Written Notice of Proposed Action Template for Agricultural Civil Penalty Actions

Enclosed is the “Written Notice of Proposed Action Template for Agricultural Civil Penalty Actions”. The purpose of the template is to facilitate and encourage statewide consistency when County Agricultural Commissioners issue a Notice of Proposed Action (NOPA) in conjunction with activities authorized by Food and Agricultural Code section 12999.5 (agricultural civil penalties).

This guidance replaces previous examples provided in Hearing Officer Training and in letter ENF 06-34. The revised template primarily differs from the previous example by summarizing the violations in the opening paragraph and separating the description of the factual circumstances from the violation descriptions. The updated template also includes guidance on the information to include in a NOPA and example wording. The template is provided in two formats, one with the example language and guidance (in italics), and a separate fillable version without comments and instructions.

If you have questions about using the new template for drafting NOPAs, please contact your Enforcement Branch Liaison.

Sincerely,