SB 686 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Relating to WV commercial feed law

SB 686 amends West Virginia's Commercial Feed Law to clarify that farmers selling products made entirely on their own farm are not considered "distributors" under the law. This exempts small-scale farmers who offer for sale, sell, exchange, or barter their own farm-produced goods (like unprocessed feed or crops) from needing a commercial feed distributor permit. The bill specifically updates definitions in §19-14-2(h) to state that "any person engaged in offering for sale, selling, exchanging, or bartering products or commodities produced exclusively on his or her own farm is not a distributor." It directly affects local farmers selling directly from their farms without commercial processing or packaging, reducing regulatory requirements for these transactions. The change focuses on clarifying existing definitions rather than creating new regulations.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action Mar 19, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill amends the West Virginia Commercial Feed Law to clarify exemptions for farmers selling products from their own farms and updates permit and registration requirements for commercial feed, pet food, and specialty pet food. It adds a new definition for 'Ton' and reorganizes the definitions section with numbered subsections for clarity. The changes aim to reduce regulatory burden on small-scale farmers while maintaining oversight of commercial feed distribution.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on commercial feed regulation, but eligibility for exemptions is clarified to explicitly include offering for sale, selling, exchanging, or bartering products produced exclusively on a person's own farm.

ELIGIBILITY

Updated the definition of 'Distributor' to explicitly state that persons engaged in offering for sale, selling, exchanging, or bartering products or commodities produced exclusively on their own farm are not distributors.

REQUIREMENT

Added new exemptions in §19-14-5(d) for persons distributing pet food exclusively, persons holding valid manufacturing or guarantor permits, and persons selling products from their own farms from obtaining a commercial feed distributor permit.

Updated §19-14-5 to clarify permit expiration dates, application timelines, and registration requirements for pet food and specialty pet food, including specific fee amounts and deposit requirements for spay/neuter assistance funds.

DEFINITION

Added a new definition for 'Ton' meaning a net weight of two thousand pounds avoirdupois.

TECHNICAL

Reorganized the definitions section to use numbered subsections (a)(1) through (cc)(29) for better clarity and structure.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 18, 2025

How they voted

33–0

Passed

Total votes 33

Mar 18, 2025

D Democratic2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican31

31 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 19, 2025

Committee

To House Government Organization

lower

Mar 19, 2025

Committee

To Government Organization

lower

Mar 19, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Mar 18, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (Roll No. 125)

upper

Mar 13, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

To Agriculture

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

To Agriculture then Finance

upper

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors