SECTIONS 69031-69045 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 69031-69045

69031. There is in the state government the California Pistachio
Commission. The commission shall be composed of eight pistachio
producers and one public member. Producers within the respective
districts shall elect four producers from District 1, three producers
from District 2, and one producer from District 3.
The public member shall be appointed to the commission by the
secretary from the nominees recommended by the commission.
The secretary and other appropriate individuals as determined by
the commission shall be nonvoting ex officio members of the
commission.

69032. The secretary may require the commission to correct or cease
any existing activity or function that is determined by the
secretary not to be in the public interest or to be in violation of
this chapter.
If the commission refuses or fails to cease those activities or
functions or to make corrections required by the secretary, the
secretary may, upon written notice, suspend all or a portion of the
activities or functions of the commission until the cessation or
correction of activities or functions as required by the secretary
has been accomplished by the commission.
Actions of the commission in violation of the written notice are
without legal force or effect. The secretary, to the extent feasible,
shall issue written notice prior to the commission entering into any
contractual relationship affecting the existing or proposed
activities or functions that are the subject of the written notice.
Upon service of the written notice, the secretary shall notify the
commission in writing of the specific acts that the secretary
determines are not in the public interest or are in violation of this
chapter, the secretary's reasons for requiring a cessation or
correction of specific existing or proposed activities or functions,
and the secretary may make recommendations that will make those
activities or functions acceptable.

69033. The commission or the secretary may bring an action for
judicial relief from the secretary's written notice, or from
noncompliance by the commission with the written notice, in a court
of competent jurisdiction, which may issue a temporary restraining
order, permanent injunction, or other applicable relief.

69033.5. The commission shall reimburse the secretary for all
expenditures incurred by the secretary in carrying out his or her
duties and responsibilities under this chapter. However, the court
may, if it finds that the secretary acted arbitrarily or capriciously
in restricting the activities or functions of the commission,
relieve the commission of the responsibility for payment of the
secretary's legal costs with regard to the action.

69034. Each member of the commission, except the ex officio
members, shall have an alternate member to be elected in the same
manner as the member. An alternate member shall, in the absence of
the member for whom he is alternate, serve in place of the member on
the commission, and shall have and be able to exercise all the
rights, privileges, and powers of the member when serving on the
commission. In the event of death, removal, resignation, or the
disqualification of a member, the alternate shall act as a member on
the commission until a successor is elected and has qualified.

69035. Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of
any person elected to the commission as a member or alternate member
to continue in his or her position due to a change in status making
the member ineligible to serve, or due to death, removal, or
resignation, shall be filled, for the unexpired portion of the term,
by a majority vote of the commission. However, that person shall
fulfill all the qualifications set forth in this article as required
for the member whose office that person is to fill. The
qualifications of any person to fill a vacancy on the commission
shall be certified in writing to the secretary. The secretary shall
notify the commission if the secretary determines that any such
person is not qualified.

69036. A producer member or his alternate on the commission shall
be an individual, partner, or employee of a producer who has a
financial interest in producing, or causing to be produced,
pistachios for market. Not more than two such members shall be
persons employed by, or connected in a proprietary capacity with, the
same corporation, firm, partnership, association, or business
organization and not more than one such member in any one district
shall be so employed or connected. Qualification as a producer member
must continue during the entire term of office.

69037. The public member or his alternate on the commission, shall
have all the powers, rights, and privileges of any other member on
the commission. The public member shall not have any financial
interest in the pistachio industry.

69038. The term of office of all commissioners, except any ex
officio member, shall be two years from the date of their election
and until their successors are qualified; provided, however, that of
the first members of the commission, one-half of the producers shall
serve for one year, and one-half of the producers shall serve for two
years, with the determination of term of each such member to be made
by lot at the time of election. Terms of office of each commissioner
shall be limited to four consecutive terms.

69039. The commission shall be and is hereby declared and created a
corporate body. It shall have the power to sue and be sued, to
contract and be contracted with, and to have and possess all of the
powers of a corporation. It may adopt a corporate seal. Copies of its
proceedings, records, and acts, when authenticated, shall be
admissible in evidence in all courts of the state, and shall be prima
facie evidence of the truth of all statements therein.

69040. A quorum of the commission shall be any five voting
commissioners. Except as provided in Sections 69019 and 69102, the
vote of a majority of members present at a meeting at which there is
quorum shall constitute the act of the commission.

69041. The secretary or the secretary's representatives shall be
notified and may attend each meeting of the commission, and any
committee meeting of the commission.

69042. No commissioner or member of a committee established by the
commission who is a nonmember of the commission shall receive a
salary. Each commissioner, except ex officio government members, and
each member of a committee established by the commission who is a
nonmember of the commission may receive a sum of not to exceed one
hundred dollars ($100) per day, as established by the commission, for
each day spent in actual attendance at, or in traveling to and from,
meetings of the commission or committees of the commission, or on
special assignment for the commission, as approved by the commission,
together with the necessary traveling expenses and meal allowances,
as approved by the commission.

69043. All moneys received by any person from the assessments
levied under the authority of this chapter or otherwise received by
the commission, shall be deposited in such banks as the commission
may designate and shall be disbursed by order of the commission
through such agent or agents as it may designate for that purpose.
Any such agent or agents shall be bonded by a fidelity bond, executed
by a surety company authorized to transact business as such in the
State of California, in favor of the commission, in the amount of not
less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).

69044. The state is not liable for the acts of the commission or
its contracts. Payments of all claims arising by reason of the
administration of this chapter or acts of the commission shall be
limited to the funds collected by the commission. No member of the
commission or alternate member, or any employee or agent thereof, is
personally liable on the contracts of the commission and no
commissioner, alternate member, or employee of the commission is
responsible individually in any way to any producer, processor,
producer-supplier, or any other person for error in judgment,
mistakes, or other acts, either of commission or omission, as
principal, agent, or employee, except for his or her own individual
acts of dishonesty or crime. No commissioner or alternate member
shall be held responsible individually for any act or omission of any
member of the commission. The liability of the commissioners is
several and not joint, and no commissioner is liable for the default
of any other commissioner.

69045. All proprietary information obtained by the commission or
the secretary from producers, processors, or producer-suppliers shall
be confidential and shall not be disclosed except when required by a
court order after a hearing in a judicial proceeding involving this
chapter. Information on volume shipments, crop value, and any other
related information that is required for reports to governmental
agencies, financial reports to the commission or aggregate sales and
inventory information, and any other information that the processors
or producer-suppliers request from the commission to receive in
total, excluding individual processor or producer-supplier
information, may be disclosed by the commission.