Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 59943.5

For the convenience of collecting any producer fees which are established pursuant to this article, the director may collect such fees from the handlers of the commodity which is being regulated. Any handler that pays a fee for and on behalf of any producer may deduct the producer fee from any money which is owed by the handler to the producer. Any marketing program may require a handler to deduct producer fees from any money which is owed by the handler to the producer. Such producer fee deductions are hereby declared to be trust funds held by the handler for the purposes of the marketing program concerned and shall be timely remitted, with fee reports, to the director.