Food and agriculture: marketing advisory and promotional boards, councils, and commissions.

Existing law establishes the California Avocado Commission within the state government, and requires the commission to establish no fewer than 3 districts and no more than 5 districts within the state, each representing approximately the same percentage of avocado production in California. Existing law requires the commission to consist of a specified number of producers who are not handlers, based on the number of districts the commission establishes, 4 handlers who are elected on a statewide basis, one public member, and the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, and requires there to be 2 alternate handler members. Existing law requires a vacancy of a member position on the commission to be filled by the alternate member. Existing law authorizes certain handlers who handle a specified percentage of volume of avocados to appoint one handler member to the commission and the other handlers to nominate and elect the remaining handler members. This bill would instead require that a vacancy of a member position be filled by a majority vote of the commission. The bill would decrease the number of handlers on the commission to 2 members and the number of alternate handler members to one member. The bill would remove the authorization for specified handlers to appoint a handler member. Existing law requires producer members and alternate producer members, at the time of the election, to have a financial interest in producing, or causing to be produced, avocados for market within the district in which the producer stands for election. Existing law prohibits a producer who chooses to stand for election in a particular district from standing for election in any other district for a period of 4 years from the date of his or her most recent election to the commission. This bill would delete this prohibition on the producer. The bill would specify that, for these purposes, a producer or grower would not include a person who has an average annual production of less than 10,000 pounds of avocados in the 3 preceding marketing years. The bill would require that, to be nominated and elected to the commission, a handler or alternate handler handle no less than 1% of the total industry volume of avocados in the preceding marketing year. Existing law provides that a quorum of the commission is 11 voting members if the commission consists of 3 or 5 districts, and is 10 voting members if the commission consists of 4 districts. Existing law authorizes the commission to recommend to the secretary that the operations of the commission be suspended upon a specified finding of 11 voting members if the commission consists of 3 or 5 districts, or 10 voting members if the commission consists of 4 districts. This bill would instead provide that a quorum of the commission is 9 voting members if the commission consists of 3 or 4 districts, and is 10 voting members if the commission consists of 5 districts. The bill would make a similar change to the authorization of the commission to recommend suspension of its operations. Existing law requires the secretary to establish a list of producers in each district and, in establishing the lists, requires handlers to file, within 90 days following receipt of a written request by the secretary, certain information about each producer from whom the handler purchased or handled avocados. This bill would require handlers to file the information, including the grove location of each producer instead of district numbers, within 60 days. Existing law, the California Marketing Act of 1937, authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to issue marketing orders which regulate producer marketing, the processing, distributing, or handling in any manner of any commodity by any and all persons that are engaged in the producer marketing, processing, distributing, or handling of the commodity within this state. The act requires that any marketing order issued pursuant to the act provide for the establishment of an advisory board to assist the secretary in the administration of any marketing order, as prescribed. Existing law also establishes various commissions and councils to advance the interests of the state's agricultural and seafood industries to provide benefit to the entire industry and all the people of this state. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body, as defined, be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body. Existing law requires a state body subject to the open meeting requirements of the act that conducts a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to post agendas at all teleconference locations and requires each teleconference location to be accessible to the public. The act also requires the state body to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the state body directly from any teleconference location. This bill would require that, for a meeting held by teleconference by a marketing order advisory board or an agricultural or seafood industry council or commission, a member of the advisory board, council, or commission participating by teleconference be listed in the minutes of the meeting and would require the member to provide notice of his or her participation by teleconference at least 24 hours before the meeting. The bill would require the advisory board, council, or commission to designate a primary physical meeting location and would require at least one member of the advisory board, council, or commission to be in attendance at the primary physical meeting location. The bill would require the teleconference phone number and other specified information to be included in the agenda and would require the agenda to be open to the public. The bill would require the advisory board, council, or commission to adopt certain teleconferencing guidelines prior to holding a meeting by teleconference. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.