Leonhardt, 020722 WVAGO, AGO 02072022

• Case Date: February 07, 2022
• Court: West Virginia

The Honorable Kent A. Leonhardt AGO 02072022 No. 02072022 West Virginia Attorney General Opinion State of West Virginia Office of the Attorney General February 7, 2022          The Honorable Kent A. Leonhardt Commissioner          West Virginia Department of Agriculture          1900 Kanawha Blvd. E.          Charleston, WV 25305          Dear Commissioner Leonhardt:          You have asked for an Opinion of the Attorney General about whether last year's amendment of West Virginia Code § 19-12A-5(c)(4) (effective July 5, 2021) grants you authority to cancel the two leases at issue in the 2017 opinion letter our Office issued at your request. This Opinion is being issued under West Virginia Code § 5-3-1, which provides that the Attorney General "shall give written opinions and advice upon questions of law ... whenever required to do so, in writing, by ... the commissioner of agriculture." To the extent this Opinion relies on facts, it is based solely on the factual assertions in your correspondence with the Office of the Attorney General.          On April 26, 2017, our Office issued a legal opinion in response to your queries about two long-term leases for real property that your predecessor signed in January 2017—after your election but before the start of your elected term. See Op. W. Va. Att'y Gen. (Apr. 26, 2017) ("April 2017 Opinion"). The leases involve institutional farm property under the West Virginia Department of Agriculture's control, purposed for economic development under West Virginia Code § 19-12A-5(c)(l). Both leases involve annual consideration of $1 per acre. And both leases contain the following provision:

Lessee understand[s] that the lease can be cancelled without further obligation if the legislature fails to appropriate sufficient funds or otherwise acts to impair the lease or causes it to be cancelled.

         Our April 2017 Opinion concluded that your predecessor "possessed the constitutional authority to enter into the leases in question" at the time he did, and that you did "not have any inherent authority to unilaterally cancel existing contracts entered...