Bill Text: WV SB523 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to tax treatment of pollution control facilities and wind power projects
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-02-23 - To House Energy [SB523 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-SB523-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2018 regular session
Originating
Senate Bill 523
By Senator Smith
[Originating in the Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining; Reported on February 12, 2018]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-6A-5a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to pollution control facilities tax treatment; clarifying that wind power projects are not pollution control facilities for purposes of this article; and providing that wind power projects be taxed at the real property rate.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 6A. POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITIES TAX TREATMENT.
§11-6A-5a. Wind power projects.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this
article, a power project designed, constructed or installed to convert wind
into electrical energy shall be subject to the provisions of this section.
(b) Each wind turbine installed
at a wind power project and each tower upon which the turbine is affixed shall
be considered to be personal property that is a pollution control facility for
purposes of this article and, subject to an allocation of the value of project
property determined by the Tax Commissioner in accordance with this section,
all of the value associated with the wind turbine and tower shall be accorded
salvage valuation: Provided, That the portion of the total value of the
facility assigned salvage value in accordance with this section shall, on and
after July 1, 2007, be no greater than seventy-nine percent of the total value
of the facility. All personal property at a wind power project other than a
wind turbine and tower shall not be accorded salvage valuation and shall not be
considered to be personal property that is a pollution control facility. For
purposes of this section, "wind turbine and tower" is limited to: The
rotor, consisting of the blades and the supporting hub; the drive train, which
includes the remaining rotating parts such as the shafts, gearbox, coupling, a
mechanical brake and the generator; the nacelle and main frame, including the
wind turbine housing, bedplate and the yaw system; the turbine transformer; the
machine controls; the tower; and the tower foundation. Wind power
projects are not pollution control facilities for purposes of this article, and
each wind turbine installed at a wind power project, and each tower upon which
the turbine is affixed, shall be considered real property for the purpose of
taxation so long as the tower of the wind power project is affixed to the
ground.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that a wind power project is not a pollution control facility for purposes of article 6A.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
