3-1086. Fees; collection; budget
A. The council, on or before July 1 of each calendar year, shall assess a fee of
not to exceed one dollar per bale of cotton produced in this state on land above
twenty-seven hundred feet in elevation and not to exceed five dollars per bale of cotton
produced in this state on land twenty-seven hundred feet in elevation or below. If the
council finds that a program of pink bollworm eradication is necessary on land above
twenty-seven hundred feet in elevation, the council may raise the fee not to exceed five
dollars per bale of cotton for the duration of the eradication program or for four years
after establishing the eradication program, whichever period expires first, after which
the fee reverts to not more than one dollar per bale of cotton.
B. Cotton gins shall collect and remit the fee to the council according to
procedures and on forms the council prescribes. A gin shall remit at least one-half of
the annual fee as established by the council and not designated as a refund for the
abatement of cotton fields as provided in section 3-1087, subsection B on or before
February 15 of each year with a report of actual bales ginned through January 31 of each
year and an estimate of bales to be ginned by March 15. The remainder of the fee is due
on or before March 15 of each year. The portion of the fee that is designated as a
refund for the abatement of cotton fields may be held by the gin, subject to
certification by the Arizona department of agriculture that a producer has complied with
the abatement program. Upon notification of certification to the gin, the fee designated
for the abatement program as a refund shall be credited to the producer's account of the
gin responsible for the remittance of the fee. If a producer fails to comply with the
program to abate cotton fields according to plow-up rules adopted under chapter 2,
article 1 of this title, the fee designated as a refund shall be remitted, in full, to
the council. The gin shall inform the council, on forms prescribed by the council, of the
names of persons or farms for which the gin is withholding the fee designated as a refund
under section 3-1087, subsection B at the time the fee is collected.
C. A cotton producer is responsible for payment of the fee unless the fee is
withheld for payment to the council by a gin.
D. Before establishing the annual fee the council shall establish a budget. The
budget is effective on approval of the council.
E. Title 41, chapter 6 does not apply to setting the fee under this section, but
the council shall provide sixty days' advance notice of the meeting at which the fee will
be adopted and the amount of the proposed fee. The council shall receive public
testimony at the meeting regarding the fee.
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