Committee backs committee substitute for Senate Bill 459 imposing residency requirements for planning commissions

The Senate Government Organization Committee voted to report a committee substitute for Senate Bill 459 to the full Senate with the recommendation that it pass. The substitute changes residency qualifications for members of municipal, county, regional, multi-county and joint planning commissions.

Committee counsel summarized the substitute: it would require planning commission members to have been residents of West Virginia for at least three years preceding appointment and to have been residents of the county, municipality, or region in which the commission sits for at least one year preceding appointment. For members of regional, multi-county and joint planning commissions the local residency requirement would be three years. The substitute removes economic development commissions from the bill as introduced, reduces the state-residency requirement from five years (in the introduced version) to three, and makes other technical changes.

Counsel told the committee that members who do not meet the qualification requirements “may not be grandfathered in under this bill and cannot.” The substitute also reiterates existing conflict-of-interest language, clarifying that simply conducting business regularly before a planning commission does not automatically disqualify a prospective member under other code sections.

Committee members pressed on practical implications. The senator from Logan asked, “What do you do if the county can't find somebody?” Counsel answered, “I don't know. I mean, there's not Bill doesn't address that in any way.” The senator from Fayette asked whether the bill excludes people with business interests; counsel replied, “It says residency. So, if you simply have a business interest there, you don't reside there, you do not qualify.”

Counsel noted existing code provisions already require a three-year residency for certain planning bodies and that the substitute aligns some requirements with those existing rules. The counsel also cited that municipal and county planning commissions typically have no fewer than five and no more than 15 members.

No amendments were offered. The vice chair moved that the committee report the committee substitute for Senate Bill 459 to the full Senate with the recommendation that it pass. The motion carried on a voice vote; the chair declared the motion adopted and said the committee substitute will be reported to the full Senate.

Next steps: The committee substitute for Senate Bill 459 will be placed on the Senates calendar for consideration by the full Senate.