BILL NUMBER: AB 1894 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 1, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Agriculture
FEBRUARY 11, 2016
An act to amend Section 48003 of Sections
48003, 61345, 61412, 61805, and 62211 of, and to add Section 61306.5
to, the Food and Agriculture Code, relating to
agriculture. food and agriculture, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1894, as amended, Committee on Agriculture. Handlers:
navel oranges, Valencia oranges, lemons, and mandarin citrus
varieties: failure to pay fees. Food and agriculture:
omnibus bill.
(1) Existing law establishes the California
Citrus Advisory Committee and requires the committee to develop and
make recommendations to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture
regarding procedures for implementing an inspection program. Existing
law requires producers of navel oranges, Valencia oranges, lemons,
or mandarin citrus varieties grown in this state and prepared for
fresh market in certain counties of the state to pay an assessment,
as provided. Existing law requires the assessment to be collected
from the producer by the first handler, and requires that the
assessment be remitted to the Department of Food and Agriculture by
the first handler, along with an assessment form, at the end of each
month during the marketing season. Existing law requires any handler
that does not file the required assessment report and assessments by
the 10th day of the month following the month for which the
assessment is payable to pay a penalty of 10% of the assessment owed,
and, in addition, 1.5% interest per month on the unpaid balance.
This bill would instead require a handler to file the required
assessment form and pay the assessment and inspection fees by the
last day of the month immediately following the month in which the
commodities were received, and would additionally apply the 10%
penalty and 1.5% interest to a failure to pay an inspection fee. The
bill would make a handler personally liable for the payment of
assessments and inspection fees.
(2) Existing law regulates the production, handling, and marketing
of milk and dairy products and requires every milk handler subject
to that regulatory scheme to pay specified assessments and fees to
the secretary to cover the costs of regulating milk. In that regard,
existing law requires every milk handler who receives manufacturing
milk subject to the milk marketing regulatory requirements or a
handler subject to a milk stabilization and marketing plan, including
producer-handlers, to deduct a specified assessment from payments
made to producers for manufacturing milk or market milk,
respectively. Existing law establishes the Department of Food and
Agriculture Fund as a special fund, and continuously appropriates
moneys in the fund for the administration and enforcement of, among
other things, laws regulating the marketing of milk and other dairy
products and the stabilization and marketing of market milk.
This bill would, for purposes of those provisions, define the term
"educational and research activities" and would additionally provide
for the regulation of milk and dairy products-related educational
and research activities. The bill would authorize the use of moneys
from the above-described assessments and fees for administering and
enforcing the manufacturing milk and market milk laws, including the
regulation of those educational and research activities. By
authorizing the expenditure of moneys from the fund for a new
purpose, that is, for milk and dairy-related educational and research
activities, the bill would make an appropriation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 48003 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:
48003. (a) Every person acting as a handler of commodities
subject to this chapter shall be personally liable for the payment of
assessments and inspection fees. Any handler who fails to file the
required assessment form or pay an assessment or inspection fee by
the last day of the month immediately following the month in which
the commodities were received shall pay to the secretary a penalty of
10 percent of the assessment, inspection fee, or the sum of both the
assessment fee and the inspection fee, owed and, in addition, 1.5
percent interest per month on the unpaid balance.
(b) It shall be unlawful for a handler to refuse to collect the
assessments or remit the assessments and the proper forms required by
this chapter.
(c) A handler shall not charge a producer an administrative fee
for collecting or remitting an assessment.
(d) A producer who disputes the amount of the assessment may file
a claim with the secretary. The producer shall prove his or her claim
by a preponderance of the evidence.
(e) A producer may not bring a claim against a handler for
damages, or otherwise, in connection with the assessment or the
required deduction by the handler of the moneys owed to the producer.
SEC. 2. Section 61306.5 is added to the
Food and Agricultural Code , to read:
61306.5. "Educational and research activities" means any effort
to develop and improve the management practices of dairy producers
and processors, including, but not limited to, practices associated
with the environmental sustainability of land, air quality, and water
quality.
