ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 631
(By Senator Snyder)
____________
[Introduced February 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Agriculture.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §19-15-1 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new section, designated §19-15-16a, all relating to the West
Virginia fertilizer law; definitions; and political
subdivisions not to regulate packaging, labeling, sale,
storage, distribution, use or application of fertilizers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §19-15-1 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated §19-15-16a, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 15. WEST VIRGINIA FERTILIZER LAW.
§19-15-1. Definitions of words and terms.
(a) "Brand" means a term, design or trademark used in connection with one or several grades of regulated product.
(b) "Bulk fertilizer" means fertilizer delivered to the
purchaser either in solid or liquid state in a nonpackage form to
which a label cannot be attached.
(c) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture of
the state of West Virginia or his or her duly authorized agent.
(d) "Compost" means a biologically stable material derived
from the composting process.
(e) "Custom media" means a horticultural growing medium
prepared to exact specifications of the person who will be planting
in the medium.
(f) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the
state of West Virginia.
(g) "Distribute" means to import, consign, to offer for sale,
sell, barter, warehouse or otherwise supply a regulated product in
this state.
(h) "Distributor" means any person who distributes a regulated
product in this state.
(i) "Embargo" means a written stop sale order issued by the
commissioner of agriculture prohibiting the sale, use of or
transportation of any regulated product in any manner until the
embargo is released by the commissioner.
(j) "Fertilizer" means any substance containing one or more
recognized plant nutrients, including natural organic fertilizer,
which is designed for use or claimed to have value in promoting plant growth, except unmanipulated animal and vegetable manures,
marl, lime, limestone, wood ashes and gypsum and other products
exempted by rule of the commissioner.
(k) "Fertilizer material" means a fertilizer which either:
(1) Contains important quantities of no more than one of the
primary plant nutrients: (nitrogen (N), available phosphate (P205)
and soluble potash (K20); or
(2) Has eighty-five percent or more of its plant nutrient
content present in the form of a single chemical compound; or
(3) Is derived from a plant or animal residue or by-product or
a natural material deposit which has been processed in such a way
that its content of primary plant nutrients has not been materially
changed except by purification and concentration.
(l) "Grade" means the percentage of total nitrogen, available
phosphate and soluble potash stated in whole numbers in the same
terms, order and percentages as in the guaranteed analysis:
Provided, That specialty fertilizers may be guaranteed in
fractional units of less than one percent of total nitrogen,
available phosphate and soluble potash: Provided, however, That
fertilizer materials, bone meal, manures and similar raw materials
may be guaranteed in fractional units.
(m) "Guaranteed analysis" means the minimum percentage of
plant nutrients claimed in the following order and form:
(1) Total nitrogen (N) ................ percent
Available phosphate (P205) ........ percent
Soluble potash (K201).............. percent
(2) For unacidulated mineral phosphatic materials and basic
slag, bone, tankage and other organic phosphatic materials, the
total available phosphate or degree of fineness may also be
guaranteed.
(3) Guarantees for other plant nutrients may be permitted or
required by rule of the commissioner and shall be expressed in the
form of the element. The sources of such other nutrients (oxides,
salt, chelates, etc.) may be required to be stated on the
application for registration and may be included as a parenthetical
statement on the label. Other beneficial substances or compounds,
determinable by laboratory methods, also may be guaranteed by
permission of the commissioner. When any plant nutrients or other
substances or compounds are guaranteed, they shall be subject to
inspection and analysis in accord with the methods and rules
prescribed by the commissioner.
(n) "Horticultural growing medium" means any substance or
mixture of substances promoted as or intended to function as a
commercial or consumer growing medium for the managed growth of
horticultural crops in containers.
(o) "Investigational allowance" means an allowance for
variations inherent in the collection, preparation and analysis of
an official sample of regulated product.
(p) "Label" means the display of all written, printed or
graphic matter upon the immediate container or statement accompanying a regulated product.
(q) "Labeling" means all written, printed or graphic matter,
upon or accompanying any regulated product, or advertisements,
brochures, posters or electronic announcements used in promoting
the sale of regulated products.
(r) "Local legislation" means, but not limited to, any
ordinance, motion, resolution, amendment, regulation or rule
adopted by a political subdivision.
(r) (s) "Manufacture" means to produce, compound, mix, blend
or in any way alter the chemical or physical characteristics of a
regulated product.
(s) (t) "Manufacturer" means any person who manufactures a
regulated product.
(t) (u) "Mixed fertilizer" means a fertilizer containing any
combination or mixture of fertilizer materials.
(u) (v) "Natural organic fertilizer" means materials derived
from either plant or animal products containing one or more
elements other than carbon, hydrogen and oxygen which are essential
for plant growth. These materials may be subjected to biological
degradation processes under normal conditions of aging, rainfall,
sun-curing, air drying, composting, rotting, enzymatic or
anaerobic/aerobic bacterial action or any combination of these.
These materials may not be mixed with synthetic materials or
changed in any physical or chemical manner from their initial state
except by manipulations such as drying, cooking, chopping, grinding, shredding, hydrolysis or pelleting.
(v) (w) "Official sample" means any sample of regulated
product collected by the commissioner or his or her agent and
designated as "official" by the commissioner.
(w) (x) "Percent" or "percentage" means the percentage by
weight.
(x) (y) "Person" means an individual, partnership,
association, firm or corporation.
(z) "Political subdivision" means any local government entity
which includes, but is not limited to, any city, county or
municipal corporation and any other body corporate and politic that
is responsible for government activities in a geographical area
smaller than that of the state.
(y) (aa) "Primary nutrients" means nitrogen (N), available
phosphate (P205) and soluble potash (K20).
(z) (bb) "Registrant" means the person who registers regulated
products under the provisions of this article.
(aa) (cc) "Regulated product" means any product governed by
this article, including any fertilizer, specialty fertilizer, soil
amendment and horticultural growing medium.
(bb) (dd) "Soil amendment" means any substance or mixture of
substances, imported, manufactured, prepared or sold for manurial,
soil enriching or soil corrective purposes, or intended to be used
for promoting or stimulating the growth of plants, increasing the
productivity of plants, improving the quality of crops or producing any chemical or physical change in the soil. The following are
exempt from the definition of "soil amendment": Fertilizer,
unmanipulated animal manures, horticultural growing medium,
agricultural liming materials, unmixed mulch and unmixed peat.
(cc) (ee) "Specialty fertilizer" means a fertilizer
distributed primarily for nonfarm use, such as home gardens, lawns,
shrubbery, flowers, house plants, golf courses, municipal parks,
cemeteries, greenhouses and nurseries.
(dd) (ff) "Synthetic" means any substance generated from
another material or materials by means of a chemical reaction.
(ee) (gg) "Ton" means a net weight of two thousand pounds
avoirdupois.
(ff) (hh) "Unmanipulated manure" means substances composed of
the excreta of domestic animals, or domestic fowls, which has not
been processed or conditioned in any manner, including, but not
limited to, processing or conditioning by drying, grinding,
pelleting, shredding, addition of plant food, mixing artificially
with any material or materials, other than those which have been
used for bedding, sanitary or feeding purposes for animals or fowls
or by any other means.
§19-15-16a. Local legislation prohibited.
No political subdivision may regulate the registration,
packaging, labeling, sale, storage, distribution, use and
application of fertilizers; and, in addition, no political subdivision may adopt or continue in effect local legislation
relating to the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, storage,
distribution, use or application of fertilizers.
Local legislation in violation of this section is void and
unenforceable.