Fertilizer: organic input material: registration: inspections.

Existing law generally regulates fertilizing materials, as defined and which includes organic input material, and provides for the licensure of individuals who manufacture or distribute fertilizing materials. Existing law requires organic input material manufacturers to be inspected at least once per year. Existing law, for purposes of those provisions, defines "provisional registration" to mean that under certain circumstances, a label for renewal on an auxiliary soil and plant substance, packaged agricultural mineral, packaged soil amendment, organic input material, or specialty fertilizer, alone or in any combination, may be registered for a limited period of time while labels are being corrected and reprinted. This bill would provide that such a label for renewal may be registered for a limited period of time while labels are being corrected and reprinted or during registration renewal. Existing law requires that each differing label, other than weight or package size, as described, for specialty fertilizer, packaged agricultural mineral, auxiliary soil and plant substance, organic input material, and packaged soil amendment be registered, and requires that all registrations be renewed in January of an even-numbered year, and be valid until December 31 of the following odd-numbered year, if issued in January of that same year. This bill would delete those provisions regarding the date for renewal of those registrations and would instead authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to develop a schedule for all registration to be submitted to the department for approval and would require that registrations be valid for 2 years. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to perform site inspections of organic input material manufacturing processes used to validate label nutrient guarantees, claims, and compliance with specified federal standards during the registration process, and to accept inspections performed by a 3rd-party organization recognized by the National Organic Program for out-of-state organic input material manufacturers. Existing law requires all inspection records obtained by the 3rd-party organization to be made available to the secretary upon request. This bill would eliminate the requirement that organic input material manufacturers be inspected at least once per year, and would delete the limitation that the secretary is authorized to perform site inspections of organic input material manufacturing processes only during the registration process. The bill would provide that those site inspections give priority to inspecting high-risk products and manufacturers. The bill would authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to accept inspections performed by a 3rd-party organization approved by the secretary for organic input material manufacturers. The bill would require all inspection records obtained by a contracted 3rd-party organization to be made available to the secretary upon request. This bill would authorize the secretary to grant a provisional registration for a period not exceeding 6 months for a registered product undergoing renewal. The bill would make various changes to the dates during which registration and renewals are valid. Existing law prohibits a person from distributing a misbranded fertilizing material under specified conditions, including, among other things, if the misbranded fertilizing material is deemed to be distributed under the name of another fertilizing material. This bill would revise that condition to prohibit distribution of a misbranded fertilizing material deemed to be distributed under the name of another fertilizing material, as determined by the department.