§31-21-1. Short Title

OF ARTICLE AND DEFINITIONS. §31-21-1. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as The West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation Act.

§31-21-10. Minimum Standards for Certified Sites

(a) The corporation shall establish minimum standards that a site must meet to be considered for certification. Minimum standards include, but are not limited to: (1) Letter of support from a mayor, county commissioner, or county, regional, or municipal economic development official;

§31-21-11. Land Bank Program

(a) This article hereby authorizes the establishment of a voluntary state land bank program. Under this program, the corporation is authorized to acquire properties, hold title and prepare them for future use. Prior to acquiring any properties, the corporation shall conduct site appropriate assessments to determine the environmental conditions or issues associated with a particular […]

§31-21-12. Preserve Property Value

(a) The corporation may, without the approval of a local unit of government in which property held by the corporation is located, control, hold, manage, maintain, operate, repair, lease as lessor, secure, prevent the waste or deterioration of, demolish and take all other actions necessary to preserve the value of the property held or owned […]

§31-21-13. Contaminated Property

(a) If the DEP determines that conditions on a property transferred to the corporation under this article present an immediate threat to public health, safety and welfare, or to the environment, the corporation may not convey, sell, transfer, exchange, lease or otherwise dispose of the property until after a determination by the DEP that the […]

§31-21-14. Liberal Construction

This article shall be construed liberally to effectuate the legislative intent and the purposes as complete and independent authorization for the performance of every act and thing authorized by this article. All powers granted shall be broadly interpreted to effectuate the intent and purposes of this article and not as a limitation thereof. The corporation […]

§31-21-15. Exemption From Taxation

The property of the corporation shall be exempt from ad valorem property taxation. Property owned and leased by the corporation as lessor to a commercial lessee or an industrial lessee is hereby declared to be tax exempt and held by the corporation for a public purpose. A payment in lieu of taxes, payable by the […]

§31-21-16. Audits and Reports

(a) As soon as possible after the close of each year, the corporation shall cause an annual audit to be made by an independent certified public accountant of its books, records, accounts and operations. The person performing this audit shall furnish copies of the audit report to the Governor, the secretary of the DEP and […]

§31-21-17. Completed Purpose

If the corporation has completed the purposes for which the corporation was organized, the board of directors, by vote of at least a majority of a quorum of the directors and with the written consent of the Governor, may provide for the dissolution of the corporation and may provide for the transfer of any property […]

§31-21-18. Conflicts of Interest

Notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the contrary, officers and employees of the corporation and its board of directors may hold appointments to offices of any other corporations or businesses and be corporate directors or officers or employees of other entities but are prohibited to be a party or otherwise participate in the […]

§31-21-19. No Waiver of Sovereign Immunity

Nothing contained in this article may be determined or construed to waive or abrogate in any way the sovereign immunity of the state or to deprive the nonprofit corporation created pursuant to this article, its board of directors, or any officer or employee thereof of sovereign immunity.

§31-21-2. Definitions

The following words used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning, are defined as follows: (1) "Agreement" means any agreement being entered into between the nonprofit corporation and a business, corporation, private party or local or state government.

§31-21-20. No Obligation of the State

Obligations of the corporation are not debts or obligations of the DEP or the state.

§31-21-3. Declaration of Policy

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that developable land is one of West Virginia's most valuable resources in terms of net contributions to the state's economy and tax base. (b) The Legislature further finds that: (1) Due to topography, the state has somewhat limited amounts of developable land and that promoting the productive reuse of […]

§31-21-4. Purpose of Article

The purpose of this article is to provide for the creation of a special purpose nonprofit corporation with a comprehensive mission to: (1) Assist the DEP in utilizing a voluntary land stewardship program for the long-term safeguarding of IEC Sites to ensure that the remedy remains protective of human health and the environment and to […]

§31-21-5. Creation of the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation; Powers and Limitations

§31-21-5. Creation of the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation; powers and limitations. (a) The corporation shall be organized as a nonprofit, nonstock corporation under the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act, article two, chapter thirty-one-e of this code. The property thereof is deemed to be held for an area economic development purpose under subdivision fourteen, subsection […]

§31-21-6. Board of Directors

(a) The purposes, powers and duties of the corporation shall be exercised by its board of directors. Board meetings shall be chaired by the Governor or his or her designee. The corporation's board shall also consist of the following thirteen members: (1) The Governor shall appoint three residents of this state;

§31-21-7. Voluntary Land Stewardship Program

§31-21-7. Voluntary land stewardship program. (a) When the voluntary land stewardship program is implemented, remediation parties and site owners of IEC Sites will have the option, for a fee, to participate in this program. The fee shall be established by the corporation for services provided for an enrolled site as that term is defined in […]

§31-21-8. Underwriting

The enrollment and acceptance process to participate in the land stewardship program shall be developed to include an underwriting review that focuses on: (1) The nature and extent of contamination; (2) the selected remedy; (3) the type of services selected and duration thereof; and (4) the financial costs and risks associated with fulfilling the services.

§31-21-9. State Certified Sites Program

§31-21-9. State certified sites program. (a) This article hereby authorizes the establishment of a statewide certified sites program. The program shall consist of the development and preparation of certain site specific decision ready documentation or reports that will enable the expedited property transaction for sites that participate in the certified sites program. (b) The objectives […]