Relating to the safeguarding of privileged information granted to the Commissioner of Agriculture

HB 3002 amends West Virginia law to require the Commissioner of Agriculture to safeguard all sensitive information shared with the department, including locations and addresses. The bill directly affects farmers, agribusinesses, and landowners who provide such information to the Agriculture Department. Its key provision (section (o)) grants the Commissioner authority to determine which information qualifies as "privileged" and exempts it from state public records disclosure laws (§29B-1-1 et seq.), making it non-disclosable for any reason. This is a procedural change codifying the Commissioner’s existing practice of protecting certain agricultural data.