-Lake County 'Freedom to Grow Plants' Human Rights Initiative 11564-
Whereas on this day of November 4, 2014, in the State of California, the people of the County of Lake do hereby find and declare that:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for people to reaffirm and reestablish the fundamental human rights that they are naturally endowed, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's origins entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to come forward in the reestablishment of those rights.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all humans are created equal, that they are naturally endowed with certain Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,
--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to re-declare and reestablish the inherent human rights that would intrinsically correct such governmental negligence, and to reconstitute such in a form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness, and in accordance with the 9th amendment of the Constitution of the United State of America:
Amendment IX,
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
And, also in accordance with the California State Constitution's Article 1 Declaration of Rights:
Section 21., ...
"This declaration of rights may not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people."
And,
--Whereas disregard and contempt for certain human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of humankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, it has become necessary to reaffirm and specifically constitute that:
(section) 1.
Humans are naturally endowed with the fundamental right to partner with the soil and posses the seeds of, and partner with, and grow the plants of this earth for their own uses as individuals in pursuit of life and in effort to live, and that such basic human rights exist and are held in perpetuity outside of the constitutional responsibility of government to protect an individuals right to engage in commerce.
(section) 1.(a)
All County of Lake residents who exercise the rights described in section 1., and are compliant with section 2.(a), and are gardening outside (outdoor) or in green houses, are exempt from any county permitting or other county ordinances that would limit an individuals home gardening efforts in conjunction with section 1.
(section) 1.(b)
The County of Lake shall encourage and cooperate with people exercising the rights described in section 1 in every way available, and individuals exercising such rights in effort to grow food for their own consumption shall be exempt from paying for the portion of their water use that goes to water such food gardens, and such exemptions are to be determined based on garden size and the reasonable amount of water it takes to maintain such, and also based on the physical increase in water usage that exceeds the normal average water usage of the particular household without a food garden.
(section) 2.
Should neighbor complaints that are not related to section 2.(a), or are not related to a specific medically verifiable toxic health risk to the public arise as an official complaint to the county as a result of individuals exercising the rights as described in section 1., (not withstanding any effected party choosing to seek remedy and or reparations by way of litigation through civil proceedings), all the effected parties shall be directed to mediation provided for by the County of Lake, and if resolution between the effected parties cannot be achieved in a reasonable effort to mediate, the effected parties shall then continue mediation at their own expense (to be equally divided between the effected parties) until a resolution between the parties can be agreed upon, or until the effected parties agree to withdraw from mediation.
(section) 2.(a)
All who exercise the rights described in section 1., shall take reasonable care to prevent environmental destruction, and are responsible to mitigate any possible foreseen negative impacts on the natural environments, and all persons who neglect such practices shall be subject to the authority of any County of Lake ordinance(s) that would provide reasonable remedy, but such remedies are to be used to help individuals come into compliance with this section and not to unreasonably burden individuals who exercise the rights described in section 1.
(section) 2.(b)
The County of Lake Environmental Health department shall administer over individual circumstances that may arise due to non compliance with section 2., section 2.(a), and section 2.(c), but all such administrative authority and 'compliance checks' shall be restricted to circumstances where a verifiable neighbor complaint has been officially registered with the county, and such authority shall not be blanketly imposed on those who exercise the rights as described in section 1., or 1.(a).
(section) 2(c)
If an individual's income qualifies for the low income standards of the county, then the county shall assist in an individuals effort to comply with section 2.(a) by mitigating the costs of any such remedies, but shall not do so in cases where the environmental damage is occurring from an individuals use of non organic gardening chemicals including but not limited to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers, and the County of Lake retains the authority to limit the use of such chemicals if such a remedy is applicable to the circumstance(s).
(section) 3.
All County, State and Federal criminal laws that exist in conflict with individuals exercising the human rights as described in section 1., (and not withstanding an individual in violation of using illegal gardening chemicals including but not limited to certain pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers), are to be set aside unless it can be determined that the individual circumstance is occurring within the context of 'commerce' related activities as defined herein,
--For the expressed purposes of this document the word "commerce" shall be taken to mean:
The buying and selling of goods in any form, as between individual humans, and in direct reference to the exchange of United States currency (or other such legally recognized tender) for such goods or services.
(section) 3.(a)
If any provision of this Initiative or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the Initiative which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Initiative are severable. The People of the County of Lake hereby declare that we would have adopted this Initiative irrespective of the invalidity of any particular portion thereof.
