§4010 Functions and Powers of Councils

Summary

Councils must run and pay for fish marketing and quality programs. They must use their charter, create an official seal courts will accept, and make a marketing and promotion plan for consumer education, research, and other work. They must send that plan and any changes to the Secretary for approval, carry out approved plans, set and collect required assessments to pay expenses, keep books and records, make yearly audited reports, and submit budgets that show administrative, marketing, collection, and referendum costs. Councils must look into and report violations about assessments or quality rules, repay the Secretary for certain referendum costs if a vote to start or end the council fails, and may send other reports as needed. Money collected can be used for research, consumer education, marketing, authorized administration, and a reserve fund (but the reserve cannot be larger than the current year’s budget). Marketing cannot mention private brand names or use deceptive or anti-competitive claims. Councils can sue and be sued, sign contracts, hire an executive director and staff, work with other councils and a national council, and set up a reserve fund. They can create quality standards for fish or have the Secretary do it when asked. A council may adopt a standard only after a referendum where a majority of voting sector participants approve and those voters together represented at least 66% of the value of that sector’s handled fish in the prior 12-month period. If adopted, the council must file an official mark (like a symbol, stamp, label, or seal) to show a product meets the standard. The Secretary will make rules for using that mark, must publish proposed rules widely and allow public comment and a hearing before finalizing them, and will cancel those rules if the council ends. Councils may also propose changes to their charter; those changes are approved the same way the original charter was, with one listed exception.