§ 4701. Appeal Procedure.

(a) The following information shall be included on application forms for all Department permits subject to Government Code sections 15374-15378:

“The Department of Food and Agriculture has established time periods for the processing of permit applications, in compliance with Government Code section 15374-15378. Failure to comply with these time periods may be appealed to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N Street, P.O.Box 942871, Sacramento, CA 94271-0001, pursuant to regulations set forth in Title 4, California Code of Regulations, section 4701. Under certain circumstances, the Secretary may order that the applicant receive a reimbursement of filing fees.”

(b) An applicant whose application for a permit has not been processed by the Department within the time periods established by section 4700 may appeal in writing to the Secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture. The appeal shall set forth a concise statement of facts and chronology of events regarding the application. An appeal concerning a permit application on which a final decision has been made must be filed within 30 days of the date the applicant was notified of the decision.

(c) The Secretary shall promptly review an appeal filed under this section and, shall issue a decision within 30 days after conducting any investigation of the matter which the Secretary deems appropriate.

(d) If the Secretary finds that a program exceeded the time limit for informing the permit applicant that an application is complete or is deficient and requires additional information to be processed, the Secretary shall direct the program to make its determination by a specified date and so inform the applicant.

(e) The time period within which the Department must make a decision to issue or deny the permit commences with the date the complete application is received. If the Secretary finds that the Department exceeded the time period for acting on a completed application without the good cause defined by Government Code section 15376(h), all filing fees paid by the permit applicant will be refunded.

HISTORY

1. Change without regulatory effect pursuant to section 100, Title 1, California Code of Regulations adding section 4701 filed 5-2-90; operative 5-2-90 (Register 90, No. 24).

2. Change without regulatory effect amending section filed 2-28-97 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 97, No. 9).

Note

Note: Authority cited: Sections 15376 and 15378, Government Code; and Section 12027, Business and Profession Code. Reference: Sections 15376 and 15378, Government Code.