80-7-905. Powers and duties of department. The department may:
     (1) provide for administration and enforcement of this part;
     (2) enter into contracts and agreements;
     (3) authorize the purchase of all office equipment or supplies and incur all other reasonable and necessary expenses and obligations that are required for administering the provisions of this part;
     (4) become a member of and purchase membership in trade organizations and subscribe to and purchase trade bulletins, journals, and other trade publications;
     (5) plan and conduct publicity and promotional campaigns to increase the incentives to use Montana forage that is free of noxious weed seed and to make publicity and promotional contracts and other agreements as necessary;
     (6) establish certification standards and processes for forage and byproducts of forage and determine if processed forage byproducts are noxious weed seed free, based upon field of origin or verification that the production process has destroyed the viability of noxious weed seeds;
     (7) establish fee assessments and accept other funds to make the certification program financially self-supporting;
     (8) establish a standard range of variances or tolerances for noxious weed seeds in different forage subject to certification as noxious weed seed free, based upon scientific and operational considerations;
     (9) administer rules and orders to be adopted for the exercise of its power and the performance of its duties, in accordance with Title 2, chapter 4;
     (10) cooperate with any local, state, or national organization or agency, whether voluntary or created by the law of any state or the United States government, and enter into contracts or agreements with organizations or agencies for carrying on a joint campaign of research, education, product protection, publicity, reciprocity, and enforcement of this part;
     (11) hire employees and designate authorized agents to conduct certification inspections, investigations, and sampling and to collect evidence of possible violations of this part; and
     (12) accept grants, donations, and gifts from any source and expend those funds for any purpose consistent with this part, which may be specified as a condition of any grant, donation, or gift.

     History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 521, L. 1995.