CHARLESTON — The state Senate on Thursday passed a handful of bills promoting development of the oil and gas industry, the Appalachian Storage Hub and plugging abandoned gas wells.
HB 4019 is one of two tax credit bills. This one is called the Downstream Natural Gas Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit Act and grants a manufacturer an income tax credit against the portion of its income taxes that are a direct consequence of its qualified investment.
Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio, was among those who opposed it. The industry is big in his area, he said, and a cracker plant is being developed nearby in Ohio, just two miles from Moundsville. “There’s a lot of excitement in the Northern Panhandle about the development of that facility,” he said, and the credit will help incentive the downstream activity that will produce permanent jobs.
But the bill offers certain conditions that will allow it a 100% tax credit, he said. He understands from the Commerce Department that this project will generate restaurant sales and other local spending and income tax revenue from the workers. But only the local counties will benefit, not the rest of the state.”
A 100% tax credit just seems to me to maybe going a little bit too far.” The Pennsylvania governor is taking a wiser approach of considering each project case-by-case for tax credits. “We’re giving away more than we should.”
It passed 25-8 and goes to the governor. Locally, Republicans Charles Clements, Mike Maroney, Randy Smith and Dave Sypolt, along with Democrat Roman Prezioso, voted for it. Democrat Bob Beach voted no.
HB 4421 has two parts: The Natural Gas Liquids Economic Development Act and the Natural Gas Liquids Property Tax Adjustment Act.
It’s aimed at promoting the transportation — via pipelines — and storage of natural gas liquids in the state by offering property tax credits. The credits apply to the property tax on transportation, storage inventory and equipment and can be applied against personal income or corporate net income tax.
It passed 27-6 without discussion and goes to the governor. Locally, the vote was the same as for HB 4019.
HB 4088 provides a means for royalties due to unknown or unlocatable mineral owners to be transferred to the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund after seven years.
It passed 32-1 without discussion and goes to the governor. All local senators voted for it. HB 4001 is House Speaker Roger Hanshaw’s signature piece of legislation for this session. It creates the West Virginia Impact Fund and is designed to draw investment money from around the world.
The bill creates the Impact Fund, an Impact Committee and the Mountaineer Impact Office. The Impact Office is to scan the globe for major investors — foreign or domestic — interested in pursuing projects worth at least $25 million in West Virginia’s shale basins.
The committee would approve projects but would not use the Impact Fund as a general pool of money to spread among projects as it wished. The investors would direct their money into the projects they choose to participate in, with the Impact Fund acting as a pass-through.
Each project would be governed by a self-governing legal entity set up by but not controlled by or owned by the Impact Office, which simply
provides administrative functions.
Hanshaw and bill supporters have explained that the Impact Fund is a form of a sovereign wealth fund that would allow the investors to feel safe with their investments. Foreign investments — by other countries or foreign individuals or corporations are subject to review and “clawback” by the federal Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS).
It passed 30-3 and goes to the governor, with Beach the only local vote against.
Hanshaw issued a statement following passage: “We have all for years discussed the need to diversify our state’s economy to create jobs, provide opportunities and lure people and new businesses to our state. I absolutely believe this bill will help us attract the investment dollars that can capitalize the kind of large-scale projects that we’ve tried to locate in our state for years.”
He continued: “Many people don’t realize that there is more than $17 trillion — that’s trillion with a ‘T’ — worth of potential investment capital sitting in accounts across the globe looking for something to invest in. Our Impact Fund will create a vehicle that gives these investors the option of putting their money to work in West Virginia. The investors will benefit from the returns generated by these new businesses, while our state will reap the benefits of new jobs, good wages and the tax revenue generated by all the new economic activity these new businesses will create.”
Other bills
HB 4094 spells out the duties of the new Foster Care Ombudsman office, including its power to investigate complaints from foster children and families,
to issue subpoenas and access relevant records. It passed 33-0 and returned to the House for amendment concurrence.
HB 4165 is called the West Virginia Remembers Program and allows veterans to accept invitations to speak of their experiences in school classrooms. It has been explained that this is already permitted, but some schools are reluctant to do it without express permission in code. It passed 32-0.
HB 4524 makes the whole state “wet” — meaning it permits the sale of alcohol in stores for off-premises consumption — by July 1. It originated from a request by Snowshoe Resort, which is located in a dry community. Customers are frustrated because they can’t buy wine from local stores.
Judiciary chair Charles Trump, R-Morgan, said dry localities can choose to remain dry by two methods. One, the local government can issue an order, no later than July 1, for a referendum in November. Two, 5% of the voters can petition for a referendum. Under this method, an election can’t be more held than every two years.
It passed 27-6 and returns to the House for amendment concurrence. Prezioso provided the only local vote against.
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