Senate Bill No. 432
(By Senators Caruth, Guills, Weeks, Chafin and Barnes)
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[Introduced January 31, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17-16A-11 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to authorization and
issuance of bonds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17-16A-11 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16A. WEST VIRGINIA PARKWAYS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND
TOURISM AUTHORITY.
§17-16A-11. Parkway revenue bonds--West Virginia Turnpike;
related
projects.
(a) The parkways authority is authorized to provide by
resolution, at one time or from time to time, for the issuance of
parkway revenue bonds of the state in an aggregate outstanding principal amount not to exceed, from time to time, two hundred
million dollars for the purpose of paying: (i) All or any part of
the cost of the West Virginia Turnpike, which may include, but
not be limited to, an amount equal to the state funds used to
upgrade the West Virginia Turnpike to federal interstate
standards; (ii) all or any part of the cost of any one or more
parkway projects that involve improvements to or enhancements of
the West Virginia Turnpike, including, without limitation, lane-
widening on the West Virginia Turnpike and that are or have been
recommended by the parkways authority's traffic engineers or
consulting engineers or by both of them prior to the issuance of
parkway revenue bonds for the project or projects; and (iii) to
the extent permitted by federal law, all or any part of the cost
of any related parkway project. For purposes of this section
only, a "related parkway project" means any information center,
visitors' center or rest stop, or any combination thereof, and
any expressway, turnpike, trunkline, feeder road, state local
service road or park and forest road which connects to or
intersects with the West Virginia Turnpike and is located within
seventy-five miles of the turnpike as it exists on the first day
of June, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, or any subsequent
expressway, trunkline, feeder road, state local service road or
park and forest road constructed pursuant to this article:
Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the parkways authority from issuing parkway revenue
bonds pursuant to section ten of this article for the purpose of
paying all or any part of the cost of any related parkway
project: Provided, however, That none of the proceeds of the
issuance of parkway revenue bonds under this section shall be
used to pay all or any part of the cost of any economic
development project, except as provided in section twenty-three
of this article: Provided further, That nothing in this section
shall be construed as prohibiting the parkways authority from
issuing additional parkway revenue bonds to the extent permitted
by applicable federal law for the purpose of constructing,
maintaining and operating any highway constructed, in whole or in
part, with money obtained from the Appalachian regional
commission as long as the highway connects to the West Virginia
Turnpike as it existed as of the first day of June, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-nine: And provided further, That, for
purposes of this section, in determining the amount of bonds
outstanding, from time to time, within the meaning of this
section: Original par amount or original stated principal amount
at the time of issuance of bonds shall be used to determine the
principal amount of bonds outstanding, except that the amount of
parkway revenue bonds outstanding under this section may not
include any bonds that have been retired through payment,
defeased through the deposit of funds irrevocably set aside for payment or otherwise refunded so that they are no longer secured
by toll revenues of the West Virginia Turnpike: And provided
further, That the authorization to issue bonds under this section
is in addition to the authorization and power to issue bonds
under any other section of this code: And provided further,
That, without limitation of the authorized purposes for which
parkway revenue bonds are otherwise permitted to be issued under
this section, and without increasing the maximum principal par
amount of parkway revenue bonds permitted to be outstanding, from
time to time, under this section, the authority is specifically
authorized by this section to issue, at one time or from time to
time, by resolution or resolutions under this section, parkway
revenue bonds under this section for the purpose of paying all or
any part of the cost of one or more parkway projects that: (i)
Consist of enhancements or improvements to the West Virginia
Turnpike, including, without limitation, projects involving lane
widening, resurfacing, surface replacement, bridge replacement,
bridge improvements and enhancements, other bridge work, drainage
system improvements and enhancements, drainage system
replacements, safety improvements and enhancements, and traffic
flow improvements and enhancements; and (ii) have been
recommended by the authority's consulting engineers or traffic
engineers, or both, prior to the issuance of the bonds. Except
as otherwise specifically provided in this section, the issuance of parkway revenue bonds pursuant to this section, the maturities
and other details of the bonds, the rights of the holders of the
bonds, and the rights, duties and obligations of the parkways
authority in respect of the bonds shall be governed by the
provisions of this article insofar as the provisions are
applicable.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, no additional bonds authorized by the amendments to this
section enacted during the regular session of the Legislature in
the year two thousand four may be issued until the parkways
authority has adopted by written resolution a final, irrevocable
decision to fully fund and complete the construction of a Shady
Spring connector and interchange connecting to the West Virginia
Turnpike from its toll funds or from the proceeds of bonds issued
for that purpose pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or
from both, or funded, in whole or in part, by federal highway
funds if they are available: Provided, That no bonds can be
authorized if the bond would require an increase in the amount or
rate of toll charged or collected greater than the rate charged
as of the thirty-first day of December, two thousand five.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prevent authorization
of bonds which would require an increase in the tolls above the
rate existing December 31, 2005.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.