Director’s Decision on an Appeal of a County Agricultural Commissioner Decision (Docket Number 169)

The Director’s decision on Tom Jacobs’ appeal of the civil penalty levied by the Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner (CAC) is enclosed. The CAC levied a penalty for violation of Title 3, California Code of Regulations (CCR) section 6623 and section 6776.

The Director overturned the Commissioner’s decision to cite Jacobs for violation of section 6623. Section 6623 requires the operator of the property to obtain a site identification number from the CAC, and to keep copies of a restricted materials permit. Although an error in the site map resulted in the spraying of a neighbor’s orchard, Jacobs had satisfied the section 6623 requirements.

The Director upheld the Commissioner’s decision to cite Jacobs for violation of section 6776. The Ethephon2 label requires the operator of a property to assure that signs are posted around treated fields.

In the decision, the Director also stated that in the absence of a specific law or regulation addressing the responsibility of the Respondent for the accuracy of the map, this is a case where citing the use of the general requirement to perform pest control in a careful manner found in 3 CCR section 6600(b) would have been justified. Another section that could have been cited is 3 CCR section 6616 prohibiting the direct discharge of a pesticide on a property without the permission of the owner.

Please make this information available to your staff so they can use it as a reference in preparing cases. If you have any questions, please contact David Haskell, Research Program Specialist II, at 916-445-4207, or the Enforcement Branch Liaison assigned to your county.

Sincerely,