Chapter 19, Chapter 19

Every officer, employee and agent handling funds or negotiable instruments or property of or for any association created hereunder shall be required to execute and deliver adequate bonds for the faithful performance of his duties and obligations.

(a) When a member of an association established without capital stock has paid his or her membership fee in full, he or she shall receive a certificate of membership. An association shall have power to issue one or more classes of stock, or one or more series of stock within any …

Any member may bring charges against an officer or director by filing them in writing with the secretary of the association, together with a petition signed by five percent of the members, requesting the removal of the officer or director in question. The removal shall be voted u…

Upon demand of one third of the entire board of directors, made immediately and so recorded, at the same meeting at which the original motion was passed, any matter of policy that has been approved or passed by the board must be referred to the entire membership or the stockholde…

The association and its members may take and execute marketing contracts, requiring the members to sell, for any period of time, not over twenty years, all or any specified part of their agricultural products, goods and services or specified commodities exclusively to or through …

The bylaws or the marketing contract may fix, as liquidated damages, specific sums to be paid by the member or stockholder to the association upon the breach by him of any provision of the marketing contract regarding the sale or delivery or withholding of products, and may furth…

Whenever an association, organized under this article with preferred capital stock, shall purchase the stock of any property, or any interest in any property, or any person, firm or corporation or association, it may discharge the obligations so incurred, wholly or in part, by ex…

Each association formed under this article shall prepare an annual or biennial report on forms provided by and filed with the Secretary of State pursuant to the requirements of §59-1-2a of this code.

Three or more qualified persons engaged in the production of agricultural products or the provision of goods and services may form a cooperative association with or without capital stock. Three or more cooperative associations may form an agricultural credit association, with or …

Any provisions of law which are in conflict with this article shall be construed as not applying to the association herein provided for. Any exemptions whatsoever under any and all existing laws applying to agricultural products in the possession or under the control of the indiv…

(a) A cooperative association formed pursuant to this article shall include the words "cooperative", "co-operative" or "co-op" in the name, and the words or abbreviations designating a corporation. (b) A farmers' marketing association for the sale of farm products is prohibited f…

(a) An association may organize, form, operate, own, control, have an interest in, own stock of, or be a member of any other corporation or corporations, with or without capital stock, and engaged in qualified activities regarding the agricultural products, goods and services han…

Any association may, upon resolution adopted by its board of directors, enter into all necessary and proper contracts and agreements and make all necessary and proper stipulations, agreements and contracts and arrangements with any other cooperative corporation, association or as…

Any corporation or association heretofore or hereafter organized under generally similar laws of another state shall be allowed to carry on any proper activities, operations and functions in this state upon compliance with the general regulations applicable to foreign corporation…

Any corporation or association organized in this state under previously existing statutes may, by a majority vote of its stockholders or members, be brought under the provisions of this article by limiting its membership and adopting the other restrictions as provided herein. It …

Any person who solicits, persuades or permits any member of any association organized hereunder to breach his marketing contract with the association or one association with another, by accepting or receiving such member's products for sale or for auction or for display for sale,…

No association organized under this article and complying with the terms thereof shall be deemed to be a conspiracy or a combination in restraint of trade or an illegal monopoly or an attempt to lessen competition or to fix prices arbitrarily; nor shall the marketing contract and…

The provisions of the business corporation laws in chapter thirty-one-d or the nonprofit corporation laws in chapter thirty-one-e of this code and all powers and rights thereunder shall apply to the associations organized under this article and may be used by them, except when th…

A cooperative association may be organized to engage in one or more qualified activities in connection with the marketing or selling of agricultural products or the goods and services of its members or those purchased from other persons; or in connection with the manufacturing, s…

A cooperative association shall have the following powers: (a) To engage in any qualified activity in connection with any agricultural products or goods and services provided; or any activity in connection with the purchase, hiring or use by its members of supplies, machinery or …

(a) Under the terms and conditions prescribed in the bylaws adopted by it, a cooperative association may admit as members, or issue common stock to, only qualified persons, employees, volunteers and persons engaged in qualified activities, including the production, sale, creation…

Each association formed under this article shall prepare and file articles of incorporation, setting forth: (a) The name of the association, which includes the words "cooperative," "co-operative," or "co-op," and words or abbreviations designating a corporation; (b) The purposes …

The articles of incorporation may be altered or amended at any regular meeting or any special meeting called for that purpose. An amendment must first be approved by two thirds of the directors and then adopted by a vote representing a majority of all the members of the associati…

Each association incorporated under this article, must, within thirty days after its incorporation, adopt for its government and management a code of bylaws, not inconsistent with the powers granted by this article. A majority vote of the members or stockholders, or their written…

In its bylaws, each association shall provide for one or more regular meetings annually. The board of directors shall have the right to call a special meeting at any time; and ten percent of the members or stockholders may file a petition stating the specific business to be broug…

The purpose of this article is to regulate controlled atmosphere storage warehouses, for controlling the condition and maturity of fresh fruits and vegetables, so that upon removal therefrom they may be designated as CA stored.

