Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 5B > Article 2E - West Virginia Tourism Development Act

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agreement: means a tourism development agreement entered into, pursuant to section six of this article, between the department and an approved company with respect to a project. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Application assistant: means an employee of a state or local agency, or of a nonprofit program that provides counseling, referral, shelter or other specialized service to victims of domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault or stalking, and who has been designated by the respective agency or nonprofit program, and trained, accepted and registered by the Secretary of State to assist individuals in the completion of program participation applications. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Approval: means a finding by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources that a facility operated by the state has met the requirements of legislative rules promulgated for operation of that facility and that a certificate of approval or a certificate of operation has been issued. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Approved company: means any eligible company approved by the department pursuant to section five of this article seeking to undertake a project. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Approved costs: means :

  (a) Included costs:

  (i) Obligations incurred for labor and to vendors, contractors, subcontractors, builders, suppliers, delivery persons and material persons in connection with the acquisition, construction, equipping or installation of a project. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3

• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Base tax revenue amount: means the average monthly amount of consumer sales and service tax collected by an approved company, based on the twelve-month period ending immediately prior to the opening of a new tourism development project for business or a tourism development expansion project, as certified by the State Tax Commissioner. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• certificate of operation: means a statement issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources that a facility meets all of the necessary requirements for operation. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Certificate of registration: means a statement issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources to a family child care home, informal family child care home, or relative family child care home to provide specified services for a limited period in accordance with the terms of the certificate. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Charter: shall mean , except where specific reference is made to a particular type of charter, either a special legislative charter (whether or not amended under the provisions of former §. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• child: means an individual who meets one of the following conditions:

