This chapter, except as necessary to conduct such vote, shall not become operative until the secretary finds, in a referendum conducted by the secretary in which at least 40 percent of the total number of producers, from the list established by the secretary, producing at least 40 percent of the total volume of avocados marketed during the last completed marketing season participate, either one of the following:
(a) Sixty-five percent or more of the producers certified by the secretary who voted in the referendum, voted in favor of this chapter, and the producers so voting marketed 51 percent or more of the total quantity of avocados marketed in the preceding marketing season by all of the producers who voted in the referendum.
(b) Fifty-one percent or more of the producers who voted in the referendum voted in favor of this chapter and the producers so voting marketed 65 percent or more of the total quantity of avocados marketed in the preceding marketing season by all of the producers who voted in the referendum.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 946, Sec. 57. Effective January 1, 2003.)