Dwayne O’Dell, Director of the West Virginia Farm Bureau, last week delivered an update on the status of agriculture in the state and how public policy and legislative moves could affect it in the near future. This came during the annual meeting of the West Virginia Poultry Association.
He opened by discussing the “interesting” 2026 session of the West Virginia State Legislature, noting that the 304 bills passed focused a great deal on budget, education, and energy issues.
One bill, Senate Bill 84, came from State Senator Darren Thorne (R – Hampshire). It addressed the “open fields doctrine” that allowed for law enforcement to skirt Constitutional restrictions on warrantless searches. It states that “no law enforcement officer may place any surveillance camera of game camera on private land without first gaining consent” of the person in lawful possession of it through ownership or lease. Law enforcement can, however, place a camera outside the property line with sight into private property.
Another piece of proposed legislation came in response to some local governments banning honeybee cultivation out of worries that a swarm could harm people nearby. It would have removed authority from local government and placed it with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.
This did not pass, but O’Dell stated that much of its goal had been accomplished by the 2019 “Right to Farm Act” which he had written. It prevents prosecution of those engaged in agriculture for environmental issues unless “clear and convincing evidence” exists.
Environmental cases that take the course of civil action had relied on a much lower standard of evidence, leaving farmers vulnerable to “lawfare” from activists and other malcontents. The “Right to Farm Act” required a much higher standard of evidence, thus potentially saving farmers untold amounts of money in defending themselves. The act also made the Mountain State, next to the Lone Star State, the most farming friendly state in the Union.
Also mentioned was House Bill 4416 that added forestry equipment to the category of untaxable farm equipment. O’Dell moved from that quickly to a more in-depth discussion of property tax assessments. He stated that West Virginia used to have the ninth lowest property taxes in the nation. We have now moved to 19th.”
Much of the reason for the escalation comes from the rules package attached to prior legislation addressing property taxes. O’Dell stated that “it directs assessors to assess at replacement value” taxable items on a property. With replacement values escalated substantially by inflation, the property tax rates have risen considerably in a very short amount of time.
O’Dell noted that “we don’t want to hurt the school system” and noted that it receives 40 percent of State tax dollars yearly.
He then discussed the momentum toward the establishment of data centers in West Virginia, stating that “they could be a significant economic driver in this state, should they be approved and built.” O’Dell mentioned he knew of “eight or nine” currently proposed.
“West Virginia is late to the table on this,” he stated, then went on to share that the State “could nearly do away with the personal income tax in this state if they are built and taxed as proposed,” O’Dell added before noting opponents’ environmental complaints.
Of the proposed major electrical transmission line plans, O’Dell stated that the West Virginia Public Service Commission “will make the final decision.”
Significant issues from the federal level include a lawsuit from activists seeking to force every American farmer to monitor emissions from their fields after laying out fertilizer. The Environmental Protection Agency has thus far refused to take such a radical step, but O’Dell warns “this issue is not going away.”
Proposed federal legislation also includes $15 billion for farmers affected by drought and other problems in production.
