Senate Bill No. 506

(By Senator Browning)

____________

[Introduced February 2, 2012; referred to the Committee on Agriculture; and then to the Committee on Government Organization.]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact §8A-12-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to farmland protection boards; providing that the executive director of a regional development authority or designee to is to serve on a farmland protection board; and providing an exception to the term of appointment to a farmland protection board for the executive director of a county or regional development authority.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That §8A-12-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 12. VOLUNTARY FARMLAND PROTECTION PROGRAMS.

§8A-12-4. Farmland protection boards -– Appointment, composition, terms.

    (a) Composition. -- A farmland protection board shall be composed of seven members, each serving without compensation. Membership on the farmland protection board shall consist of the following: One county commissioner; the executive director of the county or regional development authority or, in the case of the executive director of a regional development authority, his or her designee; one farmer who is a county resident and a member of the county farm bureau; one farmer who is a county resident and a member of a conservation district; one farmer who is a county resident; and two county residents who are not members of any of the foregoing organizations. All members of the farmland protection board shall be are voting members, except the county commissioner who shall serve serves in an advisory capacity as a nonvoting member. The executive director of a regional development authority must serve on the farmland protection board of one of the counties represented by the regional development authority, and a designee may be appointed to serve on the farmland protection board of the other counties represented by the regional development authority.

    (b) Terms. –- Each member of a farmland protection board shall be appointed for a term of office of four years except the initial appointment of two voting board members shall be for a term of two years:

    (1) No member may serve for more than two consecutive full terms, except for the executive director of a county or regional development authority or a designee of an executive director of a regional development authority, who by right of his or her position serves in perpetuity; and

    (2) An appointment to fill a vacancy shall be is for the remainder of the unexpired term.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the executive director of a regional development authority, or their designee, to serve on a farmland protection board and to provide an exception to the length of terms of appointment to farmland protection boards for executive directors of county or regional development authorities.

    Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.