H. B. 3045

         (By Delegate Boggs, Talbott, Crosier and Guthrie)

         [Introduced February 8, 2011; referred to the

         Committee on Natural Resources then the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §19-1A-6, relating to establishing the Forest Product Fairness Act.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §19-1A-6, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 1A. DIVISION OF FORESTRY.

§19-1A-6. Forest Product Fairness.

(a) This section may be cited as the Forest Fairness Act.

    (b) The agricultural policy of this state must recognize that forestry and the forest products industry have been and continue to be an integral part of the state's economic, historic, and cultural development. Forestry and the forest products industry:

    (1) Directly and indirectly create tens of thousands of jobs in all regions of the state in both primary agricultural and value-added processing, manufacturing, and distribution employment;

    (2) Provide a significant tax base and source of revenue for state and local governments; and

    (3) Preserve the forests through sustainable forestry practices and renewal of forest resources.

    (c) In order to maintain and encourage a strong and competitive forest products industry and notwithstanding any provision in this code, no state incentive, subsidy, price support program, mandate, requirement, or target of any kind shall be established that has the direct or indirect effect of conferring an economic advantage to benefit a user or class of users of forest raw material, unless such economic advantage is conferred on an equal basis to all users or class or users of forest raw material.

    (d) For purposes of this section, "forest raw material" means forest wood waste, including residual tops and limbs of trees, cull trees, thinning, wood or debris from noncommercial tree species, slash, brush, wood chips, merchantable and nonmerchantable timber, fibers, storm-generated debris from tree species, solid wood waste material, landscape or right-of-way trimmings, energy-dedicated wood crops consisting of fast-growing tree species, and products that are derived from woody biomass.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the Forest Product Fairness Act.

    §19-1A-6 is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.