Committee clears exemption for certain quail, partridge raised for meat from DNR game-farm licensure

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 844 clarifying licensure requirements for private game farms that raise quail or partridge.

Committee counsel explained the substitute would exclude non-native quail or partridge that are possessed for "agricultural purposes"—defined in the bill as use for meat and egg production—from the Department of Natural Resources’ private game preserve licensure requirements. Counsel and sponsors emphasized that any quail or partridge raised for release into the wild would remain classified as wild birds and continue to be subject to existing DNR licensing rules.

Zac Brown, assistant chief of operations for the Wildlife Resources Section of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, told the committee the agency had worked on the language and was "pretty comfortable" with the substitute as drafted. "We are not opposed to it," Brown said after the committee called him to testify.

The senator who introduced the bill (identified in the meeting as the senator from Jefferson) said the substitute clarifies longstanding uncertainty that treated domesticated poultry differently from wild birds and urged support. The senator related an earlier practical problem involving small Japanese quail used at a school and said the substitute resolves a similar regulatory burden.

The committee voted by voice to report the committee substitute for SB 844 to the full Senate with the recommendation that it "do pass." Committee members also discussed and recommended a short-title (title) amendment to reflect the substitute’s revised scope; counsel said the clerk’s office would process the short-title change.

Committee counsel noted the substitute contains only technical changes from the original bill’s intent and that the DNR’s substantive concerns had been addressed. The motion to report the substitute passed by voice vote.