Chapter 10. Cotton Pests Abatement Districts of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 10.

Cotton pests abatement districts may be organized and established by the board of supervisors of the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and may exercise the powers expressly granted, or necessarily implied, by those provisions. The district may include land in more than one of the counties listed in this section with the consent of the board of supervisors of the counties affected. The county which includes the majority of acreage in the district shall be designated the principal county. The agricultural commissioner and county officers in the principal county shall perform the acts required by the provisions of this chapter. District funds shall be deposited in the treasury of the principal county. Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 54773) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Government Code and the District Reorganization Act of 1965 do not apply to cotton pests abatement districts organized pursuant to this chapter.

In order to propose the organization of a cotton pests abatement district, a petition shall be presented to the board of supervisors of the county where the lands included within the proposed district are situated. The petition may consist of any number of separate instruments. The petition shall be signed by 25 percent of the cottongrowers or by 25 cottongrowers who grow cotton within the proposed district, whichever is less.

Upon receipt of the petition, the board of supervisors shall direct the agricultural commissioner to create a register of all cottongrowers growing cotton within the proposed district describing the net acreage of land devoted to the growing of cotton by each grower.

The commissioner shall file the cottongrowers register within 60 days of receipt of the order from the board of supervisors or by March 1st, whichever date is the later. The commissioner shall file with the register of cottongrowers a report and recommendation to the board of supervisors on whether conditions of disease, insect, or other pests of cotton warrant the board of supervisors in proceeding with the organization of the district.

The proponents of the formation of the district may, within 30 days of the receipt by the board of supervisors of the register of cottongrowers from the agricultural commissioner, file with the board of supervisors a petition for the establishment of the district signed by not less than 50 percent of the cottongrowers who grow not less than 65 percent of the cotton within the proposed district or not less than 65 percent of the cottongrowers who grow not less than 50 percent of the cotton grown within the proposed district. The petition presented to the board of supervisors pursuant to Section 6052 shall satisfy the requirements of this section if it contains the number of signatures required by this section.

Upon receipt of the petition, the board of supervisors shall immediately refer the petition to the agricultural commissioner who shall examine it by reference to the register of cottongrowers, and shall, within 15 days after receiving the petition, return the petition to the board of supervisors with his or her certificate attached thereto certifying from the cottongrowers register that the petition qualifies as valid. The certificate of the agricultural commissioner shall be conclusive as to the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition.

At its meeting at which the certificate is received from the agricultural commissioner, or at its next meeting, regular or special, thereafter, the board of supervisors shall by order fix a time and place for hearing the petition, which time shall be not less than 20 days nor more than 40 days from the date of the order, and shall give notice of the hearing by publication of the time and place thereof with a general statement of the purpose of the proposed district, together with a description of the boundaries of the proposed district, once a week for two successive weeks immediately prior to the date fixed for the hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the district will be situated.

At the hearing, the board of supervisors shall make such changes in the boundaries of the proposed district as they determine to be advisable, and shall determine and describe the boundaries of the district. The board of supervisors shall not modify the boundaries so as to exclude from the district any lands growing or capable of growing cotton which would be benefited by the formation of the district. The board of supervisors shall, at the hearing, hear all competent and relevant testimony, in support of the petition, and in opposition thereto, and shall determine whether the petition complies with the requirements of this chapter. The determination of the board of supervisors shall be entered upon the minutes of the meeting. No defect in the contents of the petition, or in the title to, or form of, the notice or signature, shall vitiate any proceeding thereon if the petition has a sufficient number of qualified signatures attached thereto.

The board of supervisors shall, at the next regular or special meeting following the hearing upon the question of the organization of the proposed district, meet and, if it determines that the evidence presented at the hearing was sufficient to warrant the organization of the district, shall, by order entered upon its minutes, declare the district duly organized under the name designated in the petition. The order shall describe the boundaries of the district so that all lands included in it may be known, and a copy of the order shall be filed for record in the office of the county recorder of the county where the district is situated.

The board of supervisors shall, at the meeting at which the order declaring the district to be organized is made, appoint a board of five directors to administer the affairs of the district. No person shall, at any time, be eligible to hold the office of director of any district unless he or she is a resident of the state, and a cottongrower, either individually or as a joint tenant of, or is a member of a partnership which owns, or is an officer of, a corporation which grows cotton within the district.

