Title FAC — California Food & Agric. Code

The production and distribution of milk, and the components thereof, is hereby declared to be a business affected with a public interest. This chapter is enacted in the exercise of the police powers of this state for the purpose of protecting the health and welfare of the people …

It is hereby declared that the dairy industry is a paramount agricultural industry of the state, and the normal processes of producing and marketing milk are enterprises of vast economic importance to the state and of vital importance to the consuming public which should be safeg…

This chapter shall be liberally construed. If any article, section, subdivision, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid as applied to any person or as applied under certain circumstances, that decision shall not affect…

This chapter does not preclude any producer from bringing any action against any handler in any court of competent jurisdiction.

In order to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, the Milk Producers Security Trust Fund is hereby created.

It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that producers and handlers appointed to the Milk Producers Security Trust Fund Board are intended to represent and further the interest of a particular agricultural industry concerned, and that this representation …

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Norman S. Waters-Ruben S. Ayala Milk Producers’ Security Act of 1987.

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) (1) “Acceptable security” means a surety bond from an admitted insurer, deposits of government securities, a letter of credit, or other form of performance guarantee acceptable to the secretary and…

(a) The secretary shall appoint a Milk Producers Security Trust Fund Board consisting of seven members. (b) All appointments shall be for a term of three years, and no member shall be appointed to more than three consecutive three-year terms. (c) Members of the board shall includ…

Each member of the board shall be paid one hundred dollars ($100) per day plus travel expenses, including expenses for lodging and meals, which are incurred in the attendance at board meetings or in conducting the business of the board. All per diem and expense claims are subject…

The board shall advise the secretary on the administration of the fund, including, but not limited to, the amount of the fund defaults under this chapter and the implementation of the security charge necessary to accomplish its functions.

The board may, by contract, with the approval of the secretary, engage the services of an accounting firm or other consultants or agencies that the board determines to be necessary.

(a) The security charges provided for in Section 62561 shall be collected until January 1, 2007. Unless otherwise permitted by this section, the secretary shall thereafter discontinue collection of the security charges. The fund shall consist of the fund cash, the value of any al…

(a) The following security charges shall be in effect for any period for which the secretary has implemented collections under this chapter: (1) 3.2 mills ($0.0032) per pound for fat contained in eligible milk of any class referred to in Section 1051.40 of the Federal Milk Market…

The amount of any handler’s obligation attributable to the security charges established pursuant to Section 62561 shall be remitted by the secretary to the fund by the end of the month following the month in which payment for the milk is made.

Security charges shall be collected by the secretary through direct payment.

The secretary may add a penalty of 10 percent to amounts that are not paid when due.

If any handler or producer-handler does not provide the information necessary to determine the amount due, when required, the secretary shall estimate the amount due from the records of the department or from any other source of information that is available.

The secretary may take all appropriate action against any person to recover any unpaid amounts. In any action, a declaration by the secretary that states the amount required to be paid, including penalty, is prima facie evidence of the delinquency. The presumption established by …

(a) Any money that is collected by the secretary pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in a bank or other depository that is approved by the secretary. Funds that are so collected are exempt from Sections 11270 and 11272 of the Government Code and shall be deposited and dis…

All fund activities shall be subject to an audit at least once every two years by an auditing firm recommended by the board and selected by the secretary. A copy of the audit shall be delivered to the secretary within 30 days after completion.

Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, any money that is collected by the secretary pursuant to this chapter is hereby continuously appropriated to the secretary to carry out only those purposes provided for in Section 62569. The appropriation that is made in this …

Any money that is deposited pursuant to Section 62569, which the secretary determines is available for investment, may be invested or reinvested by the Treasurer in any of the securities described in Article 1 (commencing with Section 16430) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 4 o…

(a) Any increment that is received from investment, reinvestment, or deposit of money pursuant to Section 62572 shall be deposited to the credit of the fund. The Treasurer may deduct from this remittance an amount equal to the reasonable costs incurred in carrying out Section 625…

Immediately following the payment to the fund of the increment provided in Section 62573, the secretary may, after consultation with the board, transfer an amount equal to one-half of that increment to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund to be used to reduce the producer …

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, milk shipped by a producer to a handler who meets all of the following criteria shall be considered for coverage pursuant to this chapter: (1) A valid contract between the producer and handler pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing wit…

Any producer entity, including a nonprofit cooperative association that severs a disqualifying beneficial ownership interest in a handler to whom it supplies bulk milk, shall not have trust fund coverage for future milk shipments to that handler for a period of 12 months after no…

Only shipments which occur during the first 35 days from the date of the earliest shipment for which a producer has not been paid are eligible.

