ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4008
(By Delegates Cann, Beane and Ennis)
[Passed March 10, 2006; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §16-15-1 and §16-15-3a of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, and to amend said code by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-15-3b, all
relating to authorizing mergers to form regional housing
authorities; providing definitions; authorizing subsequent
joining of local and regional housing authorities; authorizing
housing authorities to initiate merger by joint resolution;
providing that contents of joint resolution include transfer
of assets and liabilities, membership of authority and
adoption of a plan of merger; and conferring on the regional
housing authority the powers and duties of authorities it
succeeds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-15-1 and §16-15-3a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section designated §16-15-3b, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. STATE HOUSING LAW.
§16-15-1. Definitions.
The following terms, wherever used or referred to in this
article, shall have the following respective meanings, unless in
any case a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
(1) "Affiliate" means any corporation, entity, partnership,
venture, syndicate or arrangement in which a housing authority
participates by holding an ownership interest or participating in
its governance, including both controlled and noncontrolled
affiliates as herein defined.
(2) "Affordable housing" means dwelling units that may be
rented or purchased, as the case may be, by persons of eligible
income, as defined herein.
(3) "Annual sinking fund payment" means the amount of money
specified in the resolution or resolutions authorizing term bonds
as payable into a sinking fund during a particular calendar year
for the retirement of term bonds at maturity after such calendar
year, but shall not include any amount payable by reason only of
the maturity of a bond.
(4) "Area of operation" means the geographical area within
which a housing authority owns or operates housing developments or
administers other housing programs including any city, county or combination thereof in which it was operating on the effective date
of this article.
(5) "Arrangement" means a legal relationship with another
party that may include, but not be limited to, a general or limited
partnership; joint venture; syndicate or syndication; corporation;
limited liability cooperative, corporation or partnership; an
unincorporated association; a cooperative; a consortium; and all
other structures, organizations, and forms of legal relationships
with third parties.
(6) "Authority" or "housing authority" means a corporate body
organized in accordance with the provisions of this article for the
purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions
hereinafter set forth. Where the context requires or permits, this
term shall be deemed to include regional housing authorities and/or
controlled affiliates of a housing authority.
(7) "Bond" or "bonds" means any bonds, notes, interim
certificates, debentures, or other obligations issued by an
authority pursuant to this article.
(8) "City" means and includes any political subdivision of
this state, whether incorporated or unincorporated, known as a
city, municipality, town or village. With respect to the
provisions of other sections of this article and their application
to housing authorities of counties, the term "city" shall be
construed as referring to a county unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context.
(9) "Clerk" means the clerk or recorder of the city or the
clerk of the county, as the case may be, or the officer charged
with the duties customarily imposed on the clerk or recorder.
(10) "Commissioner" means one of the members of the governing
board of a housing authority appointed in accordance with the
provisions of this article.
(11) "Community facilities" means lands, buildings and
equipment, real and personal property suitable for recreational, or
social assembly, for educational, health, or welfare purposes and
other necessary activities for the use and benefit of the occupants
of housing developments and the public.
(12) "Controlled affiliate" means any affiliate of a housing
authority: (i) In which commissioners, officers, employees and
agents of the authority constitute a majority of the governing
body; or (ii) in which the authority holds a majority of the
ownership interests.
(13) "Council" means the chief legislative body of the city.
(14) "County" means and includes any political subdivision of
this state known as a county.
(15) "Development" or "housing development" means and includes
all dwellings and associated appurtenances, including real and
personal property, and all other facilities and improvements of
every kind and description, which a housing authority may own or operate or in which it may hold an interest under the provisions of
this article, all land upon which such dwellings, appurtenances,
and facilities are situate; all work and activities undertaken by
a housing authority or others relating to the creation of such
property; all tangible and intangible personal property relating
thereto, including all leases, licenses, agreements, and other
instruments and all rights and obligations arising thereunder,
establishing or confirming ownership, title, or right of use or
possession in or to any such property by a housing authority, all
as more particularly described and authorized in this article.
(16) "Farmers of low or moderate income" means persons or
families who at the time of their admission to occupancy in a
dwelling of the authority: (A) Live under unsafe and unsanitary
housing conditions; (B) derive their principal income from
operating or working upon a farm; and (C) had an aggregate average
annual net income for the three years preceding their admission
that was less than the amount determined by the authority to be
necessary, within its area of operation, to enable them, without
financial assistance, to obtain decent, safe and sanitary housing.
(17) "Governing body" means, in the case of a city, the
council of the city, and in the case of a county, the county
commission.
(18) "Government" means the state and federal governments and
any subdivisions, authority or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them.
(19) "Guest" means any person, not a resident of the
development, who is present within the development, or within a
dwelling in a development, as an invitee of or otherwise with the
express or implied consent of a resident of the development or
dwelling.
(20) "Hold an interest" means ownership or control of, or
participation in an arrangement with respect to, a development by
a housing authority or any affiliate thereof.
(21) "Low-cost housing" shall include any housing
accommodations which are or are to be rented at not in excess of a
maximum rate per room, or maximum average rate per room, which
shall be specified or provided by the housing authority of the city
in which such housing accommodations are or are to be located, or
the Legislature, or a duly constituted agency of the state, or of
the United States of America.
(22) "Mayor" means the chief executive of the city, whether
the official designation of his office be mayor, city manager or
otherwise: Provided, That the term "mayor" may also be the chief
elected officer of the municipality regardless of whether or not
the corporate charter provides for a city manager appointed by the
city council who is the chief executive officer.
