Senate Bill No. 171

Introduced by Senator Rubio

February 5, 2013

An act to amend Sections 52256.5, 52288, and 52452 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to seed.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 171, as introduced, Rubio. California Seed Law.

Existing law, the California Seed Law, regulates seed sold in California, and requires each container of seed that is sold within this state for sowing purposes to be labeled, unless the sale is an occasional sale of seed grain by the producer of the seed grain to his neighbor for use by the purchaser within the county of production. Existing law defines “person” for purposes of that law to mean an individual, partnership, trust association, cooperative association, or any other business unit or organization.

This bill would clarify that definition of “person” to include corporations. The bill would also clarify the term “neighbor” for purposes of the labeling requirements specified above to mean a person who lives in close proximity, not to exceed 3 miles, to another. The bill would revise a statement of legislative intent to include ensuring that the amount of seed represented on a tag or label is properly identified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 52256.5 of the Food and Agricultural
Code is amended to read:

52256.5.  

“Person” also means any individual, partnership,
begin insert corporation, end insert trust association, cooperative association, or any other
business unit or organization.

SEC. 2.  

Section 52288 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:

52288.  

The Legislature hereby declares that it is the intent of
this chapter to enable the seed industry, with the aid of the state,
to ensure that seed purchased by the consumer-buyer is properly
identified and of the quality begin insert and amount end insert represented on the tag or
label. The Legislature further declares that the success of
agriculture and the seed industry in this state depends upon the
continued commitment to begin delete industry funded end delete begin insert industry-funded end insert research
in order to improve the quality and variety of seed available to the
consumer-buyer.

SEC. 3.  

Section 52452 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:

52452.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert Except as otherwise provided in Section 52454,
each container of agricultural seed begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert is for sale or sold
within this state for sowing purposes, unless the sale is an
occasional sale of seed grain by the producer of the seed grain to
his begin insert or her end insert neighbor for use by the purchaser within the county of
production, shall bear upon it or have attached to it in a
conspicuous place a plainly written or printed label or tag in the
English begin delete language, which gives end delete begin insert language that includes end insert all of the
following information:

begin delete

(a)

end delete

begin insert (1) end insert   begin delete Commonly end delete begin insert The commonly end insert accepted name of the kind, kind
and variety, or kind and type of each agricultural seed component
in excess of 5 percent of the whole, and the percentage by weight
of each. If the aggregate of agricultural seed components, each
present in an amount not exceeding 5 percent of the whole, exceeds
10 percent of the whole, each component in excess of 1 percent
of the whole shall be named together with the percentage by weight
of each. If more than one component is required to be named, the
names of all components shall be shown in letters of the same type
and size.

begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (2) end insert   begin delete Lot end delete begin insert The lot end insert number or other lot identification.

begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (3) end insert   begin delete Percentage end delete begin insert The percentage end insert by weight of all weed seeds.

begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (4) end insert  The name and approximate number of each kind of restricted
noxious weed seed per pound.

begin delete

(e)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert   begin delete Percentage end delete begin insert The percentage end insert by weight of any agricultural
seed except that which is required to be named on the label.

begin delete

(f)

end delete

begin insert (6) end insert   begin delete Percentage end delete begin insert The percentage end insert by weight of inert matter. If a
percentage by weight is required to be shown by any provision of
this begin delete section such end delete begin insert section, that end insert percentage shall be exclusive of any
substance begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert is added to the seed as a coating and shown
on the label as such.

begin delete

(g)

end delete

begin insert (7) end insert  For each agricultural begin delete seed, end delete begin insert seed end insert in excess of 5 percent of
the whole, stated in accordance with begin delete subdivision (a) of this section, end delete
begin insert paragraph (1), end insert the percentage of begin delete germination, end delete begin insert germination end insert
exclusive of hard begin delete seed; end delete begin insert seed, end insert the percentage of hard seed, if begin delete present; end delete
begin insert present, end insert and the calendar month and year the test was completed
to determine begin delete such end delete begin insert the end insert percentages. Following the statement of begin delete such end delete
begin insert those end insert percentages, the additional statement “total germination and
hard seed” may be begin delete stated as such, if desired. end delete begin insert stated. end insert

begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (8) end insert   begin delete Name end delete begin insert The name end insert and address of the person begin delete that end delete begin insert who end insert labeled
the begin delete seed, end delete begin insert seed end insert or of the person begin delete that end delete begin insert who end insert sells the seed within this
state.

begin insert (b) end insert begin insert   end insert All determinations of noxious weed seeds are subject to
tolerances and methods of determination begin delete which are end delete prescribed in
the regulations begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert are adopted pursuant to this chapter.

begin insert

(c) For purposes of this section, “neighbor” means a person
who lives in close proximity, not to exceed three miles, to another.

end insert