Relating to authorizing the Department of Agriculture to promulgate a legislative rule relating to West Virginia manufacture-grade milk
Summary
HB2286 is a rule-authorization bill that allows the West Virginia Department of Agriculture to promulgate a legislative rule governing West Virginia manufacture-grade milk. The bill does not itself create a new substantive milk program or change the underlying policy framework in detail; instead, it approves a specific agency rule that was filed, modified to address objections from the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee, and refiled for authorization. In practical terms, the measure gives legal effect to the Department’s administrative rule for manufacture-grade milk under the state’s rulemaking process.
The bill’s text indicates that the authorized rule is identified as 61 CSR 19 and is tied to the Department’s authority under §19-11E-8 of the West Virginia Code. By authorizing the rule, HB2286 would allow the Department to proceed with regulatory standards affecting the production, handling, or sale of manufacture-grade milk in West Virginia. The bill is narrow in scope and operates through the state’s legislative rule approval mechanism rather than through broad statutory amendment.
Impact
HB2286 would amend §64-9-1 of the West Virginia Code to add authorization for the Department of Agriculture’s legislative rule on manufacture-grade milk. Its legal effect is to validate the agency rule and make it enforceable as part of the state’s administrative code framework, thereby affecting dairy producers, processors, and other regulated parties involved with manufacture-grade milk. The bill does not appear to alter general milk law directly, but it does confirm the Department’s authority to regulate this specific category of milk through rulemaking.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears routine and administrative rather than controversial. There are no recorded committee transcripts or votes showing debate, opposition, or amendments beyond the rule being modified to meet objections from the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee before being refiled. The overall sentiment is therefore best characterized as procedural support for finalizing a technical regulatory rule.
Contention
The only notable point of contention reflected in the bill materials is that the original rule was modified to meet objections from the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee before being refiled. That suggests some prior concern with the rule’s content or form, but the available record does not identify the specific objections or any organized opposition. No other disputes, stakeholder concerns, or recorded votes are provided in the context.