§6403 Referenda

Summary

Qualified industry groups can pay for a vote of propane producers and retail sellers to create a Propane Education and Research Council. The vote must be run by an independent auditing firm the groups agree on. Each vote is weighted by how much propane a person produced or sold in the previous calendar year (or another representative period), and voters must tell the auditor the volume their vote covers. If voters representing two-thirds of the retail marketer volume and two-thirds of the producer volume approve, the Council is created. The Council must repay the groups for referendum accounting and documentation costs and may then charge an assessment on odorized propane under the law. The Council can call a vote to end or pause itself, or must hold that vote if producers and retail sellers who together represent at least 35% of the volume in each class ask for it. The Council pays for that vote and hires an independent auditing firm it selects. Ending or pausing takes effect only if people representing more than one-half of the odorized propane volume in the retail marketer class and more than one-half of the producer volume approve, or if people representing more than two-thirds of the volume in either class approve.