6.__Due dates.__Handlers shall pay to the assessor the fee due for the preceding fee period not later than the 25th day of each calendar month and submit the information required by the assessor on the forms provided.

7.__Presumption.__In a proceeding against a retail handler for collection of the fee with respect to a particular container of packaged milk, there is a rebuttable presumption that that retail handler did not purchase that container in a transaction subject to the minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers established pursuant to Title 7, chapter 603.__The burden is on the retail handler to show that the retail handler purchased that container of packaged milk in a transaction subject to minimum wholesale prices paid to dealers established pursuant to Title 7, chapter 603.

8.__General Fund.__The assessor shall immediately pay all funds received from the milk handling fee to the Treasurer of State to be deposited in the General Fund.__The funds may not be dedicated to a particular purpose and may be used for all purposes of State Government.

9.__Maine Farms for the Future Program.__Notwithstanding subsection 8, the assessor shall pay $1,000,000 per year from the milk handling fee to the Maine Farms for the Future Program, established under Title 7, section 317.

Sec. 5. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL

SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF

Bureau of Revenue Services

Initiative: Provides funds to cover the initial costs of the Bureau of Revenue Services to administer the milk handling fee.

GENERAL FUND 2005-06

All Other $10,000

________

GENERAL FUND TOTAL $10,000

Sec. 6. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2006.