CHAPTER 308
CREATING THE
DELAWARE STATE APPLE COMMISSION
AN ACT RELATING TO APPLES, CREATING THE DELAWARE STATE APPLE COMMISSION AND PRESCRIBING ITS POWERS AND DUTIES; PROMOTING THE SALE AND CONSUMPTION OF DELAWARE APPLES BY MAKING PROVISIONS FOR CAMPAIGNS OF EDUCATION, ADVERTISING, PUBLICITY, SALES PROMOTION AND RESEARCH; LEVYING A TAX ON APPLE PRODUCTION AND PROVIDING FOR ITS COLLECTION; APPROPRIATING MONEY FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE ACT, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all Members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. DEFINITIONS.--AS USED IN THIS ACT:--
(a) The word "Commission" shall mean the Delaware State Apple Commission.
(b) The word "grower" shall mean and include individuals, corporations, partnerships, trusts, associations, cooperatives, and any and all other business units, devices and arrangements.
(c) The word "bushel" shall mean a package with a content of not less than two thousand one hundred and forty cubic inches, nor more than two thousand five hundred cubic inches.
Section 2. DELAWARE STATE APPLE COMMISSION CREATED; NUMBER OF MEMBERS; TERMS; EXPENSES PAID; ORGANIZATION:--There is hereby created a Commission to be known as the Delaware State Apple Commission consisting of three members, representing as nearly as possible the important apple producing sections of the State; within thirty days after this Act becomes effective, the Governor shall appoint the members of such Commission from a list of two eligible
growers for each member to be appointed, which list shall be supplied the Governor by the Executive Committee of the Delaware Apple Grower's Association. No more than two members of the C6mmission shall be of the same political party. Each member must be a citizen of Delaware and a commercial apple producer in the State. The members of the Commission shall serve each for a term of three years, except that beginning with the first appointments one member shall be appointed for one year, one member for two years, and one member for three years. As the respective terms expire, an appointment shall be made for the full term of three years. Vacancies for any cause shall be filled by the Governor for the unexpired term. The members of the Commission shall serve without compensation, but they shall be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred in attending meetings of the Commission. The Commission shall organize by the election of one of its members as Chairman and another of its members as Secretary.
Section 3. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION:--
(a) All funds appropriated by this Act shall be administered by the Commission.
(b) It shall be the duty of the Commission to plan and conduct campaigns of education, advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and research for the purpose of increasing the demand for, and the consumption of, Delaware apples, and the Commission may make contracts, and do whatever else may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act.
(c) The Commission shall have authority to cooperate with other State, regional, and national agricultural and horticultural organizations in research, advertising, publicity, education, and other means of promoting the sale and use of apples, and to expend appropriations made to it for such purposes.
(d) The Commission shall have authority to appoint a Secretary and such other employees as may be necessary, at salaries to be fixed by the Commission. All employees handling money under this Act shall be required to furnish surety bonds, in an amount or amounts as fixed by the Commission.
(e) It shall be the duty of the said Commission to call an annual meeting of all known commercial Delaware apple growers, during the month of January of each year. Furthermore, it shall be the duty of the Commission to, at this annual meeting, render to such growers, a full and complete report of its activities.
Section 4. TAX LEVIED*--There is hereby levied and imposed upon all apples grown in the year 1949, and annually thereafter, a tax of one cent per bushel or two cents per one hundred pounds of all apples grown and packed in Delaware, whether in bulk or loose in boxes or any other container, or packed in any style package; Provided, That the provisions of this Act shall not apply to apples sold by growers direct to cider and/or vinegar plants for use in making cider and/or vinegar; and Provided, That each grower shall be exempt from said assessment on a maximum of 500 bushels of apples for each calendar year.
Section 5. TIME OF PAYMENT OF TAX:--The tax levied by this Act shall be due and payable as follows: Fifty per centum not later than December thirty-first of each year; the balance not later than May 31st of the following year. Such tax shall be paid to the Delaware State Apple Commission and by it promptly paid into the Treasury of the State, receipts being taken from the State Treasurer for such payments.
