Stanislaus County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

45 of the Stanislaus County Code, adopted by Ordinance CS 989 in 2007 and amended by Ordinance CS 1054 in 2009, implements several state registration schemes through the county agricultural commissioner. 010 explains that Food and Agricultural Code Section 29044 requires the state secretary of food and agriculture to adopt registration fees for beekeepers, apiary operators, apiary owners, and other persons in possession any apiary, payable when the bees are registered with the commissioner. The county Board of Supervisors used its authority under that same section to waive the fee for hobbyists: defined in the ordinance as anyone not in the business of beekeeping who possesses nine or fewer bee colonies.

020 explains the fees exist to offset the commissioner's costs of processing registration paperwork, issuing proof-of-registration documents, and verifying eligibility. 030 confirms the fee methodology must meet FAC Section 29044 and be listed in the Department of Agriculture and Weights and Measures fee schedule adopted by the Board, and it restates that qualifying hobbyists are exempt from annual registration fees. Beekeepers who keep ten or more colonies, or who operate commercially, do not qualify for the hobbyist exemption and must pay the commissioner's adopted fee annually.

The same chapter also folds in registration schemes for pest control businesses, pest control aircraft pilots, pest control advisers, farm labor contractors and structural pest control businesses under other FAC and Labor Code sections, all administered through the same agricultural commissioner's office.