Each director so appointed shall, in the manner provided by law, give official bond for the faithful performance of his or her duties in the amount which shall be fixed by the board of supervisors, and shall subscribe the oath of office, and the bonds and oaths shall be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the district is situated. From and after the filing for record of the order declaring it organized and the appointment and qualifying of its board of directors, the organization of the district shall be complete.

Any cotton pests abatement district organized pursuant to this chapter may do all of the following:
  (a) Have perpetual succession.
  (b) Sue and be sued for all actions and proceedings in all courts and tribunals of competent jurisdiction.
  (c) Adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure.
  (d) Take by grant, purchase, gift, devise, lease or otherwise, and to hold, use, and enjoy, and to 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.
  (e) Prohibit the planting, growing, or maintenance of cotton plants within the boundaries of the district if it determines that such a prohibition is necessary for cotton pest control.
  (f) Charge fees for permits to plant cotton. The fees shall be used for the purpose of paying any obligation of the district and to accomplish the purposes of the district in the manner herein provided.
  (g) Make contracts, and to employ, except as otherwise provided herein, all persons, firms, and corporations necessary to carry out the purposes and the powers of the district, at such salary, wage, or other compensation as the board of directors shall determine.
  (h) Eradicate, remove, or prevent the spread of any disease, insect, or other pest injurious to cotton.
  (i) Eradicate, eliminate, remove, or destroy any cotton plants except those cotton plants which are growing under the conditions established by a valid permit.
  (j) Enter into or upon any land included in the district for the purpose of inspecting cotton growing thereon.
  (k) Commence and prosecute appropriate actions to have it adjudged that any cotton plant growing within the district infested with disease, insects, or pests injurious to cotton; or any cotton plant growing within the district without a valid permit; is a public nuisance, and have it decreed that the nuisance be abated.

The general control and management of each district shall be vested in a board of directors of five members. Directors shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred by them in and about the performance of any duties required by the board of directors to be performed by them for the district. All claims presented by any director shall be subject to the approval of three other members of the board of directors.

The term of office of the directors shall be four years, except for those first appointed upon the organization of the district. The first appointees shall, immediately upon their appointment, classify themselves by lot so that the terms of three of them shall expire on the first day of May following the first biennial election of the district and the terms of the other two shall expire on the first day of May following the second biennial election of the district.

In the event of a vacancy in the board of directors either by resignation, death, or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board of supervisors and the person so appointed shall hold office for the remainder of the term of his or her predecessor.

The board of directors of each district shall have the power to appoint and to fix the compensation of a secretary of the district who shall keep all records and perform such other duties as are ordered by the board of directors.

Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, all acts of the board of directors shall be by resolution, and the adoption of a resolution shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of the board of directors.

The powers conferred upon any cotton pests abatement district and its board of directors by the provisions of this chapter shall not be construed to be in lieu of other disease, pest, or insect control statutes, but an addition thereto, and no act of any district or of any of its directors, agents, or employees shall operate to deprive or hinder the duly appointed or designated state, county, or federal authorities in conducting any operation for the eradication or control or prevention of any disease, insect, or pest in the district.

The agricultural commissioner of the county in which any district is situated, may, without fee or charge, supervise and direct, in accordance with the best known accepted methods as determined by the board of directors, all inspection, eradication, fumigation, and other activities undertaken by the district. The agricultural commissioner shall employ any and all assistants required in and about any such work, and the district shall bear and pay all expenses incurred in and about the work. Alternatively, the board of directors may employ a manager to carry out those duties and may employ such personnel as are necessary.

The board of supervisors in every county where a district has been organized and exists under the provisions of this chapter shall direct the agricultural commissioner to file with the board of supervisors on March 1st of each year a register of every cottongrower intending to grow cotton during the growing season immediately following that date, describing the net acreage of land to be devoted to the growing of cotton by each grower. The agricultural commissioner shall submit a preliminary estimate of the information required to be filed on March 1st in order for the board to prepare the district budget. The agricultural commissioner shall submit a copy of the register to the clerk of the board of supervisors during election years.

