COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4472
(By Delegates Beach and Riggs)
(Originating in the House Committee on Finance.
[March 1, 1996]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and nine, article twelve, chapter nineteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
removing licensing requirements and fees for agents of
nurserymen or dealers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and nine, article twelve, 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 12. INSECT PESTS, PLANT DISEASES AND NOXIOUS WEEDS.
§19-12-2. Definitions.
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
and enforcement of this article. All words shall be construed to
import either the plural or the singular, as the case demands:
(a) "Agent" means any person soliciting orders for nursery
stock under the partial or full control of a nurseryman or
dealer.
(b) (a) "Certificate" means a document issued or authorizedby the commissioner indicating that a regulated article is not
contaminated with a pest.
(c) (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture
of the state of West Virginia and his or her duly authorized
representatives.
(d) (c) "Compliance agreement" means a written agreement
between the department and any person engaged in growing,
handling or moving articles, plants or plant products regulated
under this article, wherein the person agrees to comply with
stipulated requirements.
(e) (d) "Dealer" means any person who buys, receives on
consignment or otherwise acquires and has in his or her
possession nursery stock which that person has not grown from
propagative material such as tissue culture plants, cuttings,
liners, seeds or transplanted nursery stock for the purpose of
offering or exposing for sale, reselling, reshipping or
distributing same. Each separate location shall constitute a
dealership.
(f) (e) "Department" means the department of agriculture of
the state of West Virginia.
(g) (f) "Genetically modified organism" means any organism
altered or produced through genetic modification from a donor,
vector or recipient organism using modern molecular techniques.
(h) (g) "Host" means any plant or plant product upon which
a pest is dependent for completion of any portion of its life
cycle.
(i) (h) "Infested area" means any area of uncontrolledgrowth of insects, plant diseases, noxious weeds or other plant
pests.
(j) (i) "Noxious weed" means any living plant, or part
thereof, declared by the commissioner, after public hearing, to
be detrimental to crops, other desirable plants, waterways,
livestock, land or other property, or to be injurious to public
health or the economy.
(k) (j) "Nursery" means any grounds or premises on or in
which nursery stock is being propagated or grown for sale or
distribution, including any grounds or premises on or in which
nursery stock is being fumigated, treated, packed or stored or
otherwise prepared or offered for sale or movement to other
localities.
(l) (k) "Nurseryman" means and includes any person who owns,
leases, manages or is in charge of a nursery.
(m) (l) "Nursery stock" means all trees, shrubs and woody
vines, including ornamentals, bush fruits, grapevines, fruit
trees and nut trees, whether cultivated, native or wild, and all
buds, grafts, scions, fruit pits and cuttings from such plants.
It also means sod, including sod plugs and sod-producing plants,
and such herbaceous plants, including strawberry plants,
narcissus plants and narcissus bulbs as the commissioner declares
by rule to be so included whenever he or she considers control of
the movement of such plants and bulbs necessary for the control
of any destructive plant pest. Florists' or greenhouse plants
for inside culture or use, unless declared otherwise by the
commissioner, as herein authorized, shall not be considerednursery stock, except that all woody plants, whether greenhouse
or field grown, if for outside planting, are hereby defined as
nursery stock.
(n) (m) "Permit" means a document issued or authorized by
the commissioner to provide for a movement of regulated articles
to restricted destinations for limited handling, utilization or
processing.
(o) (n) "Person" means any individual or combination of
individuals, partnership, corporation, company, society,
association, governmental organization or other business entity
and each officer, agent or employee thereof.
(p) (o) "Plant and plant products" means trees, shrubs,
vines; forage, fiber, cereal plants and all other plants;
cuttings, grafts, scions, buds and lumber and all other parts of
plants and plant products; and fruit, vegetables, roots, bulbs,
seeds and wood.
(q) (p) "Plant pest" means any living stage of: Any
insects, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, protozoa or other
invertebrate animals, bacteria, fungi, other parasitic plants or
reproductive parts thereof, viruses or any organisms similar to
or allied with any of the foregoing, or any infectious
substances, and any genetically modified organisms for which
there is reason to believe may directly or indirectly injure or
cause disease or damage in any plants or parts thereof, or any
processed, manufactured or other products of plants.
(r) (q) "Quarantine" means a legal declaration by the
commissioner which specifies:
(1) The plant pest or noxious weeds.
(2) The articles to be regulated.
(3) Conditions governing movement.
(4) The area or areas quarantined.
(5) Exemptions.
(s) (r) "Regulated article" means any article of any
character, as described in quarantine or other order of the
commissioner carrying or capable of carrying a pest.
§19-12-9. Certificate of registration for nurserymen, dealers,
etc.; refusal, suspension, etc., of certificates;
annual registration fees.
It shall be unlawful for any nurseryman or dealer or agent
to expose or offer for sale, sell, deliver or give away any
plants or parts of plants commonly known as nursery stock unless
such person shall have first secured from the commissioner a
certificate of registration. The commissioner may refuse,
suspend or cancel any certificate upon satisfactory evidence that
any of the provisions of this article or rules and regulations
governing the sale of nursery stock within the state have been
violated. The commissioner shall for each certificate of
registration issued and for each renewal thereof, collect an
annual registration fee in the amount of ten dollars for each
nurseryman and twenty dollars for each dealer. and two dollars
for each agent of such nurseryman or dealer. All certificates or
registration shall expire on the thirtieth day of June next after
issue.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be strickenfrom the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.