Article 4. Powers And Duties Of The District of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 13. >> Article 4.

The district may do all of the following:
  (a) Sue and be sued in all actions and proceedings in all courts and tribunals of competent jurisdiction.
  (b) Adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure.
  (c) Take by grant, purchase, gift, devise, lease, or otherwise, and hold, use and enjoy, and lease, or otherwise dispose of, real and personal property of every kind and description within or without the district necessary to the full and convenient exercise of its powers.
  (d) Cause assessments to be levied, as provided in Article 5 (commencing with Section 6296), to pay any obligation of the district and to accomplish the purposes of the district in the manner provided in this chapter.
  (e) Make contracts, and employ, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all persons, firms, and corporations necessary to carry out the purposes and the powers of the district, and at any salary, wage, or other compensation as the district board of directors shall determine.
  (f) Respond to the effects and spread of Pierce's disease, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, and other winegrape plant pests and diseases and collect and disseminate to winegrape growers in the district all relevant information and scientific studies concerning the pest or pests or diseases, as well as to chart and determine the extent and location of any infestations.
  (g) With reasonable advance notice in writing to the landowner, as determined by the district, enter into or upon any land included within the boundaries of the district for the purpose of inspecting the winegrape plants and any other host plants and fruit growing on them.
  (h) Perform any and all acts, either within or outside the district, necessary or proper to fully and completely carry out the purposes for which the district is organized.
  (i) The district's administrative costs are to be limited to 5 percent of the annual assessment revenues.

Every district formed pursuant to this chapter has all of the powers prescribed by Section 6295 and other provisions of this chapter, regardless of any language in the petition for formation for any district or in any of the proceedings leading to the formation that would otherwise limit the power of the district.

The county agricultural commissioner of the county in which the district is located shall, in consultation with the district board, assist the district to the extent possible in all activities undertaken by the district for the control of Pierce's disease, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, or any other winegrape plant pests or diseases.

The district board shall, immediately after its appointment and after public hearing, formulate an effective plan and adopt a budget of expenditures for the forthcoming fiscal year. At a public hearing on the plan and the budget, any owner of winegrape growing acreage included in the district may make written or oral protest against the budget or any item in it. The plan and the budget, as thereafter approved by the district board, shall be the plan and the budget of the district for the forthcoming fiscal year.

There may be added to the budget for the first fiscal year of the operation of the district an amount not to exceed 20 percent of the total amount of the budget to cover the preliminary expenses of the district, including, but not limited to, the costs of formation, before the beginning of the first fiscal year.

For each fiscal year subsequent to the first year of operation of the district, the district board shall adopt the final budget therefor in the same manner and at the same time that the budget for the first fiscal year was adopted.

The board of supervisors may charge the district for actual costs incurred by the county in connection with the proceedings for the formation of the district, and the district shall reimburse the county from assessments levied for those expenses.