Opinion ID: 3065245
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Paramount Land Co. LP v. California Pistachio

Text: Commission [6] Following Johanns, in Paramount Land, we applied these principles to a First Amendment challenge to the California Pistachio Commission. Paramount Land, 491 F.3d at 1010. Like the Beef Act, the California Legislature enacted the Pistachio Act and created the Pistachio Commission to promote the economic interests of the State. Id. at 1006 (citing Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 63901). “The Pistachio Commission is directed to ‘promote the sale of pistachios by advertising and other promotional mean[s] . . . .” Id. at 1010 (Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 69051(i). Only one of the nine members of the Pistachio Commission is appointed by the Secretary of the CDFA. The other eight pistachio commissioners are selected by California pistachio growers. Id. at 1006 (citing § 63901). Although the Pistachio Commission creates the specific messaging based on the Legislature’s general directive, more significant to the question of the State’s control, “the Pistachio Commission must submit to the Secretary of the CDFA, for his concurrence, ‘an annual statement of contemplated activities authorized [by the Pistachio Act], including advertising, promotion, marketing research, and production research.’ ” Id. at 1010 (quoting § 69051(q)). In addition, the Secretary retains “broad statutory authority” to attend and participate in Pistachio Commission meetings; to review the Pistachio Commission’s budget and planned activities; to DELANO FARMS v. CALIFORNIA TABLE GRAPE 15481 conduct audits; to approve nomination and election procedures; to decide appeals from grievances brought by growers; and to suspend or discharge the Pistachio Commission’s president. Id. at 1010-11 (citing Cal. Food & Agric. Code §§ 69051, 69069, 69092). [7] Ultimately, we determined that the pistachio growers’ challenge should be resolved in the same way as the beef program in Johanns. Paramount Land, 491 F.3d at 1010. We recognized that the discussion of the specifics of the beef promotion program in “Johanns did not set a floor or define minimum requirements.” Paramount Land, 491 F.3d at 1011. And, comparing the Beef Act and the Pistachio Act, we held that the differences in statutorily provided oversight were “legally insufficient” to distinguish the Pistachio Act from the Beef Act, reasoning that “[t]o draw a line between these two approaches to oversight risks micro-managing legislative and regulatory schemes, a task federal courts are ill-equipped to undertake.” Id. In short, we held that the message of the Pistachio Commission is “from beginning to end the message established by the State.” Id.