Chap. 71.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled, ‘‘An Act to provide for
the creation of a division of the State Corporation Commission, to be known
as Division of Aeronautics, as a means for the administration, by the State
Corporation Commission, of the functions hereby, heretofore, or which may
hereafter be, conferred upon the commission for the licensing of airports, air
pilots, et cetera, and for the promotion of aviation in the public interest; to
impose taxes upon gasoline purchased in the State and used for propelling air-
planes and other aircraft operated intrastate; to provide for payment into a
special fund of all gasoline taxes, to the extent of the tax imposed by this law,
collected under the general gasoline tax by the Motor Vehicle Division, which
under the present, or any future, law would be refundable to the operators of
airplanes and other aircraft if demand were made therefor; to provide for the
expenditure of the special fund so accumulated by the State Corporation Com-
mission for the administration by the commission, through the said division, of
the laws pertaining to aviation, as now or as may be hereafter enacted and
jurisdiction for the administration thereof conferred on the said commission;
to provide for the expenditure by the said State Corporation Commission of the
surplus of the fund so created, left after the expenses of administration, for the
construction, maintenance and improvement of airports and landing fields, to
which the public shall have access, with the cooperation of the State Highway
Department, or otherwise as may be determined, and for the promotion of
aviation in the interest of operators and in the interest of the public; and to
appropriate funds for the aforesaid purposes,”’ approved March 31, 1938, so as
to make the act apply to both intrastate and interstate commerce. [H B 52]

Approved February 22, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That an
act entitled, ‘‘An Act to provide for the creation of a division of the
State Corporation Commission, to be known as Division of Aeronau-
tics, as a means for the administration, by the State Corporation
Commission, of the functions hereby, heretofore, or which may
hereafter be, conferred upon the commission for the licensing of air-
ports, air pilots, et cetera, and for the promotion of aviation in the
public interest; to impose taxes upon gasoline purchased in the State
and used for propelling airplanes and other aircraft operated intra-
state; to provide for payment into a special fund of all gasoline taxes,
to the extent of the tax imposed by this law, collected under the
general gasoline tax by the Motor Vehicle Division, which under the
present, or any future, law would be refundable to the operators of
airplanes and other aircraft if demand were made therefor; to provide
for the expenditure of the special fund so accumulated by the State
Corporation Commission for the administration by the commission,
through the said division, of the laws pertaining to aviation, as now
or as may be hereafter enacted and jurisdiction for the administration
thereof conferred on the said commission; to provide for the ex-
penditure by the said State Corporation Commission of the surplus
of the fund so created, left after the expenses of administration, for
the construction, maintenance and improvement of airports and
landing fields, to which the public shall have access, with the coopera-
tion of the State Highway Department, or otherwise as may be de-
termined, and for the promotion of aviation in the interest of opera-
tors and in the interest of the public; and to appropriate funds for
the aforesaid purposes,” approved March thirty-first, nineteen
hundred and thirty-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows: ,

Section 1. That the State Corporation Commission be, and it
hereby is, authorized to create and organize a division of the said
commission to be known as Division of Aeronautics, and through
the medium of which the commission shall perform the administrative
functions and duties now or hereafter conferred upon it relative to
the licensing of airports, landing fields, airpilots, et cetera, and for
the promotion of aviation in the interest of the public, under such
rules and regulations of an administrative character as may be from
time to time prescribed and adopted by administrative orders and/or
by administrative practices. ,

Section 2. That there be, and hereby is, imposed, and hereby
required to be paid, through medium of deduction from refunds as
now required by law, or directly if and when there shall be any change
in the law which constitutes the provisions herein for retention of
said portion of refundable gasoline taxes no longer applicable, a tax
of three cents on each gallon of gasoline purchased in this State for
use and used by intrastate operators in the propulsion of airplanes
or any kind of aircraft; and a tax of three cents on each gallon of
gasoline purchased in this State for use and used by interstate opera-
tors in the propulsion of airplanes or any kind of aircraft in intrastate
operations and within the borders of the State of Virginia, the amount
of tax to be based on the flight logs of each trip and average con-
sumption of gasoline per hour per month.

