The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 6: Agriculture

Chapter 163: Vermont Dairy Promotion Council; Producer Tax

• Subchapter 001: Vermont Dairy Promotion Council

• § 2971. Creation of Council

  (a) There is established within the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council, which shall be composed of the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the following: each milk cooperative with producers subject to the provision of the law with two percent or more of the total producers, shall be entitled to one member of the council plus one additional member for each 15 percent of the total milk subject to the provisions of this section.

  (b) The milk cooperatives shall provide the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets with two nominees for each entitlement of whom one shall be appointed by the Secretary. The second nominee shall become an alternate to serve in the absence of the appointee. The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets shall appoint three producer members to the council and one alternate to serve in the absence of any one of these three members to represent those producers not members of a milk cooperative and those cooperatives not eligible under the terms of this section, and one distributor representative, after seeking the advice of producer associations, distributor associations, and individual producers and distributors within the State. During the month of February, six members shall be appointed for a one-year term and the balance for a two-year term. Thereafter one-half of the members shall be appointed annually. The council shall serve at the discretion of the Secretary. A milk producer who is serving on the Vermont dairy promotion council shall not be a member of the Agency disbursing the funds. The appointive members shall each receive $75.00 per day for each day spent in actual attendance at meetings of the council, but not exceeding a total compensation of $750.00 per annum for each member, and they also shall receive their actual necessary expenses and mileage while attending to their duties. The Secretary shall serve as chair of the Council and administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 58; amended 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. April 22, 1982; 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 4, 10(a), eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2011, No. 39, § 7, eff. May 19, 2011.)

• § 2972. Powers and duties

  (a) The Council shall administer and enforce this chapter and to that end shall plan and conduct dairy commodity advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and research and educational projects to increase the consumption of dairy products and to foster better understanding and more efficient cooperation between producers, dealers, and consumers of dairy products, and may contract for advertising, publicity, sales promotion, research, and educational services, and may employ and discharge advertising counsel, advertising agencies, dairy councils, and other agencies on a statewide, regional, or national basis as it shall deem the best interests of the State of Vermont for these purposes. It may disseminate information relating to dairy products and the importance thereof, either directly or through persons or parties contracted with.

  (b) Included among the powers of the Council in connection with the enforcement of this chapter are the powers to require reports from any person subject to this chapter; to adopt, rescind, modify, and amend all proper and necessary rules and orders to administer this chapter, which rules and orders shall be adopted by publication in the manner prescribed by the Council and shall have the force and effect of law when not inconsistent with existing laws; to administer oaths, subpoena witnesses, take depositions, and certify to official acts; to require any dealer to keep such true and accurate records and to make such reports covering purchases, sales, and receipts of dairy products and related matters as the Council deems reasonably necessary for effective administration, which records shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary, but information thus obtained shall not be published or be open to public inspection in any manner revealing any individual dealer’s identity, except as required in proceedings to enforce compliance; to keep accurate books, records, and accounts of all of its dealings; and to make annually a full report of its doings to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the Governor, which shall show the amount of money received and the expenditures thereof. The report shall be submitted on or before January 15. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets shall perform the administrative work of the Council as directed by the Council. The Council shall reimburse the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets for the cost of services performed by the Agency.

  (c) The Council is hereby authorized to accept contributions from individuals or organizations to augment its funds.

  (d) The Council in allocating the monies it spends for the promotional purposes set forth in this chapter shall consider the sources from which the milk comes, the areas into which the milk goes, and the nature of the population that consumes the milk, so that funds may be allocated proportionately if desired.

  (e) The Council shall cooperate with other State agencies in its plans for advertisement and promotion and in particular with agencies specifically empowered to advertise and promote this State.

  (f) The Council is authorized to cooperate with the U.S. government and any Agency thereof charged with similar responsibilities in connection with research, marketing, and pricing in the dairy industry, including federal Milk Market Administrators and their staffs in federally regulated markets, and is authorized to cooperate with the appropriate agencies of other states for the purpose of making such investigations, securing and transmitting such information, making available such services and facilities, and exercising such other powers with respect to the administration of this chapter as it deems necessary or appropriate to facilitate its administration in cooperation with the administration of similar acts in other states.

  (g) To the extent that in its judgment it may deem advisable to do so in administering this chapter, the Council is authorized to enter into agreements with U.S. government agencies, federal Milk Market Administrators, and state agencies of other states with respect to the collection or audit of tax payments and the use of joint facilities and joint services. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 59; amended 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 10(a), eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2007, No. 207 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 11, 2008; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 129, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 6, § 58, eff. July 1, 2023.)

• § 2973. Repealed. 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 12; 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 12.

• Subchapter 002: Producer Tax

• § 2981. Rate and collection of assessment

  (a) Each producer shall pay each month an assessment of $0.10 per hundredweight from the price paid to the producer for milk produced by him or her and received by a handler. The funds shall be deducted from the producer’s check, and the deduction identified on the producer’s statement furnished by the handler. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 10 of this title, the assessment on the producer imposed by this subchapter shall be collected by and paid to the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets of the State of Vermont, and shall be paid by him or her to the Treasurer of the State of Vermont, to be held by the Treasurer in a separate account entitled “Vermont Dairy Promotion Fund.” The interest earned by the Fund shall be retained as part of the Fund and shall be disbursed as provided by the provisions of this subchapter. Each handler receiving milk from a producer shall be liable for the assessment due under this subchapter from the producer; and each handler shall withhold from monies due any producer the assessment due from that producer to the State under this subchapter, shall be responsible to the Secretary for the payment and collection thereof, and shall not be liable to the producer or to any other person for the amount of the payment if the payment is paid to the State.

