I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5288 
To amend the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 to establish a 
dairy price stabilization program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 12, 2010 
Mr. COSTA (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. LARSEN of Wash-
ington, and Mr. LARSON of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 
to establish a dairy price stabilization program. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dairy Price Stabiliza-
tion Program Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. DAIRY PRICE STABILIZATION PROGRAM. 
The Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (7 
U.S.C. 1421 note; title I of Public Law 98–189) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new subtitle: 
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‘‘Subtitle D—Dairy Price 
Stabilization Program 
‘‘SEC. 141. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this subtitle: 
‘‘(1) ALLOWABLE MILK MARKETING.—The term 
‘allowable milk marketing’ means the quantity of 
milk production that a dairy facility may produce 
during a quarter without incurring a market access 
fee, as determined under section 143(b)(1). 
‘‘(2) ALLOWABLE
MILK
MARKETING
GROWTH 
RATE.—The term ‘allowable milk marketing growth 
rate’ means the allowable milk marketing growth 
rate established by the Secretary for the applicable 
quarter under section 143(b)(1). 
‘‘(3) ALTERNATIVE MARKET ACCESS FEE.—The 
term ‘alternative market access fee’ means a fee de-
scribed in section 143(b)(2) that is assessed on all 
milk produced in excess of the allowable milk mar-
ketings of a dairy facility. 
‘‘(4) APPEALS COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Appeals 
Committee’ means the producer appeals committee 
established under section 142(c). 
‘‘(5) DAIRY FACILITY.—The term ‘dairy facil-
ity’ means an operation on a property, or set of 
properties that are contiguous or separated only by 
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a public right-of-way, that is directly related to rais-
ing cows or producing milk from cows for the pur-
pose of making a profit or for a livelihood. 
‘‘(6) MARKET
ACCESS
FEE
DIVIDEND.—The 
term ‘market access fee dividend’ means the market 
access fees collected during an applicable quarter 
that are redistributed to dairy facilities with allow-
able milk marketings under section 143(e). 
‘‘(7) MILK HANDLER.—The term ‘milk handler’ 
means a person that makes payments to a dairy fa-
cility for milk produced in the United States and 
purchased from the dairy facility for commercial use. 
‘‘(8) ORDER.—The term ‘order’ means an order 
issued by the Secretary under section 142(a). 
‘‘(9) PRODUCER.—The term ‘producer’ means 
all persons engaged in the production of bovine milk 
for commercial use. All producers holding a milk li-
cense shall be included. 
‘‘(10) PRODUCER BOARD.—The term ‘Producer 
Board’ means the Producer Board established under 
section 142(b). 
‘‘(11) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means 
the Dairy Price Stabilization Program established 
under section 142(a). 
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‘‘(12) QUARTER.—The term ‘quarter’ means 
each of the following 4 quarters of a calendar year: 
‘‘(A) January 1 through March 31. 
‘‘(B) April 1 through June 30. 
‘‘(C) July 1 through September 30. 
‘‘(D) October 1 through December 31. 
‘‘(13) REGION.—The term ‘region’ means each 
of the following 
‘‘(A) Region 1, Northeast, consisting of the 
States of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Mary-
land, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jer-
sey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
Vermont, and West Virginia. 
‘‘(B) Region 2, Southeast, consisting of the 
States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, 
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Virginia. 
‘‘(C) Region 3, Midwest, consisting of the 
States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Min-
nesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South 
Dakota, and Wisconsin. 
‘‘(D) Region 4, South, consisting of the 
States of Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and 
Texas. 
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‘‘(E) Region 5, Northwest, consisting of 
the States of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Or-
egon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. 
‘‘(F) Region 6, West, consisting of the 
States of Arizona, California, and Nevada. 
‘‘(14) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘Secretary’ 
means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting in con-
sultation with the Appeals Committee or Producer 
Board (as appropriate). 
‘‘(15) STANDARD MARKET ACCESS FEE.—The 
term ‘standard market access fee’ means a fee as-
sessed under section 143(d) on all milk produced by 
a dairy facility. 
‘‘SEC. 142. ESTABLISHMENT. 
‘‘(a) ISSUANCE OF ORDERS.— 
‘‘(1) PROPOSED
ORDER.—Not later than 60 
days after the date of the enactment of this subtitle, 
the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register 
a proposed order to establish a program to be known 
as the ‘Dairy Price Stabilization Program’ that shall 
apply to all dairy facilities within the contiguous 
United States that produce milk for sale commer-
cially. 
‘‘(2) REFERENDUM
ON
PROPOSED
ORDER.— 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
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in the referendum together with a statement of the 
manner in which the cooperative association intends 
to cast its vote on behalf of the membership. Such 
information shall inform the producer of procedures 
to follow to cast an individual ballot should the pro-
ducer so choose within the period of time established 
by the Secretary for casting ballots. Such notifica-
tion shall be made at least 30 days before the ref-
erendum and shall include an official ballot. The bal-
lots shall be tabulated by the Secretary and the vote 
of the cooperative association shall be adjusted to re-
flect the individual votes. 
‘‘(3) FINAL
ORDER.—If the Secretary deter-
mines that the proposed order has been approved by 
not less than a majority of the eligible producers 
voting in the referendum required by paragraph (2), 
the Secretary shall issue, not later than 30 days 
after such determination, a final order to establish 
the Program. 
