Senate Bill No. 515
(By Senators Harrison, Sprouse Rowe, McCabe, Guills, Hunter,
Unger, Smith and Facemyer)
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[Introduced February 13, 2003; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article thirteen, relating
to the state payment for state mandates act; legislative
findings; definitions; requiring for funding of state
mandates; requiring mandate review requiring; notification of
local impact statement; and requiring appropriations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto
a new article, designated article thirteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. STATE PAYMENT FOR STATE MANDATES ACT.
§4-13-1. Legislative findings.
The Legislature finds:
(a) Actions of the state government that directly or
indirectly prescribe the manner, standards, level and conditions of
public service to be provided by the state's counties,
municipalities and county boards of education can have major fiscal
consequences for the local jurisdictions.
(b) The state government, prior to imposing new or expanded
service requirements upon its political subdivisions and county
boards of education, should be aware of and confront the issue of
where the burden of paying for those requirements will fall.
(c) It is appropriate, therefore, that full funding be
provided for any net additional costs to counties, municipalities
or county boards of education that are incurred by those
jurisdictions in complying with the required performance of a new
or expanded program or service under the provisions of any state
law, rule or order.
§4-13-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "County" means the governing body and the officers and
employees of a county.
(b) "Expanded program or service" means a program or service
the scope or level of which would be increased, extended or
enhanced by a county's, municipality's or county board of
education's compliance with the provisions of a state law, rule or
order.
(c) "Municipality" means the governing body and the officers
and employees of a municipality.
(d) "Net additional cost" means the cost or costs incurred or
anticipated to be incurred within a one-year period by a county,
municipality or county board of education in performing or
administering a new or expanded program or service required by a
state law, rule or order after subtracting therefrom any revenues
received or receivable by the county, municipality or county board
of education on account of the program or service, including, but
not limited to:
(1) Fees charged to the recipients of the program or service;
(2) State or federal aid paid specifically or categorically in
connection with the program or service; and
(3) Any offsetting savings resulting from the reduction or
elimination of any other program or service directly attributable
to the performance or administration of the required program or
service.
(e) "New program or service" means a program or service
different in kind or purpose from those in existence at the time of
the enactment of a law or promulgation of a rule or order requiring
the performance or administration of the program by one or more
counties, municipalities or county boards of education.
(f) "Program or service" means a specific and identifiable
activity of a county, municipality or county board of education which is available to the general public or which is conducted,
administered or provided for or on behalf of the citizens of a
county, municipality or county board of education.
§4-13-3. Requirement for funding of state mandates; minimum
fiscal impact amounts established; exceptions.
(a) Notwithstanding any law, rule or order to the contrary, a
law, rule or order passed, promulgated or issued on or after the
effective date of this article which has the effect of requiring a
county, municipality or county board of education to perform or
administer a new or expanded program or service having a net
additional cost in excess of one thousand dollars for any county,
municipality or county board of education or one hundred thousand
dollars for all affected counties, municipalities or county boards
of education, shall be inoperative in the county, municipality or
county board of education until a state appropriation is made and
sufficient funds are provided to each affected county, municipality
or county board of education as are necessary to pay in full any
net additional cost of compliance with the requirement.
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section do not
apply to any new or expanded program or service that:
(1) Is required for the public's safety or arises from a court
order or judgment;
(2) Is provided at the option of the county, municipality or
county board of education under a law, rule or order that is permissive rather than mandatory;
(3) Is required by private, special or local laws; or
(4) Is required by or arises from an executive order of the
governor exercising his emergency powers.
§4-13-4. Local government mandates appeal board; duties.
There is established the local government mandates appeal
board. The board shall hear and rule upon appeals brought by one
or more counties, municipalities or county boards of education,
alleging that a state law, rule or order, which has the effect of
requiring the performance or administration of a new or expanded
program or service:
(1) Has been enacted or promulgated in a manner contrary to
the provisions of this article; or
(2) Has been lawfully enacted or promulgated, but has been
based on a demonstrably inaccurate cost estimate contained in a
local impact statement resulting in the failure by the state to
provide sufficient funding to pay the net additional cost of
compliance with the law, rule or order.
§4-13-5. Board may adopt necessary rules.
The board shall adopt rules as may be required to carry out
its functions and responsibilities under this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the State Payment
for State Mandates Act. It applies in those situations when state
government mandates certain actions by counties, municipalities or county boards of education which require expenditures. When a
county, municipality or county board of education is required to
incur expenditures without the tax resources to do so, the state is
required to provide full funding for additional costs to the local
governments before the county, municipality or county board of
education must perform such state mandates.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.