Senate Bill No. 292
(By Senators Miller, Bailey, Whitlow, Schoonover and Withers)
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[Introduced February 8, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Agriculture; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one, two, three, four, five
and six, article twelve-a, chapter nineteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, relating to the farm management commission
generally; transferring institutional farms, equipment,
assets and agricultural products from the farm management
commission to the land division of the department of
agriculture; making legislative findings; defining certain
terms; creating the institutional farm advisory council;
providing for the powers and duties of the council;
providing that the land division of the department of
agriculture shall manage institutional farms; providing that
the commissioner of agriculture is authorized to lease
certain lands, equipment and property to other persons;
certain lands to be transferred to the public land
corporation; and setting forth the effects the transfer will
have on farm management commission employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one, two, three, four, five and six, article
twelve-a, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and
reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12A. INSTITUTIONAL FARM ADVISORY COUNCIL.
§19-12A-1. Legislative findings and declarations.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that in order to
ensure economic and efficient land use; increase and improve
agricultural production; and provide food for residents of state
operated institutions; state-owned farms should be transferred to
the state farm management commission as is provided by this
article provide a means of delivering vocational training;
provide a means of delivering a therapeutic work incentive
program for inmates; and serve as stewards and caretakers for
West Virginia agricultural and forested lands, state-owned farms
should be transferred from the farm management commission to the
land division of the department of agriculture. The Legislature
also finds and declares that the operation of all institutional
farms under one management system with a single integrated farm
plan is the most efficient method of providing the food needs of
the residents of state operated institutions need and will
promote promotes the health and welfare of all citizens of this
state.
The Legislature declares that the department of agriculture
is the logical agency to oversee the operation of all of theseinstitutional farms; that the operation of these farms under the
department of agriculture is in the best interest of the citizens
of the state; and that the purchase of products from these farms
by state institutions is in the best interest of the citizens of
the state.
§19-12A-2. Definitions.
For the purpose of this article:
"Agricultural products" means livestock and livestock
products, poultry and poultry products, fruits and fruit
products, vegetables and vegetable products, grains and hays and
the products derived therefrom, tobacco, syrups, honey, and other
products derived from the business of farming; including such
other products as may be manufactured, derived, or prepared from
agricultural products, raw or processed, which are used as food
for man or animals.
"Commission" means the farm management commission as
established by this article.
"Council" means the institutional farm advisory council.
"Farm equipment" means any equipment used for agricultural
production, owned by an institution and transferred to the
commission as provided in this article or controlled by the farm
management commission and transferred to the land division of the
department of agriculture.
"Farm facility" means any processing plant, milking parlor,
farm equipment storage building, barn, silo, grain storage
building, swinery or any other building owned by an institution,used in its farming operations and transferred to the commission
as provided in this article from the farm management commission
to the land division of the department of agriculture.
"Institution" means any facility operated by the department
of mental health and human resources or the state commissioner of
public institutions division of corrections for care, treatment,
confinement or rehabilitation of residents.
"Institutional farm" means any land owned by the department
of mental health or the state commissioner of public institutions
farm management commission and which was formerly operated as a
farm, is now being operated as a farm or could be converted to a
farm with agricultural production, and is transferred to the
commission land division of the department of agriculture as
provided in this article.
§19-12A-3. Institutional farm advisory council; composition;
terms; meetings; duties.
There is hereby created an institutional farm advisory
council and shall consist of an appointee from the division of
forestry, an appointee from the West Virginia University college
of agriculture and forestry, an appointee from the division of
corrections, a private farmer who has been in the farming
business at least five years, and a private citizen of this
state, who by training or experience is knowlegeable about the
field of agriculture. The farmer and the citizen shall be
appointed by the commissioner. The terms for the members shall
be three years and they may be reappointed. The commissionershall be an ex officio member.
No business shall be transacted by the council in the
absence of a quorum. The institutional farm advisory council
shall hold meetings at least twice per year, or at the call of
the commissioner or at the request of a majority of the
membership. Members of the institutional farm advisory council
shall only receive payment for actual expenses incurred.
The institutional farm advisory council shall advise the
commissioner on matters relating to the operation of the
institutional farms. The commissioner shall secure the approval
of the institutional farm advisory council when leasing lands to
private parties; transferring land to the public land
corporation; leasing any oil, gas or mineral resource; selling
timber; and consult the council on any matter affecting the
institutional farms.
§19-12A-4. Transfer of institutional farms, equipment and all
other assets and agricultural products to the land division
of the department of agriculture; uninterrupted continuance
of operation.
(a) On the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, the farm management commission shall transfer all
institutional farms and all easements, mineral rights,
appurtenances, farm equipment, agricultural products, inventories
and farm facilities thereon, or attached thereto, to the land
division of the department of agriculture, as set forth below:
(1) The Lakin State Hospital institutional farm, located atLakin, Mason County, which shall include not less than nine
hundred fifty acres;
(2) The Weston State Hospital institutional farm, located at
Weston, Lewis County, which shall include not less than five
hundred seventy acres;
(3) The Huttonsville Correctional Center institutional farm,
located at Huttonsville, Randolph County, which shall include not
less than five thousand two hundred acres, including all of the
tract of land commonly known as Becky's Creek Farm;
(4) The Hopemount State Hospital institutional farm, located
at Terra Alta, Preston County, which shall include not less than
five hundred acres;
(5) The West Virginia Industrial School for Boys
institutional farm, located at Pruntytown, Taylor County, which
shall include not less than one thousand five hundred eighty-
seven acres;
(6) The Pinecrest State Hospital institutional farm, located
at Beckley, Raleigh County, which shall include not less than two
hundred twenty acres;
(7) The West Virginia Penitentiary institutional farm,
located at Moundsville, Marshall County, which shall contain not
less than one hundred forty-two acres;
(8) The Andrew S. Rowan Memorial Home institutional farm,
located at Sweet Springs, Monroe County, which shall include not
less than six hundred fifty acres;
(9) The West Virginia Children's Home institutional farm,located at Elkins, Randolph County, which shall include not less
than one hundred fifty acres.
