The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The continued viability of the agricultural economy is of paramount importance to the people of this state.
(b) Vertebrate pests cause an estimated two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) damage to agricultural crops each year, and without effective controls, the losses and damage could reach one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) annually.
(c) The use of materials to control vertebrate pests benefits the public health by preventing rodent-borne diseases that could be transmitted, and be injurious, to humans.
(d) County departments of agriculture have historically provided vertebrate pest control materials to the agricultural community.
(e) Recent changes in the federal law require the development of extensive data and the payment of registration fees in order to register these materials, and these requirements are costly. Research studies to develop this data will be required if these valuable control materials are to be maintained.
(f) It is appropriate that the necessary research be funded by an assessment on the vertebrate pest control materials for which these studies are required.
(Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 757, Sec. 1. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 6029.)