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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 457 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 457

   To allow modified bloc voting by cooperative associations of milk 
  producers in connection with a referendum on Federal milk marketing 
                             order reform.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2011

Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
   To allow modified bloc voting by cooperative associations of milk 
  producers in connection with a referendum on Federal milk marketing 
                             order reform.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Democracy for Dairy Producers Act of 
2011''.

SEC. 2. MODIFIED BLOC VOTING.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding paragraph (12) of section 8c of 
the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reenacted with 
amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, in the 
case of the referendum conducted as part of the consolidation of 
Federal milk marketing orders and related reforms under section 143 of 
the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7253), a cooperative 
association of milk producers may not elect to hold a vote on behalf of 
its members as authorized by that paragraph, unless the cooperative 
association provides to each producer, on behalf of which the 
cooperative association is expressing approval or disapproval, at the 
time a producer joins the cooperative association and annually 
thereafter, written notice that contains--
            (1) information regarding the procedures by which a 
        producer may cast an individual ballot;
            (2) contact information for the milk marketing order 
        information clearinghouse described in subsection (b) and 
        procedures to be added to a notification list described in 
        subsection (c); and
            (3) information about a point of contact within the 
        cooperative association to inquire regarding the manner in 
        which the cooperative association intends to vote on behalf of 
        the membership.
    (b) Information Clearinghouse.--Each milk marketing order shall 
establish a information clearinghouse on referendums on Federal milk 
marketing order reform that includes--
            (1) information on procedures by which a producer may cast 
        an individual ballot;
            (2) due dates for each specific referendum;
            (3) the text of each referendum question under 
        consideration; and
            (4) a description in plain language of the question and 
        relevant background information.
    (c) Notification List for Upcoming Referendum.--Each Federal milk 
marketing order shall--
            (1) make available the information described in subsection 
        (b) through a Web site; and
            (2) distribute to each producer an alert on each upcoming 
        referendum through a fax list, email distribution list, or 
        United States mail list, as elected by each producer 
        individually.
    (d) Tabulation of Ballots.--At the time at which ballots from a 
vote under subsection (a) are tabulated by the Secretary, the Secretary 
shall adjust the vote of a cooperative association to reflect 
individual votes submitted by producers that are members of, 
stockholders in, or under contract with, the cooperative association.
                                 <all>
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