If the council program is submitted to a referendum, the secretary shall find that producers, handlers, and producer-handlers statewide have assented to the council program if the secretary finds both of the following:
(a) Sixty-five percent or more of the total number of handlers, including producer-handlers, voting approve the council program.
(b) (1) No less than 51 percent of the total number of eligible producers, including producer-handlers, in the state voted in the referendum.
(2) Sixty-five percent or more of the total number of eligible producers, including producer-handlers, who voted in the referendum and who produced 51 percent or more of the total amount of fluid milk produced during the second calendar month preceding the month of the beginning of the referendum period by all producers who voted in the referendum approve the council program, or 51 percent or more of the total number of eligible producers who voted in the referendum and who produced 65 percent or more of the total amount of fluid milk produced during the second calendar month preceding the month of the beginning of the referendum period by all producers who voted in the referendum, approve the council program.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 304, Sec. 115. (AB 590) Effective January 1, 2020.)