The board of directors of each district shall, on or before the first Monday in February of each year, prepare and file with the board of supervisors of the county in which the district is situated, a budget setting forth all estimated expenditures of the district for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of the month of April of that fiscal year. The budget shall include any estimated expenditures for special benefits which will affect only certain properties. The board of directors may submit the budget or a revised budget to the board of supervisors later than the first Monday in February, but not later than March 15, if necessary in order to properly reflect changes in the acreage involved between the preliminary estimate and the register prepared pursuant to Section 6070 and the costs of programs therefor. A copy of the budget shall, at the same time, be filed with the auditor of the county.

The board of supervisors of the county may annually establish a fee for a permit to grow cotton within each cotton pests abatement district situated within the county and shall issue the permit to any cottongrower who satisfies the requirements of this chapter. The board of supervisors shall determine the amount of the fee by dividing the budget by the number of acres which will be devoted to cotton production during the ensuing growing season as reported on the register of cottongrowers submitted to the board of supervisors on March 1st of each year. Special benefits which are included in the budget shall be paid for by an additional permit fee. This additional fee shall be based on the estimated cost of the benefit to be conferred on the specific property.

The permit fee shall be entered in the minutes of the board of supervisors who shall advise the board of directors of the district of the fee per acre required for the issuance of a permit. The board of directors shall collect this fee from the applicant for a permit to grow cotton in the district. The fees shall be paid into the county treasury for the use of the district. The board of directors may provide for the method and time of payment of the fees which may be monthly, quarterly, or as otherwise determined to be reasonable. The board of directors may provide for the refund of fees, or appropriate part thereof, collected from growers who have not grown any cotton or have grown less than that for which they have a permit, insofar as such a refund would not adversely affect the programs being conducted by the district. The board of directors shall, at the close of the district's fiscal year, refund any money not required for continuing programs that remains in the district fund on a pro rata basis to the persons from whom the fees being refunded were collected. The board of directors shall pay the county or counties in which it is located the costs of county services performed at the request of the district. The district shall also reimburse the county or counties for services performed pursuant to Sections 6053, 6054, 6056, 6057, 6058, 6059, 6060, 6070, 6076, 6077, and 6081. Petitioners for the formation of a cotton pest abatement district shall be assessed a fee by the commissioner in the amount necessary to cover any costs incurred as a result of duties performed by the commissioner under this chapter which are preparatory to the formation of a district if a district is not formed.

The treasury of the county shall be the repository of all the moneys of the district. The county treasurer shall receive and receipt for all of these moneys, and place the same to the credit of the district. Any interest earned on the district funds shall be the property of the district. The treasurer shall be responsible upon his or her official bond for the safekeeping and disbursement, in the manner herein provided, of all moneys of any such district so held by him or her. The county treasurer shall pay out the moneys of the district only upon warrants of the county auditor drawn upon the order of the board of directors of the district signed by the president of the board and attested by the secretary. The county treasurer shall report in writing on the first day of July, October, January, and March of each year, to the board of directors of each district in his or her county, the amount of money he or she then holds for the district, the amount of receipts since his or her last report, and the amounts paid out; and each report shall be verified and filed with the secretary of the district to whom it is addressed.

The board of directors, when prohibiting the planting, growing, or maintenance of cotton plants within the boundaries of the district, shall notify persons affected by this action within 15 days. The grower within 30 days may appeal the decision of the board of directors to the board of supervisors, which may, by a majority decision, modify, or rescind the decision of the board of directors.

In each cotton pests abatement district, a biennial election shall be held in March of each odd-numbered year by the county elections official of the county in which a majority of the acreage in the district is contained. Notice of the election, and of the offices to be filled, shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county once a week for three successive weeks before the first day of February. At the election a sufficient number of directors shall be elected to fill the places of those directors whose terms expire the first day of April immediately following the election. The county elections official shall make declarations of candidacy available from between 113 and 88 days before the election. Any person eligible for the office of director, desiring to be a candidate for election, shall file a declaration with the county elections official on or before the 88th day before the election. The county elections official shall certify the qualified candidates and have ballots prepared and printed. The election shall be conducted, as nearly as practicable, in accordance with the general election laws of this state.

