Summary#
SB 1210 would amend section 9 of Michigan’s Agricultural Commodities Marketing Act. Its main change is a 10-year limit on holding money collected through a marketing program; the stated title describes this as limiting how long a cooperative may hold members’ funds, but the bill text addresses marketing-program assessments. The bill’s goal is not separately stated in the text.
- Money collected through a marketing program must not be held for more than 10 years after it is received. After that, it must be refunded proportionally to the people assessed.
- A marketing program that is already holding money past that limit when the bill takes effect would have two years to make the refunds.
- The existing text allows a committee to carry unused assessment money into later seasons if it finds the money may be needed for program costs. Under the bill, that carryover would be subject to the 10-year limit.
- The bill is at the introduced stage and is not law. The supplied material does not give an effective date.
What it means for you#
- People who paid assessments: If assessment money is still held 10 years after it was received, it must be refunded proportionally to the people it was collected from. The bill does not set out how those people would be located or paid.
- Marketing-program committees: They could still carry money into later seasons if they find it may be needed for program costs, but could not hold assessment money beyond 10 years.
- Cooperatives and their members: Despite the bill’s title, the operative text concerns assessments collected under a marketing program. It does not set a general limit on cooperatives holding members’ funds.
- People affected by a program ending: The supplied text also says remaining money not needed for program expenses must be refunded. It allows a small amount that would be impractical to calculate and refund to be used for specified department costs or agricultural research. Royalties, licence fees, or other assets received after a program ends must go to an eligible higher-education institution, as determined by the director. The bill text does not clearly show whether these provisions are being substantively changed.
Money#
No publicly available information on the bill’s cost.
- The bill requires refunds of assessment money that reaches the 10-year limit, including money held by programs that get the two-year transition period.
- It does not state how much money is currently held, how many refunds would be due, or what it would cost to calculate and issue them.
What is unclear#
- The underlying 1965 Act was not supplied, so the full current law and the exact effect of other wording changes could not be verified.
- The bill does not define what it means for money to be “held,” or explain how to apply the limit if money is combined or moved between accounts.
- It does not set out refund procedures, deadlines for individual refunds, or what happens if the people who paid cannot be identified.
- The bill does not state its effective date. That date would determine when the two-year transition period begins.
- The text does not explain how the assessment-fund rule relates to cooperatives, despite the title’s reference to cooperatives.
Case for#
- A 10-year cap would prevent assessment money from being kept indefinitely and require it to be returned to the people who paid it.
- The bill still allows money to be carried into later seasons when a committee finds it may be needed for program costs.
- Giving programs already over the limit two years to refund the money gives them time to make the required payments.
Case against#
- A fixed 10-year limit could require refunds even when a program expects to need the money for future costs; the bill provides no exception to the limit.
- Finding past contributors and calculating proportional refunds could take staff time and money. The bill does not specify how this work would be done or funded.
- The title may lead readers to expect a rule about cooperative members’ funds, but the operative text is about marketing-program assessments.