Section 203C.2. Duties and powers of the department — operator recordkeeping.

  1.  The department shall administer this chapter and may exercise general supervision over the storage, warehousing, classifying according to grade or otherwise, weighing, and certification of agricultural products.

  2.  The department may inspect or cause to be inspected any warehouse including warehouse records as provided in this section. Inspections may be made at times and for purposes as the department determines. Except as provided in section 203C.6, the department shall inspect every licensed warehouse and its contents once every twelve months. The department shall prioritize inspections based on the system provided in section 203C.40. The department may require the filing of reports relating to a warehouse or its operation.

  a.  A licensed warehouse operator operating a licensed warehouse shall provide for complete and correct recordkeeping. The records shall account for the storage and withdrawal of all agricultural products handled in each warehouse which the warehouse operator is licensed to operate. The records shall include all original and duplicate receipts issued by, returned to, and canceled by the warehouse operator. A licensed warehouse operator shall keep records for the previous six years. If the licensed warehouse operator’s records are incomplete or inaccurate, the department may reconstruct the warehouse operator’s records in order to determine whether the warehouse operator is in compliance with the provisions of this chapter. The department may charge the licensed warehouse operator the actual cost for reconstructing the warehouse operator’s records.

  b.  If upon inspection of a warehouse a deficiency is found to exist as to the quantity or quality of agricultural products stored, as indicated on the warehouse operator’s books and records according to official grain standards, the department may require an employee of the department to remain at the licensed warehouse and supervise all operations involving agricultural products stored there under this chapter until the deficiency is corrected. The charge for the cost of maintaining an employee of the department at a warehouse to supervise the correction of a deficiency is one hundred fifty dollars per day.

  3.  The department may make available to the United States government, or any of its agencies, including the commodity credit corporation, the results of inspections made and inspection reports submitted to it by employees of the department, upon payment to it of charges as determined by the department, but the charges shall not be less than the actual cost of services rendered, as determined by the department. The department may enter into contracts and agreements for such purpose and shall keep a record of all money thus received.

  4.  The department may classify any warehouse in accordance with its suitability for the storage of agricultural products and shall specify in any license issued for the operation of a warehouse the only type or types and the quantity of agricultural products which may be stored in the warehouse. The department may prescribe, within the limitations of this chapter, the duties of licensed warehouse operators with respect to the care of and responsibility for the contents of licensed warehouses. Grain grades shall be determined under the official grain standards. The department may from time to time publish data in connection with the administration of this chapter as may be of public interest.

  5.  Moneys received by the department in administering this section shall be considered repayment receipts as defined in section 8.2.

[C24, 27, 31, §9739, 9744, 9750; C35, §9751-g22, -g27, -g32; C39, §9751.22, 9751.27, 9751.32; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §543.2;

81 Acts, ch 180, §19

]

84 Acts, ch 1100, §3

;

86 Acts, ch 1152, §14

;

92 Acts, ch 1239, §67

C93, §203C.2

2003 Acts, ch 69, §17