A. It shall be the duty of the board of horticultural commissioners of each county, when it deems necessary, to cause an inspection to be made of any orchard, nursery, trees, shrubs, plants, seeds, vines, fruit, fruit packing house, storehouse, storeroom, salesroom or other place in its county to determine if the orchard, nursery, shrubs, plants, trees, seeds, vines, fruit, fruit packing house, storehouse, storeroom, salesroom or other place is infested with any insects, fungus, or plant or fruit disease, or the eggs or larvae thereof, which is deemed injurious to fruit or horticultural plants. If, from an inspection of the orchard, nursery, trees, shrubs, plants, seeds, vines, fruit, fruit packing house, storehouse, storeroom, salesroom or other place in the county, any insects, fungus growth or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, are found to exist, the inspector appointed by the board of horticultural commissioners shall serve written notice on the owner or person in charge of the premises on which the insects, fungus growth or other insect pests, or eggs or larvae thereof, are found to exist, that the same are infested with insects, fungus growth or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, and shall require the owner or person in charge of the premises to disinfect by proper spray or other treatment the orchard, trees, nursery, shrubs, plants, seeds, vines, fruit, fruit packing house, storehouse, storeroom, salesroom or other place found to be infested with insects, fungus growth or other pests, which are injurious to horticultural plants or the fruit therefrom, for the eradication of the insects, fungus growth or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof. It is the duty of the owner or person in charge of any premises found to be infested with insects, fungus growth or other pests, to eradicate by proper spraying or other proper treatment the insects, fungus growth or other pests injurious to horticultural plants, or the eggs or larvae thereof. The neglect, failure or refusal of the owner or person in charge of any premises found infested with insects, fungus growth or other pests injurious to horticultural plants or fruit, or the eggs or larvae thereof, to take proper measures for the eradication of the pests within the time specified in the notice from the inspector shall cause him to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and he shall be punished by fine of not less than five dollars ($5.00) and not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each offense, and each day the insects, fungus growth or other pests injurious to horticultural plants or the fruit therefrom, or the eggs or larvae thereof, are not eradicated from the premises on which they are found shall constitute a separate offense.

B. If after the inspector has served notice upon the owner or person in charge of any premises on which are situate any orchard, nursery, trees, shrubs, plants, seeds, vines, fruit, fruit packing house, salesroom, storeroom, storehouse or other place where fruit or plants are stored or handled that the premises are infested with insects, fungus disease or other pests which are injurious to horticultural plants or the fruit therefrom, or the eggs or larvae thereof, and the owner or person in charge of the premises neglects, fails or refuses to eradicate the insects, fungus, disease or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, within the time specified in the notice, then the board of horticultural commissioners of the county in which the premises are situated shall cause the inspector to eradicate from the premises the insects, fungus disease or other pests injurious to horticultural plants or the fruit therefrom, or the eggs or larvae thereof, either by spraying or other proper treatment. In the event the pests cannot be eradicated by spraying or other proper treatment, or the spread of the insects, fungus disease or other pests, or the eggs or the larvae thereof, cannot be prevented from spreading to other premises on which are growing or situate horticultural plants or the fruit therefrom, then it shall be the duty of the board of horticultural commissioners to cause all orchards, nurseries, trees, shrubs, vines, plants, seeds, fruit, storehouses, storerooms, salesrooms, fruit packing houses or other objects or things which are infested with insects, fungus disease or pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, to be so destroyed, either in whole or in part, as to eradicate the insects, fungus disease or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof. The expense of spraying or treatment for the eradication of the insects, fungus disease or other pests, or the eggs or larvae thereof, or of destroying, in whole or in part, any orchard, trees, shrubs, plants, vines, seeds, nursery, salesroom, packingroom, fruit or other thing infested with the pests, to eradicate or prevent the spread of the pests to other premises shall be a lien upon the land on which the same are situate, and foreclosed as provided in Section 76-3-5 NMSA 1978. When it is necessary for the board of horticultural commissioners to cause spraying to be done or orchards, trees or other objects to be destroyed as provided in this section, the board of county commissioners shall pay the costs out of the general funds of the county and repay those costs to the general funds of the county from the money received from the foreclosure of the lien.

C. The inspectors appointed by any county board of horticultural commissioners shall receive compensation for services performed by them under orders of the board at a per diem rate to be fixed from time to time by the county board of horticultural commissioners, and the county commissioners shall allow and pay the compensation out of the horticultural commission fund upon vouchers signed by the chairman of the board. For the purpose of providing funds for the payment of the inspectors and other necessary expenses incurred by the board, the county commissioners of every county where there is a county board of horticultural commissioners appointed as provided by law are authorized and directed to levy a special tax not exceeding five dollars ($5.00), or any lower amount required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon the special tax authorized by this subsection, upon each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value, as that term is defined in the Property Tax Code [Chapter 7, Articles 35 to 38 NMSA 1978], of all orchard lands and lands used for nurseries within the county, which tax shall be levied, assessed and collected as other taxes in the county, and the proceeds shall be credited to the horticultural commission fund of the county. All money collected by enforcement of the liens provided for in Sections 76-3-1 through 76-3-14 NMSA 1978 shall be credited to the horticultural fund.

History: Laws 1903, ch. 107, § 2; 1909, ch. 69, § 1; 1912, ch. 59, § 1; Code 1915, § 2730; C.S. 1929, § 66-102; Laws 1931, ch. 116, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 48-202; 1953 Comp., § 45-2-2; Laws 1986, ch. 32, § 40.

Cross references. — For insect pests and plant diseases, see 76-5-11 to 76-5-28 NMSA 1978.

Compiler's notes. — The first sentence of the 1903 act, except for its proviso, and the entire 1912 act were used by the compilers of the 1915 Code. The 1931 act enacted the section in its present form.

Power to condemn orchards having peach mosaic. — Where peach mosaic, which has infected orchards, cannot be controlled by spraying or other treatment, the board of horticultural commissioners has power to condemn the orchards. 1948 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 48-5165.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 3 Am. Jur. 2d Agriculture §§ 42, 46, 49 to 51.

3 C.J.S. Agriculture §§ 85, 91.