Senate Bill No. 786
(By Senators Helmick, Sharpe, Plymale, Chafin, Prezioso,
Edgell, Love, Bailey, Bowman, McCabe, Unger, Fanning,
Sypolt, Facemyer, Boley, Sprouse and Guills)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 25, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5A-10-2, §5A-10-3, §5A-10-5 and §5A-
10-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to
amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated
§5A-10-12, all relating to the Real Estate Division of the
Department of Administration and the powers and duties of
acquiring real property, contracting for third-party real
estate services and billing spending units for the actual
costs of third-party services; making certain exceptions;
excepting the deposit of revenues derived from wireless
communication tower leases on property subject to a pledge of
its revenues in connection with a bond issue into the General
Revenue Fund; and creating a special revenue fund for the
acquisition of real property and payment of associated costs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5A-10-2, §5A-10-3, §5A-10-5 and §5A-10-6 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
§5A-10-12, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. REAL ESTATE DIVISION.
§5A-10-2. Leasing of space and acquisition of real property to be
made in accordance with article; exceptions.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, no
department, agency or institution of state government may acquire
real property, lease or offer to lease, as lessee, any grounds,
buildings, office or other space except in accordance with the
provisions of this article and article three of this chapter.
(b) The provisions of the article, except as to office space,
do not apply to the Division of Highways of the Department of
Transportation.
(c) The provisions of this article do not apply to:
(1) Public lands, rivers and streams acquired, managed or
which title is vested in or transferred to the Division of Natural
Resources of the Department of Commerce pursuant to section seven,
article one, chapter twenty of this code and section two, article
five of said chapter;
(2) The Higher Education Policy Commission;
(3) The West Virginia Council for Community and Technical
College Education;
(4) The institutional boards of governors in accordance with the provisions of subsection (v), section four, article five,
chapter eighteen-b of this code;
(5) The real property held by the Department of Agriculture,
including all institutional farms, easements, mineral rights,
appurtenances, farm equipment, agricultural products, inventories,
farm facilities and operating revenue funds for those operations;
or
(6) The real property held by the West Virginia State
Conservation Committee, including all easements, mineral rights,
appurtenances and operating revenue funds for those operations; or
(7) The Adjutant General's office and the West Virginia Armory
Board.
§5A-10-3. Powers and duties of Real Estate Division.
The Real Estate Division has the following powers and duties:
(1) To provide leasing, acquisition, appraisal and other real
estate services to state spending units. The Real Estate Division
may contract for appraisals, surveys, title searches and opinions,
space planning and other necessary third-party real estate services
and may bill spending units for the actual costs and expenses
associated with necessary third-party real estate services;
(2) To ensure that the purchase of real estate and all
contracts for lease are based on established real estate standards
and fair market price;
(3) To develop and implement minimum lease space standards for the lease of any grounds, buildings, office or other space required
by any spending unit of state government;
(4) To develop and implement minimum standards for the
selection and acquisition, by contract or lease, of all grounds,
buildings, office space or other space by a spending unit of state
government except as otherwise provided in this article;
(5) To establish and maintain a comprehensive database of all
state real estate contracts and leases;
(6) To develop policies and procedures for statewide real
property management;
(7) To maintain a statewide real property management system
that has consolidated real property, building and lease information
for all departments, agencies and institutions of state government;
(8) To develop and maintain a centralized repository of
comprehensive space needs for all state departments, agencies and
institutions of state government, including up-to-date space and
resource utilization, anticipated needs and recommended options;
(9) To provide statewide policy leadership and coordinate
master planning to guide and organize capital asset management; and
(10) To provide assistance to all state departments, agencies
or institutions in acquiring, leasing and disposing of real
property.
§5A-10-5. Selection of grounds, etc.; acquisition by contract or
lease; long-term leases.
(a) The executive director 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 designee of said spending
unit that the grounds, buildings, office space or other space
requested is necessarily required for the proper function of said
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 owned
or leased by the state.