(b) The commissioner of agriculture and the institutional
farm advisory council shall ensure that the operation of the
institutional farms shall not be interrupted or discontinued.
(c) On the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, all other assets, money, bank accounts and funds
held or under the control of the farm management commission,
including its special revenue account, shall be transferred to
the department of agriculture's special revenue account.
§19-12A-5. Powers and duties of the land division of the
department of agriculture and the commissioner of
agriculture.
(a) The land division of the department of agriculture shall
manage the institutional farms, equipment and other property,
transferred to it by the farm management commission, in the most
efficient way to produce food products for state institutions,
and shall implement the intent of the Legislature as set forth by
this article.
(b) The commissioner of agriculture is specifically
authorized and empowered, in addition to all other powers and
authority provided elsewhere, to:
(1) Lease to public or private parties, for agricultural
production, experimentation or public necessity, any land
easements, equipment, or other property: Provided, That no
property shall be leased for any use in any manner that wouldrender the land toxic for agricultural use, nor shall toxic or
hazardous materials, as identified by the commissioner of
agriculture, be used or stored upon the property, unless all
applicable state and federal permits necessary are obtained.
Any lease for an annual consideration of one thousand
dollars or more shall be by sealed bid and the land division
shall give notice of the bid procedure by publication as a Class
II-0 legal advertisement, in compliance with the provisions of
article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the
publication area for such publication shall be the county in
which the property to be leased is located;
(2) Transfer to the public land corporation any land
designated by the institutional farm advisory council and the
land division of the department of agriculture to be disposed of
and which land shall be sold, exchanged or otherwise transferred
pursuant to sections four and five, article one-a, chapter twenty
of this code:
Provided,
That the net proceeds of the sale of
these lands shall be deposited in the general revenue fund of the
state:
Provided, however,
That no sale may be concluded until on
or after the fifteenth day of March, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-five, except with respect to: (A) Properties located at
institutions closed on or before the effective date of this
section; or (B) properties conveyed to or from the department of
agriculture or any other entity in order to facilitate the
construction of a regional jail or correctional facility by the
regional jail and correctional facilities authority or the statebuilding commission, with the decision to execute any such
conveyance being solely within the discretion of, and at the
direction of, the regional jail and correctional facilities
authority;
(3) Develop the lands of the department of agriculture for
the public use including forestation, recreation, wildlife, stock
grazing, agricultural production, experimentation, rehabilitation
and/or other conservation activities;
(4) Contract or lease for the development of timber, oil,
gas or mineral resources, including coal by underground mining or
by surface mining where reclamation as required by specifications
of the division of energy will increase the beneficial use of
such property. Any such contract or lease shall be by sealed
bid, as provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(5) Seek and receive grants or moneys from other sources in
order to accomplish the purposes of this article; and
(6) Exercise all other powers and duties necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this article.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (4),
subsection (b) of this section, no timberland may be leased,
sold, exchanged or otherwise disposed of unless the division of
forestry of the department of commerce, labor and environmental
resources, certifies that there is no commercially salable timber
on the timberland, an inventory is provided, an appraisal of the
timber is provided, and the sale, lease, exchange or other
disposition is accomplished by the sealed bid procedure providedin subdivision (1), subsection (b) of this section.
(d) State institutions are required to purchase commodities
or products produced on the institutional farms when prices are
competitive and when products produced are similar to products
purchased by the institutions from other sources. State
institutions shall purchase a proportionate amount of these
products based on the dietary needs of each institution.
(e) The commissioner of agriculture and the commissioner of
corrections may make cooperative joint agreements, that are
mutually beneficial to both agencies, concerning the use of
inmates for job training, therapy and the preservation of these
institutional farms.
(f) The department of agriculture, in consultation with the
institutional farm advisory council, shall promulgate rules, in
accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to implement
the provisions of this article.
(g) The commissioner of agriculture shall direct the land
division to prepare an annual report and before the fifteenth day
of January of each year, present this report to the Legislature.
§19-12A-6. Effect of transfer on employees.
Nothing contained in this transfer from the farm commission
to the land division of the department of agriculture, pursuant
to this article, shall be construed to abridge the rights of farm
employees. The employees shall remain under the procedures and
protections of sections ten and ten-a, article six, chapter
twenty-nine of this code, subject to the limitations set forth insubsection (d), section two, article two, chapter five-f of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to transfer all
agriculture related lands, buildings, equipment and assets from
the farm management commission to the Department of Agriculture.
The bill provides that the land division of the department of
agriculture shall manage institutional farms and it authorizes
the commissioner of agriculture to lease farmlands, equipment and
property to other persons. The bill provides that the transfer
shall not affect the rights of employees of the farm management
commission.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§§19-12A-3, 4, 5 and 6 are completely rewritten;
therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.