Title FAC — California Food & Agric. Code

(a) The county treasurer shall pay out money of the district only upon warrants of the county auditor drawn upon the order of the board of directors of the district signed by the chairperson or vice chairperson and attested to by the secretary. The county treasurer, with the appr…

Acreage devoted exclusively to the growing of table grapes within a tract of land outside the district, but in the county in which the district is located, may be annexed to the district in the same manner provided in this article for the formation of the district.

Any two or more districts organized or existing under this article may be consolidated, whether or not the boundaries are coterminous, and whether or not the districts are located in the same county.

The board of directors may adopt a resolution that recites the fact of receipt and the willingness of the district to consolidate, and shall then send copies of the resolution to the board of directors of each of the other districts. The board shall send a certified copy of the r…

The board of supervisors of the county in which is located the largest area of table grape acreage of the proposed consolidated district shall fix a time and place for hearing the proposal. Notice shall be given and the hearing conducted in the same manner and with the same effec…

If the board of supervisors determines that consolidation is feasible and in the best interests of the table grape acreage owners of the respective districts, it shall, by resolution duly adopted, declare the districts consolidated into one district, giving the consolidated distr…

Any producer who disputes the amount of the assessment may file a claim with the department. The producer shall prove his or her claim by a preponderance of the evidence.

Upon the adoption of a resolution consolidating two or more districts, the board of supervisors of the county in which is located the largest area of table grape acreage shall immediately appoint a board of directors of at least five members, including at least one member from ea…

The board of a consolidated district has all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the board of any other district organized pursuant to this article. The members of the consolidated board shall be appointed in the same manner and serve for the same …

Any district that has been included in a consolidated district may withdraw from the consolidated district and be reconstituted as a separate district by filing with the board of directors of the consolidated district a petition for withdrawal that is signed by the owners of not …

Upon the filing of a petition with the board of supervisors that is signed by either (1) 50 percent or more of the table grape acreage owners who own 65 percent or more of the affected acreage or by (2) 65 percent or more of the table grape acreage owners who own 50 percent or mo…

The board of supervisors shall give notice of the time and place fixed for the hearing upon the petition for dissolution.

The notice of hearing shall state all of the following: (a) That a petition has been filed requesting the dissolution of the district. (b) That the petition is available for inspection at the offices of the board of supervisors. (c) The time and place for the hearing. (d) That at…

Notice of the hearing shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated in the district.

The notice shall be published once a week for two successive weeks prior to the date set for the hearing.

If, at the hearing, a majority of the board of supervisors does not find a compelling reason to override the owners’ petition to dissolve the district, the board of supervisors shall by resolution dissolve the district.

The board of supervisors shall cause a certified copy of the resolution to be recorded in the office of the county recorder and shall file a certified copy of it with the Secretary of State. Thereupon, the district is dissolved for all purposes.

(a) Expenditures charged by the department and the board for administrative purposes shall not exceed a total of 14 percent of the assessments collected pursuant to this article. Administrative purposes shall include, but not be limited to, all auditing expenses and all costs and…

Upon dissolution, the right, title, and interest to property owned or controlled by the district that is situated within the corporate limits of any city shall vest absolutely in the city. If the property is situated outside the corporate limits of a city, it shall vest in the co…

The board of supervisors is ex officio the governing body of the dissolved district. It may levy assessments and perform other acts solely for the purpose and as may be necessary to wind up the affairs of the district and to raise money for the payment of any outstanding indebted…

All claims and accounts against the district that have not been settled by the board within 90 days after the resolution is recorded pursuant to Section 6047.119 shall be presented to the board of supervisors of the county in which the district was located, or in the case of a co…

If there are insufficient funds to discharge all claims and accounts brought pursuant to Section 6047.122, the board of supervisors shall, at the time of levying the next general county taxes, levy a special assessment upon the net acreage devoted to the growing of table grapes t…

Owners of wine grapes and raisin grapes and any other agricultural commodities may petition to become subject to any district established pursuant to this article. The petition shall adhere to all the requirements of this article and shall require the approval of the board of dir…

(a) All proprietary information obtained by the board or the department from producers, processors, or any other source, including, but not limited to, the name, addresses, and assessments collected from individual producers and processors in the possession of the board or the de…

(a) The sole remedy against any producer who fails to pay the assessment and against any processor who fails to collect and remit assessments within the time required by the secretary shall be an action to collect the delinquent assessments and payment to the secretary a penalty …

