§6403 Referenda

Summary

Qualified industry groups can pay to hold a vote of propane producers and retail marketers to create a Propane Education and Research Council. An independent auditing firm the groups agree on must run the vote. If the Council is created, it must repay the groups for referendum accounting and paperwork. Votes are counted by how much propane a person produced or sold (based on the previous calendar year or another representative period). The Council is created only if voters representing two-thirds of the propane volume in the retail marketer class and two-thirds in the producer class approve. Everyone who votes must tell the auditor the volume their vote represents. If created, the Council may charge an assessment on odorized propane under section 6405. The Council must hold, at its own cost, a vote to suspend or end the Council if it asks for one or if producers and retail marketers representing 35% of the volume in each class petition for it. The Council picks the independent auditor for that vote. Suspension or termination will not take effect unless approved by people representing more than half the odorized propane volume in the retail marketer class and more than half the propane volume in the producer class, or by people representing more than two-thirds of the volume in either class.