Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 4312-C – Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine

1. Commission established as a public instrumentality. The Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, as established by Title 5, section 12004?H, subsection 13?A and referred to in this section as the “commission,” is established as a public body corporate and politic and an incorporated public instrumentality of the State. The exercise of powers conferred by this chapter is held to be the performance of essential government functions.

A. Employees of the commission may not be construed to be state employees for any purpose, including the state civil service provisions of Title 5, Part 2 and Title 5, chapter 372. [PL 1997, c. 511, §21 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 511, §25 (AFF).]

B. The commission may not be construed to be a state agency for any purpose, including the budget, accounts and control, auditing, purchasing or other provisions of Title 5, Part 4. [PL 1997, c. 511, §21 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 511, §25 (AFF).]

C. Notwithstanding paragraphs A and B:

(1) Employees of the commission may be state employees for the purposes of the state retirement provisions of Title 5, Part 20 and the state employee health insurance program under Title 5, chapter 13, subchapter II;

(2) For the purposes of the Maine Tort Claims Act, the commission is a governmental entity and its employees and members are employees as those terms are defined in Title 14, section 8102;

(3) Funds received by the commission pursuant to this chapter must be allocated to the commission by the Legislature in accordance with Title 5, section 1673; and

(4) All meetings and records of the commission are subject to the provisions of Title 1, chapter 13, subchapter I, except that by majority vote of those members present, records and meetings of the commission may be closed to the public when public disclosure of the subject matter of the records or meetings would adversely affect the competitive position of the wild blueberry industry of the State or segments of that industry. The Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and those members of the Legislature appointed to serve on the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over agricultural, conservation and forestry matters have access to all material designated confidential by the commission. [PL 1997, c. 511, §21 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 511, §25 (AFF); PL 2011, c. 657, Pt. W, §6 (REV).]

D. An employee of the commission who leaves commission employment may not be a paid lobbyist as defined by Title 3, section 312?A, subsection 10 for a wild blueberry business for a period of one year after leaving commission employment. [PL 2019, c. 186, §2 (NEW).]

[PL 2019, c. 186, §2 (AMD).]

Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 4312-C

Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
Grower: means a person, firm, partnership, association or corporation engaged in the growing of wild blueberries and that is not a "processor" as defined in subsection 2. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 4302
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Majority: when used in reference to age shall mean the age of 18 and over. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, association, society, club, corporation, financial institution, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, assignee or any other group or combination acting as a unit, the State or Federal Government or any political subdivision or agency of either government. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 111
Processor: means a person, firm, partnership, association or corporation first engaged in the fresh packing, canning, freezing, pressing, grinding, juicing or dehydrating of wild blueberries whether as owner, agent or otherwise. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 4302
Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
Tax: means the total amount required to be paid, withheld and paid over or collected and paid over with respect to estimated or actual tax liability under this Title, any credit or reimbursement allowed or paid pursuant to this Title that is recoverable by the assessor and any amount assessed by the assessor pursuant to this Title, including any interest or penalties provided by law. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 111
Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
Wild blueberries: means all lowbush blueberries grown, purchased, sold or handled for commercial purposes in this State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 36 Sec. 4302
Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

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.

[PL 2019, c. 186, §3 (AMD).]

3. Membership. The commission consists of 10 members who are active in and representative of the 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 in the State, 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 nation, tribe or band in the State. “Grower representative” does not include a processor representative. Grower representative members must be selected to represent grower representatives who pay both the processor and grower portions of the wild blueberry tax under this chapter and grower representatives who pay only the grower portion of the wild blueberry tax under this chapter. [PL 2019, c. 186, §4 (NEW).]

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 grown in the State in a calendar year. [PL 2019, c. 186, §4 (NEW).]

[PL 2019, c. 186, §4 (RPR).]

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.

[PL 2019, c. 186, §5 (AMD).]

5. Organization. Members of the commission shall elect annually by majority vote one member of the commission to serve as chair and one member to serve as vice-chair. The commission may appoint by majority vote an executive director who is the commission’s chief administrator and such personnel as the commission considers necessary to administer policies and programs established by the commission. The executive director and other staff serve at the pleasure of the commission. The salaries paid to the executive director and other staff of the commission are fixed by the commission. The executive director and other staff are not subject to the personnel laws of the State.