Senate Bill No. 443
(By Senators Chafin, Helmick and Bailey)
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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 three-e, article thirteen-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to establishing the
selection and funding of economic and infrastructure projects
under the direction of the director of the West Virginia
development office.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three-e, article thirteen-a, 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 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-3e. Imposition of tax on privilege of extracting and
recovering material from refuse, gob piles or
other sources of waste coal to produce coal.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares the following:
(1) That some mining operations in this state process coal to
create a saleable clean coal product;
(2) That the by-product, waste or residue created from
processing coal is commonly deposited in what are known as refuse
or gob piles;
(3) That, as a result of technological developments and other
factors, the material contained in some refuse or gob piles located
in this state can be recovered and further processed to produce
saleable clean coal;
(4) That, under the existing laws of this state, coal produced
from processing material contained in refuse, gob piles, slurry
ponds, pond fines or other sources of waste coal would be subject
to the annual privilege tax imposed on the severance of coal
pursuant to section three of this article and the minimum severance
tax imposed by section three, article twelve-b of this chapter.
Based on the foregoing findings, the Legislature concludes
that an incentive to extracting and recovering material contained
in refuse, gob piles and other sources of waste coal located in
this state and subsequently processing, washing and preparing this
material to produce coal should be implemented to encourage the
production of this coal from refuse or gob piles located in this
state.
(b) Imposition of tax. -- In lieu of: (i) The annual
privilege tax imposed on the severance of coal imposed by section
three of this article; (ii) the additional tax on severance, extraction and production of coal imposed by section six of this
article; and (iii) the minimum severance tax imposed by section
three, article twelve-b of this chapter for the privilege of
engaging or continuing within this state in the business of
extracting and recovering material from a refuse, gob pile or other
sources of waste coal and subsequently processing, washing and
preparing this extracted or recovered material to produce coal for
sale, profit or commercial use, there is hereby levied and shall be
collected from every person exercising that privilege an annual
privilege tax.
(c) Rate and measure of tax. -- The tax imposed in subsection
(b) of this section shall be two and one-half percent of the gross
value of the coal so produced, as shown by the gross proceeds
derived from the sale thereof by the producer, except as otherwise
provided in this article.
(d) Tax in addition to other taxes. -- The tax imposed by this
section applies to all persons extracting and recovering material
from refuse, gob piles or other sources of waste coal located in
this state and subsequently processing, washing and preparing this
extracted and recovered material to produce coal for sale, profit
or commercial use and shall be in addition to all other taxes
imposed by law: Provided, That the tax imposed by this section is
in lieu of the tax imposed by sections three and six of this
article and section three, article twelve-b of this chapter.
(e) Exemption. -- The tax imposed in subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to any electrical power cogeneration plant
burning material from its wholly owned refuse or gob pile.
(f) Dedication of taxes collected, creation of fund. --
(1) There is hereby created in the state treasury a fund
entitled the "waste coal-producing counties fund" which shall be a
revolving fund that shall carry over each fiscal year. The taxes
collected under the provisions of this section shall be deposited
in the waste coal-producing counties fund and are hereby dedicated
to the county commissions of the counties in which the refuse, gob
piles or other sources of waste coal are located from which taxable
waste coal production has occurred during the year for use in
economic development and infrastructure improvements, which
economic and infrastructure projects are to be in accordance with
the rules promulgated under the synthetic fuel-producing counties
grant fund program, as determined by the director of the West
Virginia development office: Provided, That the county shall use
ninety percent of the funds for infrastructure improvement and ten
percent of the funds for economic development.
(2) Moneys in the waste coal-producing counties fund shall be
distributed by the state treasurer annually to the counties in
which the refuse, gob piles or other sources of waste coal are
located, from which taxable waste coal production has occurred
during the year, in an amount prorated to the number of tons of
taxable waste coal produced in each such county during the
preceding year. The distribution shall be paid separate from any other payment of moneys to the county by the treasurer. For
purposes of this subdivision, the term "ton" means two thousand
pounds.
(3) The office of chief inspector shall annually determine
that counties' expenditures of moneys distributed under this
section is in compliance with the requirements of this section.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish economic and
infrastructure projects under the procedural guidelines used by the
director of the West Virginia development office.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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FINANCE COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
On page two, section three-e, line nine, after the word
"coal;" by inserting the word "and";
On page two, section three-a, line sixteen, by striking out
the word "foregoing";
On page two, section three-a, line sixteen, after the word
"findings" by inserting the words "in this subsection";
On page three, section three-a, line thirteen, by striking out
the words "shall be" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "is";
On page three, section three-a, line fourteen, by striking out
the word "so";
On page three, section three-a, line fifteen, by striking out
the word "thereof" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "of the
coal";
On page four, section three-a, line six, by striking out the
words "hereby created" and inserting in lieu thereof the word
"continued";
On page four, section three-a, line ten, by striking out the
word "hereby";
On page four, section three-a, line fourteen, after the word
"improvements" by changing the comma to a period, striking out the
word "which" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "The";
And,
On page five, section three-a, line two, by striking out the word "such".