CALIFORNIA CODES
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 2200-2202

2200. Except where the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern construction of this chapter:

(a) "Board" or "district board" refers to the board of trustees of a district.

(b) "City" includes a city and county.

(c) "District" refers to any mosquito abatement district or vector control district formed pursuant to this chapter or pursuant to any law which it supersedes.

(d) "Property" includes water, and the person or agency claiming ownership, title, or right to water or who controls the diversion, delivery, conveyance, or flow of water is responsible for abatement of public nuisances, as specified in this chapter or Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 2800), which are caused by or as a result of diversion, delivery, conveyance, or control.

(e) "Public nuisance" means any of the following:

(1) (A) Any breeding place for mosquitoes, flies, or other vectors of public health importance which exists by reason of any use made of the land on which it is found, or of any artificial change in its natural condition. Presence of immature arthropods of public health importance shall constitute prima facie evidence that a place is a breeding place for arthropods.

(B) If the board determines that an agricultural operation is growing or processing crops or raising fowl or animals in a manner consistent with proper and accepted practices and standards, as established and followed by similar agricultural operations in the same locality, and employing measures for fly control, for manure management, removal, and disposal, and for disposal of agricultural crop waste, which prevent excessive domestic fly larval development and excessive adult fly emergence on the property, then that place shall not be deemed a public nuisance.

(C) As used in this paragraph, "excessive" means the presence of domestic flies associated with agricultural operations, which do all of the following:

(i) Occur in immature stages and as adults in numbers considerably in excess of those found in the surrounding environment.

(ii) Are associated with the design, layout, and management of agricultural operations.

(iii) Disseminate widely from the property.

(iv) Cause detrimental effects on the public health and well-being of a majority of the surrounding population, as determined by the board.

(2) Water which is a breeding place for mosquitoes, flies, or other arthropods of public health importance.

(3) The presence of rodents or evidence of rodent activity, such as rodent droppings, trails, or evidence of feeding activity.

(f) "Vector" means any animal capable of transmitting the causative agent of human disease or capable of producing human discomfort or injury, including, but not limited to, mosquitoes, flies, other insects, ticks, mites, and rats, but not including any domesticated animal.

2201. (a) Every notice required by this chapter to be published shall be published in a daily, weekly, or semiweekly newspaper. If there is no daily, weekly, or semiweekly newspaper published within the district or within a subdivision of the district or other territory in which it is required to be published, the notice shall be posted for the length of time required for its publication in three public places of the district, subdivision, or other territory, as the case may be.

(b) A district may be organized and managed as provided in this chapter, and is authorized to exercise the powers expressly granted or necessarily implied by this chapter.

(c) No district formed or proposed to be formed under this chapter shall be subject to the District Investigation Law of 1933 provided for in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 58500) of Division 2 of Title 6 of the Government Code.

2202. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), every mosquito abatement district or vector control district employee who handles, applies, or supervises the use of any pesticide for public health purposes, shall be certified by the state department as a vector control technician, in at least one of the following categories commensurate with the assigned duties:

(1) Mosquito control.

(2) Terrestrial invertebrate vector control.

(3) Vertebrate vector control.

(b) The state department may establish, by regulation, exemptions from the requirements of this section that are deemed reasonably necessary to further the purposes of this section.

(c) The state department shall establish by regulation minimum standards for continuing education for any government agency employee certified under Section 116110 and regulations adopted pursuant thereto, who handles, applies, or supervises the use of any pesticide for public health purposes.

(d) An official record of the completed continuing education units shall be maintained by the state department. If a certified technician fails to meet the requirements set forth under subdivision (c), the state department shall suspend the technician's certificate or certificates and immediately notify the technician and the employing district. The state department shall establish by regulation procedures for reinstating a suspended certificate.

(e) The state department shall charge and collect a nonreturnable renewal fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) to be paid by each continuing education certificant on or before the first day of July, or on any other date that is determined by the state department. Each person employed in a position on the effective date of this section that requires certification shall first pay the annual fee the first day of the first July following that date. All new certificants shall first pay the annual fee the first day of the first July following their certification.

(f) The state department shall collect and account for all money received pursuant to this section and shall deposit it in the Mosquitoborne Disease Surveillance Account provided for in Section 25852 of the Government Code. Notwithstanding Section 25852 of the Government Code, fees deposited in the Mosquitoborne Disease Surveillance Account pursuant to this section shall be available for expenditure upon the appropriation by the Legislature to implement this section.

(g) Fees collected pursuant to this section shall be subject to the annual fee increase provisions of Section 100425.