Article 6. Assessments And Records of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 22. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 21. >> Article 6.

(a) The commission shall establish the assessment for the following marketing year not later than January 1 of each year, or as soon thereafter as possible. The commission shall adopt bylaws which establish the date for payment of the assessment.
  (b) The assessment shall not exceed one cent ($0.01) per pound of all sales of asparagus by producers in the marketing year.
  (c) The handler shall deduct the producer assessment from amounts paid by him or her to the producer and shall be a trustee of these funds until they are paid to the commission at the time and in the manner prescribed by the commission.
  (d) A fee greater than the amount specified in subdivision (b) shall not be charged unless approved by the vote specified in Section 78271.

This chapter does not apply to any person who grows asparagus only for his or her own home use or who is not a producer. However, any such person who markets asparagus shall file an affidavit with the commission establishing that the person grows less than five acres of asparagus. The commission shall then determine whether the affidavit should be approved.

Every handler shall keep a complete and accurate record of all asparagus handled with the name of the producer whose asparagus was handled. The records shall be in simple form and contain information as the commission shall prescribe. The records shall be retained by the handler for two years and shall be offered and submitted for inspection at any reasonable time upon written demand of the commission or its duly authorized agent.

(a) The commission may specify the conditions under which proprietary information obtained from producers may be disclosed. Otherwise, all proprietary information obtained by the commission or the secretary from producers is confidential and shall not be disclosed except when required by a court order after a hearing in a judicial proceeding involving this chapter.
  (b) Information on volume shipments, product value, and any other related information that is required for reports to governmental agencies, financial reports to the commission or aggregate sales and inventory information, and any other information that the commission requires that gives only totals, but excludes individual producer information, may be disclosed by the commission.

Any assessment which is levied pursuant to this chapter is a personal debt of every producer so assessed.

Every handler shall be personally liable for the payment of collected assessments to the commission. A failure by a handler to collect the assessment shall not exempt the handler from liability and shall not relieve any person subject to this chapter from the obligation to pay the assessment.

Any producer or handler who fails to file a return or pay any assessment within the time required by the commission shall pay the commission a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of the assessment determined to be due and, in addition, pay 1 1/2 percent interest per month on the unpaid balance.

If the handler is a corporation, all of the directors and officers of the corporation in their capacity as individuals shall be included, and any liability for failure to collect or make payment of assessments to which a corporate handler may be subject pursuant to this chapter shall include identical liability upon each individual director or officer of the corporation.