorney general of the state of West Virginia, to use the facilities of his or her office, assistants and employees in all legal matters relating to or pertaining to the commission;
(7) To appoint officers, agents and employees and fix their compensation;
(8) To make contracts, and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient to effectuate the intent of, and to exercise the powers granted to it by this article;
(9) To renegotiate all contracts entered into by it whenever, due to a change in situation, it appears to the commission that its interests will be best served;
(10) To construct a building or buildings on real property, which it may acquire, or which may be owned by the state of West Virginia, in the city of Charleston, as convenient as may be to the capitol building, together with incidental approaches, structures and facilities, subject to the consent and approval of the city of Charleston in any case as may be necessary; and, in addition, to acquire or construct a warehouse, including office space in the warehouse in Kanawha County for the West Virginia alcohol beverage control commissioner, and equip and furnish the office space; and to acquire or construct, through lease, purchase, lease-purchase or bond financing, hospitals or other facilities, buildings, or additions or renovations to buildings as may be necessary for the safety and care of patients, inmates and guests at facilities under the jurisdiction of and supervision of the division of health and at institutions under the jurisdiction of the division of corrections or the regional jail and correctional facilities authority; and to formulate and program plans for the orderly and timely capital improvement of all of the hospitals and institutions and the state capitol buildings; and to construct a building or buildings in Kanawha County to be used as a general headquarters by the division of public safety to accommodate that division's executive staff, clerical offices, technical services, supply facilities and dormitory accommodations; and to develop, improve and expand state parks and recreational facilities to be operated by the division of natural resources; and to establish one or more systems or complexes of buildings and projects under control of the commission; and, subject to prior agreements with holders of bonds previously issued, to change the systems, complexes of buildings and projects from time to time, in order to facilitate the issuance and sale of bonds of different series on a parity with each other or having such priorities between series as the commission may determine; and to acquire by purchase, eminent domain or otherwise all real property or interests in the real property necessary or convenient to accomplish the purposes of this subdivision. The rights and powers set forth in this subdivision shall not be construed as in derogation of any rights and powers now vested in the West Virginia alcohol beverage control commissioner, the department of health and human resources, the division of corrections or the division of natural resources;
(11) To maintain, construct and operate a project authorized under this article;
(12) To charge rentals for the use of all or any part of a project or buildings at any time financed, constructed, acquired or improved, in whole or in part, with the proceeds of sale of bonds issued pursuant to this article, subject to and in accordance with such agreements with bondholders as may be made as provided in this article: Provided, That on and after the effective date of the amendments to this section, to charge rentals for the use of all or any part of a project or buildings at any time financed, constructed, acquired, maintained or improved, in whole or in part, with the proceeds of sale of bonds issued pursuant to this article, subject to and in accordance with such agreements with bondholders as may be made as in this section provided, or with any funds available to the state building commission, including, but not limited to, all buildings and property owned by the state of West Virginia or by the state building commission, but no rentals shall be charged to the governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, the Legislature and the members of the Legislature, the supreme court of appeals, nor for their offices, agencies, official functions and duties;
(13) To issue negotiable bonds and to provide for the rights of the holders of the negotiable bonds;
(14) To accept and expend any gift, grant or contribution of money to, or for the benefit of, the commission, from the state of West Virginia or any other source for any or all of the purposes specified in this article or for any one or more of such purposes as may be specified in connection with the gift, grant or contribution;
(15) To enter on any lands and premises for the purpose of making surveys, soundings and examinations;
(16) To invest in United States government obligations, on a short-term basis, any surplus funds which the commission may have on hand pending the completion of any project or projects;
(17) To issue revenue bonds in accordance with the applicable provisions of this article for the purposes set forth in section eleven-a of this article; and
(18) To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers given in this article.
(19) (b) The power and authority granted to the state building commission pursuant to this section and sections seven, eight and eleven-a of this article to initiate, acquire, construct, finance or develop projects; to issue revenue bonds; or to exercise the power of eminent domain with respect to any project, shall terminate on the effective date of this section: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed to affect the validity of any act of the state building commission prior to the effective date of this section or to impair the rights of bondholders with respect to bonds or other evidence of indebtedness issued prior to the effective date of this section. Following the effective date of this section, the secretary of administration may exercise any power expressly granted pursuant to this article with respect to any project or facility previously constructed or acquired, any existing contractual obligations, and any outstanding bonded indebtedness. Refunding bonds for any outstanding bonded indebtedness are authorized, subject to the provisions of article two-e, chapter thirteen of this code. The West Virginia economic development authority provided for in article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code is designated to act as the governing body whose authorizations and determinations are required for the purpose of refunding bonds.
(c) Any purchase, lease purchase, lease or rental of real property, including the construction of new buildings or other acquisition of buildings, office space or grounds, by the commission or the secretary of administration pursuant to authority granted by the provisions of this article is subject to prior review and approval of the joint committee on government and finance.

§5A-3-40. Selection of grounds, etc.; acquisition by contract or lease; long-term leases; requiring approval of secretary for permanent changes.

The secretary shall have has sole authority to select and to acquire by contract or lease, in the name of the state, all grounds, buildings, office space or other space, the rental of which is necessarily required by any spending unit, upon a certificate from the chief executive officer or his or her designee of said spending unit that the grounds, buildings, office space or other space requested is necessarily required for the proper function of said the spending unit, that the spending unit will be responsible for all rent and other necessary payments in connection with the contract or lease, and that satisfactory grounds, buildings, office space or other space is not available on grounds and in buildings now then owned or leased by the state. The secretary shall, before executing any rental contract or lease, determine the fair rental value for the rental of the requested grounds, buildings, office space or other space, in the condition in which they exist, and shall contract for or lease said those premises at a price not to exceed the fair rental value thereof.
The secretary is hereby authorized to enter into long-term agreements for buildings, land and space for periods longer than one fiscal year: Provided, That such long-term lease agreements shall may not be for periods in excess of forty years, except that the secretary may, in the case of the adjutant general's department, enter into lease agreements for a term of fifty years or a specific term of more than fifty years so as to comply with federal regulatory requirements, and shall contain, in substance, all of the following provisions: (1) That the department of administration, as lessee, shall have has the right to cancel the lease without further obligation on the part of the lessee upon giving thirty days' written notice to the lessor, such notice being given at least thirty days prior to the last day of the succeeding month; (2) that the lease shall is to be considered canceled without further obligation on the part of the lessee if the state Legislature or the federal government should fail to does not appropriate sufficient funds therefor or should otherwise act otherwise acts to impair the lease or cause it to be canceled; and (3) that the lease shall is to be considered renewed for each ensuing fiscal year during the term of the lease unless it is canceled by the department of administration before the end of the then current fiscal year.

A spending unit which is granted any grounds, buildings, office space or other space leased in accordance with this section may not order or make permanent changes of any type thereto, unless the secretary has first determined that the change is necessary for the proper, efficient and economically sound operation of the spending unit. For purposes of this section, a "permanent change" means any addition, alteration, improvement, remodeling, repair or other change involving the expenditure of state funds for the installation of any tangible thing which cannot be economically removed from the grounds, buildings, office space or other space when vacated by the spending unit.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that the Joint Committee on Government and Finance approve any acquisitions, rental contracts, leases, or other long-term agreements for state office space, buildings or grounds.

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