  (A) Is under thirteen years of age. See West Virginia Code 49-1-202

• child abuse or neglect: means any act or omission that creates an abused child or a neglected child as those terms are defined in this section. See West Virginia Code 49-1-201
• Child care: means responsibilities assumed and services performed in relation to a child's physical, emotional, psychological, social, and personal needs and the consideration of the child's rights and entitlements, but does not include secure detention or incarceration under the jurisdiction of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Child care center: means a facility maintained by the state or any county or municipality thereof, or any agency or facility maintained by an individual, firm, corporation, association, or organization, public or private, for the care of 13 or more children for child care services in any setting, if the facility is open for more than 30 days per year per child. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Child placing agency: means a child welfare agency organized for the purpose of placing children in private family homes for foster care or for adoption. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Child welfare agency: means any agency or facility maintained by the state or any county or municipality thereof, or any agency or facility maintained by an individual, firm, corporation, association, or organization, public or private, to receive children for care and maintenance or for placement in residential care facilities, including, without limitation, private homes or any facility that provides care for unmarried mothers and their children. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• City: is a word of art and shall mean, include, and be limited to any Class I, Class II, and Class III city, as classified in section three of this article (except in those instances where the context in which used clearly indicates that a particular class of city is intended), heretofore or hereafter incorporated as a municipal corporation under the laws of this state, however created and whether operating under: (i) A special legislative charter. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Code: shall mean the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as heretofore and hereafter amended. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: means the circuit court of the county with jurisdiction of the case or the judge in vacation unless otherwise specifically provided. See West Virginia Code 49-1-207
• Crafts and products center: means a facility primarily devoted to the display, promotion and sale of West Virginia products and at which a minimum of eighty percent of the sales occurring at the facility are of West Virginia arts, crafts or agricultural products. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Custodian: means a person who has or shares actual physical possession or care and custody of a child, regardless of whether that person has been granted custody of the child by any contract or agreement. See West Virginia Code 49-1-204
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the West Virginia Department of Economic Development as provided in article two of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Designated address: means the address assigned to a program participant by the Secretary of State pursuant to section one hundred three of this article. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Eligible company: means any corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, business trust, joint venture or any other entity operating or intending to operate a project, whether owned or leased, within the state that meets the standards required by the department. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Entertainment destination center: means a facility containing a minimum of two hundred thousand square feet of building space adjacent or complementary to an existing tourism attraction, an approved project, or a major convention facility and which provides a variety of entertainment and leisure options that contain at least one major theme restaurant and at least three additional entertainment venues, including, but not limited to, live entertainment, multiplex theaters, large-format theaters, motion simulators, family entertainment centers, concert halls, virtual reality or other interactive games, museums, exhibitions or other cultural and leisure time activities. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Facility: means a place or residence, including personnel, structures, grounds, and equipment used for the care of a child or children on a residential or other basis for any number of hours a day in any shelter or structure maintained for that purpose. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Family child care facility: means any facility which is used to provide nonresidential child care services for compensation for seven to 12 children, including children who are living in the household, who are under six years of age. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Family child care home: means a facility which is used to provide nonresidential child care services for compensation in a provider's residence. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Final approval: means the action taken by the Secretary of the department qualifying the eligible company to receive the tax credits provided in this article. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Foster parent: means a person with whom the department has placed a child and who has been certified by the department, a child placing agency, or another agent of the department to provide foster care. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (section 2A-309), but the term does not include money, documents, instruments, accounts, chattel paper, general intangibles or minerals or the like, including oil and gas, before extraction. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Governing body: shall mean the mayor and council together, the council, the board of directors, the commission, or other board or body of any municipality, by whatever name called, as the case may be, charged with the responsibility of enacting ordinances and determining the public policy of such municipality. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Informal family child care: means a home that is used to provide nonresidential child care services for compensation for three or fewer children, including children who are living in the household who are under six years of age. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Judgment: includes decrees and orders for the payment of money, or the conveyance or delivery of land or personal property, or some interest therein, or any undertaking, bond or recognizance which has the legal effect of a judgment. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Juvenile: means any person under eighteen years of age or is a transitioning adult. See West Virginia Code 49-1-202
• Kinship placement: means the placement of the child with a relative of the child, as defined herein, or a placement of a child with a fictive kin, as defined herein. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Law-enforcement officer: means a law-enforcement officer of the State Police, a municipality or county sheriff'. See West Virginia Code 49-1-208
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this article. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this article and any other applicable rules of law. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means the grant of official permission to a facility to engage in an activity which would otherwise be prohibited. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Mailing address: means an address that is recognized for delivery by the United States Postal Service. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Mayor: shall mean the individual called mayor unless as to a particular municipality a commissioner (in a commission form of government) or the city manager (in a manager form of government) is designated or constituted by charter provision as the principal or chief executive officer or chief administrator thereof, in which event the term "mayor" shall mean as to such municipality such commissioner or city manager unless as to any particular power, authority, duty or function specified in this chapter to be exercised, discharged or fulfilled by the mayor it is provided by charter provision or ordinance that such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled by the individual called mayor and not by a commissioner or city manager, in which event such particular power, authority, duty, or function shall in fact be exercised, discharged, or fulfilled in and for such municipality by the individual called mayor: Provided, That in the exercise and discharge of the ex officio justice of the peace, conservator of the peace, and mayor's court functions specified in this chapter, the term "mayor" shall always mean the individual called mayor. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Ordinance: shall mean the ordinances and laws enacted by the governing body of a municipality in the exercise of its legislative power, and in one or more articles of this chapter, ordinances enacted by a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Out-of-school time: means a child care service which offers activities to children before and after school, on school holidays, when school is closed due to emergencies, and on school calendar days set aside for teacher activities. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means an individual defined as a parent by law or on the basis of a biological relationship, marriage to a person with a biological relationship, legal adoption or other recognized grounds. See West Virginia Code 49-1-204
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or any other entity or organization of whatever character or description. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• personal property: includes goods, chattels, real and personal, money, credits, investments, and the evidences thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Placement: means any temporary or permanent placement of a child who is in the custody of the state in any foster home, kinship parent home, group home, or other facility or residence. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Present value: means the amount as of a date certain of one or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Program: means the Address Confidentiality Program established by this article. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Program participant: means a person certified by the Secretary of State to participate in the program. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Project: means a tourism development project and/or a tourism development expansion project administered in accordance with the provisions of this article. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Qualified professional services destination facility: means a facility with a minimum qualified investment, as defined in this article, of not less than $80 million physically located in this state and adjacent or complementary to a historic resort hotel, which primarily furnishes and provides personal or professional services, or both types of services, to individuals who primarily are residents of another state or foreign county. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, all rights thereto and interests therein, except chattel interests. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Registration: means the grant of official permission to a family child care home, informal family child care home, or a relative family child care home determined to be in compliance with the legislative rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Relative family child care: means a home that provides nonresidential child care services only to children related to the caregiver. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Residential Address: means a residential street, school or work address of an individual, as specified on the individual'. See West Virginia Code 48-28A-102
• Rule: means legislative rules promulgated by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources or a statement issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources of the standards to be applied in the various areas of child care. See West Virginia Code 49-1-203
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 49-1-208
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Siblings: means children who have at least one biological parent in common or who have been legally adopted by the same parent or parents. See West Virginia Code 49-1-204
• State: means a state of the United States, or the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See West Virginia Code 48-14-601
• state department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 49-1-208
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See West Virginia Code 46-2A-103
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tourism attraction: means a cultural or historical site, a recreation or entertainment facility, an area of natural phenomenon or scenic beauty, a West Virginia crafts and products center, or an entertainment destination center or a qualified professional services destination facility. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Tourism development expansion project: means the acquisition, including the acquisition of real estate by a leasehold interest with a minimum term of ten years. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Tourism development expansion project tax credit: means the tourism development expansion project tax credit allowed by section seven-a of this article. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Tourism development project: means the acquisition, including the acquisition of real estate by a leasehold interest with a minimum term of ten years. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Tourism development project tax credit: means the tourism development project tax credit allowed by section seven of this article. See West Virginia Code 5B-2E-3
• Town: includes a city, village or town, and the word "council" any body or board, whether composed of one or more branches, which is authorized to make ordinances for the government of a city, town, or village. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Town or village: is a term of art and shall, notwithstanding the provisions of §. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Treasurer: shall mean the treasurer or other municipal officer, by whatever name called, exercising the power and authority commonly exercised by a treasurer. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.