‘‘(4) REFERENDUM ON CONTINUATION OF PRO-
GRAM.—Not later than 3 years after the date of the 
enactment of this subtitle, the Secretary shall con-
duct a referendum among producers who, during a 
representative period (as determined by the Sec-
retary), have been engaged in the production of milk 
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for commercial use, for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether the Program then in effect shall be contin-
ued. The program shall be continued only if the Sec-
retary determines that it has been approved by not 
less than a majority of the eligible producers voting 
in the referendum. If continuation of the Program is 
not approved by a majority of the eligible producers 
voting in the referendum, the Secretary shall termi-
nate collection of fees under the Program within six 
months after the Secretary determines that such ac-
tion is favored by a majority of the eligible pro-
ducers voting in the referendum and shall terminate 
the program in an orderly manner as soon as prac-
ticable after such determination. 
‘‘(b) PRODUCER BOARD.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The order shall provide for 
the establishment of a board of directors to be 
known as the ‘Producer Board’ to advise the Sec-
retary on administration of the Program. 
‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Producer Board shall 
be composed of 30 members, of whom— 
‘‘(A) 24 shall be producers, of whom— 
‘‘(i) 12 producers shall be appointed 
based upon region, with 2 members from 
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each of the 6 dairy producing regions in 
the United States; and 
‘‘(ii) 12 producers shall be appointed 
based upon the geographical distribution of 
milk production volume throughout the 
United States; 
‘‘(B) 2 shall represent dairy consumers; 
‘‘(C) 2 shall represent fluid milk bottlers; 
and 
‘‘(D) 2 shall represent dairy product proc-
essors. 
‘‘(3) APPOINTMENT.—The Secretary shall ap-
point the members of the Producer Board after con-
sidering any nominations submitted by interested 
parties. 
‘‘(4) ADVISOR.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
appoint a dairy economist to advise the Pro-
ducer Board. 
‘‘(B) NONVOTING
MEMBER.—The indi-
vidual appointed under subparagraph (A) shall 
be a nonvoting member of the Producer Board. 
‘‘(c) PRODUCER APPEALS COMMITTEE.—The order 
shall require the Producer Board to establish a committee 
to be known as the ‘Producer Appeals Committee’ to ad-
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vise the Secretary on appeals of decisions made during the 
first year of operation of the Program. 
‘‘SEC. 143. OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF RATES, FEES, DIVIDENDS, 
AND INITIAL ALLOWABLE MILK MARKETINGS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The order shall provide for 
the establishment of rates and fees and the payment 
of dividends in accordance with this section. 
‘‘(2) INITIAL ESTABLISHMENT OF ALLOWABLE 
MILK MARKETINGS.—The initial establishment of al-
lowable milk marketings for a dairy facility under 
this subtitle shall based on the highest of the annual 
milk marketings of the dairy facility from the cal-
endar year ending— 
‘‘(A) December 31, 2007; 
‘‘(B) December 31, 2008; or 
‘‘(C) December 31, 2009. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF RATES AND FEES.— 
‘‘(1) ALLOWABLE
MILK
MARKETING
GROWTH 
RATE.— 
‘‘(A) CALCULATION OF ALLOWABLE MILK 
MARKETING.—The allowable milk marketings of 
a dairy facility for a quarter shall be equal to 
the quantity of milk commercially produced by 
the dairy facility during the corresponding 
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quarter during the previous calendar year, as 
adjusted to reflect the allowable milk marketing 
growth rate for the quarter. 
‘‘(B) CALCULATION OF ALLOWABLE MILK 
MARKETING GROWTH RATE.—At least 30 days 
before the first day of each quarter, the Sec-
retary, after considering any recommendations 
made by the Producer Board, shall establish the 
allowable milk marketing growth rate for the 
upcoming quarter based on the following table: 
‘‘Milk Feed Ratio 
Allowable milk 
marketing 
growth rate (in 
percent) 
Milk Feed Ratio greater than/equal to 2.00 ..........
3.00 
Milk Feed Ratio 1.75–1.99 ....................................
0.00 
Milk Feed Ratio less than/equal to 1.74 ................
¥3.00 
‘‘(C) MILK FEED RATION.—For purposes 
of this paragraph and paragraph (2)(A), the 
Secretary shall calculate a milk feed ratio for a 
month using the same procedures used to cal-
culate the milk feed ratio on page 64 of the 
USDA January 2010 Agricultural Prices publi-
cation (including the data and factors noted in 
footnote 4). 
‘‘(D) QUARTERLY
ANNOUNCEMENT
OF 
THE
ALLOWABLE
MILK
MARKETING
GROWTH 
RATE.—For the purpose of announcing the 
quarterly allowable milk marketing growth rate, 
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the Secretary shall use the simple average of 
the three most recently available monthly fig-
ures for the milk feed ratio. 
‘‘(2) STANDARD
AND
ALTERNATIVE
MARKET 
ACCESS FEES.— 
‘‘(A) STANDARD MARKET ACCESS FEE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At least 30 days 
before the first day of each quarter, the 
Secretary shall establish the standard mar-
ket access fee to be assessed on all com-
mercial milk production of a dairy facility 
for that quarter. 
‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.—The standard 
market access fee shall be based on the 
number of hundredweights of raw milk 
produced for commercial use, as deter-
mined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(iii) CALCULATION
OF
STANDARD 
MARKET ACCESS FEE.—The standard mar-
ket access fee shall be determined using 
the following table: 
‘‘Milk Feed Ratio 
Market Access 
Fee 
Milk Feed Ratio greater than/equal to 3.00 ..........
$0.03 
Milk Feed Ratio 2.50–2.99 ....................................
$0.13 
Milk Feed Ratio 2.00–2.49 ....................................
$0.25 
Milk Feed Ratio less than/equal to 1.99 ................
$0.50 
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