Chapter 5B, Chapter 5B

(a) Program created. – The West Virginia Youth Summer Employment and Career Readiness Program is hereby established within the Department of Commerce’s Division of Workforce Development. The department shall administer the program to provide youth who are at least 14 and not more…

The development office has the following powers and duties, in addition to those set forth in this case, necessary to carry out the purposes of this article including, but not limited to: (1) Make approval of all applications for projects and enter into agreements pertaining to p…

(a) In order to effectuate the purposes of this article, the Tax Commissioner may promulgate procedural rules, interpretive rules and legislative rules, including emergency rules, or any combination thereof in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code. (b) In order to effectu…

(a) The council may seek and accept public and private research grants and contracts, matching funds and procurement arrangements from the state and federal government, private industry and other agencies, in furtherance of and consistent with its mission and programs: Provided, …

(a) In order to effectuate the purposes of this article, the division shall promulgate procedural rules, interpretive rules, and legislative rules, including emergency rules, or any combination thereof in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code. (b) Within 90 days of the ef…

(a) The board shall provide information and guidance to local boards and staff, to enable them to better educate both women and men about higher paying jobs and careers including jobs traditionally dominated by men or women. Such guidance shall promote services provided by the lo…

(a) Following identification of economically viable sites that may be suitable for electric generation projects, the Director of the Office of Energy shall identify and designate each site it has determined to be suitable for coal, geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, natural gas, o…

The office may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code as needed to implement an energy policy and development plan in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

The Division of Economic Development may enter into contractual or joint venture agreements with a nonprofit corporation organized pursuant to the corporate laws of the state, organized to permit qualification pursuant to section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and for purpos…

(a) The Department of Tourism, under the direction and charge of the secretary, shall develop and implement a comprehensive tourism advertising, promotion, and development strategy for West Virginia. "Comprehensive tourism advertising, promotion and development strategy" means a …

(a) Composition; chairman; quorum; qualifications. -- The fund shall be governed and administered by a board of trustees composed of the Director of the Division of Natural Resources and the Director of the Division of Forestry, who shall serve as voting ex officio members, and n…

A special revenue fund to be known as the Coalfield Community Grant Facilitation Fund is hereby created which shall consist of all moneys made available for the purposes of this article and include any amounts to be deposited in the fund, including all appropriations to the fund,…

The funds made available by this section shall supplement but not displace funds available through existing programs conducted by employers themselves and public programs such as the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, the Stewart B. McKi…

(a) The Office of Coalfield Community Development all the powers, rules, duties, and responsibilities previously granted and authorized to the Office pursuant to this article are hereby transferred into a program within the Office of Energy. (b) The Director of the Office of Ener…

(a) Vertiport Design. – Each vertiport subject to this article shall comply with any Federal Aviation Administration published rule or advisory circular containing standards for vertiport design and performance characteristics. (b) Vertiport Layout Plan. – Each vertiport subject …

The Division of Economic Development may enter into contractual agreements with the regional councils formed under §8-25-5 of this code to provide funding to the regional councils to be used to obtain federal matching grants and for other purposes determined to be appropriate by …

(a) The Office of Energy shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code to establish a procedure and criteria for awarding a coal, geothermal, hydrogen, hydropower, natural gas, or nuclear-ready community designatio…

(a) The board shall conduct business in an open manner as required by WIOA §101(g). (b) The board shall make available to the public, on a regular basis through electronic means and open meetings, information about the activities and functions of the board including: (1) The stat…

(a) The executive director may employ economic development representatives to be paid a base salary within legislative appropriations to the division, subject to applicable contract provisions pursuant to §5B-2-4 of this code. Economic development representatives may receive perf…

The primary concern in the provision of training services shall be the needs and types of services identified by the employer. A college or university, community college or area vocational education center shall be given initial consideration to provide any training, retraining, …

(a) Each eligible company that seeks to qualify a project for the tourism development project tax credit provided by section seven of this article, or for the tourism development expansion project tax credit provided by section seven-a of this article, as applicable, must file a …

The office has and may exercise the following duties, powers, and responsibilities: (1) To establish a procedure for determining the assets that could be developed in and maintained by the community to foster its long-term viability as provided in §5B-2A-8 of this code and to adm…

To maximize the resources of the state and to create a resource for entities and persons interested in applying for grants that need assistance with grant proposal and applications, the commission shall coordinate and administer a specialized subcommittee of the commission made u…

On or before November 1, any state agency that receives federal or state funding that has been used for workforce investment activities for the past fiscal year shall provide to the board a report, detailing the source and amount of federal, state or other funds received; the pur…

Program funds shall be awarded by the department through state grants to private and public employer partners. Each employer partner shall apply grant contributions toward participant wages, supervision, training, or related costs. The department shall establish, by legislative r…

