76700-76719
FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE
SECTION 76700-76719
76700. There is in the state government the California Salmon Council. The council shall be composed of nine voting members and their alternates, and five nonvoting members. 76701. The voting members of the council shall be appointed by the director, after consultation with the Director of Fish and Game, giving due consideration to proper geographic distribution. The nine members shall include: (a) Five commercial salmon vessel operators or their representatives, and their alternates. (b) Two handlers who are receivers or processors or their representatives, and their alternates. (c) One representative of a handler who is an exporter or a wholesaler, and an alternate. (d) One public member, and an alternate. 76702. (a) The commercial salmon vessel operators and their alternates shall be selected from lists of nominees submitted by marketing associations and any organization deemed to represent the majority of organized commercial salmon vessel operators, and from nominations by individual commercial salmon vessel operators. (b) The receivers, processors, wholesalers, or exporters and their alternates shall be selected from lists of nominees submitted by an organization deemed to represent the majority of those organized groups in the state, and from individual receivers, processors, wholesalers, and exporters. (c) The public member and alternate shall be selected by the director from a list submitted by the commercial salmon vessel operators and handler members of the council. 76703. The voting members of the council shall each be appointed to a three-year term, except that in the first year of the council, three members shall be appointed to one-year terms; three members shall be appointed to two-year terms; and three shall be appointed to three-year terms. 76704. The term of office of a member of the council shall begin on April 1 and expire on March 31. 76705. Any vacancy in the membership of the council which occurs during the unexpired term shall be filled by the director for the unexpired term from the eligible nominees. No council member or alternate shall serve more than two consecutive three-year terms. Service as an alternate does not disqualify a person to then serve two additional terms as a member, and a member who was appointed for a one-year or a two-year term may serve two additional three-year terms. 76706. The director may remove any member of the council or alternate for cause, and, upon that removal, there is a vacancy which shall be filled in the manner as provided for the unexpired term in Section 76705. 76707. The director shall give notice, not later than January 31 of each year, of the vacancies that will exist upon the expiration of terms on March 31, in writing, to all marketing associations and organizations deemed to represent the majority of organized fishermen, or receivers, processors, wholesalers, and exporters, and shall issue any press releases and public statements that the director deems appropriate requesting nominations. 76708. (a) The notice requesting nominations shall indicate that nominations shall be mailed to the director at his or her office in Sacramento and that the director will consider nominations received by mail postmarked not later than March 1. (b) Nominations shall set forth all of the following: (1) The name and address of each nominee. (2) Whether each nominee is being nominated as a member or alternate member. (3) The type of category for which the nominee is being nominated. (4) The list of qualifications and supporters, if any, for the nominee. (5) The name and address of the nominating marketing association, organization, or individual. 76709. The nonvoting members of the council shall be representatives of the following agencies, as selected by the director: (a) The department. (b) The Department of Fish and Game. (c) The California Sea Grant Program. (d) The West Coast Fisheries Development Foundation or the Coastal Fisheries Foundation. (e) The California State World Trade Commission. 76710. There is no fixed term for nonvoting members of the council. The agencies may, but are not required to, select an alternate for their representative. 76711. A majority of the voting members of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business, including the election of officers. 76712. (a) The council shall select annually from its voting members, to serve at its pleasure, a chair and vice chair. (b) The chair and vice chair, together with four other voting members, selected annually by the council, shall constitute the executive committee of the council. The executive committee shall have and exercise any powers of the council that the council may delegate to it. 76713. The council shall hold two regular meetings in each year at times and places which are fixed by the council. The times for regular meetings shall be fixed so that there is an interval of at least four calendar months between the meetings. Consideration shall be given for the commercial fishing season and no regular meeting shall be held during the commercial salmon season. The council may meet in special meetings at any time and place at the call of the chair or upon the written request of five members of the council. The executive committee shall have two regular meetings each year at times and places which are fixed by it, and may meet in special meetings at any time and place at the call of the chair or on call of a majority of the members of the executive committee. 76714. The voting members of the council shall receive forty dollars ($40) per day per diem for each day spent in actual attendance at the meetings or on the business of the council and shall be reimbursed for necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties, except, during the first year of council operations, when members shall serve at their own expense. Nonvoting members shall be reimbursed at the same rate as voting members when their agencies do not pay their expenses. Alternates shall only be paid expenses and per diem for meetings at which they serve as the replacement for the regular member. 76715. No member of the council, except a member of the executive committee, shall receive compensation for more than three days' service per month, except the chair, who may receive compensation for not more than seven days per month. 76716. The director may require any employee or agent of the council to give a fidelity bond, executed by a surety company which is authorized to do business in this state, in favor of the director, in the sum, and containing any terms and conditions, that the director may prescribe. The cost of the fidelity bonds of employees or agents of the council shall be paid from the funds which are collected pursuant to this chapter. 76717. No member or employee of the council shall be held responsible individually to any person for liability on any contract or agreement of the council. All salaries, expenses, costs, obligations, and liabilities which arise out of the administration and enforcement of this chapter are payable only from funds which are collected pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. 76718. An alternate member of the council shall sit as a regular member of the council if the member for whom he or she is an alternate fails for any reason to attend any meeting of the council. The alternate member shall be compensated and reimbursed in the same manner and to the same extent as a regular member when so serving. When so serving, the alternate member has all of the powers, duties, liabilities, and immunities of the member in whose place he or she is serving, except that the alternate to the chair or vice chair shall not succeed to the functions of these offices. 76719. The Legislature finds and declares that commercial salmon vessel operators, receivers, processors, wholesalers, or exporters appointed to the council pursuant to this article are intended to represent and further the interest of a particular agricultural industry concerned, and that this representation and furtherance is intended to serve the public interest. Accordingly, the Legislature finds and declares that, with respect to persons who are appointed to the council, the particular agricultural industry concerned is tantamount to, and constitutes, the public generally within the meaning of Section 87103 of the Government Code.