LD 1572
pg. 5
Page 4 of 7 An Act To Amend the Potato Industry Licensing Laws Page 6 of 7
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LR 545
Item 1

 
N.__That the applicant or licensee has failed to maintain a
bond to ensure financial responsibility to producers or
other licensees as required under section 1015.

 
The District Court may, in a manner consistent with the Maine
Administrative Procedure Act, suspend or revoke a license upon
finding any of the enumerated violations within 2 years of the
date of the filing of a complaint.

 
Sec. 3. 7 MRSA §1017, sub-§4, as amended by PL 1997, c. 606, §11 and
PL 1999, c. 547, Pt. B, §78 and affected by §80, is further
amended to read:

 
4. Notification of insufficient or no payment. Producers may
notify the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources of
insufficient or no payment for potatoes or rotation crops
delivered to after acceptance by any processor in the State in
violation of subsection 1, paragraph B.

 
A. The Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Resources or the commissioner's agent, upon notification by
producers of insufficient or no payment, shall immediately
investigate the complaint and shall, in a manner consistent
with the provisions of the Maine Administrative Procedure
Act as to adjudicatory proceedings, hold a hearing, unless
such hearing is waived by the processor against whom the
charge has been made. The processor accused of nonpayment
shall provide the commissioner with a copy of the contract,
if any, and all other materials and information to enable
the commissioner to carry out the provisions of this
section. Upon finding after investigation that the processor
has violated the contract, express or implied, the
commissioner may recover the proceeds of the bond required
by section 1015 and apply those proceeds against the amounts
owed producers.__In the event the bond proceeds are
inadequate to cover the debts owed producers, the
commissioner shall require the processor to post a an
additional bond sufficient to cover the remaining debt owed
to the producer or producers.

 
(1) The commissioner may require the licensee, who has
been accused or found guilty after a hearing of
insufficient payment or nonpayment of debts owed a
producer, to formulate a schedule of payments to the
producer that is satisfactory to the commissioner. The
schedule of payments may not exceed a 30-day period.

 
(2) The licensee accused of or found by a hearing to be in
default of payment to a producer shall submit a payment schedule
to the commissioner within one week


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