Senate Bill No. 545
(By Senator Minard (By Request))
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[Introduced February 11, 2010; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §11-16-13 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §15-2-41 of said code;
to amend and reenact §60-3A-21 of said code; and to amend and
reenact §60-8-4 of said code, all relating to the creation of
the Drunk Driving Victims' Compensation Fund; providing an
increase to the barrel tax on nonintoxicating beer; powers and
duties of the Commission on Drunk Driving Prevention;
providing an increase on the tax on purchases of liquor; and
providing an increase to the liter tax.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-16-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §15-2-41 of said code be amended and
reenacted; that §60-3A-21 of said code be amended and reenacted;
and that §60-8-4 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 16. NONINTOXICATING BEER.
§11-16-13. Barrel tax on nonintoxicating beer.
(a) There is hereby levied and imposed, in addition to the
license taxes provided for in this article, a tax of
$5.50 $8.80 on
each barrel of thirty-one gallons and in like ratio on each part
barrel of nonintoxicating beer manufactured in this state for sale
within this state, whether contained or sold in barrels, bottles or
other containers, and a like tax is hereby levied and imposed upon
all nonintoxicating beer manufactured outside of this state and
brought into this state for sale within this state; but no
nonintoxicating beer manufactured, sold or distributed in this
state is subject to more than one barrel tax:
Provided, That $3.30
of the barrel tax shall be paid into the Drunk Driving Victims'
Compensation Fund, as provided in section forty-one, article two,
chapter fifteen of this code. The brewer manufacturing or
producing nonintoxicating beer within this state for sale within
this state shall pay the barrel tax on such nonintoxicating beer,
and, except as provided otherwise, the distributor who is the
original consignee of nonintoxicating beer manufactured or produced
outside of this state, or who brings such nonintoxicating beer into
this state, shall pay the barrel tax on such nonintoxicating beer
manufactured or produced outside of this state:
Provided, That the
barrel tax imposed by this section shall not apply to
nonintoxicating beer manufactured by a brewpub.
(b) On or before the tenth day of each month during the license period, every brewer or operator of a brewpub who
manufactures or produces nonintoxicating beer within this state
shall file a report in writing, under oath, to the Tax
Commissioner, in the form prescribed by the Tax Commissioner,
stating its total sales, or in the case of a brewpub, its total
estimated production of nonintoxicating beer within this state
during that month, and at the same time shall pay the tax levied by
this article on such production. On or before the tenth day of
each month during the license period, every distributor who is the
original consignee of nonintoxicating beer manufactured or produced
outside this state or who brings such beer into this state for sale
shall file a report in writing, under oath, to the Tax
Commissioner, in the form prescribed by the Tax Commissioner,
stating its total estimated purchases of such nonintoxicating beer
during that month, and at the same time shall pay the tax thereon
levied by this article for such estimated monthly purchase:
Provided, That the Tax Commissioner may allow, or require, a brewer
who manufactures or produces nonintoxicating beer outside this
state to file the required report and pay the required tax on
behalf of its distributor or distributors. Any brewer or
distributor or operator of a brewpub who files a report under this
subsection may adjust its monthly estimated sales or purchases or
production report or reports by filing amended reports by the
twenty-fifth day of the reporting month.
(c) Every brewer or distributor or operator of a brewpub who files a report under subsection (b) of this section shall file a
final monthly report of said sales or purchases or production, in
a form and at a time prescribed by the Tax Commissioner, stating
actual nonintoxicating beer sales, purchases, or production and
other information which the Tax Commissioner may require, and shall
include a remittance for any barrel tax owed for actual sales or
purchases or production made in excess of the amount estimated for
that month.
(d) Any brewer or distributor or operator of a brewpub who
files a report pursuant to subsection (b) of this section
reflecting an underestimation of twenty-five percent or more of
actual sales or purchases or production of nonintoxicating beer as
shown by the report filed pursuant to subsection (c) of this
section shall be assessed a penalty of one percent of the total
taxes due in such prior month.
(e) Brewers and distributors and operators of brewpubs shall
keep all records which relate to the sale or purchase in this state
of nonintoxicating beer for a period of three years unless written
approval for earlier disposal is granted by the Tax Commissioner.
(f) Brewpubs shall keep such records as required by the
federal government and may, in lieu of the recordkeeping and
reporting requirements contained in subsections (a) through (e) of
this section, file copies of the federal reports contemporaneously
with the Tax Commissioner at the time of such filings with the
federal government. The filing of duplicate copies of the federal reports with the State Tax Commissioner shall be deemed as
compliance with subsections (a) through (e) of this section.
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA STATE POLICE.
§15-2-41. Powers and duties of commission; rule-making authority;
monitoring and reporting.
The commission shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) Develop and maintain a comprehensive program to prevent
drunk driving and to enhance the enforcement of laws defining drunk
driving offenses.
