2-3002. Creation of Kansas corn, grain sorghum, soybean, wheat and sunflower commissions; membership; election process; terms; vacancies; districts; ex officio members; first purchasers; meetings.
2-3002
2-3002. Creation of Kansas corn, grain sorghum,
soybean, wheat and sunflower commissions; membership; election process; terms;
vacancies; districts; ex officio members; first purchasers; meetings.
(a) There are hereby created five separate and distinct commissions which shall
be known as the Kansas corn commission, the Kansas grain sorghum commission,
the Kansas soybean commission, the Kansas
wheat commission and the Kansas sunflower commission. Each commission
will have members elected
through an election process as provided in subsection (b)
to serve three-year terms, with the exception of transition
commissioners, serving from the effective date of this act until elections
occur in 2002, 2003 and 2004, to represent a district or districts identified
in subsection (b) with the following requirements:
(1) Any person meeting the requirements of K.S.A. 2-3003, and amendments
thereto, of that commodity may seek election as a commissioner to that
commodity's respective commission representing the district of such person's
official residence. Only a grower of each specific commodity shall be a member
of that specific commission;
(2) no commission shall have less than seven commissioners representing the
nine crop reporting districts identified in subsection (h). If a commission has
less than nine elected commissioners representing crop reporting districts, any
commissioner representing multiple crop reporting districts may only represent
commission districts equal to whole and adjoining crop reporting districts that
are within the same election cycle;
(3) each commission, by majority approval of the commissions,
may appoint two additional at-large commissioners for added
representation for producers due to geographical, cropping pattern or other
reasonable commodity-specific needs. At-large commissioners will serve a term
determined by the commodity commission not to exceed three-year terms of
appointment, be a Kansas resident and must meet the definition of a
grower; and
(4) each commission, by majority approval of the commissions, may appoint a
first purchaser as an additional at-large commissioner.
Any such first purchaser will serve a term determined by the
commodity commission not to exceed a three-year term of appointment and must be
a Kansas resident.
(b) (1) Prior to the first election as provided by this act, each
commodity commission shall notify all
growers of its respective commodity of the commission election and all
appropriate election procedures.
(2) Any grower of corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, wheat or
sunflowers who is a resident of
this state, of legal voting age and
has been actively engaged in growing corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, wheat or
sunflowers within the preceding three years shall become
an eligible voter upon registering to vote in a commission election.
Registration shall be on a single form
allowing registration to any or all commission elections. Forms shall be
provided by the commissions
and made available at all county extension offices, county conservation
district offices and through the
office of the secretary. Any grower also shall become registered by signing a
petition for a candidate to
be placed on the election ballot, upon the filing of such petition. Candidate
petition forms shall be
provided by the office of the secretary. Registration by internet or other
means shall also be allowed
upon the approval of the secretary.
No grower shall cast more than one ballot for any commission election.
(3) Any person meeting the qualifications to serve as a commissioner may
appear on the election ballot
for their respective commission district by submitting a petition to be placed
on the ballot on or before
November 30 in the year immediately preceding the
election. The petition shall
contain the signatures of 20
eligible voters of that commodity commission election to be a valid petition.
However, no more than five
petition signatures shall be used to qualify any candidate from any one county.
(4) Commission election ballots shall be mailed to eligible voters by January
15 and shall be returned to
the election officer, as provided through the common election procedure
required in subsection (e), on or before March 1 in the year of any election.
Successful candidates in any
election will have received the highest number of the votes cast. Election
results will be announced as
soon as the election has been determined with successful candidates taking
office with terms effective
April 1 in the year of the election.
(5) On and after July 1, 2002, any interested person or entity in the
agriculture industry, with emphasis on growers of sunflowers, may submit names
to the governor for appointment to the Kansas sunflower commission. On or after
September 1, 2002, the governor shall appoint nine members to the Kansas
sunflower commission from among the names submitted to the governor, if
possible, to represent each of the crop reporting districts as provided in
this section. The terms of the members appointed by the governor shall be the
same as provided in subsection (d) and the same election provisions as provided
in this section applicable to the other commissions shall apply to such
appointed members, except that the members appointed to represent districts
IV, V and VI shall not stand for election in 2002 but rather shall have their
initial term of office to run until the election held for such districts
in 2005. At such time the same election provisions of this section applicable
to the other commissions shall apply to such members.
