2018 -- S 2361

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LC004637

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY -- RHODE ISLAND SEED ACT

     Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Miller, Goldin, Crowley, and Felag

     Date Introduced: February 15, 2018

     Referred To: Senate Environment & Agriculture

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 2-6-7 and 2-6-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 2-6 entitled

"Rhode Island Seed Act" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     2-6-7. Duties and authority of the director of the department of environmental

management -- Appeal of stop sale order Duties and authority of the director of the

department of environmental management.

     (a) The duty of enforcing this chapter and carrying out its provisions and requirements is

vested in the director of the department of environmental management. It is the duty of that

officer, who may act through his or her authorized agents:

     (1) To sample, inspect, make analysis of, and test agricultural and vegetable seeds

transported, sold, or offered or exposed for sale within the state for sowing purposes, at any time

and place and to any extent as he or she may deem necessary to determine whether those

agricultural or vegetable seeds are in compliance with the provisions of this chapter; to notify

promptly the person who transported, sold, offered, or exposed the seed for sale, of any violation;

     (2) To prescribe and, after a public hearing following public notice, to adopt rules and

regulations governing the method of sampling, inspecting, analyzing, testing, and examining

agricultural and vegetable seed and the tolerances to be followed in the administration of this

chapter, which shall be in general accord with officially prescribed practice in interstate

commerce and any other rules and regulations that may be necessary to secure efficient

enforcement of this chapter;

     (3) To prescribe and, after a public hearing following public notice, establish, add to, or

subtract from by regulations a prohibited and restricted noxious weed list; and

     (4) To prescribe and, after a public hearing following public notice, to adopt rules and

regulations establishing reasonable standards of germination for vegetable seeds.

     (b) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the director,

individually or through his or her authorized agents, is authorized:

     (1) To enter upon any public or private premises during regular business hours in order to

have access to seeds and the records connected with the premises subject to this chapter and rules

and regulations under this chapter, and any truck or other conveyor by land, water, or air at any

time when the conveyor is accessible, for the same purpose;

     (2) To issue and enforce a written or printed "stop sale" order to the owner or custodian

of any lot of agricultural or vegetable seed that the director finds is in violation of any of the

provisions of this chapter or rules and regulations promulgated under this chapter. That order

shall prohibit further sale, processing, and movement of the seed, except on approval of the

director, until the director has evidence that the law has been complied with and the director has

issued a release from the "stop sale" order of the seed; provided, that in respect to seed that has

been denied sale, processing, and movement as provided in this paragraph, the owner or

custodian of the seed has the right to appeal from the order to a court of competent jurisdiction in

the locality in which the seeds are found, praying for a judgment as to the justification of the

order and for the discharge of the seeds from the order prohibiting the sale, processing, and

movement in accordance with the findings of the court. The provisions of this paragraph shall not

be construed as limiting the right of the director to proceed as authorized by other sections of this

chapter;

     (3) To establish and maintain or make provisions for seed-testing facilities, to employ

qualified persons, and to incur any expenses that may be necessary to comply with these

provisions;

     (4) To make or provide for making purity and germination tests of seed for farmers and

dealers on request; to prescribe rules and regulations governing that testing; and to fix and collect

charges for the tests made. Fees shall be accounted for in any manner that the state legislature

may prescribe;

     (5) To cooperate with the United States Department of Agriculture and other agencies in

seed law enforcement.

     (c) Jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to the cultivation, harvesting, production,

processing, certification, labeling, inspection, analyzing, testing, sampling, classification,

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designation, advertising, marketing, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, possession,

notification of use, planting, and other use of agricultural and vegetable seeds is , by this chapter,

vested exclusively in the director, to the exclusion of all local ordinances or regulations.

     (1) All acts or parts of acts, whether general, special, or local, inconsistent with this

section are expressly repealed, declared to be invalid, and of no effect.

     2-6-10. Violations and prosecutions.

     (a) Every violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a misdemeanor

punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for the first offense and not

exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each subsequent similar offense.

     (b) When the director finds that any person has violated any of the provisions of this

chapter, the director shall file with the attorney general, with a view of prosecution, any evidence

that may be deemed necessary. No prosecution under this chapter shall be instituted without the

defendant first having been given an opportunity to appear before the director or his or her duly

authorized agent, to introduce evidence either in person or by agent or attorney at a private

hearing. If, after the hearing, or without the hearing in case the defendant or his or her agent or

attorney fails or refuses to appear, the director is of the opinion that the evidence warrants

prosecution, the director shall proceed as provided in this section.

     (c) It is the duty of the attorney general director to institute proceedings at once against

any person charged with a violation of this chapter, if, in the judgment of the attorney general

director, the information submitted warrants that action.

     (d) After judgment by the court in any case arising under this chapter, the director shall

publish any information pertinent to the issuance of the judgment by the court in any media as the

director may designate from time to time.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY -- RHODE ISLAND SEED ACT

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     This act would provide that jurisdiction of all use of agricultural and vegetable seeds is

vested exclusively in the director of the department of environmental management.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC004637

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