(a) Parties wishing to petition for a discontinuation referendum in an existing pest management zone shall notify the Commissioner of their intent in writing.
(b) The Department shall provide a petition form for request for discontinuation. The completed form must include:
  (1) certification by the person signing the petition that he or she is an eligible citrus producer in the zone by having citrus production or sharing in the proceeds of citrus production in the current crop year;
  (2) the complete name and address of the eligible citrus producer or entity;
  (3) a legible signature of the person with authority to sign for the person or entity; and
  (4) the date signed.
(c) Only one signature or petition form per producer may be gathered.
(d) The Commissioner shall conduct the referendum before the 90th day after the date the petition was filed, except that a referendum may not be held before the second anniversary of any other referendum in the pest management zone pertaining to establishing or discontinuing the pest management zone. If the two-year prohibition period applies, a petition drive conducted under this section may begin no sooner than nine months before the expiration of the two-year period. Signatures that are dated before the date the petition process starts or the date allowed for the petitioning process to begin are invalid.
(e) Producer eligibility to sign a petition shall be determined as follows.
  (1) If the petitioning process commences prior to or after traditional citrus production in the zone, the immediately preceding citrus crop year information as maintained determines eligibility for having a producer's name on the petition.
  (2) If a petition drive crosses crop years, the Commissioner shall use the most current eligible list of producers as maintained, and shall notify the petitioning party of the appropriate date when the eligibility list changes. If a person farmed in a year other than the year determined to be the eligible year, that signature or petition form will not be valid.
(f) Upon receipt of the notice of intent to petition, the Department shall notify the petitioning party of the eligible voter list that will be used to determine if the total number of producer signatures on the petition forms meets or exceeds 30% of producers in the pest management zone, as required by the §80.014 of the Code.
(g) Completed petitions must be filed with the Department by sending them to the Department's headquarters in Austin via postal mail or by hand-delivery. The filing date of the petition shall be the date the petition is actually received by the Department. Signatures may not be added to or withdrawn from a petition, once filed with the Department.
(h) The petitioning party must certify that the documents submitted to the Department for review have been screened to eliminate possible duplicates. In addition, the petitioning party must attest in an affidavit that all signatures are valid according to the agreed upon eligibility list. If, upon review, greater than 10% of the signatures or petition forms are not in compliance with this section, the petition will be deemed null and void and will be rejected.
(i) Once a petition is received, the Department shall review the petition for compliance with the 30% requirement. The Commissioner, at his discretion, may appoint a committee to review the petition.
(j) Within 30 days of receipt of the petition, the Department shall notify the petitioning party of a decision, and set a referendum date within 90 days of receipt, if the petition meets all requirements.
(k) If a referendum of producers is held, the Department shall conduct the referendum in the same manner as other referenda conducted under Chapter 80 of the Code and this subchapter.

Source Note: The provisions of this §27.211 adopted to be effective December 6, 2015, 40 TexReg 8637