Section 6. REPORT OF APPLES GROWN:--Every grower shall submit to the Commission not later than December thirty-first of each year a signed statement of all Delaware grown apples sold by him during the preceding crop season. Such apples shall be reported on forms prescribed and furnished by the Commission. Any grower who sells apples of the preceding year's production after December thirty-first shall file a signed statement with the Commission not later than May thirty-first showing such apples so sold by him.
Section 7. RECORDS:--The grower shall keep a complete record of the apples sold by him and shall preserve such record for a period of not less than two years from the time such apples are sold. Such record shall be open to the inspection of the Commission and its duly authorized agents.
Section 8. UNPAID TAX AND INTEREST, HOW COLLECTED:--The tax imposed by this Act and unpaid on the date on which such tax was due and payable, shall bear interest at the rate of one per centum a month from and after such due date until payment thereof. If any grower defaults in the payment of such tax and interest, and after a reasonable time refuses to make payment thereof, the Commission shall institute civil proceedings in the name of the State at the relation of the Commission, for the collection of the amounts due. The Attorney General of the State, at the request of the Commission, shall forthwith institute action in the proper Court for the collection of the amount of any tax past due under this Act, including interest thereon.
Section 9. APPROPRIATIONS; FOR WHAT EXPENDED: --All appropriations made to the Delaware Apple Commission shall be used exclusively for the administration and enforcement of this Act, including the collection of the taxes, the payment for personnel services, and expenses of employees and agents of the Commission, and the payment of rent service, payment for materials and supplies necessary to effectuate the purpose and objects of this Act, and for any other purposes which in the judgment of the Commission should be carried out in order to enforce the provisions of this Act.
Section 10.--MONEYS TO BE EXPENDED, HOW:--All moneys appropriated by this Act or by any Act of the General Assembly of the State of Delaware for the use of the Delaware Apple Commission shall be expended by said Commission by warrants countersigned by its Chairman and its Secretary, and duly itemized by law or by any rule or requirement of the appropriate Departments of the Government of the State of Delaware.
Section 11. PENALTY FOR VIOLATING ACT:--It shall be a misdemeanor for any grower knowingly to report falsely to the Commission the quantity of apples grown by him, or to falsify the records of the apples grown by him. Upon conviction for violation of the provisions of this Act, the Court may impose upon any grower so found guilty a penalty by fine not exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), or by imprisonment not exceeding sixty (60) days, or the said Court may impose both fine and imprisonment in its discretion.
Section 12. COURTS HAVING JURISDICTION:--Any Justice of the Peace of the State of Delaware in any County thereof, any Court of Common Pleas in the State of Delaware, the Municipal Court of the City of Wilmington, the Court of General Sessions sitting in any County of the State, shall within their respective jurisdictions have authority to hear, try, and finally determine any offense committed under this Act.
Section 13. APPROPRIATION:--There is appropriated to the Delaware Apple Commission for each fiscal year of the biennium beginning on the first day of July, A. D. 1949 and ending on the thirtieth day of June, A. D. 1951 the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or a total of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00) for the said biennium. These appropriations together shall be known as a Supplementary Appropriation Act, and the funds hereby appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer, upon proper vouchers submitted, out of any funds in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated. There shall be placed in the Budget Appropriation Bill carrying appropriations for the operation of the State Government, for the biennium beginning on the first day of July, A. D. 1951 a sum of money for the operation of the Delaware Apple Commission and for each fiscal year of said biennium, a sum of money equal to one-half of the amount of taxes collected by said Commission from the operation of this Act during the preceding biennium.
No portion of the money appropriated by this Act or hereafter to be appropriated to the Commission shall revert at the end of any fiscal year, but any unexpended portion of the appropriation made in any year may be expended in any following fiscal year, for the educational and advertising and other work of the Commission.
Section 14. INVALIDITY OF PART OF ACT NOT TO AFFECT REMAINDER:--If any clause, sentence or section of this Act shall for any reason be adjudged by a Court of Competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such adjudication shall not affect, impair or invalidate, the remainder thereof, but shall be
confined in its operation to the clause, sentence or section of this Act directly involved in the controversy in which such adjudication shall have taken place.
Section 15. This Act shall become effective on the first day of July, A. D. 1949.