(b) Inquire and determine from state and local law-
enforcement agencies the availability and need for equipment and
additional personnel for the effective enforcement of laws defining
drunk driving offenses.
(c) Subject to appropriations of the Legislature, administer
the drunk driving prevention fund created by the provisions of
section sixteen, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code by
providing grants to state and local law-enforcement agencies for
the purchase of equipment or hiring of additional personnel for the
effective enforcement of laws defining drunk driving offenses and
such other items as the commission may define by legislative rule
to be reasonable and necessary.
(d) Promulgate rules to guide and administer said fund and to
establish procedures and criteria for grants to state and local law-enforcement agencies under this section, in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
(e) Monitor, review and evaluate the expenditure, use and
effectiveness of the fund and report to the Legislature annually on
the exercise of its powers and duties under this section, including
an annual accounting of expenditures and of the grants made under
this section.
(f) Administer a revolving fund account in the State Treasury,
designated the Drunk Driving Victims' Compensation Fund, which is
to assist victims of drunk driving crashes with the costs
associated with injuries, deaths and property losses resulting from
drunk driving crashes. The commission shall promulgate rules to
guide and administer the Drunk Driving Victims' Compensation Fund
and shall establish procedures and criteria for awarding moneys to
the victims of drunk driving crashes under this section, in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code.
CHAPTER 60. STATE CONTROL OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS.
ARTICLE 3A. SALES BY RETAIL LIQUOR LICENSEES.
§60-3A-21. Tax on purchases of liquor.
(a) For the purpose of providing financial assistance to and
for the use and benefit of the various counties and municipalities
of this state, there is hereby levied tax upon all purchases of
liquor from retail licensees. The tax shall be
five six percent of
the purchase price and shall be added to and collected with the purchase price by the retail licensee.
(b) All such tax collected within the corporate limits of a
municipality in this state shall be remitted to such municipality;
all such tax collected outside of but within one mile of the
corporate limits of any municipality shall be remitted to such
municipality; and all other tax so collected shall be remitted to
the county wherein collected:
Provided, That where the corporate
limits of more than one municipality be within one mile of the
place of collection of such tax, all such tax collected shall be
divided equally among each of such municipalities:
Provided,
however, That such mile is measured by the most direct hard surface
road or access way usually and customarily used as ingress and
egress to the place of tax collection:
Provided further, That one
percent of the tax collected
shall be paid into the Drunk Driving
Victims' Compensation Fund, as provided in section forty-one,
article two, chapter fifteen of this code
.
(c) The Tax Commissioner, by appropriate rule promulgated
pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, shall provide for
the collection of such tax upon all purchases from retail
licensees, separation or proration of the same and distribution
thereof to the respective counties, and municipalities and the
Drunk Driving Victims' Compensation Fund for which the same shall
be collected. Such rule shall provide that all such taxes shall be
deposited with the State Treasurer and distributed quarterly by the
State Treasurer upon warrants of the auditor payable to the counties, and municipalities and the Drunk Driving Victims'
Compensation Fund.
ARTICLE 8. SALE OF WINES.
PART II--SALE OF WINE GENERALLY.
§60-8-4. Liter tax.
There is hereby levied and imposed on all wine sold after July
1, 2007, by suppliers to distributors, and including all wine sold
and sent to West Virginia adult residents from direct shippers,
except wine sold to the commissioner, a tax of
twenty-six and four
hundred six-thousandths cents 27.046¢ per liter:
Provided, That
one cents of the liter tax shall be paid into the Drunk Driving
Victims' Compensation Fund, as provided in section forty-one,
article two, chapter fifteen of this code.
Before the sixteenth day of each month thereafter, every
supplier, distributor and direct shipper shall make a written
report under oath to the Tax Commissioner and the commissioner
showing the identity of the purchaser, the quantity, label and
alcoholic content of wine sold by the supplier to West Virginia
distributors or the direct shipper to West Virginia adult residents
during the preceding month and at the same time shall pay the tax
imposed by this article on the wine sold to the distributor or the
West Virginia adult residents during the preceding month to the Tax
Commissioner.
The reports shall contain other information and be in the form
the Tax Commissioner may require. For purposes of this article, the reports required by this section shall be considered tax
returns covered by the provisions of article ten, chapter eleven of
this code. Failure to timely file the tax returns within five
calendar days of the sixteenth day of each month will also subject
a supplier, distributor and direct shipper to penalties under
section eighteen of this article.
No wine imported, sold or distributed in this state or sold
and shipped to this state by a direct shipper shall be subject to
more than one liter tax.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Drunk Driving
Victims' Compensation Fund to assist with the costs associated with
injuries, deaths and property losses associated with drunk driving
crashes. The bill provides for increases in the barrel tax on
nonintoxicating beer, wine liter tax, and tax on purchases of
liquor. The bill further provides that these increases will all go
to fund the Drunk Driving Victims' Compensation Fund.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.