SECTIONS 62301-62313 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 62301-62313

62301. Except as otherwise provided in Section 62303, the director
may, if he deems such board necessary or advisable, appoint:
(a) A local advisory board for any marketing area established as
prescribed in this chapter to assist and advise him in matters which
pertain to the production and marketing of market milk or to the
operation of a stabilization and marketing plan.
(b) A regional advisory board, if he deems such board necessary or
advisable to represent several marketing areas adjacent to each
other and wherein production conditions and costs are reasonably
uniform.

62302. Except as otherwise provided in Section 62303, the director
shall appoint:
(a) A local advisory board, if a majority of the producers
individually, or through any nonprofit agricultural cooperative
marketing association which is authorized by its members to so
petition, request the establishment of such board.
(b) A regional advisory board, if in each marketing area which is
involved a majority of producers that supply such marketing areas
individually, or through any nonprofit agricultural cooperative
marketing association which is authorized by its members to so
petition, requests that such a board be established.

62303. The director shall not establish any local or regional
advisory board pursuant to this article if he finds that the
assessments or fees which are collected pursuant to Article 14
(commencing with Section 62211) of this chapter from the marketing
area are insufficient to cover the costs of such local or regional
advisory board.
No regional advisory board shall be set up to include any
marketing area which on September 7, 1955, was operating under a
local advisory board, unless by petition as provided for in this
article or through public hearing, producers of such marketing area
request that they be represented by a regional advisory board.

62304. If the director receives a qualified petition for a local
advisory board, he may investigate the possibility of establishing a
regional advisory board covering the marketing area from which the
petition was received and the adjacent marketing areas, by holding
one or more public hearings for the purpose of establishing whether
or not a majority of producers supplying the marketing areas proposed
to be included in such region desire such regional advisory board.

62305. A local advisory board established pursuant to this article
shall consist of seven members who shall be producers that supply
market milk to the particular marketing area. A regional advisory
board may consist of any number of members who are producers that
supply market milk to any of the marketing areas in the region, but
shall consist of not less than one member from each such marketing
area in the region. The director may appoint one additional member on
each such board who shall be a public member.
Upon the director's request, each board shall submit to the
director the names of three or more natural persons, each of whom
shall be a citizen and resident of this state and not a producer,
shipper, or processor nor financially interested in any producer,
shipper, or processor, for appointment by the director as a public
member of the board. The director may appoint one of the nominees as
the public member on the board. If all nominees are unsatisfactory to
the director, the board shall continue to submit lists of nominees
until the director has made a selection. Any vacancy in the office of
the public member of the board shall be filled by appointment by the
director from the nominee or nominees similarly qualified submitted
by the board. The public member of each board shall represent the
interests of the general public in all matters coming before the
board and shall have the same voting and other rights and immunities
as other members of the board.

62306. The term of office of each member of a regional advisory
board or a local advisory board shall be two years.

62307. The director may remove any member from a local or a
regional advisory board if he finds, after a hearing, that such
member is guilty of nonfeasance or malfeasance in office.

62308. The director may appoint a member to fill any vacancy on a
local or a regional advisory board.

62309. Each regional advisory board and each local advisory board
may meet in regular session each month, and each member shall be
allowed twenty dollars ($20) per diem and mileage at the rate of
fifteen cents ($0.15) per mile for attending such regular meetings,
and any other meeting or conference which is called or authorized by
the director within or outside of the boundaries of this state.

62310. Any regional or local advisory board may, with the previous
approval of the director, employ such personnel as may be necessary
in the performance of its duties and shall adopt regulations for its
conduct. Each such board shall submit a budget of its expenses to the
director for his approval.
The funds to be used for the maintenance of each such board shall
be paid from the proceeds of assessments and licenses which are paid
to the director under the plan of any area which is represented upon
verified claims that are presented by the board to the director. A
regional or local advisory board shall not incur any expenses except
those for per diem and mileage, unless the expenses are approved by
the director.

62311. Regional and local advisory boards shall review with the
director the methods which are to be used in determining producer
costs, and aid the director in the selection of the level of
production which is necessary to meet the requirements of Section
62062 with respect to producer price minimums.

62312. For purposes of developing uniformity of administration as
between marketing areas in which producer advisory boards have been
appointed, the director shall call together representatives of
regional and local advisory boards from time to time to advise him as
to the relationships in producer costs among the marketing areas,
and may designate such representatives as the statewide committee of
producer advisory boards.

62313. It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative
determination, that producers of market milk appointed to the
regional advisory boards pursuant to this article are intended to
represent and further the interest of a particular agricultural
industry concerned, and that such representation and furtherance is
intended to serve the public interest. Accordingly, the Legislature
finds that, with respect to persons who are appointed to such
advisory boards, the particular industry concerned is tantamount to,
and constitutes, the public generally within the meaning of Section
87103 of the Government Code.