§ 106-65.90. Failure to pay assessments.
§ 106‑65.90. Failure to pay assessments.
(a) A cotton grower who fails to pay, when due and uponreasonable notice, any assessment levied under this Article, shall be subjectto a penalty of not more than twenty‑five dollars ($25.00) per acre, asestablished in the Board's regulations.
(b) A cotton grower who fails to pay all assessments, includingpenalties, within 30 days of notice of penalty, shall destroy any cotton plantsgrowing on his acreage which is subject to the assessment. Any such cottonplants which are not destroyed shall be deemed to be a public nuisance. TheCommissioner may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to abate andprevent such nuisance. Upon judgment and order of the court, such nuisanceshall be condemned and destroyed in the manner directed by the court. Thegrower shall be liable for all court costs and fees, and other proper expensesincurred in the enforcement of this section.
(c) In addition to any other remedies for the collection ofassessments, including penalties, the Department of Agriculture and ConsumerServices has a lien upon cotton subject to such assessments. Provided, that anybuyer of cotton shall take free of such lien if he has not received writtennotice of the lien from the Department or if he has paid for such cotton by acheck in which the Department is named as joint payee. In any action to enforcethe lien, the burden shall be upon the Department to prove that the buyer ofcotton received written notice of the lien. A buyer of cotton other than a personbuying cotton from the grower takes free of the lien created herein. (1983, c. 136, s. 7; 1987, c. 293; 1997‑261, s.109.)