SECTIONS 59981-59988 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 59981-59988

59981. Except as otherwise provided in Section 59820, if any
marketing program which is in active operation does not provide for a
periodic referendum of producers of record with the department,
directly affected by the program, for the purpose of determining
whether or not the program shall be continued or modified, the
director shall, prior to the beginning of a marketing season, conduct
a referendum on the program at least biennially for the purpose of
making the determination.

59982. An expression by a majority of the producers that
participate in the referendum shall govern the action of the director
in declaring a program modified, continued, or suspended.

59983. In conducting the referendum, the director may require the
majority expression to be that of producers in terms of volume of
production in addition to numbers of producers voting.

59984. After the institution of any marketing program, the program
shall be terminated if there is filed with the director a petition
for its termination which is signed by not less than 40 percent of
the producers of the commodity in the proration zone that produced
not less than 40 percent of the commodity affected that was produced
within the proration zone during the last preceding season.
The signatures of the producers upon the petition shall be those
of the producers whose names appear on the list which was used at the
institution of the program or on any corrected list which the
director has had prepared during the existence of the marketing
program, or their successors in interest.

59985. Each petitioner shall, upon affixing his signature to the
petition for termination, write in the date of signing. No signature
to the petition shall be valid for any purpose if affixed more than
six months prior to the filing of the petition with the director. The
petition shall be accompanied by a good and sufficient undertaking
in an amount which is equal to the probable costs incident to
conducting the hearing and making of findings. A hearing shall be
held by the director upon the petition to determine the sufficiency
of the signatures within 60 days after the presentation of the
petition.

59986. If from a check of the petition together with the facts and
evidence which are adduced at the hearing, it is established that the
petition to terminate is signed by the required 40 percent of the
producers of the commodity in the zone that produced at least 40
percent of the proration commodity affected which was produced within
the zone during the last preceding season, the director shall
terminate the marketing program. Any marketing program on a seasonal
commodity shall not, however, be terminated except at the end of its
marketing season.

59987. The costs incident to conducting the hearing and making of
findings shall initially be paid from the funds of the program to the
extent that they are available and thereafter from the undertaking.
If the petition is found to be insufficiently signed, the entire cost
of conducting the hearing shall be paid from the undertaking. If a
program is terminated, any funds which remain for the use of the
program committee that are not otherwise disposed of by this chapter
shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the
Department of Agriculture Fund.

59988. The director may at any time initiate an investigation to
determine whether or not the facts which are specified in Sections
59655 to 59662, inclusive, continue to exist. Upon a finding that any
one or more of the prerequisite facts no longer exist, the director
shall terminate or suspend the marketing program and may dissolve the
proration zone. A program on a seasonal commodity shall not,
however, be terminated or suspended except at the end of its
marketing season.