1. (a) Except as otherwise provided by law, any person or any other legally constituted business entity, or any form of cooperative ownership, shall be deemed to have a beneficial ownership interest in a handler by:

   1. (1) Owning an interest in the stock, profits, losses, debt or equity of the handler, as evidenced by legal or regulatory documents, such as by-laws, financial instruments, securities, liens, accounting reports and statements, tax filings and forms, licenses and other comparable records; and
   2. (2) Serving as an officer, director, partner, or manager of the handler or otherwise occupying a position with a handler that confers the authority to influence or create policy which affects the handler's business decisions.

2. (b) For the purpose of determining cooperative beneficial ownership interests, cooperatives shall be treated as producers for all transactions involving the handling of their member's milk in bulk form, and shall be treated as handlers for all transactions involving non-member bulk milk.

   1. (1) A cooperative shall possess a beneficial ownership interest in any handler or other cooperative in which it possesses an interest as set forth in subdivision (a).
3. (c) A beneficial ownership interest in a handler attributable to any person or legally constituted business entity as provided in subsection (a) shall also be attributable to anyone possessing a controlling interest in the entity.

For purposes of Milk Producer Security Trust Fund (hereinafter “Fund”) coverage criteria for milk shipped by a producer to a handler, as set forth in Food and Agricultural Code Section 62580, the term “beneficial ownership interest” shall be defined as set forth in (a) of this Section.

Note: Authority cited: Section 407, Food and Agricultural Code. Reference: Section 62580, Food and Agricultural Code.

History

1. New subchapter 4 (articles 1-2), article 1 (sections 2100-2101) and section filed 10-6-2004; operative 11-5-2004 (Register 2004, No. 41).

2. Repealer of subsection (a) designator and amendment of resulting first paragraph, repealer of subsections (b)-(l), new subsections (a)-(c) and amendment of Note filed 8-17-2015; operative 10-1-2015 (Register 2015, No. 34).