  (b) [Repealed.] (Added 1965, No. 175, § 61; amended 1966, No. 52 (Sp. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 12, 1966; 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. April 22, 1982; 1987, No. 6, § 2, eff. April 1, 1987; 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1999, No. 49, § 123; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2007, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. May 20, 2008; 2015, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 18.)

• § 2982. Repealed. 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 8.

• § 2983. Tax withholding agreement as condition for license

  No person shall be granted a handler’s license unless he or she first agrees to withhold for the account of the State the tax imposed under this subchapter upon producers whose milk he or she has received. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 63.)

• § 2984. Milk received by more than one handler

  In case the same milk is received by more than one handler, the first handler handling or receiving milk shall be the handler within the meaning of this chapter. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 64.)

• § 2985. Transactions outside Vermont

  Any transaction between a producer and a handler relating to milk or dairy products produced in Vermont is subject to the operation of this chapter whether a contract or sale is set forth or claimed to be entered into, or to have been entered into, outside Vermont. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 65.)

• § 2986. Payment of assessment

  Each licensed handler and distributor shall pay the sums required with respect to each producer’s payment received by him or her and the distributor’s fee to the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets by monthly payments, and shall file monthly reports on forms provided by the Secretary for this purpose of all matters of account for which a record is required to be kept. These payments and reports shall be due not later than the 28th day of the month following the month for which the payments and reports are made. A penalty of one percent per month on overdue payments shall be collected by the Secretary. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 66; amended 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. April 22, 1982; 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003.)

• § 2987. Use of Dairy Promotion Fund

  (a) No expense of the Council shall be paid out of any funds of the State except from the Dairy Promotion Fund, which Fund shall be subject at all times to the accounting controls of the State. The Dairy Promotion Fund may be used only for the costs of the collection of taxes imposed under this chapter and for the administration of this chapter, and the State Treasurer shall pay over to the Council upon order of the Council such funds as the Council may require.

  (b) [Repealed.]

  (c) The balance of the Fund shall be used for promotional and educational purposes, experimental planning, research, advertising, and the necessary compensation and expenses of the Council.

  (d) Any balance remaining at the close of any fiscal year shall be carried forward for the same purpose in the following year. (Added 1965, No. 175, § 67; amended 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2007, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 13, eff. May 20, 2008; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 130, eff. July 1, 2022.)

• § 2988. Referendum

  (a) The following percent of the itemized groups of producers and distributors may petition the Secretary for a referendum to determine whether assessments for their milk promotion program under section 2981 of this title shall continue or discontinue for their group:

  (1) 25 percent of Vermont producers who are producing milk for consumption in Vermont;

  (2) 15 percent of Vermont producers who are producing milk for out-of-state consumption; or

  (3) 30 percent of Vermont distributors who purchase milk for retail sale in Vermont.

  (b) The Secretary, upon receiving a petition for a referendum from any itemized group referred to in subsection (a) of this section, shall establish a committee of members of that group as provided in subsection (c) of this section. The committee shall direct the Secretary to send secret ballots to all producers or distributors who are members of that group and tally the results of the vote.

  (c) The voting committee shall consist of the following:

  (1) two members from the group referred to in subdivision (a)(1) of this section;

  (2) three members from the group referred to in subdivision (a)(2) of this section; and

  (3) two members from the group referred to in subdivision (a)(3) of this section.

  (d) Milk producers and distributors referred to in subsection (a) shall be eligible to vote only on a referendum that relates to an assessment on a group of which they are a member. A referendum shall be considered approved by a majority of the members of that group who participate in the vote.

  (e) Any time after two years from the effective date of a previous referendum vote by a particular group to continue or discontinue the assessment, members of the group as provided in subsection (a) may petition the Secretary to determine whether the assessment on that group should continue or discontinue. The referendum shall be conducted and the results determined in accordance with the provisions of this section. A referendum to recommend an assessment program should be conducted in the same manner.

  (f) All administration costs associated with the referendum vote shall be assessed against the Vermont Dairy Promotion Fund. (Added 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 9; amended 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. April 22, 1982; 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2011, No. 39, § 7, eff. May 19, 2011.)

• § 2989. Interstate orders for compacts

  The Secretary is authorized to confer and cooperate with the legally constituted authorities of other states and of the United States with respect to the issuance and operation of joint and concurrent dairy promotion orders or other activities tending to carry out the declared intent of the act. The Secretary may join with such other authorities in conducting joint investigations, holding joint hearings and issuing joint or concurrent order or orders complementary to those of the federal government and shall have the authority to employ or designate a joint agent or joint agencies to carry out and enforce such joint, concurrent, or supplementary orders. (Added 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; amended 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. April 22, 1982; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003.)