If future shipments to a handler are not eligible for coverage under this chapter in the event of a default, the secretary shall notify all producers who have a contract on file with the secretary, all nonprofit cooperative associations, and other interested parties. Future shipm…

If, on the date of the notice issued pursuant to Section 62582, a producer has a contract with the handler which is on file with the secretary, and that producer has received payment from a handler whose milk purchases have been declared ineligible, shipments by that producer whi…

If, on the date of the notice issued pursuant to Section 62582, a producer does not have a contract with the handler which is on file with the secretary, shipments by that producer which occur more than five days from the date of the notice of ineligibility issued by the secretar…

If the secretary issues a notice pursuant to Section 62582, the secretary may again qualify shipments to the handler if the handler has corrected the deficiency upon which the notice was originally issued and has done all of the following: (a) Paid all amounts owed to producers, …

The secretary shall, at least monthly, publish a current list of all handlers to whom shipments are not eligible for coverage under the fund.

The secretary may waive any of the provisions of this article if, after consultation with the board, the secretary finds that a hardship would be imposed on persons subject to this chapter that is not consistent with the intent of this chapter.

Any producer who does not receive payment for milk sold or delivered to a handler in the manner required by Section 1051.73 of the Federal Milk Marketing Order, or, in the case of nonpooled or Grade B milk, as required by the contract, shall immediately notify the secretary. Fail…

The secretary shall, upon the secretary’s own motion or upon information from a producer, producer representative, or any other person, immediately take whatever action is necessary to determine whether a payment default has occurred.

If the secretary determines that a payment default has occurred, the secretary shall notify the handler that it has one business day from receipt of the notification to correct the payment deficiency. If the secretary determines that a payment default has not occurred, the secret…

When a payment default has occurred, which was not corrected within one business day after notification, the secretary shall issue a notice pursuant to Section 62582 which identifies the defaulting handler and informs producers of the provisions of Sections 62583 and 62584. The n…

If the secretary determines that the fund is liable for any nonpayments to producers, the secretary shall provide to the producers, who have a contract with the defaulting handler on file with the secretary, a claim form. The claim form, which shall be verified, shall be returned…

If a verified claim form is not filed as required by Section 62620, the secretary and the fund are relieved of any further duty or liability pursuant to this chapter.

Upon receipt of all verified claim forms from producers or the expiration of the time allowed to file claims, whichever occurs first, the secretary shall calculate the amount due each producer and shall notify each producer of their calculated amount and the relationship that amo…

For purposes of this chapter, the amounts owed to the producers shall be calculated as follows: (a) Only shipments that occur during the first 35 days from the date of the earliest shipment for which a producer has not been paid shall be used. (b) For all eligible milk, whether p…

Two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) shall be deducted from the total of the amount owed to all producers, as calculated in Section 62623, and the balance shall be paid from the fund on a pro rata basis. The amount calculated pursuant to Section 62623 shall be the basis for pr…

A prorated payment shall be made to all affected producers based on the amount payable pursuant to Section 62624 when there is not sufficient money in the fund. Additional payments shall be made on a quarterly basis until the total amount due is paid. Each payment shall take into…

(a) The secretary shall collect from each producer three and three-tenths mills ($0.0033) per hundredweight of all milk, whether pooled or nonpooled, to defray the reasonable costs of administering this chapter, except costs for which the fund is liable, as provided for in Sectio…

The secretary is the instrumentality of this state for the purpose of administering and enforcing this chapter and to execute the legislative intent expressed in this chapter, and is hereby vested with the administrative authority specified in this chapter.

The secretary may exercise any or all of the powers conferred by Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11150) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code upon the head of a department with respect to hearings and investigations under this chapter.

For purposes of enforcing this chapter, the secretary may investigate any and all transactions between producers and handlers, between nonprofit cooperative associations and producers, and among handlers. For that purpose, the secretary shall have access to, and may enter at all …

Any order of the secretary made pursuant to this chapter that substantially affects the rights of any directly affected party shall be subject to judicial review upon petition to the appropriate court. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after the effective date of the ord…

Any producer who recovers from the fund shall subrogate to the secretary all rights of recovery against any person or organization, and the producer shall execute and deliver to the secretary instruments and papers and perform any other acts necessary to carry out this section.