Title 3.2, Title 3.2. Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food

Any provision of this chapter conferring a general power upon the Commission shall not be impaired or qualified by the granting to the Commission by this chapter of a specific power.

A. The Commission shall neither exercise its powers in any market, nor withdraw the exercise of its powers from any market, until after a public hearing is held for such market, and the Commission determines whether it will be in the public interest to exercise its powers in that…

The Commission may define a market area and define and fix the limits of the territorial area where milk shall be produced to supply a market area. Any producers, producer-distributors, or their successors currently shipping milk to any market may continue to do so until they vol…

The Commission, after a public hearing and investigation, may establish the prices to be paid producers or associations of producers by distributors in any market, may fix the minimum and maximum wholesale and maximum retail prices to be charged for milk in any market, and may al…

The Commission shall have no authority to establish a minimum retail price for milk, except upon a determination after a public hearing that the absence of a minimum retail price has caused or is about to cause a disruption in the Virginia milk market or some segment of the marke…

The Milk Commission shall prepare and adopt a system of accounting designed to show, for each distributor of milk and milk products, under the supervision of the Commission, the total purchases by any distributor of each grade or class of milk; the total sales by each distributor…

Any Commission employee designated for the purpose, shall have access to, and may enter at all reasonable hours, all places where milk is stored, bottled, or manufactured into food products and any designated employee shall have the power to inspect books and records in any place…

The Commission may require all distributors in any market designated by the Commission to be licensed by the Commission for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter. The Commission may decline to grant a license, or may suspend or revoke a license already grante…

Each licensee shall furnish to the Commission verified reports containing information as required by the Commission.

No distributor in a market covered by the provisions of this chapter shall buy milk from producers, or others, for sale within the Commonwealth, or sell or distribute milk within the Commonwealth, unless the distributor is duly licensed under the provisions of this chapter. It sh…

Each distributor shall submit an application to the Commission for a license to operate as a distributor by mail, or otherwise, within five days after the provisions of this chapter become effective in a market. Thereafter, any distributor shall obtain a license to operate as a d…

The licenses required by this chapter shall be in addition to any other licenses required by existing laws of the Commonwealth or by any municipal ordinance.

A. Any person affected by and claiming the unlawfulness of any regulation of the Commission, or person aggrieved by and claiming the unlawfulness of a case decision or an order of the Commission may appeal to the Circuit Court where the principal office of the Commission is locat…

Any person failing to comply with any subpoena issued by the Commission or pursuant to its authority is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor, and each day during which such violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense. In the event any person shall fail to comply with a…

The Commission shall prepare an annual budget and shall collect the sums of money required for this budget from the licensed distributors in markets where the provisions of this chapter are in operation. The expenses of the Commission, including salaries and the per diem of such …

There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Virginia Milk Commission Assessments Fund, hereafter referred to as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All receipts from assessments paid under thi…

If any person violates any provision of this chapter or the regulations adopted under this chapter, then either the Commissioner or the State Health Commissioner may petition any appropriate circuit for relief by injunction, without being compelled to allege or prove that an adeq…

Any person violating any provision of this chapter or of any license issued by the Commission is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. Each day during which such violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate violation. Prosecutions shall be instituted by the attorney for the Com…

The making of marketing agreements between producers' cooperative marketing associations and distributors and producer-distributors under the provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed a combination in restraint of trade or an illegal monopoly; or an attempt to lessen competi…

No provision of this chapter shall apply or be construed to apply to foreign or interstate commerce, except insofar as the same may be effective pursuant to the United States Constitution and to the laws of the United States enacted pursuant thereto.