Montana Code 80-11-515. Annual commodity assessment — collection
80-11-515. Annual commodity assessment — collection. (1) The department, in consultation with each commodity advisory committee, shall, for each commodity associated with a research and marketing program, adopt by rule an annual assessment on program commodities grown, delivered, or stored in Montana and sold through commercial channels.
Terms Used In Montana Code 80-11-515
- Advisory committee: means a committee created by the department under authority of 80-11-510 for the purpose of advising the department on the implementation and administration of a commodity research and market development program established in 80-11-512. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- Commercial channels: means the sale of agricultural commodities for any use when sold to:
(a)a commercial buyer, dealer, processor, or cooperative;
(b)a person, public or private, who resells any agricultural commodity or product produced from crops grown in Montana; or
(c)a first purchaser in Montana. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- Commodity: means any agricultural crop, forage used by livestock, livestock, bird, fish, or value-added agricultural product that is grown or produced in or imported into Montana. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- 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.
- First purchaser: means a person, public or private, corporation, association, or partnership that buys, accepts for shipment, or otherwise acquires the property in or to agricultural commodities from a grower or producer. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Person: means a natural person, individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organized group of persons and any trustee, receiver, assignee, or similar representative. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- producer: means a person or landowner who is personally engaged in growing or producing agricultural commodities, a tenant of the landowner who is personally engaged in growing or producing commodities, or both the landowner and the tenant jointly. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- Sale: includes any mortgage or pledge of agricultural commodities to a person, public or private. See Montana Code 80-11-503
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)The assessments are levied and imposed:
(a)at the time of first sale of any commodity by a seller and must be collected by the first purchaser of the commodity from the seller at the time of each settlement for the commodity purchased;
(b)in the case of a mortgage or pledge of a commodity as security for a loan under any federal price support program, other than the commodity credit corporation, at the time that the loan is made and must be collected by the agency or person making the loan by deducting the amount of the assessment from the proceeds of the loan;
(c)in the case of a commodity pledged under the federal commodity credit corporation, at the time of purchase and must be collected at the time of purchase, not at the time that a lease or loan is made under the program; or
(d)as otherwise provided by department rule for the specific research or market development program.
(3)The assessments levied under the provisions of this section must be deducted and collected as provided by this part, whether the commodity is stored in Montana or any other state. The assessment attaches to each transaction, but a seller is not subject to assessment more than once regardless of the number of times that the commodity is the subject of a sale, mortgage, pledge, or other transaction. The assessment is imposed and attaches on the initial sale, mortgage, pledge, or other transaction in which the commodity seller parts with title to the commodity or creates some interest in the commodity in a mortgagee, pledgee, or other person.
(4)If the first purchaser is a foreign entity, the producer shall make a good faith effort to ensure that the assessment is collected as provided in this section and paid to the department as provided in 80-11-516.