An Act To Increase the Number of Members of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1103
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: DUNPHY, HICKMAN, O'NEIL, PERRY, PLUECKER, BLACK, DILL
Amends: 36 MRSA §4312, 36 MRSA §4312-C

Legislative Document
No. 1103
H.P. 807
House of Representatives, March 5, 2019
An Act To Increase the Number of Members of the Wild Blueberry 
Commission of Maine
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative DUNPHY of Old Town.
Cosponsored by Representatives: HICKMAN of Winthrop, McCREA of Fort Fairfield, 
O'NEIL of Saco, PERRY of Calais, PLUECKER of Warren, Senators: BLACK of Franklin, 
DILL of Penobscot.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §4312, 2nd ¶, as enacted by PL 1983, c. 836, §9, is further 
amended to read:
Current members of the advisory committee shall continue to serve for the duration 
of their current appointments.  New appointments to the advisory committee shall must 
be for terms of 4 years, and no appointee may be eligible for reappointment until the 
lapse of one year from the expiration of a previous appointment members may be 
reappointed for additional terms.
Sec. 2.  36 MRSA §4312-C, sub-§1, ¶D is enacted to read:
D.  An employee of the commission who leaves commission employment may not be 
a paid lobbyist for a wild blueberry business for a period of one year after formally 
leaving commission employment.
Sec. 3.  36 MRSA §4312-C, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 511, §21 and 
affected by §25 and amended by PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §6, is further amended to read:
2.  Appointment.  Appointments to the commission are made by the Commissioner 
of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.  The commissioner shall call for and consider 
nominations for grower representative appointments to the commission from the wild 
blueberry grower community in the State.  The commissioner shall call for nominations 
by January 15th of any year in which a grower representative term will expire and shall 
announce the call for nominations at a statewide agricultural trade show held in Augusta 
in January.
Sec. 4.  36 MRSA §4312-C, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 511, §21 and 
affected by §25 and amended by PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §6, is repealed and the following 
enacted in its place:
3.  Membership.  The commission consists of 10 members who are active in and 
representative of the commercial wild blueberry industry, appointed by the Commissioner 
of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
A.  Five members must be grower representatives.  For the purposes of this section, 
"grower representative" means a person, firm, partnership, association or corporation 
engaged in the growing of wild blueberries, including but not limited to those who 
engage in organic growing, other integrated crop management growing, fresh pack 
sales, wild blueberry business cooperative activities and wild blueberry value-added 
production and those representing a federally recognized Indian tribe in the State.  
"Grower representative" does not include a person, firm, partnership, association or 
corporation that processes 1,000,000 pounds or more of wild blueberries in a calendar 
year.  Grower representative members must be selected to include grower 
representatives who pay both the processor and shipper portions of the wild blueberry 
tax under this chapter and grower representatives who pay only the shipper portion of 
the wild blueberry tax under this chapter.
B.  Five members must be processor representatives.  For purposes of this section, 
"processor representative" means a person, firm, partnership, association or 
corporation that processes 1,000,000 pounds or more of wild blueberries in a calendar 
year.
Sec. 5.  36 MRSA §4312-C, sub-§4, as repealed and replaced by PL 2011, c. 579, 
§2 and amended by c. 657, Pt. W, §6, is further amended to read:
4.  Term.  Members are appointed to staggered 4-year terms so that the terms of at 
least 2 but not more than 3 members expire on August 31st of every year.  If the 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry fails to make an appointment 
prior to the expiration of a member's term, that member continues to serve until the 
commissioner makes an appointment for the remainder of that term. If a vacancy occurs 
prior to the expiration of a specified term, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation 
and Forestry shall appoint an individual to serve only the remainder of that term.
Sec. 6.  Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine membership; staggered 
terms.  Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 36, section 4312-C, 
subsection 4, of the additional grower representatives appointed to the Wild Blueberry 
Commission of Maine pursuant to this Act, one serves an initial term of 4 years and one 
serves an initial term of 2 years.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the membership of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine by 
adding 2 additional members who are grower representatives and requires the 
Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to formally call for nominations 
for grower representative members.  The bill clarifies the requirements governing grower 
representative members and processor representative members.  The bill prohibits former 
employees of the commission from serving as paid lobbyists for wild blueberry 
businesses for a period of one year following employment by the commission.  The bill 
also allows members of the University of Maine System Wild Blueberry Advisory 
Committee to be reappointed for additional terms.