Story by David Beard, The Dominion Post
Charleston, W.V.
The bill also cleaned the Senate committees on Tuesday to attract new workers in the state and to enable housing to enable the recovery of increased oil and gas for horizontal wells.
Senate Finance took SB 167, which will allow any county to impose $ 1 health and safety fee in the list of tourism and entertainment activities specified to keep the cost of “emergency readiness”.
The funds will go to the dedicated account from the fee, and 60% will have to fund fire and EMS services, while 40% can be used to pay for important infrastructure projects. This fee cannot be levied inside a city that has entertainment tax.
The bill allows the counties to take discounts at 60%, to apply all the fees revenue to the important infrastructure for up to three years.
The bill is a new version of last year’s SB 429, which died in the House, and has the same lead sponsor Sen Randy Smith, R-Taker.
There was no discussion of argument behind the bill in finance on Tuesday, but Smith explained it last year.
He said that small rural counties do not have the tax base to support the demand on the services essential by the influx of tourists. Everyone supports firefighters and EMS workers, but also requires financial assistance.
Sen Rupia Philips, R-Logan, was worried on Tuesday that the bill did not include any accountable measures to ensure that the counties were spending proper money. The committee adopted its amendment for the need for the counties that charge the auditor’s open checkbook page for posting records or reporting back to the Legislature.
The remedy is expected to move forward when the bill returns to the floor. The bill was sent for finance at the second reading – The Amendment Stage – and when it returns, it will be on the second reading.
Finance also approved the SB 188, Mountain Homes Act, which was aimed at recruiting new workers in the state.
This bill creates Mountain Homes Fund to provide guaranteed construction loans for residential housing projects. The project should include at least six residential units with a joint assessment price of $ 800,000. The guarantee should not exceed $ 400,000, and the total annual guarantee may not exceed $ 10 million. If it chooses, the legislature can be the appropriate amount.
The Act will be effective on January 1, 2025, and will run until January 1, 2035. The bill came into finance from economic development, with a change in the version started every time. It now goes to the full Senate.
Senate Energy approved HB 5268 in less than five minutes without discussion.
This allows increased recovery of oil and gas in horizontal wells through any gas or fluid injection, including carbon dioxide. The committee’s counsel stated that the state code allows it for vertical wells already and the bill increases it to horizontal.
Increased recovery otherwise uses gas or fluid to stimulate unused oil and gas flows.
Bill unanimously passed the House on 12 February and now moved to the full Senate. It did not see any amendment in the Senate energy and would go to the Governor when passed without amendment on the Senate floor.