An Act To Prevent Price Gouging and To Stabilize Prices in the Sale of Milk
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0842
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: MILLS
Amends: 7 MRSA §29, 7 MRSA §31

Legislative Document 
No. 842 
S.P.281 
In Senate, February 16, 2005 
An Act To Prevent Price Gouging and To Stabilize Prices in the Sale 
of Milk 
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed. 
Presented by Senator MILLS of Somerset. 
Pnnted 011 recycled paper 
JOY J. O'BRIEN 
Secretary of the Senate 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. I. 7 MRSA §29S4-D is enacted to read: 
§2954-D. 
Price gouging in sale of milk 
1. 
Sell fluid milk. 
A person may not sell or offer to sell 
fluid milk for an unconscionably excessive price. 
2. 
Inve&.iggtion. 
Whenever the retail price to consumers 
for Class I milk exceeds twice what is paid to producers of the 
milk, 
the commission may investigate to determine whether the 
price is unconscionably excessive, as described in subsection 2. 
If the commission finds probable cause to believe that the price 
is unconscionably excessive, the commission may after notice and 
hearing 
make 
findings 
and 
issue 
orders 
to 
prohibit 
such 
practices. 
Any person aggrieved by an order of the commission 
may appeal to the Superior Court. 
3. 
Unconscionably 
excessive 
price. 
An 
unconscionably 
excessive price is evidenced by: 
A. 
A disparity between the retail price and the producer's 
price that grossly exceeds a reasonable rate of return; 
B. 
Significant increases in retail price that are not the 
result of an increase paid to producers for raw milk and 
that are not otherwise justified by changes in cost to the 
dealer or store; 
C. 
Decreases in prices paid to producers that do not yield 
corresponding decreases in retail prices for the same milk; 
~D~. __ ~E~l~e~v~a~t~e~d~~p~r~i~c~e~s~_o~r __ ~changes in price that 
reflect price-fixing or combination activity by 
stores or dealers; or 
appear to 
or more 
E. 
Elevated prices that appear to result from 
regional 
market 
share 
dominance 
by 
a 
store or 
dealer 
or 
by 
a 
combination of stores or dealers. 
Sec.2. 7 MRSA §31S3-D is enacted to read: 
§3153-D. 
Dairy stabilization subsidy 
For each month after December 2005, the administrator of the 
Maine Milk Fool shall distribute on a monthly basis to Maine's 
dairy 
farmers 
a 
direct 
subsidy 
calculated 
as 
50% 
of 
the 
difference between 
$17 
per hundredweight 
and the statistical 
blend 
price 
of 
milk 
for 
Suffolk 
County, 
Massachusetts 
as 
determined for that month by the Northeast Market Administrator 
Page l-LRll71 (1) 
• 
of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
If the direct 
subsidy is insufficient to cover the price differential, then the 
administrator shall prorate the distribution on the basis of each 
farmer's production for the month. 
'J'he total subsidy for milk 
production 
occurring 
within 
a 
single 
month 
may 
not 
exceed 
$1,000,000. 
SUMMARY 
The purpose of this bill is to prevent price gouging in the 
sale of milk by prohibiting a person from selling fluid milk for 
an unconscionably excessive price and by allowing the Maine Milk 
Commission to commence an investigation to determine 
whether the 
price is unconscionably excessive. 
The bill also directs the 
Maine Milk Pool administrator to distribute a dairy stabilization 
subsidy on a monthly basis to Maine's dairy farmers .