SB313 By Senator Whatley RFD Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Rd 1 31-MAR-15

SYNOPSIS: Under existing law, when tests or analyses are required to be performed to execute a law or rule of the Department of Agriculture and Industries, the tests or analyses are required to be performed by employees of the department.

This bill would authorize the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries to delegate the performance of the tests to any laboratory operated by the federal government or any other state government.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

To amend Sections 2-2-33 and 2-2-35 of the Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the Department of Agriculture and Industries; to authorize tests or analyses required to be performed by the department to be performed by laboratories of the federal government or any other state government; and to amend Sections 2-15-210, 2-16-20, 2-21-26, 2-26-4, 2-27-33, 8-16-5, and 8-17-81, Code of Alabama 1975, to conform to this act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:Section 1. Sections 2-2-33 and 2-2-35 of the Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:

§2-2-33.

"(a) Whenever it shall be necessary to have any tests or analyses made in order to properly execute any law or rule and regulation under authority of law, the execution or administration of which is a duty imposed on the commissioner or the State Board of Agriculture and Industries, the commissioner shall make such tests or analyses or cause to be made such tests or analyses by employees of the Department of Agriculture and Industries or as otherwise provided in subsection (b).

"(b) The commissioner, with approval of the State Board of Agriculture and Industries, may enter into agreements delegating the responsibility for laboratory tests or analyses to any laboratory operated by the United States government or any other state government. The commissioner may use the results of tests or analyses performed by these laboratories for the execution or administration of any law or rule imposed on the commissioner or the State Board of Agriculture and Industries.

§2-2-35.

"A certificate of analysis or examination by the chemist who is the supervisor or director of the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture and Industries or other laboratory utilized by the commissioner as provided in Section 2-2-33 in which such the analysis or examination is made, when properly verified by affidavit, shall be admissible and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated in any of the courts of this state on the trial of any issue involving the merits, and the quality of the bulk from which the sample was taken shall prima facie be presumed to be the same as the quality of the sample as shown by the analysis or examination."Section 2. Sections 2-15-210, 2-16-20, 2-21-26, 2-26-4, 2-27-33, 8-16-5, and 8-17-81, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:

§2-15-210.

"(a) The Department of Agriculture and Industries is hereby authorized to may establish, conduct and maintain a swine disease diagnostic laboratory for the purpose of diagnosing contagious, infectious and communicable diseases of swine owned by producers of such livestock in Alabama, and the amount appropriated and made available for such purpose in the general appropriations act shall be used and expended by the Department of Agriculture and Industries to establish, operate and conduct such a laboratory.

"(b) Any funds appropriated and made available by the Legislature to the Department of Agriculture and Industries for Testing for swine disease may be performed at a swine disease diagnostic laboratory for the purposes set forth in this section shall be expended by said department to establish and conduct such a laboratory at a location in the State of Alabama to be designated by the State Board of Agriculture and Industries or as otherwise provided in Section 2-2-33.

§2-16-20.

"(a) The Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, with approval of the State Board of Agriculture and Industries, is authorized and empowered to may establish, conduct and maintain poultry disease diagnostic laboratories for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, eradicating, preventing and controlling infectious and contagious diseases of poultry. The laboratories provided for in this section shall be located at places in the State of Alabama where they will best serve the farmers engaged in the production of poultry, and such locations shall be selected by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries with approval of the State Board of Agriculture and Industries. Such laboratories shall be staffed and operated by qualified personnel who are employees of the state Department of Agriculture and Industries.

"(b) In addition to testing and analysis as provided in subsection (a), testing and analysis may be performed as otherwise provided in Section 2-2-33.

§2-21-26.

"(a) For the purpose of enforcement of this chapter and in order to determine whether its provisions have been complied with, including whether or not any operations may be subject to such provisions, officers or employees duly designated by the commissioner, upon presenting appropriate credentials to the owner, operator or agent in charge, are authorized:

"(1) To enter, during normal business hours, any factory, warehouse or establishment within the state in which commercial feeds are manufactured, processed, packed or held for distribution, or to enter any vehicle being used to transport or hold such feeds; and

"(2) To inspect at reasonable times and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, such factory, warehouse, establishment or vehicle and all pertinent equipment, finished and unfinished materials, containers and labeling therein. The inspection may include the verification of only such records, and production and control procedures as may be necessary to determine compliance with the good manufacturing practice regulations established under subdivision (4) of Section 2-21-22.

"(b) Each inspection shall be commenced and completed with reasonable promptness. Upon completion of the inspection, the person in charge of the facility or vehicle shall be so notified and presented a copy of the inspection report, which will include a record of all samples taken.

"(c) If the officer or employee making such inspection of a factory, warehouse, or other establishment has obtained a sample in the course of the inspection, upon completion of the inspection and prior to leaving the premises he shall offer to leave with the owner-operator, or agent in charge, a duplicate sample.

"(d) If the owner of any factory, warehouse or establishment described in subsection (a) of this section, or his agent, refuses to admit the commissioner or his agent to inspect in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the commissioner is authorized to obtain from any state court a warrant directing such owner or his agent to submit the premises described in such warrant to inspection.

"(e) For the purpose of the enforcement of this chapter, the commissioner or his duly designated agent is authorized to enter upon any public or private premises including any vehicle of transport during regular business hours to have access to, to obtain samples and to examine records relating to distribution of commercial feeds.

"(f) Sampling and analysis shall be conducted in accordance with methods published by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, or in accordance with other generally recognized methods approved by the commissioner. Testing and analysis may be performed as otherwise authorized in Section 2-2-33.

