593.103 Powers and duties of department.

593.103 Powers and duties of department.

The department has the power and duty to:

   (1) Administer and enforce the provisions of ss. 593.101-593.117.

   (2) Adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement the provisions of ss. 593.101-593.117.

   (3) Enter upon any grounds, premises, or means of conveyance in this state for the purpose of inspection, quarantine, or eradication in reference to the boll weevil.

   (4) Require each person growing cotton in this state to furnish, on forms supplied by the department, such information as the department may require relating to the acreage and locations of all commercial cotton, noncommercial cotton, and volunteer cotton being grown by that person in this state.

   (5) Declare a quarantine against any area, place, or political unit within this state, another state, a territory, or a foreign country, or any portion thereof, in order to prevent or reduce the spread of the boll weevil in an eradication zone.

   (6) Enter into a cooperative arrangement with any person, municipality, county, or other department of this state; any agency, officer, or authority of another state or of the United States Government; any other person engaged in the growing, processing, marketing, or handling of cotton; or any other person or group, for the purpose of cost sharing or assignment of duties and responsibilities in destroying and eliminating the boll weevil in this state.

   (7) Govern the movement of regulated articles into, out of, or within an eradication zone.

   (8) Establish eradication zones within the state where eradication efforts will be undertaken.

   (9) Restrict or prohibit the planting of cotton in an eradication zone if the department determines that the planting of cotton in the zone will jeopardize the success of the eradication effort in the zone.

   (10) Require that all growers of cotton in designated eradication zones participate in the eradication program, including cost sharing, through assessment.

   (11) Restrict the movement of livestock, humans, and honeybee colonies in any eradication zone that has been or is to be treated with pesticides for eradication of the boll weevil.

   (12) Enter upon any premise, property, or field within an eradication zone to treat it with pesticides or destroy any volunteer or noncommercial cotton when the department determines the action is necessary.

   (13) Destroy or require the destruction of commercial cotton in an eradication zone when it is not being grown in compliance with ss. 593.101-593.117.

History. s. 3, ch. 87-55; s. 1, ch. 88-303; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 195, ch. 98-200.