Authority: § 23-132.1, Code of Virginia.

A. Appropriations for this agency shall include operating expenses for research and investigations, and the several regional and county agricultural experiment stations under its control, in accordance with law.

B.1. It is the intent of the General Assembly that the Cooperative Extension Service give highest priority to programs and services which comprised the original mission of the Extension Service, especially agricultural programs at the local level. The University shall ensure that the service utilizes information technology to the extent possible in the delivery of programs.

2. The budget of this agency shall include and separately account for local payments. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in conjunction with Virginia State University, shall report, by fund source, actual expenditures for each program area and total actual expenditures for the agency, annually, by September 1, to the Department of Planning and Budget and the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. The report shall include all expenditures from local support funds.

C. The Virginia Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station shall not charge a fee for testing the soil on property used for commercial farming.

D. This appropriation includes $556,980 the first year and $831,980 the second year from the general fund for research and development to increase farm receipts and profitability. The expenditure of this appropriation is contingent upon the passage into law of the provisions contained in Enactment Nos. 2, 3, and 5 of Part 5 of introduced House Bill 30/Senate Bill 30 of the 2004 Session.