43-6-106 - Duties of commissioner Powers. - Tennessee Statutes

43-6-106. Duties of commissioner Powers.

It is the duty of the commissioner to protect the agricultural, silvicultural and horticultural or other interests of the state from insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases and to that end the commissioner is vested with power and authority to:

     (1)  Inspect or cause to be inspected by duly authorized agents or employees, plants, plant products, or other articles or things that may, in the commissioner's opinion, be capable of disseminating or carrying insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases. For this purpose, the commissioner has the power to go upon any property, including private property, posted or otherwise, and open any bundle, package, or other container containing, or thought to contain, plants, plant products, or other articles or things capable of transmitting or carrying insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases;

     (2)  Supervise or cause the treatment, cutting, or destruction of plants; treat or supervise treatment of land and soil; require the elimination of specific crops and prohibit the planting of those crops in designated areas for stipulated periods; regulate planting dates, harvest dates, and other cultural practices in designated areas; require destruction, treatment, other handling of crop residues and debris in designated areas; otherwise regulate land use in designated areas, when any or all of these measures are necessary to prevent the dissemination or to control or to eradicate insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases and when rules and regulations therefor have been duly promulgated;

     (3)  Inspect or cause to be inspected all nurseries, greenhouses, or other plant growing establishments of whatever kind in the state at such intervals as the commissioner may deem best and promulgate such rules and regulations governing nurseries, greenhouses and other plant growing establishments and the movement of nursery stock, plants, and plant propagating material as the commissioner may deem necessary in the eradication, control or prevention of spread of insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases;

     (4)  Promulgate rules and regulations to govern the sale and distribution of nursery stock, other plants or plant propagating material by dealers and agents;

     (5)  Promulgate rules and regulations under which nursery stock, other plants, plant propagating material, and plant products may be brought into this state from other states, territories, and foreign countries;

     (6)  Promulgate such rules and regulations with reference to plants and plant products while in transit through this state as may be deemed necessary to prevent the introduction into and dissemination within this state of insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases;

     (7)  Require of any person, firm or corporation having plants, plant products, or other articles or things likely to carry insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases, in the possession of such person, firm or corporation to give full information as to the origin and source of such plants, plant products, or other articles or things. It is a Class A misdemeanor for such person, firm or corporation to refuse to give such information if able to do so;

     (8)  Declare a dangerous insect pest, pest plant, or plant disease to be a public nuisance as well as any plant or other thing infested or infected with a dangerous insect pest, pest plant, or plant disease or that has been exposed to infestation or infection and therefore likely to communicate infestation or infection;

     (9)  Declare a quarantine against any area, place, nursery, forest, orchard, farm lot, or other boundary of whatever size or description, or any county or counties within this state, other states, territories, foreign countries or portion thereof in reference to dangerous insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases and prohibit the movement within the state or any part of the state or the introduction into this state from other states, territories, or foreign countries, of all plants, plant propagating material, plant products, or other articles or things including soil from quarantined places or areas that are likely to carry dangerous insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases if the quarantine is determined, after due investigation by the commissioner to be necessary in order to protect the agricultural, horticultural, and silvicultural, or other interests of this state. In such cases, the quarantine may be made absolute, or rules and regulations may be adopted prescribing the method and manner under which the prohibited articles may be moved into or within, sold, or otherwise disposed of in this state;

     (10)  Intercept and inspect while in transit or after arrival at destination, all plants, plant propagating material, plant products, or other things likely to carry insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases being moved in this state, and if upon inspection, such plants, plant propagating material, plant products, or other things are found to be infested or infected with an injurious insect pest, pest plant, or plant disease, or if such material is believed to be likely to communicate or transmit an injurious insect pest, pest plant, or plant disease or is being transported in violation of any of the rules and regulations established pursuant to and under the authority of this part, then the plants, plant propagation material, plant products or other things may be treated when necessary, at the expense of the owners, and released, returned to the sender, or destroyed, the disposition to be determined under rules and regulations to be promulgated by the commissioner;

     (11)  Carry on investigations relating to methods of control, eradication, and/or prevention of spread of insect pests, pest plants, or plant diseases, and for that purpose may rent, lease, or purchase the necessary facilities, in accordance with existing state law pertaining to such transactions; and

     (12)  Apply to courts of competent jurisdiction for writs of injunction and institute criminal proceedings for the enforcement of this part. It is the duty of the several district attorneys general to represent the commissioner when called upon to do so.

[Acts 1955, ch. 8, § 6; 1959, ch. 78, § 3; T.C.A., § 43-520; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1995, ch. 330, § 2; 1997, ch. 70, § 5.]