SB 73 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Clarifying non-agricultural status of solar farms

This bill clarifies that solar generation facilities are not considered "farm property" or "agricultural operations" for tax and regulatory purposes in West Virginia. Specifically, it amends §11-1A-10 (tax valuation) and §19-19-2 (agricultural definitions) to exclude solar farms that sell electricity commercially from farm property tax rates and agricultural classifications. This directly affects solar energy developers and operators, who will no longer qualify for agricultural tax treatment on land used for commercial solar generation. The law explicitly states that operating solar panels for commercial electricity sales - regardless of panel height - disqualifies the land from being classified as farm or agricultural property. The change ensures solar farms are taxed under standard commercial property rates rather than agricultural rates.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 14, 2026 Last action Feb 5, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Committee Substitute · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was revised to clarify that solar generation facilities are explicitly excluded from the definition of 'farming' and 'agricultural operations' for tax appraisal purposes. The Committee Substitute version streamlines the language and corrects grammatical errors found in the original text, ensuring that land used for commercial solar power is not mistakenly classified as farm property.
Scope change
The scope remains focused on tax appraisal and agricultural definitions, but the applicability is sharpened by removing ambiguity regarding whether solar farms could accidentally qualify for agricultural tax breaks.
DEFINITION

The definition of 'farming' was changed from a general exclusion of solar facilities to a specific rule stating that operating a commercial solar generation facility on a parcel disqualifies that land from being considered farm property.

The definition of 'agricultural operation' was updated to explicitly exclude the operation of solar generation facilities that produce electricity for commercial sale or non-farm purposes.

TECHNICAL

The text was cleaned up to fix grammatical errors (such as repeating the word 'means') and improve sentence structure for clarity.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
0
Committee
4
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
To Finance
upper
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance
upper
Jan 14, 2026
Committee
To Agriculture
upper
Jan 14, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Jan 14, 2026
Committee
To Agriculture then Finance
upper
1 primary · 4 co-sponsors

Sponsors