(23) "Noncontrolled affiliate" means affiliate in which a
housing authority participates, but does not constitute a majority of the governing body nor have a majority ownership interest.
(24) "Obligee of the authority" or "obligee" means any
bondholder, trustee or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor
demising to an authority property used in connection with a housing
development, or any assignee or assignees of the lessor's interest
or any part thereof, and the federal government when it is a party
to any contract with the authority.
(25) "Person" means a family and, where the context so
requires, a household.
(26) "Persons of eligible income" means individuals or
families as defined by a public housing authority within the
applicable local, state and federal funding guidelines.
(27) "Public agency" means and includes: (i) Any county;
city; village; township; any school, drainage, tax, improvement or
other district; any department, division, or political subdivision
of this state or another state; any housing authority, housing
finance authority, or housing trust of this state or another state;
and any other agency, bureau, office, authority, or instrumentality
of this state or another state; (ii) any board, agency, commission,
division or other instrumentality of a city or county; and (iii)
any board, commission, agency, department, or other instrumentality
of the United States, or any political subdivision or governmental
unit of any of them.
(28) "Regional housing authority" means a housing authority formed by two or more cities, counties or housing authorities
pursuant to the authority provided in sections three-a and three-b
of this article.
(29) "Resident" means a person residing in a development of a
housing authority, with the consent of such authority, according to
its policies, rules and procedures.
(30) "Slum clearance" means the removal of housing conditions
which shall be considered by the housing authority of the city in
which such conditions exist to be unsanitary or substandard or a
menace to public health.
(31) "State" means the state of West Virginia and its duly
constituted government.
§16-15-3a. Regional housing authorities.
(a) Any two or more cities or counties, or any combination
thereof, may, by resolution of their separate governing bodies,
establish a regional housing authority, by adopting a joint
resolution declaring that there is a need for a regional housing
authority to provide decent, safe and sanitary housing that is
affordable to persons of low and moderate income residing in a
multijurisdictional area and that this need would be more
efficiently served by the establishment of a regional housing
authority: Provided, That any authority in existence prior to the
effective date of this article that is providing services outside
of the city or county boundaries will continue to have jurisdiction in the areas where the authority is providing services on the
effective date of this article.
(b) Upon adoption of a resolution by two or more cities or
counties, or a combination thereof, a regional housing authority
shall be established and, except as otherwise provided in this
article, the regional housing authority shall have perpetual
existence, unless dissolved in accordance with law. Each regional
housing authority established pursuant to this section, shall adopt
a name for all legal and operating purposes.
(c) A certified copy of the resolutions establishing a
regional housing authority shall serve as conclusive evidence that
the authority has been properly established, is authorized to
transact business, and exercise its powers under this article.
(d) After a regional housing authority has been established,
any additional city, county or housing authority may elect to
participate as a member of the regional housing authority, upon
adoption of a resolution to that effect: Provided, That a majority
of the existing commissioners of the regional housing authority and
all participating political subdivisions, by action of their
respective governing bodies, shall consent to the additional member
or members.
(e) Any city or county may withdraw from participation in the
regional housing authority by resolution of its governing body.
Any withdrawal from participation shall be subject to the following conditions:
(1) The regional housing authority has no bonds, notes, or
other obligations outstanding, or adequate provision for payment of
bonds, notes, or other obligations, by escrow or otherwise, has
been made. Past performance without breach or default of an
obligation secured only by one or more developments or the income
thereof shall be deemed to be "adequate provision";
(2) The withdrawing city or county shall make adequate
provision for the performance of all of its outstanding obligations
and responsibilities as a participant in the regional housing
authority;
(3) The withdrawing city or county shall give six months
written notice to the regional housing authority and all other
cities and counties participating therein; or
(4) The commissioner or commissioners appointed by the
withdrawing city or county shall be deemed to have resigned as of
the date upon which the withdrawal is effective. Vacancies on the
board of commissioners created by withdrawal of a city or county
shall be filled in such manner as the cities and counties remaining
as participants shall agree.
Notwithstanding the withdrawal of any participating city or
county, the legal title to and operating responsibility for any
development located outside the area of operation of the regional
housing authority remaining after such withdrawal has occurred shall continue to be vested in the regional housing authority,
unless a different arrangement is made.
(f) If only one city or county remains as a participant in any
regional housing authority, the regional housing authority shall
become the housing authority of the remaining city or county at the
discretion of its governing body, or the regional housing authority
shall be dissolved and its assets and liabilities transferred to
another existing housing authority or to a city or county or other
public agency.
§16-15-3b. Consolidated housing authorities.
(a)
Two or more cities or counties may, by joint resolution of
their governing bodies, merge their housing authorities to
establish a regional housing authority: Provided, That each city
or county considering the merger shall hold a public hearing in its
area of operation prior to adopting the joint resolution.
(b) The joint resolution must provide for:
(1) The transfer of assets and liabilities and the performance
of all outstanding obligations and responsibilities;
(2) The membership, terms and manner of appointment of
commissioners of the regional housing authority; and
(3) The preparation, adoption and implementation of a plan of
merger.
(c) Consolidations by merger pursuant to this section are
subject to all of the provisions of article eleven, chapter thirty-one-e of this code except where inconsistent with the provisions of
this article and except as to those provisions of article eleven,
chapter thirty-one-e which have no practical application.
(d) A regional housing authority established pursuant to this
section acquires and succeeds to all rights, obligations, duties
and privileges of the housing authorities of which it is a
successor, and will be considered for all purposes a regional
housing authority established pursuant to section three-a of this
article and subject to all applicable provisions of this article.