Title FAC — California Food & Agric. Code

No person shall conceal or attempt to conceal the fact that disease exists within an apiary.

No person shall sell any diseased bees, comb, hive, appliance, or colony.

No person shall abandon any diseased apiary.

No person shall expose to bees any comb or honey from a diseased colony of bees, except pursuant to Section 29074.

No person shall extract or render any honey, pollen, or wax from comb except in a building or enclosure which is so constructed as to prevent access by bees.

No person shall possess any comb which is not occupied by a live bee colony unless the comb is tightly enclosed to prevent access to the comb by bees.

Any hive or appliance which contains any comb that is not occupied by a live bee colony and that is accessible to bees constitutes a public nuisance. The hive or appliance shall be subject to abatement in the same manner as is provided in Article 14 (commencing with Section 29200…

No person shall make honey available to bees by means of open air feeding.

All beekeepers shall provide movable frames in the brood area of all hives which they use to contain bees, and shall make provisions so the bees in the hives shall construct combs in the frames in such a way that the combs may be removed from the hives for inspection without dama…

The inspector shall order the owner, broker, or person in charge of any bees that are kept in a box or other unmovable or stationary comb hive to transfer the bees to a movable frame hive within a reasonable time, to be specified in the order. In default of transfer by the owner,…

No person shall place, in any combless package of bees or queen bees offered for sale or shipment, any food which contains honey.

The director may establish a system for certifying colony strength for bees used in the pollination of agricultural crops.

The colony strength of a bee colony shall be certified after inspection on the basis of the number of active frames of bees per colony, as determined by either cluster count or frame count, or both, or another method approved by the secretary.

The inspection and certification of colony strength of bees may be made by department employees, the commissioner or persons authorized by the commissioner, or persons appointed by the director.

Inspection and certification shall be made at the request of the beekeeper or agricultural producer involved. The party requesting the inspection and certification shall pay for the service. To the greatest extent possible, the inspector shall endeavor to give the beekeeper advan…

The director may by regulation establish reasonable fees to cover the cost of inspection and certification performed by department employees and persons appointed by the director, other than the agricultural commissioner.

The board of supervisors of the county may establish reasonable fees to cover the cost of inspection and certification performed by the commissioner.

The Legislature finds that in order to ensure the vitality of the apiary industry, to protect the welfare of the people of the State of California, as well as agricultural crops dependent upon bees for pollination, a pest inspection program should be an integral part of the regul…

(a) The secretary, or the commissioner, or any inspector acting under their direction, may enter if they determine it to be necessary, any location where an apiary is maintained, and make an inspection of the apiary, including ancillary buildings. The inspector shall give notice …

If, in the course of an inspection authorized by Section 29201, the inspector finds or has reason to suspect that there are pests in the apiary, the inspector shall plainly mark the hives or any part thereof which contain evidence of pest infestation. The inspector may place a ba…

(a) If infestation is found in an apiary, the inspector shall notify the owner, broker, or person in charge or possession of the apiary in writing. The notice shall state the nature of the pest infestation found and the manner in which the inspector has marked the hives or any pa…

Every infested apiary is a public nuisance. The owner, broker, or person in charge or possession of any apiary, upon finding an infestation to be present, or upon receiving notice an infestation exists in the apiary, shall abate the infestation without undue delay, pursuant to th…

The notice may be served upon the broker or the person that has possession or that owns the infested apiary, personally or by certified mail to their last known address. If the owner, broker, or person in charge or possession of any apiary is not known, the notice shall be served…

If the infestation found in an apiary is American foulbrood, the time specified in the notice shall not be less than 24 hours nor more than 48 hours from the time the notice is served, except that the inspector may extend the time limit if necessary to prevent hardship and it can…

If American foulbrood is found in an apiary, the abatement shall be by killing the bees in the infested colonies and disposing of the hives and their contents, together with any other infested comb, hives, and associated appliances which are found in the apiary, in one of the fol…

(a) If abatement is by burning or hazardous waste disposal, the person abating shall act in accordance with applicable air pollution control district or air quality maintenance district regulations and state and local fire control laws. If the regulations or laws prohibit burning…

