3-1086
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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. |