(b) The executive director 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 premises at a price not to exceed the fair rental value
thereof.
(c) The executive director may enter into long-term agreements
for buildings, land and space for periods longer than one fiscal
year: Provided, That such long-term lease agreements are not 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 the following
provisions:
(1) That the Department of Administration, as lessee, 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 be considered canceled without
further obligation on the part of the lessee if the state
Legislature or the federal government should fail to appropriate
sufficient funds therefor or should otherwise act to impair the
lease or cause it to be canceled; and
(3) That the lease shall 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.
§5A-10-6. Long-term leases of public lands for wireless
communication towers.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the
executive director has sole authority to negotiate and enter into
long-term lease agreements for lease of public lands to be used for
placement of wireless communication towers: Provided, That such
long-term lease agreements may not be for periods in excess of thirty years: Provided, however, That for the governmental units
named in subsection (d) of this section, any lease proposed by the
executive director may only be entered into upon approval in
writing of the ranking administrator of the respective governmental
unit described in said subsection.
(b) All revenues derived from leases established upon the
enactment of this section shall be deposited into the General
Revenue Fund unless the property is subject to a pledge of its
revenues in connection with a preexisting revenue bond issue and
except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this section.
(c) Revenues from leases initiated prior to the enactment of
this section or subsequently renewed shall continue to be treated
as they were prior to the enactment of this section.
(d) Revenues derived from the lease of property under the
control of the Department of Transportation shall be deposited into
the State Road Fund. Revenues derived from the lease of property
under the control of the Division of Natural Resources shall be
retained by the Division of Natural Resources and deposited into
the appropriate fund. Revenues derived from the lease of property
under the control of the Department of Agriculture shall be
deposited into the Agriculture Fees Fund. Revenues derived from
the lease of property under the control of the Division of Forestry
shall be deposited into the Division of Forestry Fund. Revenues
derived from the lease of property under the control of institutions of higher education shall be deposited into the
institution's education and general capital fees fund. Revenues
derived from the lease of property under the control of the Higher
Education Policy Commission shall be deposited into the
commission's State Gifts, Grants and Contracts Fund. Revenues
derived from the lease of property under the control of the West
Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education
shall be deposited into the council's Tuition and Required
Educational and General Fees Fund.
(e) Any long-term lease agreement entered into pursuant to
this section shall contain provisions allowing for the nonexclusive
use of the public lands and allowance for use of the same public
space for additional towers by competing persons or corporations.
(f) The executive director is further authorized to enter into
long-term lease agreements for additional wireless communication
towers by other persons or corporations upon the same public lands
in which there already exists a lease and tower provided for under
this section.
(g) Any long-term lease agreement entered into pursuant to
this section shall be recorded in the office of the county clerk
where public land which is the subject of the lease agreement is
located.
§5A-10-12. Creation of Real Property Fund.
There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special revenue fund to be known as the Real Property Fund. The fund shall
consist of appropriations as determined by the Governor and the
Legislature, but shall operate as a special revenue fund whereby
all deposits and payments thereto do not expire to the General
Revenue Fund, but shall remain in the fund and be available for
expenditure in succeeding fiscal years. This fund shall consist of
moneys deposited in the fund pursuant to the provisions of this
article, as well as interest earned on investments made from moneys
deposited in the fund. Moneys from this fund shall be expended by
the Executive Director of the Real Estate Division of the
Department of Administration for the acquisition of real property
and to pay for costs associated with acquisition and leasing of
real property, subject to the direction of the Secretary of the
Department of Administration and the discretion of the Governor.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that the
Department of Administration, Real Estate Division, has the
authority to acquire real property and grants the authority to
contract for third-party real estate services and bill spending
units for the actual costs of such third-party services. This bill
also clarifies that revenues derived from wireless communication
tower leases on property subject to a pledge of its revenues in
connection with a bond issue will not be deposited into the General
Revenue Fund. This bill also creates a fund dedicated to the
acquisition of real property and costs associated with acquisition
and leasing of real property.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
)