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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>56474</law_id><section_number>3.2-705</section_number><catch_line>Authority for abatement and other emergency measures; compensation to property owners</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="3.2">Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="I">General Provisions; Protection and Promotion of Agriculture</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="7">Tree and Crop Pests</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">Pests</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>Whenever the <span class="dictionary">Commissioner</span> finds any article that is <span class="dictionary">infested</span> or reasonably believed to be <span class="dictionary">infested</span> or a <span class="dictionary">host</span> or <span class="dictionary">pest</span> exists on any property or is in transit in the Commonwealth, he may require full information as to origin, number and destination of same and, upon giving notice to the owner or his agent in <span class="dictionary">possession</span> thereof, seize, quarantine, treat, or otherwise dispose of such <span class="dictionary">pest</span>, <span class="dictionary">host</span>, or article in such manner as the <span class="dictionary">Commissioner</span> deems necessary to <span class="dictionary">suppress</span>, control, eradicate, prevent, or retard the spread of a <span class="dictionary">pest</span>; or the <span class="dictionary">Commissioner</span> may <span class="dictionary">order</span> such owner or agent to so treat or otherwise dispose of the <span class="dictionary">pest</span>, <span class="dictionary">host</span>, or article. The owner of any property destroyed or ordered to be treated or otherwise disposed of under this section may, in an action against the Commonwealth in the appropriate <span class="dictionary">court</span>, recover just compensation for any property so destroyed or the reasonable costs of disposal of any property so ordered if he establishes that the property was not a <span class="dictionary">pest</span>, or a <span class="dictionary">host</span>, or an <span class="dictionary">infested</span> article.</p></section></text><history>1975, c. 29, &#xA7; 3.1-188.25; 1980, c. 291; 2008, c. 860.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
