CHAPTER 306

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 14 of Title
8 of the Code of Virginia an Article, numbered 1.1, consisting of
sections numbered 3-239.1 through 3-289.11, creating the Virginia
Dark-Fired Tobacco Commission; prescribing its powers, duties and
functions; to provide for the collection of certain taxes and dispost-
tion of the funds produced thereby; and prescribing penalties for
violation of the Article.

[(S 201]

Approved March 31, 1964
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding in Chapter 14 of
Title 3 of the Code of Virginia an Article, numbered 1.1, consisting of
sections numbered 3-239.1 through 3-239.11, as follows:

ARTICLE 1.1

§ 3-239.1. As used in this Article:

(1) “Commission” means the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Com-
mission.

(2) “Person” means and includes individuals, corporations, partner-
ships, trusts, associations, cooperatives, and any and all other business
units, devices and arrangements.

(3) “Grower” means any person actually engaged in the growing
and producing of Type 21 Dark-Fired Tobacco.

(4) “Warehouse” means any person authorized by law to conduct
auction sales of loose leaf tobacco.

§ 3-239.2. There is hereby created, within the Department of Agri-
culture and Immigration, an agency to be known as the Virginia Dark-
Fired Tobacco Commission, consisting of five members representing as
nearly as possible each important Type 21 Dark-Fired Tobacco producing
section of Virginia. Such commission shall be appointed within thirty
days after July one, nineteen hundred sixty-four, by the Governor, who
shall be guided in his appointments by the recommendations of the Vir-
ginia Dark-Fired and Sun-Cured Export Association or such other to-
bacco growers organizations existing in tobacco producing counties. Each
member shall be a citizen of Virginia and engaged in producing tobacco
in Virginia. The members of the Commission shall serve for a term of
four years, except that beginning with the first appointments, three
members shall be appointed for two years and two members for four
years. The Commission shall elect one of its members as chairman. The
members of the Commission shall receive a per diem of ten dollars, for
each day spent in attendance at meetings of the Commission and shall be
reimbursed for actual expenses incurred in such attendance.

§ 3-239.3. (a) All funds levied and collected under this Article
shall be administered by the Commission.

(b) It shall be the duty of the Commission to plan and conduct
campaigns of education, advertising, publicity, sales promotion and re-
search for the purpose of increasing the demand for, and the consumption
of, Type 21 Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco, and the Commission may make
contracts, expend moneys of the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Promotion
Fund as hereinafter created and do whatever else may be necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this Article.

(c) The Commission shall have the authority to cooperate with other
State, regional and national agricultural organizations in research, ad-
vertising, publicity, education and other means of promoting the sale,
use and exportation of Type 21 Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco, and to
expend moneys of the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Promotion Fund as
hereinafter created for such purposes.

(d) The Commission shall have authority to appoint a secretary and
such other employees as may be necessary, at salaries to be fixed by the
Commission, subject to the provisions of the Virginia Personnel Act. All
employees handling money under this Article shall be required to furnish
surety bonds.

§ 3-239.4. There is hereby levied on all Type 21 Dark-Fired To-
bacco severed from the soil in Virginia, beginning with the crop of nine-
teen hundred sixty-four, an excise tax as follows: on such tobacco pro-
duced on each acre or fractional part of an acre, fifty cents. In determin-
ing the amount of acreage planted in Type 21 Dark-Fired Tobacco the
official allotment books issued shall be prima facie evidence of such
amount.

§ 3-239.5. The excise tax levied by this Article shall be paid by each
grower to the warehouse at which the tobacco is first sold at the time of
such sale. Each warehouse is hereby designated an agent of the Com-
mission for the purpose of collecting such excise tax. Such tax shall be
paid to the Commission on or before the tenth day of the month following
its collection, and by it promptly paid into the State treasury to the credit
of the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Promotion Fund, hereinafter created.

§ 3-239.6. Each warehouse shall keep a complete record of the
excise tax collected by it and shall preserve such record for a period of
not less than two years from the time of collection. Such record shall
be open to the inspection of the Commission and its duly authorized
agents.

§ 3-239.7. The tax imposed by this Article and unpaid when due
and payable and any funds collected by a warehouse and not remitted
to the Commission as hereinabove provided shall bear interest at the rate
of one per centum per month from and after the due date until payment.
If any person defaults in any payment of the tax or interest thereon, or
fails to remit any funds collected to the Commission, the amount shall be
collected by civil action in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia at
the relation of the Commission, and the person adjudged in default shall
pay the cost of such action. The Attorney General, at the request of the
Commission, shall forthwith institute action in the proper court for the
collection of the amount of any tax past due under this Article including
interest thereon.

§ 3-239.8. All moneys levied and collected under the provisions of
this Article shall be credited on the Comptroller’s books to a fund to be
known as the “Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Promotion Fund” which is
hereby created. All moneys credited to the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco
Promotion Fund are hereby appropriated for the purposes herein set
forth, and shall be used exclusively for the administration and enforce-
ment of this Article, including the collection of taxes, the payment of
personal services and expenses of employees and agents of the Commis-
sion and the payment of rent, services, materials and supplies necessary
to effectuate the purposes and objects of this Article. The unexpended
balance of the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Promotion Fund at the end
of each biennium shall not be transferred to the general fund of the State
treasury.

§ 3-239.9. All moneys collected under this Article shall be expended
by the Virginia Dark-Fired Tobacco Commission by warrants of the
Comptroller on the State treasury issued on vouchers signed by the duly
authorized officer of the Commission.

§ 3-239.10. It shall be a misdemeanor for any person knowingly
to violate any provision of this Article.

§ 3-239.11. It shall be the duty of all State and county law enforce-

ment officers to assist in the enforcement of this Article.
2. If any clause, sentence or section of this Act shall for any reason be
adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such adjudi-
cation shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but
shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence or section of this
Act directly involved in the controversy in which such adjudication shall
have taken place.