(a) The Office of Energy shall develop a State Energy Security Plan and shall submit a report of its plan to the Governor and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance before on or before December 1, 2026, and every five years thereafter. The State Security Energy Plan shall …

The provisions of this article are subject to the West Virginia Tax Procedure and Administration Act, set forth in §11-10-1 et seq. of this code, and the West Virginia Tax Crimes and Penalties Act, set forth in §11-9-1 et seq. of this code, as if the provisions thereof were set f…

The board has the following general powers on behalf of the fund: (a) Power to sue. -- To sue and be sued in contractual matters in its own name. (b) Power to contract. -- To enter into contracts generally and to execute all instruments necessary or appropriate to carry out its p…

(a) Employers that receive an award pursuant to this article must retain the following records for a period of no less than five years and provide copies of the same to the department or the division upon request: (1) A copy of the training curriculum; (2) A copy of the certifica…

(a) In order to address the specific opportunities and needs of any particular field of science and technology, the council may establish working groups composed of a member or members of the council with expertise in that field or discipline and additional individuals, to be kno…

A political subdivision of this state shall not exercise its zoning and land use authority to grant or permit an exclusive right to one or more vertiport owners or operators and shall use such authority to promote reasonable access to advanced air mobility operators at public-use…

(a) The Department of Tourism may enter into contractual or joint venture agreements with one or more nonprofit corporations organized pursuant to the corporate laws of the state, organized to permit qualification pursuant to Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and organi…

(a) The academy will prepare and produce an annual report on the state of science and technology in West Virginia and submit it to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the President of the Senate and the joint commission on economic development or before July 1, o…

(a) Effective July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the Department of Economic Development shall submit a report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. The report shall provide: (1) The number and location of all projects approved pursuant to this article; (2) The geo…

The board shall, on behalf of the fund: (a) Disseminate information regarding land conservation and promote the conservation of land. (b) Develop and implement additional guidelines and procedures, consistent with the purposes of this chapter, as necessary to implement this chapt…

The department, upon final approval of an application by the Secretary, may enter into an agreement with any approved company with respect to its project. The terms and provisions of each agreement shall include, but not be limited to: (1) The estimated amount of approved costs o…

The provisions of this article are intended to supplement any provision of federal law pertaining to the design, construction, operations, or maintenance of a vertiport designed or constructed with a grant under 49 U.S.C. § 47101 et seq., and any provision of this article found i…

(a) The office shall file a report with the Legislature, the Legislative Oversight commission on workforce investment for economic development and the Governor at the end of each fiscal year, commencing June 30, 1990. This report shall include the following: (1) The number of per…

(a) The Office of Energy shall conduct an energy emergency exercise by no later than July 1, 2027. It shall conduct additional energy emergency exercises every two years thereafter. The office shall invite representatives from the following entities to participate in the energy e…

(a) Program funds received by employer partners may be used only for wage subsidies, payroll-related costs, training, transportation, equipment, supportive services, and reasonable administrative expenses, all of which must be related to youth participants hired by the employer p…

(a) Workforce West Virginia shall provide administrative and other services to the board as the board requires. (b) Workforce West Virginia shall facilitate the coordination of board activities and local workforce investment activities, including holding meetings with the executi…

(a) The office shall, no less frequently than quarterly, either consult with representatives of the department’s Office of Mining and Reclamation or review the department’s permit application database(s) to determine whether newly proposed surface mines or significant modificatio…

All programs, orders, determinations, rules, permits, grants, contracts, certificates, bonds, authorizations and privileges which have been issued, made, granted or allowed to become effective pursuant to any prior enactments of this article or by the Governor, the executive dire…

(a) There is continued in the State Treasury the special revenue fund known as the Tourism Promotion Fund created under prior enactment of §5B-1-9 of this code. (b) Moneys deposited in the fund each year shall be used solely for marketing, direct advertising, business development…

The commission shall provide by December first of each year to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance an annual electronic report that provides the following: (1) A summary of grant assistance applications received and relevant statistics relating to actions taken by the c…

(a) Any property owner of a tract of land that is a brownfield or voluntary remediated site pursuant to §22-22-1 et seq. of this code may, if the site and surrounding area were involved in the extraction and processing of coal, limestone, or other natural resources, apply to the …

For purposes of this article, the following terms have the meanings set forth in this section. (a) “Board” means the board of trustees established in section three of this article. (b) “Conservation easement” means a nonpossessory interest in real property as defined in section t…

The West Virginia Development Office shall market and promote the program.

Any documentary material, data or other writing made or received by the West Virginia academy of science and technology for the purpose of developing state summaries or policy options concerning the capabilities, performance or plans of individual businesses or organizations is d…

(a) Approved companies are allowed a credit against the West Virginia consumers sales and service tax imposed by §11-15-1 et seq., of this code and collected by the approved company on sales generated by or arising from the operations of the tourism development project: Provided,…