Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 8 > Article 19 - Municipal and County Waterworks and Electric Power Systems

• 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.
• Agency: means the Children's Health Insurance Agency, a division within the Bureau for Medical Services. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2
• Agreement: means any agreement being entered into between the nonprofit corporation and a business, corporation, private party or local or state government. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Applied behavior analysis: means the design, implementation, and evaluation of environmental modifications using behavioral stimuli and consequences in order to produce socially significant improvement in human behavior and includes the use of direct observation, measurement, and functional analysis of the relationship between environment and behavior. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• Assisting state: means a state which matches the requesting state'. See West Virginia Code 48-14-601
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means the governmental entity created in section five, article fifteen, chapter thirty-one, of this code. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• Autism spectrum disorder: means any pervasive developmental disorder, including autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, or Pervasive Development Disorder as defined in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Children's Health Insurance Program Advisory Board. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2
• board: means the board of directors of the corporation to be appointed under the provisions of section six of this article. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Certified behavior analyst: means an individual who is certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board or certified by a similar nationally recognized organization. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Certified sites: means those sites that are developable properties that have been prequalified as having proper land use designation, utilities, transportation improvements, availability, and pricing. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charitable purposes: means the 501(c)(3) subclasses of "lessening the burden of the government" where the government identifies a need for the nonprofit entity to assist with a governmental service and the nonprofit collaborates with the government entity, and "environmental protection for the benefit of the public" where the services of the corporation benefit the general public by protecting public health and the environment as well as assisting with state and local economic development initiatives. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• 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
• Code: shall mean the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as heretofore and hereafter amended. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of the Bureau for Medical Services appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2
• Commissioner of Highways: means the chief executive officer of the Division of Highways of the Department of Transportation provided in section one, article two-a, chapter . See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convict: means a person confined in a penitentiary or correctional facility of this or any other state, or of the United States. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporate directors: means the members of the board of directors of the corporation. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• 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.
• Corporation: means the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation, a nonstock, nonprofit corporation to be established under the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act, article two, chapter . See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• County commission: shall mean the governmental body created by section 22, article eight of the Constitution of this state, or any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 8-1-2
• County court: includes any existing tribunal created in lieu of a county commission. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• County transportation sales and use taxes: means the transportation sales tax and the transportation use tax imposed by a county commission pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• DEP: means the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection or any successor agency. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent: includes an eligible employee's child under the age of 26 as defined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Device: means a blood glucose test strip, glucometer, continuous glucose monitor (CGM), lancet, lancing device, or insulin syringe used to cure, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat diabetes or low blood sugar, but does not include insulin pumps. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency created by this article. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Director: means the deputy commissioner within the Bureau for Medical Services who has responsibility for the operation and oversight of the Children's Health Insurance Agency. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• ECs: means physical controls or measures designed to eliminate the potential for human exposure to contamination by limiting direct contact with contaminated areas, or controlling contaminants from migrating through environmental media into soil, groundwater or off-site. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Electric power system: means a system or facility which produces electric power in its entirety or provides for the distribution of electric power for local consumption and use or for distribution and resale or any combination thereof, or any integral part thereof, including, but not limited to, power lines and wires, power poles, guy wires, insulators, transformers, generators, cables, power line towers, voltage regulators, meters, power substations, machinery and all other facilities necessary, appropriate, useful or convenient or incidental in connection with or to an electric power supply system. See West Virginia Code 8-19-1
• Employee: means any person, including an elected officer, who works regularly full-time in the service of the State of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Employer: means the State of West Virginia, its boards, agencies, commissions, departments, institutions, or spending units. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Enforcement tools: means any order, permit, consent decree or environmental covenant or similar mechanisms which restrict or control certain land uses implemented at IEC Sites. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Enrolled sites: means properties enrolled and accepted for participation in the voluntary Land Stewardship Program. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• 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.
• Environmental acts: means the Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act set forth in article three, chapter . See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Essential community health service provider: means a health care provider that:

  (1) Has historically served medically needy or medically indigent patients and demonstrates a commitment to serve low-income and medically indigent populations which constitute a significant portion of its patient population or, in the case of a sole community provider, serves medically indigent patients within its medical capability. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2

