An Act To Establish the Dairy Improvement Fund
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, the Maine dairy industry may suffer irreparable injury if state support is not available immediately; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Sec. 1. 7 MRSA §2910-B is enacted to read:
§ 2910-B. Dairy Improvement Fund
There is created the Dairy Improvement Fund, referred to in this section as "the fund." The fund must be deposited with and maintained by the commissioner to be used solely for investment in and improvement and marketing of the dairy industry in the State. The fund must be administered by the commissioner in accordance with this Title. All money received by the fund from any source, including revenue distributed under Title 8, section 1036, subsection 2-A, paragraph K, must be credited to the fund. Money credited to the fund may be used to provide loans to assist dairy farmers in implementing programs and activities that improve the economic viability of the dairy industry and to pay the administrative costs of processing loan applications and servicing and administering the fund and loans and grants made from the fund. Repayment of these loans and interest on the loans must be credited to the fund to be available for the same purposes.
The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this section. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
Sec. 2. 8 MRSA §1036, sub-§2-A, ¶K, as enacted by IB 2009, c. 2, §45, is amended to read:
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.
Summary
This bill creates the Dairy Improvement Fund within the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources to fund programs and activities to improve the economic viability of the dairy industry. The bill provides that revenue from slot machines operated by a casino operator that is distributed to the department for dairy stabilization under current law would instead be transferred to the improvement fund.