(a)
(1)
(A) All manufacturers and manipulators or agents representing them who have registered their brands in compliance with § 2-19-202 shall forward to the State Plant Board each month a report that shall reach its office on or before the twentieth day of the month, on the forms and in the number of copies to be prescribed by the State Plant Board.
(B) The report shall include a sworn statement of the total tonnage of all commercial fertilizers and fertilizer materials shipped or caused to be shipped for sale or consumption in this state, or which have been made, mixed, manufactured, or compounded in this state for sale or consumption in this state.
(2)
(A)
(i) The report shall be accompanied with the sum of two dollars and forty cents ($2.40) per ton or fractional ton.
(ii) A fee of two dollars and forty cents ($2.40) will accompany each monthly report of tonnage which amounts to less than one (1) ton.
(B) The State Plant Board shall issue receipt for the amount received and shall deposit the sums received as follows:
(i) Sixty-two cents (62¢) of the two-dollar-and-forty-cent fee per ton or fractional ton inspected shall be deposited with the Treasurer of State as special revenues and shall be credited to the Plant Board Fund to be used for the maintenance, operation, support, and improvement of the board; and
(ii)
(a) One dollar and seventy-eight cents ($1.78) of the two-dollar-and-forty-cent fee per ton or fractional ton inspected shall be remitted to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas and shall be credited to a fund to be known as the “University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Soil Testing and Research Fund” to be maintained in accounts in one (1) or more financial institutions in the State of Arkansas. This amount shall be expended exclusively for soil testing service and soil fertility research by the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas under appropriations made by the General Assembly. It shall be expended in support of one (1) or more soil testing laboratories and soil fertility research activities at the main experiment station, branch experiment stations, or subbranch experiment stations, as determined and designated by the Vice President for Agriculture of the University of Arkansas.
(b)
(1) The Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas shall provide for the investment of any funds in the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Soil Testing and Research Fund that are not needed for current operations of the soil testing laboratories and soil fertility service and research activities and shall credit the interest earned on that investment to the credit of the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Soil Testing and Research Fund.
(2) The investment shall be of the type and nature authorized for the investment of average daily State Treasury balances by the State Board of Finance.
(b)
(1) The State Plant Board or its agents shall have the right, at any time, to inspect or audit the books of any manufacturer and manipulator or their agents to determine the correctness of the monthly reports required under this section.
(2) Refusal to allow this inspection or audit shall be deemed a violation of this subchapter, and the violator shall be subject to the penalties provided in this subchapter.
(3) For a late report or for failure to report the entire amount sold, the tonnage fee on the late reported or unreported amount shall be enhanced by ten percent (10%) if less than fifteen (15) days late, twenty percent (20%) if less than thirty-one (31) days late, and doubled if more than thirty (30) days late. Penalties shall be deposited into the Plant Board Fund; otherwise, registrations may be cancelled by the State Plant Board.