NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 560

SENATE BILL 393

 

 

AN ACT REWRITING G.S. 106-446 RELATING TO ASSESSMENTS ON COTTON AND FARM PRODUCTS UNDER THE NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL WAREHOUSE ACT.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 106-446 is rewritten in its entirety to read as follows:

"§ 106-446.  State Not Liable on Warehouse Debts; Levy on Cotton or Levy on Grain and Soybeans Levied if Loss is Sustained. No debt or other liability shall be created against the State by reason of the lease or operation of the Warehouse System created by this Article or the storage of cotton or other agricultural commodities therein, it being the purpose of this Article to establish a self-sustaining system to operate as nearly as practicable at cost, without profit or loss to the State, except that expenses of supervision shall be paid by the Board of Agriculture. While it is believed that the provisions and safeguards mentioned in this Article, including the bonds required and supplemental indemnifying or guarantee fund mentioned in G.S. 106-435, will insure the security of the system beyond any reasonable possibility of loss, nevertheless, in order to establish the principle that this system should be supported by those for whose special financial benefit it is established, it is hereby provided that in the eventuality the system should suffer at any time any loss not fully covered by the aforementioned bonds and indemnifying fund, the State Board of Agriculture shall have the power to make such losses on cotton good by repeating for another 12 months selected by it the special levy on ginned cotton, as prescribed in G.S. 106-435 for the two years ending June 30, 1923 and the State Board of Agriculture shall have the power to make good such losses on soybeans, corn, wheat and grain sorghum by levying an assessment of one cent (1) per bushel on each bushel of soybeans, corn, wheat, and grain sorghum sold by producers through commercial channels for such period of time as is necessary to pay off said loss. The assessment shall be paid by the producer of the soybeans, corn, wheat and grain sorghum to the collecting handler. The collecting handler shall be any person, firm, corporation or other legal entity who purchases soybeans, corn, wheat or grain sorghum from the producer. The collecting handler shall collect the assessment at the time he first makes any payment or any credit to the producer's account for the soybeans, corn, wheat or grain sorghum. Each collecting handler shall transmit assessment and reports on assessments to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture no later than the tenth day of the month next following the month in which the assessment was or should have been levied. The report which shall be sent to the Department of Agriculture with the assessment shall contain the following information: (1) date of report; (2) reporting period covered by report; (3) name and address of collecting handler;(4) listing of all producers from whom the collecting handler collected the assessment, and total number of bushels of each grain for each producer on which the collecting handler collected the assessment. Failure of the collecting handler to collect the assessment shall not relieve the collecting handler of his obligation to remit the assessment to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. Each collecting handler required to make reports pursuant to this Article shall maintain such books and records as are required by the Commissioner of Agirculture or his authorized representative, and they shall be available for inspection for at least two years beyond the 12-month period of their applicability. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture shall have authority to make reasonable rules and regulations for the collection of this assessment and for the enforcement of this Act. The funds collected pursuant to this Act shall be held in the State Treasury to the credit of the State Warehouse System and shall be a part of the guarantee fund provided for in G.S. 106-435."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of May, 1967.