Director’s Decision on An Appeal of a County Agricultural Commissioner Decision (Docket Number 162)

Enclosed is Administrative Docket Number 162, which contains the Director´s Decision on an Appeal of an Agricultural Civil Penalty levied against Mr. Raj Kumar Sharma/Sunrise Orchards by the Sutter County Agricultural Commissioner for a violation of Title 3, California Code of Regulations section 6702.

The Director upheld the county agricultural commissioner´s findings. The Appellant maintained that his employee was only disposing of empty Kocide bags left from an earlier mix/load operation. The disposal of empty pesticide bags falls under the definition of pesticide “handler”, and since the Kocide labeling requires handlers to wear chemical-resistant gloves and protective eyewear, the same personal protective equipment requirement applies to disposing of empty pesticide bags.

Please make this information available to your staff so they can use it as a training tool in preparing cases.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Louis Watson, Senior Special Investigator, at 916-445-3894, or the Enforcement Branch Liaison assigned to your county.

Sincerely,