Senate Bill No. 638

(By Senators Prezioso and Plymale)

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[Introduced March 25, 2013; referred to the Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §11-13A-22, relating to exemptions from the tax on the privilege of severing natural gas and oil; terminating a severance tax exemption for natural gas or oil; providing an exception; and specifying a controlling effective date.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §11-13A-22, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE AND BUSINESS PRIVILEGE TAX ACT.

§11-13A-22. Termination of exemption.

    (a) On and after July 1, 2013, the exemption set forth in subdivision (4), subsection (a), section three-a of this article is void and of no force or effect. However, if a well for which the producer established entitlement to that exemption on or before June 30, 2013, the exemption from tax continues for natural gas or oil produced from that well for the remainder of the ten-year period for which the exemption was originally applicable.

    (b) Pursuant to section five-p, article ten of this chapter, termination of the exemption set forth in subdivision (4), subsection (a), section three-a of this article on and after July 1, 2013, is subject to the controlling internal effective date of this section and is not subject to the alternative effective date provisions of section five-p, article ten of this chapter.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to terminate a severance tax exemption for the production of natural gas and oil. The bill provides an exception and specifies a controlling effective date.

    §11-13A-22 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.