Section 3. That the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles
be, and he hereby is, directed, upon demand for refund of gasoline
taxes paid by any operator of airplanes or other aircraft, to pay at
the rate of three cents a gallon for each and every gallon upon which
there is a right of refund and refund is being made, into the treasury,
as a special fund, to be disbursed upon order of the State Corporation
Commission for the purposes as herein provided; but such deductions
and payments as to interstate operators shall be made only as to
gasoline purchased in this State for use and used by such interstate
operators in the propulsion of airplanes or aircraft in intrastate
operations and within the borders of the State of Virginia, the com-
putation thereof to be based on the flight logs of each trip and
average consumption of gasoline per hour per month. In addition
to the funds derived from the tax herein imposed, the director of the
Division of Motor Vghicles shall pay annually into the special fund
herein provided for, from funds derived from the State tax on motor
fuel, the sum of ten thousand dollars, to be disbursed on order of the
State Corporation Commission for the purposes herein provided,
which sum represents the estimated motor fuel tax paid annually by
operators of airplanes and airships for which no claim for refund is
made. Payment provided for in this section shall be made on a
quarterly basis, beginning with the end of the first quarter of the
fiscal year nineteen hundred and forty.

Section 4. That the said funds accumulated through medium of
taxes hereby imposed be, and they hereby are, constituted a special
fund for the administration of the aviation laws, heretofore or here-
after enacted, insofar as the administration thereof has been or shall
be imposed upon the State Corporation Commission, for the con-
struction, maintenance and improvement of airports and landing
fields, and for the promotion of aviation, in the interest of operators
and in the interest of the public, and that said funds, after reasonable
and necessary cost of administration of said aviation laws by the
State Corporation Commission, through medium of the said division
hereby provided for, and by the State Corporation Commission
directly or otherwise, as may be determined, shall be expended and
disbursed upon order of the State Corporation Commission, through
medium of warrants drawn by the Comptroller of the State of Vir-
ginia, for the construction, maintenance and improvement of airports
and landing fields to which the public now, or which it is proposed
shall, have access, and for the promotion of aviation in the interest
of operators and the public generally.

Section 5. That, in the actual performance of the necessary work
for the construction, maintenance and improvement of the said
airports and landing fields, the State Highway Department be, and
it hereby is, authorized to cooperate with the State Corporation
Commission to the extent of furnishing engineering advice and equip-
ment and materials at actual cost, to be paid out of the said special
fund.

Section 6. That the special fund hereby created and provided
for shall be so set up on the books of the Treasurer of the State of
Virginia as to segregate the amounts paid into the said fund as a
direct tax upon gasoline purchased by operators of airplanes and
aircraft, and that no portion of such fund accumulated from the
taxes hereby imposed upon gasoline purchased by operators of air-
planes and aircraft shall ever be used for any other purpose than for
the administration of the aviation laws and the construction, main-
tenance, and improvement of airports and landing fields, and that
no portion of same shall be covered into the general treasury of the
State for general purposes, said funds derived from taxation being
hereby irrevocably appropriated for promotion of aviation in the
interest of operators and of the public as herein provided, and, to
the extent necessary only, for the administration of this and other
aviation laws, and provided, further, that only such portions of the
salaries and other compensation of members of the personnel of the
commission as are proportionate to the time dewoted to the adminis-
tration of this and other aviation laws shall be charged against such
portion of said special fund as shall be derived from taxation.

Section 7. That, in addition to the taxes herein imposed upon
gasoline purchased in the State and used for propelling airplanes
and other aircraft, there be, and hereby is, appropriated from the
general fund of the State, not otherwise appropriated, the sum of
five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) per annum to be used exclusively
for the expenses of administration of the said aviation laws, to be
resorted to only to the extent necessary for administration but before
recourse shall be had to any portion of said special fund for adminis-
trative purposes, and the State Corporation Commission is em-
powered and ‘authorized to employ such additional personnel as
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this law. The fore-
going appropriation is not in addition to the appropriation in the
general appropriation act for the same purpose.