Last year, the Almond Board of California (ABC) requested formal rulemaking to the Marketing Order to change the current timeline for nominating and seating members of the Board of Directors, moving the process of nominating and seating Board members to align with the beginning of the crop year. This change makes it possible for industry members to have additional time to nominate or run for a seat on the Board; it also makes it simpler for the Almond Board to manage the election.
The current nominating procedure begins in mid-December and culminates on February 20 of the new year with the announcement of election results. There is much to be done during those two months, from gathering letters of intent and grower petitions – which require all signatures to be verified prior to acceptance and placement on the ballot – to communicating the election to industry members and receiving votes. Under the current schedule, new Board members and alternates are seated on March 1.
Formal rulemaking takes several months and involves notification in the Federal Register followed by a public comment period to receive initial support or opposition to these changes. Once the comment period closes and USDA reviews all comments, if it is determined the proposed rule should move forward USDA publishes the proposed rule and then conducts a producer referendum.
The vote on the amendatory referendum was held in March/April of this year and included three amendments:
- To change the dates associated with the ABC nominating process and removal of outdated language related to a previous change to the term of office that is no longer needed.
- To change the start date for the term of office for ABC Board members from March 1 to August 1.
- To add authority for using informal rulemaking, with the appropriate opportunity for public notice and comment, in future changes to the nomination, selection and term of office provisions of the Marketing Order.
In order for the amendments to pass, more than two-thirds of eligible producers voting in the referendum or more than two-thirds of the volume represented in the referendum had to vote in favor of each amendment.
USDA/AMS recently announced the results and all three amendments were approved by almond producers. The next step will be publishing the amended order in the Federal Register. Once that has occurred, the rule-making process will be complete, and the new election timeline will go into effect.
Should you have any questions regarding the changes to the election timeline, please contact Bunnie Ibrahim at (209) 343-3228 or bibrahim@almondboard.com.
