Agriculture: livestock drugs and commercial feed.

Existing law regulates the sale of livestock drugs by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, and prohibits a person from selling a restricted drug at retail unless he or she holds a license. Existing law authorizes a person to file an application for a license with the secretary and requires that the application be accompanied by an application fee of $25. Existing law establishes a license renewal fee of $25 per year, and provides for an additional penalty of $10 if the fee is not paid by the required date. The funds collected are deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, and are continuously appropriated for purposes of the provisions regulating livestock drugs. This bill would increase the amount of the application fee, the renewal fee, and the penalty fee to $50. By increasing the fees deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires the secretary to establish, by regulation, good manufacturing practices as are necessary to carry out the purposes of the provisions regulating commercial feed. This bill would also require the secretary to establish regulations for hazard analysis and preventive control measures as are necessary to carry out those provisions. Existing law requires that a license be obtained from the secretary for each location where commercial feed is manufactured, distributed, sold, or stored for later sale. Existing law requires each license application to be accompanied by an annual fee specified by the Department of Food and Agriculture for each location of at least $100, but not exceeding $600, with the specific fee to be set by the secretary upon recommendation of the Feed Inspection Advisory Board. Beginning on January 1, 2015, the license fee is required to be $100 for each location. The funds collected are deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and are continuously appropriated for purposes relating to the manufacture and distribution of commercial feed. This bill would extend the date on which the new fee requirement of $100 for each location would take effect from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2020. By extending the time during which a higher license fee may be applied, the bill would increase the fees that are deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation. Existing law establishes an inspection tonnage tax for commercial feed, as specified, with a maximum rate of $0.15 per ton. The funds collected are deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, and are continuously appropriated for purposes of the provisions regulating commercial feed. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, authorizes the secretary to designate a specified amount of the tonnage taxes collected to provide funding for research and education regarding the safe manufacture, distribution, and use of commercial feed. This bill would extend the secretary's authority to designate a specified amount of the tonnage taxes collected for those purposes from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2020. This would constitute a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. By extending the purposes for which funds in a continuously appropriated fund may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.