Section 226.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 11044 of the Government Code, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is hereby continuously appropriated from the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund in each fiscal year to the department for litigation expenses incurred by the Bureau of Market Enforcement.

(b) At any time in a given fiscal year that the one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) appropriated for litigation costs in subdivision (a) is completely expended, the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and the General Fund shall share additional litigation costs on a basis of 20 percent paid by the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and 80 percent paid by the General Fund. These additional funds are to be used only when the bureau or the department is a defendant, or becomes a cross-defendant, in an action relating to market enforcement.

(c) If a legal action is carried from one fiscal year to the next, the costs incurred in the following year shall not be charged against the one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) annually allocated pursuant to subdivision (a) to the bureau, but instead shall continue to be funded in the following years with 80 percent being paid by the General Fund and 20 percent being paid by the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund.

(d) In civil actions in which the bureau is a party, the prevailing party may be awarded court costs and attorneys fees.

(Amended by Stats. 1997, Ch. 696, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1998.)