§17-16A-23 Special highway fund; appropriations from fund. - West Virginia Statutes

§17-16A-23. Special highway fund; appropriations from fund.

(a) There is hereby created a special fund in the state treasury which shall be designated and known as the "West Virginia special highway fund." The special highway fund shall consist of (i) all funds allocated and disbursed to the state department of highways by the parkways authority, including without limitation the proceeds of any parkway revenue bonds or revenue refunding bonds issued by the parkways authority pursuant to sections eleven, twenty-one or twenty-two of this article, in repayment of the amount of state funds used to upgrade the West Virginia Turnpike to federal interstate standards, (ii) any appropriations, grants, gifts, contributions or other revenues received by the special highway fund from any source, and (iii) all interest earned on moneys held in the fund. When any funds are received by the state department of highways from the parkways authority pursuant to this section, they shall be paid into the state treasury by the commissioner of the department of highways and credited to the special highway fund, and shall be disbursed in the manner set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of this section. The special highway fund shall not be treated by the auditor and treasurer as part of the state road fund or as part of the general revenues of the state.

(b) The governor shall have the authority to transfer to the insurance fund created in section eight, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code, on any date or dates after the enactment of this section, up to thirty-five million dollars of the funds received or earned by the special highway fund, which funds may be used and applied by the West Virginia economic development authority in the manner and to the extent set forth in article fifteen of said chapter thirty-one. On or before the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the economic development authority shall retransfer to the special highway fund the thirty-five million dollars advanced to the insurance fund pursuant to this section. All interest earned on the thirty-five million dollars while being held in the insurance fund shall remain in, and be the property of, said insurance fund: Provided, That on and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, the governor shall have the authority to transfer six million dollars from the insurance fund created in section eight, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one of this code to a special fund hereby created in the state treasury and designated "the West Virginia economic development fund." Expenditures from the fund are to be made only in accordance with appropriations by the Legislature.

(c) Upon the transfer of thirty-five million dollars to the insurance fund as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the Legislature shall annually appropriate all or any part of the balance of the funds deposited in the special highway fund for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance or repair of any parkway project or projects: Provided, That all of such funds shall be appropriated to (i) the upgrading or addition of interchanges; (ii) the construction of expressways or feeder roads; or (iii) the upgrading or construction of information centers, visitors' centers, rest stops, or any combination thereof, and that all such feeder roads, expressways, interchanges, information centers, visitors' centers or rest stops shall connect to the West Virginia Turnpike and within seventy-five air miles of the West Virginia Turnpike as it existed on the effective date of this legislation, or any subsequent expressway, turnpike or feeder road constructed pursuant to this subsection. The appropriation of funds pursuant to this subsection shall be expended on more than one project.