Bill Text: WV HB2912 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Dedicating five percent of coal severance tax to the county of origin
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-01-28 - To House Finance [HB2912 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2011-HB2912-Introduced.html
(By Delegates White, Hartman, Kominar, Moore,
R. Phillips, Miley, Butcher, Stowers, Hall,
Skaff, and L. Phillips)
[Introduced January 28, 2011; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-13A-5a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to dedicating five percent of coal severance tax to the county of origin as phased in over a five-year period and providing permissible uses for the moneys.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-13A-5a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE AND BUSINESS PRIVILEGE TAX ACT.
§11-13A-5a.Dedication of five percent of severance tax for benefit of counties of origin; phase in period; expenditures of funds; dedication of ten percent of oil and gas severance tax for benefit of counties and municipalities; distribution of major portion of such dedicated tax to oil and gas producing counties; distribution of minor portion of such dedicated tax to all counties and municipalities; reports; rules; special funds in the office of State Treasurer; methods and formulae for distribution of such dedicated tax; expenditure of funds by counties and municipalities for public purposes; and requiring special county and municipal budgets and reports thereon.
(a) (1) Effective July 1, 2011, one percent of the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article is dedicated for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated and shall be distributed to each county as provided in this subsection. Effective July 1, 2012, two percent of the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article is dedicated for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated and shall be distributed to each county as provided in this subsection. Effective July 1, 2013, three percent of the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article is dedicated for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated and shall be distributed to each county as provided in this subsection. Effective July 1, 2014, four percent of the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article is dedicated for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated and shall be distributed to each county as provided in this subsection. Effective July 1, 2015, and each year thereafter, five percent of the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article is dedicated for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated and shall be distributed to each county as provided in this subsection.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, the tax attributable to the severance of coal imposed by section three of this article does not include the thirty-five one hundredths of one percent additional severance tax on coal imposed by the state for the benefit of counties and municipalities as provided in section six of this article.
(3) The percentage authorized in this subsection shall be deposited into a special fund known as the "County Severance Revenue Fund" which is hereby established in the State Treasury, and from that fund shall be distributed by the State Treasurer in the manner specified in this subsection to the various counties of this state in which the coal upon which the tax imposed by section three of this article is imposed was located at the time it was removed from the ground. The moneys shall be distributed to the county commissions and used only for:
(A) Projects through economic development authorities and redevelopment authorities;
(B) Infrastructure;
(C) Job creation;
(D) Road repair;
(E) Public health systems; and
(F) As pledge to the payment of bond indebtedness for projects related to paragraphs (A) through (E) of this subdivision.
(4)(A) No distribution made to a county under this subsection may be deposited into the county's General Revenue Fund. The county commission of each county receiving a distribution under this subsection shall establish a special account to be known as the "(name of county) five percent Special Coal Severance Account" into which all distributions made under this subsection shall be deposited and thereafter expended by the county commission as provided by this subsection.
(B) On or before October 1, 2012, and October 1 of each year thereafter, the county commission of each county receiving a distribution of funds under this subsection shall report to the Legislature on the use made of those funds during the next preceding fiscal year.
Seventy-five percent of the dedicated tax on oil and gas shall be deposited in the "Oil and Gas County Revenue Fund" and twenty- five percent of the dedicated tax on oil and gas shall be deposited in the "All Counties and Municipalities Oil and Gas Revenue Fund," from time to time, as the proceeds are received by the Tax Commissioner. The moneys in the funds shall be distributed to the respective counties and municipalities entitled to the moneys in the manner set forth in subsection
(1) In the case of moneys derived from tax on the severance of gas:
(A) Dividing the total amount of moneys in the fund derived from tax on the severance of gas then available for distribution by the total volume of cubic feet of gas extracted in this state during the preceding year; and
(B) Multiplying the quotient thus obtained by the number of cubic feet of gas taken from the ground in the county during the preceding year; and
(2) In the case of moneys derived from tax on the severance of oil:
(A) Dividing the total amount of moneys in the fund derived from tax on the severance of oil then available for distribution by the total number of barrels of oil extracted in this state during the preceding year; and
(B) Multiplying the quotient thus obtained by the number of barrels of oil taken from the ground in the county during the preceding year.
(1) The Treasurer shall first apportion the total amount of moneys available in the all counties and municipalities oil and gas revenue fund by multiplying the total amount in the fund by the percentage which the population of each county bears to the total population of the state. The amount thus apportioned for each county is the county's "base share".
(2) Each county's base share shall then be subdivided into two portions. One portion is determined by multiplying the base share by that percentage which the total population of all unincorporated areas within the county bears to the total population of the county, and the other portion is determined by multiplying the base share by that percentage which the total population of all municipalities within the county bears to the total population of the county. The former portion shall be paid to the county and the latter portion shall be the "municipalities' portion" of the county's base share. The percentage of the latter portion to which each municipality in the county is entitled shall be determined by multiplying the total of the latter portion by the percentage which the population of each municipality within the county bears to the total population of all municipalities within the county.
NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to phase-in the dedication of five per cent of the revenues from the severance tax on coal for the use and benefit of counties from which those taxes were generated, and to limit the expenditure of those funds to projects through economic development authorities and redevelopment authorities; job creation; road repair; public health systems; and as pledge to the payment of bond indebtedness for projects related to those purposes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.