Cotton pests abatement districts may be organized and established by the board of supervisors of the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and may exercise the powers expressly granted, or necessarily implied, by those provisions.

The district may include land in more than one of the counties listed in this section with the consent of the board of supervisors of the counties affected. The county which includes the majority of acreage in the district shall be designated the

principal county. The agricultural commissioner and county officers in the principal county shall perform the acts required by the provisions of this chapter. District funds shall be deposited in the treasury of the principal county.

Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 54773) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Government Code and the District Reorganization Act of 1965 do not apply to cotton pests abatement districts organized pursuant to this chapter.

In order to propose the organization of a cotton pests abatement district, a petition shall be presented to the board of supervisors of the county where the lands included within the proposed district are situated. The petition may consist of any number of separate instruments. The petition shall be signed by 25 percent of the cottongrowers or by 25 cottongrowers who grow cotton within the proposed district, whichever is less.

Upon receipt of the petition, the board of supervisors shall direct the agricultural commissioner to create a register of all cottongrowers growing cotton within the proposed district describing the net acreage of land devoted to the growing of cotton by each grower.

The commissioner shall file the cottongrowers register within 60 days of receipt of the order from the board of supervisors or by March 1st, whichever date is the later. The commissioner shall file with the register of cottongrowers a report and recommendation to the board of supervisors on whether conditions of disease, insect, or other pests of cotton warrant the board of supervisors in proceeding with the organization of the district.

The proponents of the formation of the district may, within 30 days of the receipt by the board of supervisors of the register of cottongrowers from the agricultural commissioner, file with the board of supervisors a petition for the establishment of the district signed by not less than 50 percent of the cottongrowers who grow not less than 65 percent of the cotton within the proposed district or not less than 65 percent of the cottongrowers who grow not less than 50 percent of the cotton grown within the proposed district.

The petition presented to the board of supervisors

pursuant to Section 6052 shall satisfy the requirements of this section if it contains the number of signatures required by this section.

Upon receipt of the petition, the board of supervisors shall immediately refer the petition to the agricultural commissioner who shall examine it by reference to the register of cottongrowers, and shall, within 15 days after receiving the petition, return the petition to the board of supervisors with his or her certificate attached thereto certifying from the cottongrowers register that the petition qualifies as valid. The certificate of the agricultural commissioner shall be conclusive as to the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition.

At its meeting at which the certificate is received from the agricultural commissioner, or at its next meeting, regular or special, thereafter, the board of supervisors shall by order fix a time and place for hearing the petition, which time shall be not less than 20 days nor more than 40 days from the date of the order, and shall give notice of the hearing by publication of the time and place thereof with a general statement of the purpose of the proposed district, together with a description of the boundaries of the proposed district, once a week for two successive weeks immediately prior to the date fixed for the

hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the district will be situated.

At the hearing, the board of supervisors shall make such changes in the boundaries of the proposed district as they determine to be advisable, and shall determine and describe the boundaries of the district. The board of supervisors shall not modify the boundaries so as to exclude from the district any lands growing or capable of growing cotton which would be benefited by the formation of the district. The board of supervisors shall, at the hearing, hear all competent and relevant testimony, in support of the petition, and in opposition thereto, and shall determine whether the petition complies with the requirements

of this chapter. The determination of the board of supervisors shall be entered upon the minutes of the meeting. No defect in the contents of the petition, or in the title to, or form of, the notice or signature, shall vitiate any proceeding thereon if the petition has a sufficient number of qualified signatures attached thereto.

The board of supervisors shall, at the next regular or special meeting following the hearing upon the question of the organization of the proposed district, meet and, if it determines that the evidence presented at the hearing was sufficient to warrant the organization of the district, shall, by order entered upon its minutes, declare the district duly organized under the name designated in the petition. The order shall describe the boundaries of the district so that all lands included in it may be known, and a copy of the order shall be filed for record in the office of the county recorder of the county where the

district is situated.

The board of supervisors shall, at the meeting at which the order declaring the district to be organized is made, appoint a board of five directors to administer the affairs of the district. No person shall, at any time, be eligible to hold the office of director of any district unless he or she is a resident of the state, and a cottongrower, either individually or as a joint tenant of, or is a member of a partnership which owns, or is an officer of, a corporation which grows cotton within the district.

Each director so appointed shall, in the manner provided by law, give official bond for the faithful performance of his or her duties in the amount which shall be fixed by the board of supervisors, and shall subscribe the oath of office, and the bonds and oaths shall be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the district is situated. From and after the filing for record of the order declaring it organized and the appointment and qualifying of its board of directors, the organization of the district shall be complete.

Any cotton pests abatement district organized pursuant to this chapter may do all of the following:

and enjoy, and to lease, or otherwise dispose of, real and personal property of every kind and description within or without the district necessary to the full and convenient exercise of its powers.

directors shall determine.

The general control and management of each district shall be vested in a board of directors of five members. Directors shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred by them in and about the performance of any duties required by the board of directors to be performed by them for the district. All claims presented by any director shall be subject to the approval of three other members of the board of directors.

The term of office of the directors shall be four years, except for those first appointed upon the organization of the district. The first appointees shall, immediately upon their appointment, classify themselves by lot so that the terms of three of them shall expire on the first day of May following the first biennial election of the district and the terms of the other two shall expire on the first day of May following the second biennial election of the district.

In the event of a vacancy in the board of directors either by resignation, death, or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board of supervisors and the person so appointed shall hold office for the remainder of the term of his or her predecessor.

The board of directors of each district shall have the power to appoint and to fix the compensation of a secretary of the district who shall keep all records and perform such other duties as are ordered by the board of directors.

Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, all acts of the board of directors shall be by resolution, and the adoption of a resolution shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of the board of directors.

The powers conferred upon any cotton pests abatement district and its board of directors by the provisions of this chapter shall not be construed to be in lieu of other disease, pest, or insect control statutes, but an addition thereto, and no act of any district or of any of its directors, agents, or employees shall operate to deprive or hinder the duly appointed or designated state, county, or federal authorities in conducting any operation for the eradication or control or prevention of any disease, insect, or pest in the district.

The agricultural commissioner of the county in which any district is situated, may, without fee or charge, supervise and direct, in accordance with the best known accepted methods as determined by the board of directors, all inspection, eradication, fumigation, and other activities undertaken by the district. The agricultural commissioner shall employ any and all assistants required in and about any such work, and the district shall bear and pay all expenses incurred in and about the work. Alternatively, the board of directors may employ a manager to carry out those duties and may employ such personnel as are

necessary.

The board of supervisors in every county where a district has been organized and exists under the provisions of this chapter shall direct the agricultural commissioner to file with the board of supervisors on March 1st of each year a register of every cottongrower intending to grow cotton during the growing season immediately following that date, describing the net acreage of land to be devoted to the growing of cotton by each grower. The agricultural commissioner shall submit a preliminary estimate of the information required to be filed on March 1st in order for

the board to prepare the district budget.

The agricultural commissioner shall submit a copy of the register to the clerk of the board of supervisors during election years.