BILL NUMBER: AB 1477 CHAPTERED 09/21/99 CHAPTER 450 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 21, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 21, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 23, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 8, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Committee on Agriculture (Cardoza (Chair), Florez, Reyes, Thomson, and Wiggins) FEBRUARY 26, 1999 An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 6723 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agriculture. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1477, Committee on Agriculture. Agriculture: nursery stock. (1) Existing law requires nursery stock sellers to be licensed by the Department of Food and Agriculture. Existing law requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to establish the minimum license fee in an amount not to exceed $100 and authorizes the secretary to fix the minimum license fee at an amount that is less than $100. This bill, instead, and until July 1, 2005, would require the secretary to establish the minimum license fee at an amount not to exceed $180, and would authorize the secretary to fix the minimum license fee at an amount that is less than $180. (2) Existing law requires, as an additional license fee, an acreage fee in an amount to be established by the secretary for land used in the production, storage, or sale of nursery stock in excess of one acre, which the secretary determines is necessary to carry out these provisions of, or any portion of, the Food and Agricultural Code. Existing law also specifies that the total acreage fee shall not be less than $25 nor more than $500, for each licensee. The bill would raise this maximum total acreage fee, which the secretary establishes, from $500 to $900 for land used in the production, storage, or sale of all nursery stock in excess of one acre. In addition, the bill would exempt from this acreage fee prescribed licensees. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 6723 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended to read: 6723. (a) The secretary shall establish the minimum license fee at an amount not to exceed one hundred eighty dollars ($180). (b) The secretary may fix the minimum license fee at an amount that is less than one hundred eighty dollars ($180) and may adjust the license fee if, after investigation and due notice, the secretary finds that the cost of administering this division and Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 53301) of Division 18, which relate to nursery stock, can be defrayed from revenues derived from the license fee in combination with those sums as provided by Sections 435 and 5822. (c) Both of the following amounts shall be added as an additional license fee to the license fee established pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b): (1) An equal sum for each branch salesyard, store, or sales location that is owned and operated by the applicant in the state. (2) (A) An acreage fee in an amount to be established by the secretary for land used in the production, storage, or sale of all nursery stock, except as provided in subparagraph (B), in excess of one acre, which the secretary determines is necessary to carry out this part and any portion of this code that relates to nursery stock. The total acreage fee shall not be less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than nine hundred dollars ($900) for each licensee. The acreage fee shall be calculated using as a basis the total of the acreage at all locations where nursery stock is produced, stored, or sold. (B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to those licensees whose gross income from the production of cut flowers and cut ornamentals is 75 percent or greater of the gross income of their nursery. (d) As to all the fees, the secretary may require payment of prorated amounts when necessary in the issuance of new licenses for branch salesyards, stores, or sales locations to persons already licensed pursuant to the licensing periods established in Section 6724. (e) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2005, and as of January 1, 2006, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2006, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed. SEC. 2. Section 6723 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: 6723. (a) The secretary shall establish the minimum license fee at an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100). (b) The secretary may fix the minimum license fee at an amount that is less than one hundred dollars ($100) and may adjust the license fee if, after investigation and due notice, the secretary finds that the cost of administering this division and Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 53301) of Division 18, which relate to nursery stock, can be defrayed from revenues derived from the license fee in combination with those sums as provided by Sections 435 and 5822. (c) Both of the following amounts shall be added as an additional license fee to the license fee established pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b): (1) An equal sum for each branch salesyard, store, or sales location that is owned and operated by the applicant in the state. (2) (A) An acreage fee in an amount to be established by the secretary for land used in the production, storage, or sale of all nursery stock, except as provided in subparagraph (B), in excess of one acre, which the secretary determines is necessary to carry out this part and any portion of this code that relates to nursery stock. The total acreage fee shall not be less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than nine hundred dollars ($900) for each licensee. The acreage fee shall be calculated using as a basis the total of the acreage at all locations where nursery stock is produced, stored, or sold. (B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to those licensees whose gross income from the production of cut flowers and cut ornamentals is 75 percent or greater of the gross income of their nursery. (d) As to all the fees, the secretary may require payment of prorated amounts when necessary in the issuance of new licenses for branch salesyards, stores, or sales locations to persons already licensed pursuant to the licensing periods established in Section 6724. (e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2005.