(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the citrus killing diseases, Huanglongbing, citrus leprosis, citrus variegated chlorosis, and citrus canker, and the associated vectors present a clear and present danger to California’s citrus industry, as well as to other commodities and plant life.
(b) This article is intended to establish an industry-funded program to assist in combating citrus specific diseases, vectors, and pests when found in California.
(c) This article is not intended to create new mandates or circumvent state and federal authority on citrus or other agricultural commodities.
(d) This article is not intended to establish a precedent, or to supersede or supplant in any way federal, state, or local government funding of efforts to combat citrus diseases and other pests in this state.
(e) The prevention and management of citrus diseases is a matter of public interest. The provisions of this article are enacted for the protection of the citrus industry and in the exercise of the police power of the state for the purpose of protecting the health, peace, safety, and general welfare of the people of this state.
(f) The Legislature finds and declares that the California citrus industry creates one billion eight hundred million dollars ($1,800,000,000) in citrus fruit, another one billion two hundred million dollars ($1,200,000,000) in economic activity, and employs an estimated 25,000 people in the state.
(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 426, Sec. 1. (AB 281) Effective October 11, 2009. Conditionally inoperative as provided in Section 5927.)