§6007 Assessments

Summary

Charge a fee on every pecan grown in the United States or brought into the United States when those pecans are sold. That fee is taken out of the grower’s pay when pecans are sold to a first handler. Only one fee can be charged on any lot of pecans. First handlers and importers must send the fees to the Board. First handlers who are not grower-shellers must pay by the last day of the month after they bought or sold the pecans. Grower-shellers should, when possible, pay in three installments on January 31, March 31, and May 10 (or other dates the Board and the Secretary agree). Importers pay when the pecans enter the country. The Board suggests fee rates and the Secretary approves them. During the start-up period before a referendum, the fee cannot be more than one-half cent per pound for in-shell pecans; after that period it can be up to 2 cents per pound. Shelled pecans are charged twice the in-shell rate. A State may ask to collect a special one-quarter cent per pound (and the matching shelled rate) to fund state pecan research and promotion; the Board will collect and pass that money to the State but will not enforce collection beyond giving names and amounts. The Board, with the Secretary’s OK, can set a late-payment charge. While the program is starting and until the referendum, the Board must put 10 percent of the fees it collects into an escrow account for possible refunds. Growers, grower-shellers, or importers who paid fees can ask once for a refund from that escrow if they paid, do not support the program, ask before the referendum, and the plan is not approved. Refund claims must follow the Board’s rules and prove payment. If the plan is approved in the referendum, all money in the escrow goes back to the Board for use under the program.