CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 77051-77069
FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE
SECTION 77051-77069
77051. (a) There is in state government the California Walnut
Commission. The commission shall be composed of eight walnut
producers who are not handlers, four walnut handlers, and one public
member.
(b) Eight producer members, four from each district, shall be
elected by producers. In accordance with procedures adopted by the
commission, no more than two producers from each district who ship
the largest percentage of their walnuts in the preceding marketing
year to the same handler may be elected to the commission as members.
Producers who ship to two or more handlers in equal percentages
shall declare which handler they are affiliated with, for purposes of
this section. No producer member shall be connected in a proprietary
capacity with a handler.
(c) In accordance with procedures adopted by the commission, four
handler members shall be elected on a weighted basis by all handlers
to serve on the commission. No handler member shall be connected in a
proprietary capacity or in any other manner with any other handler
member serving on the commission.
(d) The public member shall be appointed to the commission by the
secretary from nominees recommended by the commission.
(e) The secretary and other appropriate individuals as determined
by the commission shall be ex officio members of the commission.
77052. (a) 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 that is in violation of
this chapter.
(b) If the commission refuses or fails to cease these 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 time that the
cessation or correction of activities or functions as required by the
secretary has been accomplished by the commission.
(c) Actions of the commission in violation of the written notice
are without legal force or effect. The secretary, to the extent
feasible, shall issue the 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.
(d) 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 and the secretary's reasons for requiring a cessation or
correction of specific existing or proposed activities or functions.
The secretary may make recommendations that will make the activities
or functions acceptable.
77053. 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, as the case
may be, in a court of competent jurisdiction, which may issue a
temporary restraining order, permanent injunction, or other
applicable relief.
77054. When the secretary is required to concur in a decision of
the commission, the secretary shall concur, refuse to concur, or
request additional information from the commission within 15 working
days from notification of the decision.
77055. The commission shall reimburse the secretary for all
expenditures incurred by the secretary in carrying out his or her
duties and responsibilities pursuant to this chapter. However, a
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 that action.
77056. 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 or she is an 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 a change in status making him or her
ineligible to serve, or due to death, removal, resignation, or
disqualification of a member, the alternate member shall act as a
member on the commission until a qualified successor is elected or
appointed.
77057. Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of
any person elected to the commission as a producer member or
alternate producer member to continue in his or her position due to a
change in status making him or her 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 remaining producer
members of the commission. Any person filling a vacant producer
member or alternate producer member position shall meet all the
qualifications set forth in this article as required for the member
whose office he or she is to fill.
77058. Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of
any person elected to the commission as a handler member or alternate
handler member to continue in his or her position due to a change in
status making him or her 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 remaining handler members of the
commission. Any person filling a vacant handler member or alternate
handler member position shall meet all the qualifications set forth
in this article as required for the member whose office he or she is
to fill.
77059. Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of
the public member or alternate member to continue in his or her
position due to a change in status making him or her ineligible to
serve, or due to death, removal, or resignation, shall be filled for
the unexpired portion of the term by the secretary from nominees
recommended by the commission. That person shall meet all the
qualifications set forth in this article as required for the member
whose office he or she is to fill.
77060. Any producer member and his or her alternate member on the
commission shall be an individual or an employee representing a
producer who has a financial interest in producing, or causing to be
produced, walnuts for market. The qualifications of producer members
and their alternate members shall be maintained during the entire
term of office.
77061. Any handler member and his or her alternate member on the
commission shall have a financial interest in handling walnuts for
market.
77062. The public member and his or her alternate member on the
commission shall have all the powers, rights, and privileges of any
other member or alternate member, respectively, on the commission.
The public member and his or her alternate member shall not have any
financial interest in the walnut industry.
77063. For the 2006 marketing year, the term of office of all
members of the commission, except ex officio members, shall be from
the beginning of the marketing year that commences in the year of
their election and until qualified successors are elected for the
2009 marketing year. Thereafter, the term of office of all members of
the commission, except ex officio members, shall be two years from
the beginning of the marketing year in which they are elected and
until qualified successors are elected. The same selection procedure
shall apply to handler members. Terms of office of each member and
alternate member of the commission shall be limited to four
consecutive two-year terms.
77064. 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 prima
facie evidence of the truth of all statements herein.
77065. A quorum of the commission shall be eight voting members of
the commission. Except as provided in Section 77027, a vote in favor
of a motion by nine members present at a meeting shall constitute the
act of the commission.
77066. The secretary or his or her representatives shall be
notified and may attend each meeting of the commission and any
committee meeting of the commission.
77067. No member of the commission or member of a committee
established by the commission who is a nonmember of the commission
shall receive a salary. Each member of the commission or each
alternate member serving in place of a member, 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. This per diem shall be paid to members 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.
Members shall also receive the necessary traveling expenses and meal
allowances, as approved by the commission.
77068. All funds received by any person from the assessments levied
pursuant this chapter or otherwise received by the commission shall
be deposited in banks which the commission may designate and shall be
disbursed by order of the commission through an agent or agents as
it may designate for that purpose. The agent or agents shall be
bonded by a fidelity bond, executed by a surety company authorized to
transact business in this state, in favor of the commission, in the
amount of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
77069. 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 are limited
to the funds collected by the commission. No member of the
commission, alternate member, or any employee or agent thereof, is
personally liable for the contracts of the commission. No member of
the commission, alternate member, or any employee or agent thereof,
is responsible individually in any way to any producer, processor,
handler, or any other person for errors 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 member of the commission, alternate member, or any employee
or agent thereof, is responsible individually for any act or
omission of any other member of the commission, alternate member, or
any employee or agent thereof. Liability is several and not joint,
and no member of the commission, alternate member, or any employee or
agent thereof, is liable for the default of any other member of the
commission, alternate member, or any employee or agent thereof.