(c) Upon the effective date of this act, each commission created shall meet
as soon as feasible to organize, elect officers and ratify the number of
commissioners and representative districts that commission shall maintain.
Commissioners currently serving these commissions immediately prior to the
effective date of this act are appointed to transition terms as follows: (1)
Commissioners whose terms expire in June, 2000, shall have their terms extended
until April, 2002; (2) commissioners whose terms expire in June, 2001, shall
have their terms extended until April, 2003; and (3) commissioners whose terms
expire in June, 2003, shall have their terms extended until April, 2004.
(d) Annual elections for up to three commissioners representing districts
shall begin in January and February of 2002. Commissioners elected shall take
office April 1 of the year elected and serve a three-year term. Elections will
occur as follows and continue on a three-year cycle thereafter: (1) In
districts IV, V and VI, the initial election year shall be 2002; (2) in
districts I, II and III,
the initial election year shall be 2003; and (3) in districts VII, VIII and IX,
the initial election year shall be 2004.
(e) The five grain commissions, as provided in this act shall maintain on
file a common election procedure with the secretary of agriculture, who will
serve as the final arbitrator of any dispute
regarding the election procedure.
(f) Any grower who appropriately registers to vote shall be able to do so in
an election for any commissioner representing that commodity and district where
the grower maintains such grower's official residence.
(g) Any challenge to election results for the position of commodity
commissioner representing a district shall be initially reviewed by a panel of
commissioners, not standing for election that year, and representing all
five grain commissions. If the challenge is not
resolved before the panel of commissioners, the secretary shall serve as the
final arbitrator of the challenge to the election results.
(h) Vacancies which may occur shall be filled for unexpired terms by
appointment by the remaining commissioners.
(i) The dean of the college of agriculture of Kansas state university and the
secretary of the Kansas department of agriculture shall be ex officio members,
without the right to vote, of each such commission. Districts are the same as
crop reporting districts established for Kansas by the U.S. department of
agriculture national agricultural statistic service and are as follows:
(j) District I shall consist of the following counties: Cheyenne, Decatur,
Graham, Norton, Rawlins, Sheridan, Sherman and Thomas.
District II shall consist of the following counties: Gove, Greeley, Lane,
Logan, Ness, Scott, Trego, Wallace and Wichita.
District III shall consist of the following counties: Clark, Finney, Ford,
Grant, Gray, Hamilton, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Meade, Morton, Seward,
Stanton and Stevens.
District IV shall consist of the following counties: Clay, Cloud, Jewell,
Mitchell, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Republic, Rooks, Smith and Washington.
District V shall consist of the following counties: Barton, Dickinson,
Ellis, Ellsworth, Lincoln, McPherson, Marion, Rice, Rush, Russell and Saline.
District VI shall consist of the following counties: Barber, Comanche,
Edwards, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Kiowa, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Sedgwick,
Stafford and Sumner.
District VII shall consist of the following counties: Atchison, Brown,
Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie,
Riley and Wyandotte.
District VIII shall consist of the following counties: Anderson, Chase,
Coffey, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Johnson, Linn, Lyon, Miami, Morris, Osage,
Shawnee and Wabaunsee.
District IX shall consist of the following counties: Allen, Bourbon, Butler,
Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Montgomery,
Neosho, Wilson and Woodson.
(k) Meetings and any records of any commission created by this act shall
be open to the public to
the same extent as is required by law of public boards and commissions pursuant
to the open records act and the open meetings act. Records shall include
contracts entered into by any commission.
History: L. 1977, ch. 4, § 2;
L. 1988, ch. 10, § 1;
L. 1996, ch. 209, § 14;
L. 2000, ch. 116, § 2;
L. 2002, ch. 93, § 2;
L. 2004, ch. 101, § 191;
L. 2008, ch. 94, § 1; Apr. 24.