The commissioner of agriculture shall establish and promulgate from time to time official standard grades for all closed packages of fruits and vegetables, by which the quantity, quality and size may be determined, and prescribe and promulgate rules and regulations governing the …

The commissioner shall have subpoena power to compel the attendance of witnesses and/or the production of books, records or documents anywhere in the state in a hearing affecting the authority or privilege granted by a license issued under the provisions of this article and may b…

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, hold or transport for sale any fruits or vegetables represented as having been exposed to controlled atmosphere storage or to use any terms or form of words or symbols of similar import unless such fruits and vegetables…

The provisions of this article shall be cumulative and nonexclusive and shall not affect any other remedy. If any section or provision of this article shall be adjudged invalid or unconstitutional, such adjudication shall not affect the validity of the article as a whole or any s…

(a) "Department" means the Department of Agriculture of the State of West Virginia. (b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture of the State of West Virginia or his duly authorized representatives. (c) "Controlled atmosphere storage" or "CA" means any storage warehou…

Whenever such standards for the grade or other classification of fruits and vegetables under this article becomes effective, every closed package containing fruits or vegetables grown and packed in this state and sold, offered or exposed for sale, or packed for sale or transporte…

(a) The commissioner shall administer and enforce the provisions of this article and for this purpose he is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate rules and regulations and to employ or contract with such persons as may be appropriate. (b) The commissioner is hereby author…

The commissioner of agriculture of West Virginia shall be charged with the enforcement of the provisions of this article, and for that purpose shall have power: (a) To enter and inspect personally, or through any authorized agent, every place within this state where fruits or veg…

No person shall engage in the business of operating a controlled atmosphere storage warehouse unless he shall have first obtained a license from the commissioner so to do, which license remains unsuspended and unrevoked. Application for such license shall be made on forms prescri…

When fruits or vegetables in closed packages are delivered to a railroad station or a common carrier for shipment, or delivered to a storage house for storage, such delivery shall be prima facie evidence that the fruits or vegetables are offered or exposed for sale, except in mov…

The commissioner shall have access to and is empowered to enter and make inspections during business hours of all controlled atmosphere storage warehouses licensed by this state. The licensee shall make available on demand to the commissioner all records pertaining to the conduct…

Any person, firm, organization or corporation, who shall violate any of the provisions of this article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500 for each offense.

No person, firm, organization or corporation shall be prosecuted under the provisions of this article: (a) When he or it can establish by satisfactory evidence that he or it was not a party to the packing, grading or marking of such fruits or vegetables; (b) When he or it can est…

The commissioner when issuing a license shall assign a warehouse number which shall be preceded by the letters WV- CA. No person in this state shall place, stamp, mark or cause to be placed, stamped or marked the letters "CA" or a similar designation in conjunction with a number …

The commissioner shall adopt regulations: (a) Prescribing the maximum amount of oxygen that may be retained in a sealed controlled atmosphere warehouse. (b) Prescribing the maximum period of time in which the oxygen content shall be reduced to the amount prescribed under subdivis…

All certificates issued by inspectors in compliance with the regulations of the secretary of agriculture of the United States governing the inspection of fruits and vegetables pursuant to the act making appropriations for the United States Department of Agriculture, or pursuant t…

The licensee shall make air component determinations as to the percentage of carbon dioxide, oxygen and temperature at least once each day. A record of such determinations shall be kept on a form prescribed by the commissioner for a period of at least one year and shall include t…

If any section, subdivision, sentence, clause or phrase of this article is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this article.

The commissioner shall establish minimum condition and maturity standards for fruits and vegetables which are to be designated as "CA" stored.

The demonstration community packing house, heretofore created and established at Inwood, in Berkeley county, West Virginia, shall continue to be operated under the direction and supervision of the cooperative extension service of the college of agriculture of the West Virginia Un…

The demonstration community poultry and egg packing plant, heretofore created and established at Parkersburg, in Wood county, West Virginia, shall continue to be operated under the direction and supervision of the cooperative extension service of the college of agriculture of the…

The demonstration garden products plant, the establishment of which was heretofore authorized by law, shall be continued for the purpose of teaching any citizen of West Virginia, by the demonstration method, how vegetables, berries, fruits or other garden products may be sorted, …

It shall be the duty of the state commissioner of public institutions to provide necessary buildings and equipment for suitably conducting each of the demonstration plants mentioned in this article.

For the purpose of encouraging agriculture, any agricultural or industrial association, organization or individual conforming to the requirements of this article and the rules promulgated pursuant to this article may receive from the State of West Virginia an amount not to exceed…