SEC. 3. Section 61345 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
61345. (a) Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 61801), Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 62500), and
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 62700) shall be liberally
construed as being complementary of, and supplemental to, this
chapter, and these chapters shall constitute a single comprehensive
scheme for the regulation of the production and handling of
milk. milk and related educational and research
activities. However, each of the chapters, and each article,
section, subdivision, sentence, clause, and phrase of each chapter is
severable.
If
(b) If one of the chapters or any
article, section, subdivision, sentence, clause, or phrase of any
one of the chapters is for any reason held void, invalid, or
unconstitutional, the decision shall not affect the validity of any
other chapter or any of its articles, sections, subdivisions,
sentences, clauses, or phrases.
SEC. 4. Section 61412 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
61412. (a) (1) Every
milk handler who receives manufacturing milk subject to the
provisions of this article shall deduct as an assessment
from payments made to producers for manufacturing milk the sum of one
and two-tenths cents ($0.012) per hundredweight of manufacturing
milk.
The
(2) The amount of the assessments
so deducted pursuant to paragraph (1)
shall be paid to the director secretary
on or before the 45th day following the last day of the month during
which the manufacturing milk was received.
Every
(b) (1) Every
milk handler who receives manufacturing milk subject to
the provisions of this article that purchases or
handles manufacturing milk from producers shall pay a fee of
six-tenths of one cent ($0.006) per hundredweight of manufacturing
milk.
The
(2) The amount of the fee shall
be paid to the director secretary on or
before the 45th day following the last day of the month in which the
manufacturing milk was received.
(c) Moneys from the amounts paid to the secretary pursuant to
subdivisions (a) and (b) may be used to administer and enforce this
chapter.
SEC. 5. Section 61805 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
61805. The purposes of this chapter are to do all of the
following:
(a) Provide funds for administration and enforcement of this
chapter, by assessments to be paid by producers and handlers of
market milk in the manner prescribed in this chapter.
(b) Authorize and enable the director
secretary to prescribe marketing areas and to determine minimum
prices to be paid to producers by handlers for market milk
which that are necessary due to varying factors
of costs of production, health regulations, transportation, and other
factors in the marketing areas of this state. In determining minimum
prices to be paid producers by handlers, the director
secretary shall endeavor under like conditions
to achieve uniformity of cost to handlers for market milk within any
marketing area. However, no minimum prices established or determined
under this chapter shall be invalid because uniformity of cost to
handlers for market milk in any marketing area is not achieved as a
result of the minimum producer prices so established or determined.
(c) Authorize and enable the director
secretary to formulate stabilization and marketing plans,
subject to the limitations prescribed in this chapter with respect to
the contents of the stabilization and marketing plans, and to
declare the plans in effect for any marketing area.
(d) Enable the dairy industry, with the aid of the state, to
develop and maintain satisfactory marketing conditions, bring about
and maintain a reasonable amount of stability and prosperity in the
production of market milk, and provide means for carrying on
essential conducting educational and
research activities.
SEC. 6. Section 62211 of the Food and
Agricultural Code is amended to read:
62211. (a) (1) Every
handler subject to the provisions of any stabilization and marketing
plan, including a producer-handler, shall deduct as an assessment
from payments made to producers for market milk, including the
handler's own production, the sum of one and six-tenths cents
($0.016) per hundredweight of market milk.
The
(2) The amount of the assessments
so deducted shall be paid to the director
secretary on or before the 45th day following the last day of
the month during which such market milk was received.
Every
(b) (1) Every
handler subject to the provisions of any stabilization and
marketing plan that purchases or handles market milk from producers,
including the handler's own production, if any, shall pay a fee of
eight-tenths of one cent ($0.008) per hundredweight of market milk.
The
(2) The amount of such fee shall
be paid to the director secretary on or
before the 45th day following the last day of the month in which
such that market milk was received.
(c) Moneys from the amounts paid to the secretary pursuant to
subdivisions (a) and (b) may be used to administer and enforce this
chapter.