Article 3. Apiary Assessments of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 13. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 3.

The beekeeper, apiary owner, apiary operator, or the person in possession of an apiary, in addition to the annual assessment fee prescribed by subdivision (a) of Section 29030, shall pay to the director an annual assessment fee of three cents ($0.03) per colony for the purpose of research on Africanized bees. The fee shall be annually collected until July 1, 1992, and the revenue, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, is continuously appropriated for that research. Subdivision (c) of Section 29030 and Section 29032 does not apply to the disposition of funds authorized by this section.

The assessment fees shall be payable to the director on July 1 of each year. The director shall send a written notice of the nonpayment of the required assessment fee to any person who fails to pay the assessment fee on that date. If the total amount of the assessment fee is not paid within 31 days after receipt of the written notice from the director, the person shall be required to pay, in addition to his or her regular fee, a penalty fee equal to 10 percent of the amount of the assessment fee prescribed pursuant to Section 29030, plus interest from that date. The interest shall accrue on a daily basis until the amount owed is paid.

(a) Any funds collected by the director pursuant to this article shall be deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund to be used for the control of pests, and research related to the bee industry, as advised by the board and approved by the director, and to carry out Article 2 (commencing with Section 29020).
  (b) The director shall pay by contract entered into pursuant to this section, five-eighths of the funds received from apiary assessments to the counties as reimbursement for costs incurred by the commissioner in the administration and enforcement of this chapter. The payment shall be apportioned to the commissioner in relation to each county's expenditure for the administration and enforcement of the chapter. The director, after consulting with the board, shall establish standards of performance for administration and enforcement. The director shall make the payments to each county only if the commissioner acts in compliance with a contract entered into between the director and the commissioner.