Article 2.5. Agriculture Trust Fund of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 2.5.

As used in this article:
  (a) "Advisory body" means the advisory body for each individual agriculture program.
  (b) "Agriculture programs" means the programs specified in Section 221, Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 5301) of Division 4, Sections 6037, 6038, and 9641.5, Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 29001) of Division 13, Division 15 (commencing with Section 32501), Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 42801) of Chapter 2 of Division 17, and Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 46000) of Division 17.
  (c) "Trust fund" means the Agriculture Trust Fund created pursuant to Section 232.

The Legislature finds and declares that the maintenance of agriculture funded programs described in subdivision (b) of Section 230 is necessary to ensure the consuming public of a continuous and safe supply of food and fiber and is affected with a public interest. This article is enacted in the exercise of the police power of this state for the purpose of protecting the health and welfare of the people of this state.

The Agriculture Trust Fund is hereby created. The trust fund is not a fund of the State Treasury. Transfers to the trust fund may be deposited in the State Treasury, or in a bank or other depository approved by the Department of Finance. Funds that are so transferred are exempt from Sections 11270 and 11272 of the Government Code and shall be deposited and disbursed only to pay for attorney's fees and other costs incurred in litigation involving the trust fund, expenses generated by the auditing requirement imposed by Section 239, and the costs set forth in Section 240.

(a) The trust fund consists of moneys transferred by the director from the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, including all income therefrom. The amount of funds, excluding interest earned thereon, contained in the trust fund shall be determined by the director, and shall be the same percentage for all agricultural programs, but shall not exceed 10 percent of the annual operating budgets of each agricultural program. Funds in excess of 10 percent of the annual operating budgets of each agricultural program that are in the trust fund, or such other lesser percentage as the director may determine, may be returned to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund.
  (b) The director shall establish separate accounts in the trust fund for the money transferred to the fund from each of the agricultural program accounts in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund. The trust accounts shall be used by the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund for expenditure when necessary for the exclusive purpose of implementing and continuing any of the agriculture programs with money contained in the trust fund.

The trust fund is created for the exclusive purpose of implementing and continuing the agricultural programs for which the funds were collected.

Each agricultural program specified in subdivision (b) of Section 230 with funds contained in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund shall participate in the trust fund unless an entity is designated pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 227 or Section 6005 or 45021.

The beneficiaries of the trust are the agricultural programs with money contained in the trust fund.

The trust fund shall continue in existence for as long as any of the agricultural programs specified in subdivision (b) of Section 230 continues to exist. Upon termination of any of those agricultural programs, all of that program's remaining funds, exclusive of all financial obligations of that program, shall be returned on a pro rata basis to all persons from whom assessments or fees were collected for purposes of that program in the immediately preceding marketing season. However, if the director finds that the amounts returnable are so small as to make impractical the computation and remitting of a pro rata refund to those persons, any funds remaining after payment of all expenses shall be paid to any existing state or federally authorized agricultural program relating to the same industry. If no such program exists, any remaining money shall be paid to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund. If the account of a terminating agricultural program is insufficient to meet all financial obligations, the director may borrow a pro rata share from all other accounts in the trust fund to pay those obligations. The director shall collect a supplemental assessment from all persons from whom assessments or fees were collected for the purposes of the program being terminated in the immediately preceding marketing seasons to reimburse the trust fund. Upon the termination of all the agricultural programs specified in subdivision (b) of Section 230, the trustee shall transfer the remaining funds to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund.

It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that the advisory body for each of the identified agricultural programs is intended to represent and further the interest of a particular agricultural industry concerned, and that this representation and furtherance is intended to serve the public interest. Accordingly, the Legislature finds that, with respect to persons who are appointed to any advisory body, the particular agricultural industry concerned is tantamount to, and constitutes, the public generally within the meaning of Section 87103 of the Government Code.

The chairperson of each advisory body shall advise the director on the administration of the trust fund, including, but not limited to, the amount of the fund to be applied to program closures, unanticipated occurrences, and replenishment.

All trust fund activities shall be subject to an audit at least once every two years by an auditing firm selected by the director in accordance with Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 10290) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code. A copy of the audit shall be delivered to the director within 30 days after completion.

Any money that is deposited pursuant to Section 232, which the director determines is available for investment, may be invested or reinvested in any of the securities described in Article 1 (commencing with Section 16430) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

The moneys in the trust fund shall be disbursed only to pay for costs arising from unanticipated occurrences associated with administering self-funded programs. These costs shall include, but are not limited to: attorney costs related to litigation; workers' compensation costs; unemployment costs; phaseout costs of existing programs; and temporary funding for programs that are implementing a fee increase. Any program using the moneys from the trust fund shall repay the trust fund based on a schedule approved by the director. In addition to the costs specified above, the director may impose a charge in the amount necessary to cover the department's costs in administering this article.

This article shall be liberally construed. If any provision of this article or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the article that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this article are severable.