Title FAC — California Food & Agric. Code

“Production research” means any research relating to the production, harvest, and post harvest handling of tomatoes.

“Secretary” means the Secretary of Food and Agriculture.

“Ship” and “shipping” are synonymous terms and mean the operations of receiving, grading, cleaning, transporting, distributing, or otherwise preparing for market or marketing, tomatoes for fresh consumption.

(a) “Tomatoes” means all tomatoes that are produced for commercial purposes and are handled within the state in fresh form, except cherry tomatoes and tomatoes grown in a greenhouse. (b) For purposes of this section, “tomatoes grown in a greenhouse” means tomatoes grown in a fixe…

There is in the state government the California Tomato Commission. The commission shall be composed of 10 producers, seven handlers, and may include one public member, at the discretion of the commission. (a) Producers within the respective districts shall elect one producer from…

(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 those activities or fun…

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, p…

When the secretary is required to concur in a decision of the commission, the secretary shall give his or her response to the commission within 15 working days from notification of the decision. The secretary’s response may be a requirement that additional information be provided…

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 a…

Except for ex officio members, an alternate for each member shall be elected in the same manner as the member. An alternate shall, in the absence of the member for whom he or she is an alternate, serve in place of the member and shall have and be able to exercise all the rights, …

Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of any person elected to the commission as a member or alternate 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 by …

Any vacancy on the commission occurring by the failure of the public 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, resignation, or disqualification, shall be filled by another eligible person f…

Any producer member and his or her alternate on the commission shall be an individual producer or an employee or representative of a producer who has a financial interest in producing or causing to be produced, tomatoes for market. Qualifications of producer members and their alt…

Any handler member and his or her alternate on the commission shall be an individual handler or an employee or representative of a handler who has a financial interest in handling tomatoes for market. Qualifications of handler members and their alternates shall be maintained duri…

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, respectively, on the commission. The public member and his or her alternate member shall not have any financial interest in the …

The term of office of all members and alternates on the commission, except ex officio members, shall be two years from the beginning of the marketing season in the year of their election and until qualified successors are elected.

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, rec…

A quorum of the commission shall be six voting producer members and four voting handler members. Except as provided in Section 78723, the vote of a majority of members present at a meeting at which there is a quorum shall constitute the act of the commission.

The secretary or his or her representatives shall be notified and may attend each meeting of the commission and any committee meetings of the commission. However, the secretary or his or her representative is not entitled to attend an executive session of the commission or a comm…

No member or alternate 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 and each alternate serving in place of a member, except ex officio members who are officers o…

All funds received by any person from the assessments levied under this chapter or otherwise received by the commission shall be deposited in banks that the commission may designate and shall be disbursed by order of the commission through an agent or agents as it may designate f…

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 or alternate of the commission, or any…

The powers and duties of the commission shall include, but are not limited to, all of those contained in this article.

The commission may adopt and from time to time alter, rescind, modify, and amend all proper and necessary bylaws, rules, regulations, and orders in accordance with commission procedures for purposes of carrying out this chapter, including rules for appeals from any bylaw, rule, r…

The commission may administer and enforce this chapter and do and perform all acts and exercise all powers incidental to, or in connection with, or deemed reasonably necessary, to promote and maintain the tomato industry.

The commission may appoint its own officers, including a chairperson, one or more vice chairpersons, and such other officers as it deems necessary. The officers shall have the powers and duties delegated to them by the commission.

The commission may employ a person to serve at the pleasure of the commission as president and chief executive officer of the commission, and other personnel, including legal counsel of its choice, necessary to carry out this chapter. If any person employed by the commission enga…

The commission may fix the compensation for all employees of the commission.

The commission may appoint committees composed of both members and nonmembers of the commission to advise the commission in carrying out this chapter.

The commission may establish offices and incur expenses, enter into any and all contracts and agreements, create liabilities, and borrow funds in advance of receipt of assessments as may be necessary in the opinion of the commission for the proper administration and enforcement o…

The commission shall keep accurate books, records, and accounts of all of its dealings, which shall be subject to an annual audit by an auditing firm selected by the commission with the concurrence of the secretary. A summary of the audit shall be reported to all persons subject …

The commission may present facts to, and negotiate with, state, federal, and foreign agencies on matters that affect the tomato industry.

The commission may promote the sale of tomatoes by advertising and any other promotional means, including cost-sharing advertising, for the purpose of maintaining and expanding present markets and creating new and larger intrastate, interstate, and foreign markets for tomatoes, a…

The commission may educate and instruct the wholesale and retail trade with respect to proper methods of handling and selling tomatoes, and conduct market surveys and analyses.

The commission may conduct, and contract with others to conduct, scientific research, including the study, analysis, dissemination, and accumulation of information obtained from research or elsewhere, respecting cultural and production practices, and marketing and distribution of…

The commission may make in its name, contracts to receive and render services in formulating and conducting plans and programs and other contracts or agreements that the commission may deem necessary for carrying out this chapter.

The commission may solicit and accept contributions of, or match private, state, or federal funds, and employ or make contributions of funds to other persons or state or federal agencies for purposes of promoting and maintaining the tomato industry.

The commission may collect information, including, but not limited to, industry crop statistics, and publish and distribute without charge, a bulletin or other communication to persons subject to this chapter.

The commission shall establish an assessment rate to defray operating costs of the commission.

The commission shall establish an annual budget according to generally accepted accounting practices. The budget shall be concurred in by the secretary prior to disbursement of funds, except for disbursements made pursuant to Section 78665.

The commission shall submit to the secretary for his or her concurrence an annual statement of contemplated activities authorized pursuant to this chapter.

The commission and the secretary shall keep confidential and shall not disclose, except when required by court order after a hearing in a judicial proceeding, all lists of persons subject to this chapter in their possession. However, the commission shall establish procedures to p…

The commission may investigate and prosecute civil violations of this chapter and file complaints with appropriate law enforcement agencies or officers for suspected criminal violations of this chapter.

(a) In order to prevent unfair trade practices that are detrimental to California’s tomato industry, including, but not limited to, deception and misinformation, the commission may collect and disseminate to any and all interested persons, historical handler packout information, …

The commission may administer any government program that is engaged in the activities authorized by this chapter and that directly and exclusively affects the fresh tomato industry, upon the request of an authorized agent of the program.

(a) Within 15 days of the effective date of this chapter, the secretary shall establish a list of producers and handlers eligible to vote on implementation of this chapter. In establishing the list, the secretary may require that producers and handlers submit the names and mailin…

This chapter, except as necessary to conduct an implementation referendum vote, shall not become operative until the secretary finds the following in a referendum vote conducted by the secretary: (a) At least 40 percent of the total number of producers from the list established b…

In finding whether the commission is approved pursuant to this article, the vote of any nonprofit agricultural cooperative marketing association that is authorized by its members to so vote, shall be considered as being the approval or rejection by the individual members of, or t…

The secretary shall establish a period in which to conduct the referendum, which shall not be less than 10 days or more than 60 days in duration, and may prescribe additional procedures necessary to conduct the referendum. If the initial period established is less than 60 days, t…

Nonreceipt of a ballot by an eligible person shall not invalidate a referendum.