"(g) The results of all analyses of official samples revealing deficiencies shall be forwarded by the commissioner to the person named on the label and to the purchaser when he can be located. When the inspection and analysis of an official sample indicates a commercial feed is in violation of the provisions of this chapter and upon request within 30 days following receipt of the analysis, the commissioner shall furnish to the licensee a portion of the sample concerned.

"(h) The commissioner, in determining for administrative purposes whether a commercial feed is deficient in any component, shall be guided by the permitted analytical variation as defined in subdivision (16) of Section 2-21-17 and obtained and analyzed as provided for in subsections (c), (e) and (f) of this section.

"(i) Penalties may be invoked if the analysis of a sample shows a deviation from "permitted analytical variation" established by the commissioner and established in rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter.

"(j) For repeated or flagrant violations, the commissioner may cancel the manufacturer's license.

"(k) Samples and portions of samples shall be retained according to sample retention times established by the commissioner in the rules and regulations.

§2-26-4.

"(a) There shall be established within the Department of Agriculture and Industries a seed division which shall maintain facilities, equipment and qualified personnel to perform the seed testing, sampling and analysis work required to execute the provisions and requirements of this article. The seed division established and created under this section shall also perform the administrative, clerical and other work incident to the administration and enforcement of the provisions and requirements of this article and such seed testing and administrative duties shall not be performed by any other division of the Department of Agriculture and Industries; except, that the State Board of Agriculture and Industries shall have the authority to enter into an agreement delegating the responsibility for the testing of tree and shrub seed to the United States Forest Service or any other seed laboratory designated and approved by the State Board of Agriculture and Industries and as otherwise authorized in Section 2-2-33.

"(b) The responsibility for the enforcement of the rules and regulations governing the sale or distribution of tree or shrub seed within the state shall be the sole responsibility of the state Department of Agriculture and Industries.

§2-27-33.

"(a) In addition to the powers and authority heretofore authorized by law pursuant to Sections 2-27-30, 2-27-31 and 2-27-32, the pesticide residue laboratory heretofore established and now operated by the Department of Agriculture and Industries at Auburn University shall also be authorized to obtain reliable analysis of raw and processed agricultural products and other food products, fish, game and other wildlife to detect the presence of any harmful drug residues for the protection of public health, to aid in developing and expanding markets for agricultural products and for the protection and production of fish and wildlife and related purposes, which activities shall be in addition to the duties as now authorized by law for the operation of such laboratory.

"(b) In addition to the testing and analysis authorized in subsection (a), testing and analysis may be performed as authorized in Section 2-2-33.

§8-16-5.

"(a) The state standards of weights and measures shall be kept by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries in a safe and suitable place in his office, from which they shall not be removed except for repairs.

"(b) With respect to the state standards of weights and measures, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries shall have the following duties:

"(1) He shall maintain such standards in good order.

"(2) He shall replace such standards as are incorrect and purchase such additional standards as shall be necessary to complete and make up a complete standard of weights and measures.

"(3) He shall purchase such apparatus as shall be found necessary to a proper prosecution of the work of the office, to be known as working standards.

"(4) He shall compare such working standards with the state standards at such times as he shall deem necessary to prove the accuracy of the working standards; and

"(5) He shall keep a record of all standards and other apparatus belonging to the state for the purposes of this chapter.

"(6) The commissioner shall maintain traceability of the state standards to the national bureau of standards.

"(c) Weights and measures that are traceable to the U.S. prototype standards supplied by the federal government, or approved as being satisfactory by the national bureau of standards, shall be the state primary standards of weights and measures, and shall be maintained in such calibration as prescribed by the national bureau of standards. All secondary standards may be prescribed by the commissioner and shall be verified upon their initial receipt, and as often thereafter as deemed necessary by the commissioner.

"(d) Any testing or analysis required to be performed may be performed as provided in Section 2-2-33.

§8-17-81.

"(a) The Board of Agriculture and Industries shall have the power and duty to:

"(1) Determine and adopt standards of minimum specifications for petroleum products, and the various classifications and kinds thereof, as to safety, purity, freedom from objectionable substances, distillation tests, heat-producing qualities, fire tests, and efficiency which are not inconsistent with the specifications for the same products that are published from time to time by the United States Department of Commerce; and

"(2) Make changes from time to time in such standards, all as the board may deem necessary to provide for the public safety and to provide that such petroleum products are satisfactory and efficient for the purposes for which they may be sold, offered for sale, stored, or used in the state; provided, that such standards shall not be adopted or altered by the board until after a specified date when any person in interest may appear before the board with reference to such standards.

"(b) The Board of Agriculture and Industries shall prescribe the methods of tests to be used in determining whether or not petroleum products are in compliance with such standards as shall be adopted as authorized in this section. Any testing and analysis required to be performed may be performed as provided in Section 2-2-33.

"(c) The Board of Agriculture and Industries shall have authority to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to secure the safe handling of petroleum products and other such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this division as in the judgment of the board may be necessary to the proper enforcement of this division.

"(d) The standards of minimum specifications heretofore promulgated by the Board of Agriculture and Industries pursuant to authorization in either Article 21 of Chapter 1 of Title 2 of the Code of Alabama of 1940, or Division 2 of Article 26 of the said Chapter 1, shall constitute the standards of minimum specifications applicable under this division until such time as the board shall adopt standards pursuant to the provisions of this division."

Section 3. This act shall become effective immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Agriculture and Industries Department

Agriculture

Code Amended