2015 West Virginia Code
CHAPTER 17. ROADS AND HIGHWAYS
ARTICLE 16A. WEST VIRGINIA PARKWAYS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM AUTHORITY.
§17-16A-6. Parkways Authority's powers.

(a) The Parkways Authority is hereby authorized and empowered:

(1) To adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;

(2) To adopt an official seal and alter the same at pleasure;

(3) To maintain an office at such place or places within the state as it may designate;

(4) To sue and be sued in its own name, plead and be impleaded. Any and all actions against the Parkways Authority shall be brought only in the county in which the principal office of the Parkways Authority is located;

(5) To construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain, repair and operate projects, at such locations within the state as may be determined by the Parkways Authority subject to the provisions of section thirty of this article: Provided, That after July 1, 2010, the Parkways Authority is prohibited from constructing new tourism projects or new economic development projects, but this prohibition shall not prevent the Authority from entering into lease agreements, development agreements or other agreements with private businesses or companies allowing and providing for such private businesses or companies to acquire, develop, construct and operate motels, lodging facilities or other businesses and business facilities on land owned by the Authority and located adjacent to the Tamarack project and facilities at Exit 45 of the West Virginia Turnpike;

(6) To issue parkway revenue bonds of the State of West Virginia, payable solely from revenues, for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of any one or more parkway projects, which costs may include, with respect to the West Virginia Turnpike, such funds as are necessary to repay to the State of West Virginia all or any part of the state funds used to upgrade the West Virginia Turnpike to federal interstate standards;

(7) To issue parkway revenue refunding bonds of the State of West Virginia, payable solely from revenues, for any one or more of the following purposes:

(A) Refunding any bonds which shall have been issued under the provisions of this article or any predecessor thereof; and

(B) Repaying to the state all or any part of the state funds used to upgrade the West Virginia Turnpike to federal interstate standards;

(8) To fix and revise, from time to time, tolls for transit over each parkway project constructed or improved by it, by the Department of Transportation, or by the West Virginia Turnpike Commission;

(9) To fix and revise, rents, fees or other charges, of whatever kind or character, for the use of each tourism project or economic development project constructed by it or for the use of any building, structure or facility constructed by it in connection with a parkway project;

(10) To acquire, hold, lease and dispose of real and personal property in the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties under this article;

(11) To acquire in the name of the state by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper, or by the exercise of the right of condemnation in the manner hereinafter provided, such public or private lands, including public parks, playgrounds or reservations, or parts thereof or rights therein, rights-of-way, property, rights, easements and interests, as it may deem necessary for carrying out the provisions of this article. No compensation shall be paid for public lands, playgrounds, parks, parkways or reservations so taken, and all public property damaged in carrying out the powers granted by this article shall be restored or repaired and placed in its original condition as nearly as practicable;

(12) To designate the locations, and establish, limit and control such points of ingress to and egress from each project as may be necessary or desirable in the judgment of the Parkways Authority to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of such project, and to prohibit entrance to such project from any point or points not so designated;

(13) To make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this article, and to employ consulting engineers, attorneys, accountants, architects, construction and financial experts, trustees, superintendents, managers and such other employees and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix their compensation. All such expenses shall be payable solely from the proceeds of parkway revenue bonds or parkway revenue refunding bonds issued under the provisions of this article, tolls or from revenues;

(14) To make and enter into all contracts, agreements or other arrangements with any agency, department, division, board, bureau, commission, authority or other governmental unit of the state to operate, maintain, or repair any project;

(15) To receive and accept from any federal agency grants for or in aid of the construction of any project, and to receive and accept aid or contributions from any source of either money, property, labor or other things of value, to be held, used and applied only for the purposes for which such grants and contributions may be made;

(16) To investigate and, if feasible, develop and implement a "single fee" program which would produce on an annual basis a sum of money equal to the total toll revenue received from all West Virginia drivers on West Virginia toll roads during the Authority's preceding fiscal year, divided into at least three classes based upon usage, size and number of axles. Said sum, plus an amount necessary to cover the expected costs of such program, shall be produced by adding to either the annual cost of vehicle registration or of vehicle inspection a single fee equal to the proportionate share of that vehicle owner of the total toll revenue needed to be produced from all vehicles within that class. A vehicle for which such fee has been paid shall be entitled to traverse all toll roads within the state without stopping to pay individual tolls during the effective period of said registration or said inspection: Provided, however, That if the single fee proposed to be charged under said program exceeds the standard round trip toll for that vehicle over the entire length of the West Virginia Turnpike, the Authority shall not implement such program without the prior approval of both Houses of the Legislature: Provided further, That any such program shall also include comparable provisions which would allow vehicles registered in other states to traverse West Virginia toll roads in like fashion to West Virginia vehicles as set forth in this section upon the payment of a single fee for each and every vehicle registered in such state, in accordance with the same classification system adopted for West Virginia vehicles.

(17) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly granted in this article; and

(18) To file the necessary petition or petitions pursuant to Title 11, United States Code, Sec. 401 (being section 81 of the Act of Congress entitled "An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States", approved July 1, 1898, as amended) and to prosecute to completion all proceedings permitted by Title 11, United States Code, Secs. 401-403 (being sections 81 to 83, inclusive, of said Act of Congress). The State of West Virginia hereby consents to the application of said Title 11, United States Code, Secs. 401-403, to the Parkways Authority.

(b) Nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit the issuance of parkway revenue refunding bonds in a common plan of financing with the issuance of parkway revenue bonds.