• Established patient: means a patient who has received professional services, face-to-face, from the physician, qualified health care professional, or another physician or qualified health care professional of the exact same specialty and subspecialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance board: means the Public Employees Insurance Agency finance board created by this article. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Health care practitioner: means a person licensed under §. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• ICs: means administrative and legal controls that do not involve construction or physically changing the site and are generally divided into four categories: 1) Government controls, 2) Proprietary controls, 3) Enforcement tools, and 4) Informational devices. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• IEC Sites: means sites in this state that have been remediated or closed under a federal or state environmental program, including, but not limited to, brownfields, underground storage tanks, closed landfills, open dumps, hazardous waste sites, and former mining sites with ongoing water treatment as part of mine reclamation efforts. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Informational devices: means deed notices or other written documents that describe the remediation that was conducted on an IEC Site, the constituents of concern, and the remediation standards that were achieved. See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• 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
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Laws of the state: includes the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and the Constitution of the United States, and treaties and laws made in pursuance thereof. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• 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}
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Nonprofit corporation: means a corporation established under the West Virginia Nonprofit Corporation Act, article two, chapter . See West Virginia Code 31-21-2
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: shall be deemed to include an affirmation and the word "swear" or "sworn" to be complied with if the person referred to make solemn affirmation. See West Virginia Code 2-2-7
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• 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
• Originating site: means the location where the patient is located, whether or not accompanied by a health care practitioner, at the time services are provided by a health care practitioner through telehealth, including, but not limited to, a health care practitioner's office, hospital, critical access hospital, rural health clinic, federally qualified health center, a patient's home, and other nonmedical environments such as school-based health centers, university-based health centers, or the work location of a patient. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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.
• PEIA: means the Public Employees Insurance Agency created by this article. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Person: means any individual, company, association, organization, corporation, or other legal entity. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plan: means a group hospital and surgical insurance plan or plans, a group prescription drug insurance plan or plans, a group major medical insurance plan or plans, and a group life and accidental death insurance plan or plans. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• 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.
• Prescription insulin drug: means a prescription drug that contains insulin and is used to treat diabetes, and includes at least one type of insulin in all of the following categories:

  (1) Rapid-acting. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2

• Primary coverage: means individual or group hospital and surgical insurance coverage or individual or group major medical insurance coverage or group prescription drug coverage in which the spouse or dependent is the named insured or certificate holder. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Program: means the West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program. See West Virginia Code 5-16B-2
• Project costs: means capital costs, costs of financing, planning, designing, constructing, expanding, improving, or maintaining a road. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• public moneys: as used in this article , shall include all money which by law the sheriff in his capacity as such, and as treasurer of the county and districts, is authorized to collect, receive and disburse for public purposes, including state, county, districts, school districts, independent school districts and municipalities. See West Virginia Code 7-6-8
• 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
• 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.
• Remote patient monitoring services: means the delivery of home health services using telecommunications technology to enhance the delivery of home health care, including monitoring of clinical patient data such as weight, blood pressure, pulse, pulse oximetry, blood glucose, and other condition-specific data. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Requesting state: means a state transmitting a request for administrative enforcement to another state. See West Virginia Code 48-14-601
• Retired employee: means an employee of the state who retired after April 29, 1971, and an employee of the Higher Education Policy Commission, the Council for Community and Technical College Education, a state institution of higher education, or a county board of education who retires on or after April 21, 1972, and all additional eligible employees who retire on or after the effective date of this article, meet the minimum eligibility requirements for their respective state retirement system, and whose last employer immediately prior to retirement under the state retirement system is a participating employer in the state retirement system and in the Public Employees Insurance Agency: . See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Road: means a public highway, road, bridge, tunnel, or overpass to be used for the transportation of persons or goods including bicycle and pedestrian facilities. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• service: means and includes, but is not limited to, customer support services, help desk services, call center services, repair services, engineering services, installation service, assembly service, delivery service by means other than common carrier or the United States Postal Service, technical assistance services, the service of investigating, handling or otherwise assisting in resolving customer issues or complaints while in the county, the service of operating a mail order business or telephone, Internet or other remote order business from facilities located within the county, the service of operating a website or internet-based business from a location within the county imposing the use tax or any other service. See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Tactical medical professional: means a person who is an emergency medical service personnel, as defined in §. See West Virginia Code 30-43-1
• Tax Commissioner: means the State Tax Commissioner provided in article one, chapter . See West Virginia Code 7-27-3
• Telehealth services: means the use of synchronous or asynchronous telecommunications technology or audio-only telephone calls by a health care practitioner to provide health care services, including, but not limited to, assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, and monitoring of a patient. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• 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.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• video lottery license: means authorization granted by the commission pursuant to this article to a person permitting that person to engage in the activity for which the license was issued. See West Virginia Code 29-22B-314
• Virtual telehealth: means a new patient or follow-up patient for acute care that does not require chronic management or scheduled medications. See West Virginia Code 5-16-2
• Waterworks system: means a waterworks system in its entirety or any integral part thereof, including mains, hydrants, meters, valves, standpipes, storage tanks, pump tanks, pumping stations, intakes, wells, impounding reservoirs, pumps, machinery, purification plants, softening apparatus and all other facilities necessary, appropriate, useful, convenient or incidental in connection with or to a water supply system. See West Virginia Code 8-19-1
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.