The county elections official on or after the 29th day before the election shall mail a ballot, an identification envelope, and a stamped and addressed return envelope to each cottongrower on the register submitted by the agricultural commissioner. The ballot shall indicate the number of votes and the number shall be written on the ballot by the clerk. Each cottongrower appearing on the register shall be entitled to one vote for each acre of cotton for which a valid permit to grow cotton is possessed for each office to be filled, or proposition to be voted upon, at that election. Cumulative voting is not authorized. The ballot shall be printed in substantially the following form:

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NOTICE OF INCOMPLETE TEXT: The Cotton Pest Abatement District official ballot appears in the hard-copy publication of the chaptered bill. See Sec. 25, Chapter 221, Statutes of 2002 (p. 946).

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The ballot shall be placed in the identification envelope by the voter after the voter has indicated his or her choices. The identification envelope shall be sealed and signed by the voter. The identification envelope shall be returned to the county elections official in the sealed return envelope. Ballots in order to be counted shall be received by the elections official not later than 12 o'clock noon of the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March and the return envelopes containing the ballots shall not be opened until that time. The elections official shall then open the return envelopes and deposit the ballot in its unopened envelope in a ballot box. After deposit of all identification envelopes received, the elections official shall open the ballot box and count the votes cast and certify the results of the election. The returns of the election shall be reported to the board of directors of the district who shall meet on the Monday following the election and canvass the returns.

The persons declared elected shall take the oath of office and file their official bonds with the county elections official on or before the first day of April following their election and shall take office at noon of that day.

Any owner of land devoted to the growing of cotton in the county where the district is situated may file a petition for inclusion in the district with the board of directors of any cotton pests abatement district, and the land may, by order of the board of directors, be included within the district. A certified copy of each order of the board of directors including additional lands within the district shall be filed for record by the secretary of the district in the office of the county recorder of the county immediately upon passage by the board of directors, and each such order shall particularly describe each parcel of land to be included in the district.

The board of directors of each cotton pests abatement district shall hold a regular meeting at least once each month at the time and place in the district designated by resolution of the board; and the board of directors of each district shall prescribe the rules and regulations for the conduct of its meetings and for calling and giving notice of special meetings of the board.

Whenever the board of supervisors, by resolution, desires to dissolve the district, or whenever a petition, signed by not less than 25 percent of the cottongrowers within a district who are engaged in the growing of cotton, requesting the dissolution of the district is presented to and filed with the board of directors of the district, the board of directors shall submit the question of the dissolution of the district to the qualified voters of the district at the next biennial election of the district; provided, however, that the board of directors shall not be required to accept a petition for the dissolution of the district within 10 days preceding any biennial election of a district. If at the election 60 percent of the votes cast are in favor of the dissolution of the district, the directors of the district shall, within 60 days, file for recording in the office of the county recorder of the county a certified copy of an order declaring the district to be dissolved, and cease all activities, and shall proceed immediately to wind up the affairs of the district. The dissolution election procedures shall be the same as those contained in Sections 6076 and 6077.

At the expiration of 90 days after the election, the board of directors shall deliver on the basis of the ratio of the acreage devoted to cottongrowing in each county in the district all property and assets in their possession belonging to the district to the agricultural commissioner of each county in the district to be held and used for the benefit of cotton production. Any funds which may be in the hands of the county treasurer to the credit of the district or to which the district may thereafter become entitled shall be transferred to the credit of the county in which the district is located and shall be expended by the board of supervisors for the benefit of cotton production.

All claims and accounts against the district which have not been settled by the board of directors within 90 days after the election authorizing the dissolution of the district shall be presented to the board of supervisors of the county in which the district was located and shall be passed and approved by them in the same manner as county claims and shall be paid out of the funds of the dissolved district.

In the event that there are insufficient funds to discharge all claims and accounts brought pursuant to Section 6083, the board of supervisors shall, at the time of levying the next general county taxes, make a special assessment upon the net acreage devoted to the growing of cotton which was benefited from the dissolved district sufficient in amount to discharge all outstanding claims and accounts against the district. Properties which received special benefits for which additional permit fees where paid in the last year of district operation shall have an additional pro rata charge made upon the net acreage affected.

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Cotton Pests Abatement District Act.