Chap. 455.—An ACT to amend sections 3, 4 and 14 of an act entitled an act to
create a State commission on conservation and development; to prescribe its
powers and duties; to vest it with powers and duties now vested by law in
the water power and development commission, the State geological commis-
sion, the State geological survey, the office of the State geologist, and the
office of the State forester; and to vest it with power to condemn and ac-
quire land and other property for public park purposes, approved March 17,
1926, and providing for the conservation of property acquired under the
provisions of section 14, with the aid of voluntary gifts or contributions
placed at the disposal of the commission. [H B 292]

Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions three, four and fourteen of an act entitled an act to create a State
commission on conservation and development; to prescribe its powers
and duties; to vest it with powers and duties now vested by law in the
water power and development commission, the State geological com-
mission, the State geological survey, the office of the State geologist.
and the office of the State forester; and to vest it with power to con-
demn and acquire land and other property for public park purposes,
approved March seventeen, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Section 3. Subject to the provisions of section four (4) hereof,
the State commission on conservation and development is hereby
vested with all the rights, powers, and duties now vested by law in
the water power and development commission, the State geological
commission, the State geological survey, the office of the State geologist,
and the office of the State forester, hereinafter sometimes called ‘“‘said
agencies”; and with all the rights, powers, and duties now vested in
any of the members, officers, agents, or employees of .the said agencies.
The title to and control of all property of every kind and description
held or controlled by the said agencies is hereby transferred to and
vested in the State commission on conservation and development; and
the disposition and control of all unexpended appropriations standing
to the credit of all and any of the said agencies hereafter, is hereby trans-
ferred to and vested in the State commission on conservation and devel-
opment; provided, that no part of any appropriation made to any one
of the said agencies or of any funds placed to its credit shall be used
by the State commission on conservation and development, for any
purpose for which it could not have been used by the agency to which
the appropriation was made or to whose credit it is placed, except with
the consent of the governor, in writing, previously obtained. Al! such
appropriations and funds disbursed by the State commission on con-
servation and development shall be by warrants of the auditor of public
accounts, issued on certificates signed by the chairman of the commis-
sion and countersigned by its secretary.

Section 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing section,
the rights, powers, and duties, and the appropriations, funds, and prop-
erty herein transferred from the said agencies and their respective
members, officers, agents, and employees to the State commission on con-
servation and development, shall in no wise be affected or held to have
been thus transferred and vested until and unless the State commis-
sion on conservation and development shall so direct by appropriate
resolutions, approved by the governor; and the said agencies, and their
members, officers, agents, and employees shall continue to function
under the laws in force at the time when this act shall take effect,
until and unless otherwise provided by appropriate resolutions adopted
by the State commission on conservation and development, duly ap-
proved by the governor.

Section 14. The State commission on conservation and development
shall have full power and authority to acquire by gift or purchase or
xy the exercise of the power of eminent domain, areas, properties,
ands or any estate or interest therein of scenic beauty, recreational
atility, historical interest, remarkable phenomena or any other unusual
‘eatures which in the judgment of the commission should be acquired,
yreserved and maintained for the use, observation, education, health
ind pleasure of the people of Virginia; provided, that such power and
tuthority of acquisition shall be within the limits of any appropria-
ion which may be made by the general assembly for the purchase of
uch properties, or of voluntary gifts or contributions placed at the
disposal of the commission for such purposes; and the commission
shall have no power.to purchase or contract for the purchase of any
property beyond the amount contained in such appropriation or pro-
vided by such voluntary gifts or contributions. The commission shall
have the power to institute and prosecute any proceedings in the exer-
cise of the power of eminent domain for the acquisition of such prop-
erties for public, use in accordance with the laws relating to the exer-
cise of such right and power, being chapter one hundred and seventy-
six of the Code of Virginia, as amended. Before any such property
shall be purchased or acquired by condemnation, the commission may
call upon the attorney general to examine and render a report upon
the title thereto, and it shall be the duty of the attorney general to make
such examination and report at the request of the commission. Where
any property is acquired by the commission under the provisions of
this section without the aid of any appropriation made by the general
assembly and exclusively with the aid of gifts or contributions placed
at the disposal of the commission for that purpose, it may place such
property in the custody of the person, persons, or association making
such gifts or contributions, or lease the property to such person, per-
sons, or association, for a period not to exceed ninety-nine years, upon
terms and conditions approved by the governor, which, in the opinion
of the commission, will best preserve and maintain such property or
properties for the use, observation, education, health or pleasure of
the people of Virginia.