An Act To Reestablish the Milk Handling Fee
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1432
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: LERMAN, MILLS, PERRY, HUTTON, PATRICK, PINEAU, PIOTTI, RICHARDSON, SMITH, WATSON
Amends: 7 MRSA §2954

Legislative Document 
No. 1432 
H.P.996 
House of Representatives, March 22, 2005 
An Act To Reestablish the Milk Handling Fee 
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative LERMAN of Augusta. 
'!r/~ 1J7.7!ld£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representative MILLS of Farmington, Senator MILLS of Somerset, Senator 
PERRY of Penobscot and Representatives: HUTTON of Bowdoinham, McCORMICK of West 
Gardiner, PATRICK of Rumford, PINEAU of Jay, PIOTTI of Unity, Speaker RICHARDSON 
of Brunswick, SMITH of Monmouth, WATSON of Bath. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 7 MRSA §2954, sub-§I, as amended by PL 1999, c. 679, 
Pt. B, §3 and affected by §14, is further amended to read: 
1. 
Connission 
empowered 
to 
establish 
prices; 
public 
hearing. 
The commission is vested with the power to establish 
and change, after investigation and public hearing, the minimum 
wholesale and retail prices to be paid to producers, dealers and 
stores 
for 
milk 
received, 
purchased, 
stored, 
manufactured, 
processed, distributed or otherwise handled within the State. 
The 
commission 
shall 
hold 
a 
public 
hearing 
prior 
to 
the 
establishing or changing of such minimum prices. The commission 
may proceed, however, under the emergency rule-making provisions 
of Title 5, section 8054 without making findings of emergency 
when the only changes to be made in the minimum prices are to 
conform with the orders of any federal or other agency duly 
authorized by law to establish or negotiate producer prices eFL 
are to respond to other conditions affecting prevailing Class I, 
Class II and Class III prices in southern New England or are to 
reflect the milk handling fee levied and imposed by Title 36, 
chapter 
721. 
Title 
5, 
section 
8054, 
subsection 
3, 
the 
2nd 
sentence, 
does not apply to minimum prices adopted under the 
pFevie~s--se~~e~ee this subsection. 
Due 
notice of the public 
hearing must be given by publishing notice as provided in Title 
5, chapter 375. 
The commission shall hold such a public hearing 
not less frequently 
than 
once 
every 
months 
to 
determine 
whether the minimum wholesale and retail prices then established 
should be changed. In addition to the data received through the 
implementation of the information gathering procedures of its 
rules as a basis for its determinations, the commission shall 
solicit 
and 
seek 
to 
receive 
oral 
and 
written 
testimony 
at 
hearings to determine whether the minimum wholesale and retail 
prices 
then 
established 
should 
be 
changed 
and 
whether 
the 
proposed 
minimum 
wholesale 
and 
retail 
prices 
are 
just 
and 
reasonable. 
Sec. 2. 7 MRSA §2954, sub-§2, 1[B, as amended by PL 1995, c. 2, 
§2, is further amended to read: 
B. 
The minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers must be 
established to reflect the 
lowest prices at which milk 
purchased from producers in this State at minimum prices in 
the 
State 
can 
be 
received, 
processed, 
packaged 
and 
distributed within 
the 
State at 
a 
just 
and 
reasonable 
return, and in addition must include the amount of any 
~aH 
ae~eFmiRea fee levied and imposed by Title 36, chapter 119 
721. 
• 
• 
Sec. 3. 7 MRSA §2954, sub-§13, as amended by PL 1995, c. 2, 
§3, is further amended to read: 
13. 
Report 
to 
State 
Tax 
Assessor. 
The 
Maine 
Mi 1 k 
Commission shall report before the first of each month to the 
State Tax Assessor the basic price of milk established for that 
month as defined in Title 36, chapter 1±9 721. 
Sec. 4. 36 MRSA c. 721 is enacted to read: 
CHAPTER 721 
MILK HANDLING FEE 
§4901. 
Definitions 
As 
used 
in this 
chapter, 
unless 
the 
context 
otherwise 
indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. 
1. 
Fee period. 
"Fee period" means the period beginning on 
the Sunday closest to the first day of the month and continuing 
through the Saturday prior to the Sunday closest to the first day 
of the subsequent month. 
2. 
Handler. 
"Handler, " 
with 
respect 
to 
a 
particular 
container of packaged milk, means the wholesale handler or, if 
none, the retail handler. 
3. 
Milk. 
"Milk" 
has 
the 
same 
meaning as 
in Title 7, 
section 2951, subsection 6. 
4. 
Packgqed milk. 
"Packaged milk" means milk that has been 
processed and placed in containers for ultimate sale to consumers. 
5. 
Person. 
"Person" 
means 
an 
individual, 
partnership, 
firm, corporation, association or other unit and the State and 
all political subdivisions or agencies of the State. 
