Chap. 368.—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 airplanes 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
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 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 air-
ports and landing fields, to which the public shall have access, with she
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. [H B 485]

Approved March 31, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as follows:

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

Section 2. That there be, and hereby is, imposed, and hereby
uired to be paid, through medium of deduction from refunds as
w required by law, or directly if and when there shall be any
inge in the law which constitutes the provisions herein for retention
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.

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 intrastate 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.
In addition to the funds derived from the tax herein imposed, the
director of the Division of Motor Vehicles 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 dis-
bursed 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 thirty-eight.

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 construc-
tion, 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 war-
rants drawn by the Comptroller of the State of Virginia, for the con-
struction, 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 air-
ports and landing fields, the State Highway Department be, and it
hereby is, authorized to cooperate with the State Corporation Com-
mission to the extent of furnishing engineering advice and equipment
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 Vir-
ginia 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
ifnposed: upon gasoline purchased by operators of airplanes and air-
craft shall ever be used for any other purpose than for the adminis-
tration of the aviation laws and the construction, maintenance and im-
provement 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 devoted to the administration 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 thous-
and 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 administrative pur-
poses, and the State Corporation Commission is empowered and au-
thorized to employ such additional personnel as may be necessary to
carry out the provisions of this law.