If the owner, broker, or person in charge or possession of an apiary in which an infestation is found to exist cannot be located after diligent search by the inspector, or if notice has been served pursuant to this article and the owner, broker, or person in charge or possession …

If an abatement notice as required by this article has been served upon the owner or bailee of an apiary, the owner or bailee, before the expiration of the time specified in the notice, may appeal from the inspector’s field determination of the infestation named in the notice by …

In those instances when the inspector has sealed the infested hive after making a field determination, if a beekeeper appeals the inspector’s field determination, the owner or bailee of the apiary and the inspector shall jointly break the seal and take the sample for appeal. If t…

The specimen shall be subjected to a laboratory diagnosis by the director, or at his or her direction. The written determination which sets forth the findings of the diagnosis is final proof of the nature of the infestation which exists in the apiary.

The disease which is named by the director in a written response to the appeal may be abated pursuant to this chapter. Pending the determination of the director, the time which is specified in the abatement notice shall be extended by the number of hours between the forwarding of…

The director, and the commissioner of each county under the direction and supervision of the director shall enforce this chapter.

The director may make any regulations that are reasonable and necessary to carry out this chapter.

(a) Unless otherwise stated, it shall be an infraction for any person to fail to comply with any requirement of this chapter, or regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, after a warning notice of seven days is given. However, there shall be no warning notice for infractions …

It shall be an infraction for any person to fail to comply with any notice or order which is issued pursuant to this chapter subject to the penalties set forth in Section 29302.

(a) In addition to the penalties outlined in Sections 12999.5, 29302, and 29303, any person not complying with this chapter, a regulation adopted thereto, or any notice or order issued pursuant to this chapter or regulation, shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than fi…

(a) Any penalties recovered under this chapter, whether criminal or civil, shall be paid into a special account maintained by the department, and shall be used for the administration of Section 29302, except that up to 50 percent of the costs incurred by a district attorney in pr…

In addition to any other penalty provided for by law, and by this article, any person who willfully or intentionally violates any provisions of this chapter shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation, which shal…

Any person who violates any injunctive order issued pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 29304 shall be subject to a civil penalty, in addition to any other penalty provided for by law, not to exceed six thousand dollars ($6,000). Where the conduct constituting a violation is o…

The director shall appoint a supervisor of apiary inspection and such qualified state apiary inspectors as may be necessary.

Each commissioner is an ex officio state apiary inspector and may appoint one or more inspectors, qualified pursuant to the regulations of the director, to be county apiary inspectors.

The director may assign one or more qualified state apiary inspectors to perform the duties of a county apiary inspector in any county for such time and rate of compensation as may be determined by agreement with the board of supervisors pursuant to Section 482. The state apiary …

The penalties prescribed by this chapter are exclusive and no other civil penalties may be assessed, except as specified in Section 12999.5.

In any civil action for the wrongful and willful taking, possessing, harboring, or transporting of a beehive, for the wrongful and willful removal of bees from their beehive, or for the wrongful and willful killing or destroying of bees without the consent of the owner or the per…

(a) In lieu of prosecution, and in addition to any other penalty that is provided in this chapter, the secretary or the commissioner may impose an administrative civil penalty on a person who violates Article 4 (commencing with Section 29040) or Article 5 (commencing with Section…

The secretary, in consultation with the board, may approve programs statewide to train, on a voluntary basis, beekeepers, inspectors, or commissioners in contemporary and geographically relevant colony management, including, but not limited to, the maintenance of colonies free fr…

Any hive or comparable apparatus that is not occupied by a live bee colony, and that is accessible to bees, is a public nuisance. The hive or apparatus shall be subject to abatement in the manner provided for in Article 14 (commencing with Section 29200).

(a) The governing board of a city, county, or city and county may, by ordinance, establish procedures for the abatement of a hive or comparable apparatus where Africanized or overly defensive honey bees are present. (b) In the absence of a local ordinance adopted pursuant to subd…

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this article govern the construction of the chapter. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

“Courtesy pass admission” means any admission, without payment of the admission charge, to any state, county, district, or citrus fruit fair, except any of the following: (a) Credential admission. (b) Admission of any child under 12 years of age. (c) Admission of any military per…