6. 
Retail 
b~dler. 
"Retail __ J:!Q...ndler" 
means 
a person who 
handles packaged milk in this State that is next sold in this 
State subject to the minimum retail prices established pursuant 
to Title 7, chapter 603. 
1. 
Wholesale handler. 
"Wholesale handler" means a person 
who handles packaged milk in this State that is next sold in this 
State subject to the minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers 
established pursuant to Title 7, chapter 603. 
§4902. 
Milk handling fee 
1. 
Fee. 
A 
fee 
is 
levied 
and 
imposed 
at 
the 
rate 
established in subsection 2 
on the handling in this State of 
packaged milk for sale in this State. 
With respect to the 
handling in this State of a particular container of packaged milk 
for sale in this State, the fee must be paid by the handler. 
There is no fee on the handling in this State of packaged milk 
for sale in containers of less than one quart or 20 or more 
quarts in volume, or packaged milk that is sold to an institution 
that is owned and operated by the State or the Federal Government. 
2. 
Rate per quart. 
The fee levied under this chapter is 5¢ 
per quart. 
For a container other than a quart, the fee is computed on a 
quart-equivalent basis. 
3. 
Fee calculation. 
Handlers shall pay the fee for each 
fee period on all milk subject to the fee sold during the fee 
period: 
A. 
Subject to the minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers 
established by the Maine Milk Commission pursuant to Title_ 
7, chapter 603; or 
B. 
Not subject to minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers 
but subject to minimum retail prices established by the 
Maine Milk Commission pursuant to Title 7, chapter 603. 
In calculating the amount of packaged milk handled for sale in 
this State during each fee period, the handler shall deduct from 
that amount any packaged milk returned to the handler during that 
fee period. 
4. 
Fee: additional. 
The fee imposed and collected under 
this chapter is in addition to any taxes imposed or collected 
under any other law of the State. 
5. 
Records. 
reports 
and 
administration. 
Every 
handler 
subject to the fee imposed under subsection 1 shall register with 
the assessor within 5 business days of becoming subject to the 
fee and annually thereafter on forms provided by the assessor. 
The list of registered handlers must be available to the public. 
By the 25th day of each calendar month, every handler subject to 
the fee imposed under subsection I shall report to the assessor 
the quantity of packaged milk handled in this State for sale in 
this State during the preceding fee period, 
the quantity of 
packaged milk handled that was subject to the milk handling fee 
.. 
and any other information the assessor determines necessary or 
useful in the administration of this chapter and enforcement of 
the milk handling fee. 
6. 
Due 
d~t.es. 
Handlers shall pay to the assessor the fee 
due for the preceding fee period not later than the 25th day of 
each calendar month and submi t 
the information reg:uired by the 
assessor on the forms provided. 
7. 
Pr.~tion. 
In ~roceeding against a retail handler 
for collection of the fee with respect to a particular container 
of packaged milk, there is a rebuttable presumption that that 
retail handler did not purchase that container in a transaction 
subject 
to 
the 
ml.nl.mum 
wholesale 
prices 
paid 
to 
dealers 
established pursuant to Title 7, chapter 603. 
The burden is on 
the retail handler to show that the retail handler purchased that 
container of packaged miJ,k in a transaction subject to minimum 
wholesale prices paid to dealers established pursuant to Title 7, 
chapter 603. 
-",8~._--,G~e""n~eral Fund... 
The assessor shall immediately pay all 
funds received from the milk handling fee to the Treasurer of 
State to be deposited in the General Fund. 
The funds may not be 
dedicated 
to 
a 
particular purpose 
and 
may 
be 
used 
for 
all 
purposes of State Government. 
9. 
Maine Fa:(l!lJL.J9r the Future Program. 
Notwithstanding 
subsection 8, the assessor shall pay $1,000,000 per year from the 
milk handling fee to the Maine Farms for the Future Program, 
established under Title 7, section 317. 
Sec. 
5. 
Appropriations 
and 
allocations. 
The 
following 
appropriations and allocations are made. 
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL 
SERVICES. DEPARTMENT OF 
Bureau of Revenue Services 
Initiative: 
Provides funds to cover the initial costs of the 
Bureau of Revenue Services to administer the milk handling fee. 
GENERAL FUND 
2005-06 
All Other 
$10,000 
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
$10,000 
Sec. 6. Effective date. 
This Act takes effect January 1, 2006. 
SUMMARY 
This bill reestablishes the milk handling fee, which was in 
effect in 1995 and 1996, at the rate of 5¢ per quart on milk 
handled for retail sale in Maine. 
The fee is paid on a monthly 
basis by the wholesale handler or, if there is none, 
by the 
retail handler. 
Proceeds of the fee are paid to the State's 
General Fund for general purposes of State Government and are not 
dedicated to any particular purpose.