Upon termination of this article, and based upon a recommendation of the board subject to approval by the secretary, any collected assessments not required to defray financial obligations incurred pursuant to this article shall be returned on a pro rata basis to all persons from …

No action in law or equity may be brought against any members or agent of the board, nor shall any member or agent of the board be personally liable for the actions of the board or the department. No member or agent of the board is responsible individually in any way to any other…

This article shall not be subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

This article shall be liberally construed. If any provision of this article or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the article which can be given effect without the inval…

(a) On or before December 31 of every year, the secretary, after consultation with the board, shall make publicly available on the department’s internet website, a report on the status of this article and Article 8 (commencing with Section 6045), including, but not limited to, pr…

For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall govern its construction: (a) “Board” means the Pierce’s Disease and Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board. (b) “Department” means the Department of Food and Agriculture. (c) “Marketing season” begins July 1 of each year…

This article shall become inoperative as of March 1, 2026, unless the secretary finds, in a referendum conducted by the secretary, or a person designated by the secretary, subsequent to the operative date of the amendments to this section adopted in 2024, that a favorable vote ha…

(a) No later than April 15, 2025, the secretary shall establish a list of those persons eligible to vote on the continued implementation of this article. (b) Eligibility shall be limited to the producers, processors, and persons who paid the assessment on grapes crushed in the im…

For the purpose of voting in the referendum required in Section 6047.20, only a person required to pay the assessment pursuant to Section 6047.8 shall have the right to vote.

In determining whether this article shall become inoperative, the secretary shall find that at least 40 percent of the total number of persons from the list established by the secretary participated in the referendum, and that either one of the following occurred: (a) 65 percent …

In determining whether the referendum is approved by producers pursuant to the provisions of this article, the secretary shall consider the vote in favor of the referendum of any nonprofit agricultural cooperative marketing association, which is authorized by its members so to as…

The secretary shall establish a period in which to conduct the referendum that shall not be less than 10 days nor more than 60 days in duration. The secretary may prescribe additional procedures to conduct the referendum. If the initial period established is less than 60 days, th…

Nonreceipt of a ballot shall not invalidate a referendum.

(a) If the secretary finds that a favorable vote as provided in this article has not been given subsequent to the operative date of the amendments to this section adopted in 2024, this article shall become inoperative as of March 1, 2026. (b) If the secretary finds that a favorab…

(a) The provisions of this article are severable. (b) If any provision of this section or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

(a) The secretary shall appoint an advisory task force consisting of scientific experts, including, but not limited to, university researchers and agricultural representatives, for the purpose of advising the secretary on the control and management of Pierce’s disease. (b) Member…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the secretary, upon the recommendation of the board, may contract with any nonprofit authoritative scientific body with expertise in agricultural issues in order to expedite research relating to the eradication of Pierce’s disease.

(a) The board may, after consulting with the advisory task force and upon making findings as described in this section, recommend to the secretary, and the secretary may determine, that a pest or disease affecting grapes grown in California and crushed for wine, wine vinegar, jui…

(a) The powers of the board shall be the following: (1) Submit recommendations to the secretary on, but not limited to, the following: (A) Selection of officers. (B) Terms of office for board members. (C) Annual assessment rate. (D) Annual budget. (E) Expenditures authorized unde…

(a) Expenditure of the funds pursuant to this article shall be restricted to the following: (1) Reasonable administrative expenses of the board and the department, subject to the limitation in Section 6047.12. (2) The collection, enforcement, deposit, and handling of the assessme…

The secretary shall accept the recommendations of the board unless he or she determines that the recommendations are not practicable or in the interest of the industry or the public. The secretary shall provide the board with the reasons for his or her decision within 15 days if …

The Legislature hereby finds and declares the following: (a) California is the leading producer of table grapes in the United States, accounting for 97 percent of table grapes grown in this country. (b) Table grapes are grown in 15 counties located throughout the state. (c) Calif…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the Table Grape Pest and Disease District Law.

(a) It is the purpose of this article to make available a procedure for the organization, operation, and dissolution of districts to respond to the effects of the spread of the glassy-winged sharpshooter and Pierce’s disease, and other designated pests and diseases that attack ta…

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this section govern the construction of this article. (a) “Board” or “board of directors” means the board of directors of a district. (b) “District” means a table grape pest district organized pursuant to this article. (c)…