Chap. 401.—An ACT to provide for the licensing of persons engaged in peanut
picking by or with any machine; to require all such persons to keep records
and make reports to commissioners of the revenue as to acreage and quantity
of peanuts picked; to require commissioners of the revenue to make reports
thereof to the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration; and to prescribe
penalties for violations, [H B 347]

Approved March 30, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. It shall be the duty of any person who shall engage in
peanut picking by or with any machine in any county in Virginia, to
first secure a license from the county in which the operator resides, or
if a nonresident of Virginia in the county where the peanuts are picked ;
provided, that securing of a license in one county shall be sufficient to
allow the person to operate in any county of the State.

Section 2. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of the revenue
of each of the several counties of the State in which peanuts are grown,
to issue a license to engage in peanut picking by or with any machine
in that county to any person applying for same. Every license issued
under the provisions of this act shall expire on the first day of April
next succeeding the date of the issue thereof. The fee for each such
license shall be fifty cents, which shall be collected by the commissioner
and promptly paid by him into the county treasury; provided, that
operators who pick their own crops only shall be exempt from any
license cost.

Section 3. It shall be the duty of every person who shall engage
in peanut picking by or with any machine for others or themselves, in
any county of the State, to keep a complete and accurate record of the
acreages harvested and amounts picked on each farm, and to promptly
make, upon blanks to be furnished them by the commissioner of the
revenue of the county, reports showing the acreages and the amounts
picked by said person in said county during the preceding season. A
violation of the provisions of this section shall be deemed a misde-
meanor and shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding twenty-five
dollars ; provided, however, the court, in its discretion for good cause
shown, may remit said fine if said licensee shall obtain a license and
make reports as required herein within thirty days from the hearing
of such complaint.

Section 4. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue
of each of such several counties of the State to give public notice of
these requirements before the picking seasons begin, and to make
diligent inquiry as to whether the provisions of section three of this
act have been complied with, and upon failure of any person to comply
with same, to report such failure to the Commonwealth’s attorney of
his county, who shall prosecute such person for such failure.

Section 5. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue
of each of the said several counties in the State to promptly submit,
upon blanks to be furnished by the Commissioner of Agriculture and
Immigration, a report to the said Commissioner showing the crop
acreages of peanuts harvested and amounts that have been picked in
the said county in the preceding crop season.

Section 6, It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture
and Immigration to furnish to the commissioners of the revenue of the
said several counties of the State, on or before the first day of May in
each year, a sufficient number of blank forms for pickers’ licenses,
operators’ picking reports, and commissioners’ summary reports. The
Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration shall also collect and
publish the county results of these reports prior to the next picking
season.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.