The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Whereas milk revenue is critical to the economy, and whereas this segment of agriculture is experiencing increased price and weather volatility which has caused significant financial stress, therefore, the legislature establishes the milk revenue insurance project to help producers mitigate this risk at an affordable cost.
SECTION 2.
The commissioner of agriculture and the commissioner of insurance shall oversee the implementation of the milk revenue insurance pilot program. The milk revenue insurance program shall:
a) Utilize a rolling historical five-year average of the producer's annual milk revenue divided by the average number of cows that produced the milk for each year multiplied by the current herd size to estimate the expected current year revenue.
b) Allow producers to purchase milk revenue insurance to guarantee no less than 75% of the expected current year revenue and no more than 95% of the expected current year revenue.
c) If the producer’s current year revenue were less than the insured amount then a loss payment, calculated as the difference between the insured revenue and the current year revenue, would be made to the producer.
SECTION 3.
Eighteen months after implementation, the commissioner of agriculture and the commissioner of insurance shall release a joint report on the milk revenue insurance program to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, the House Committee on Ways and Means, the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Joint Committee on Insurance. This report shall include a twelve-month revenue projection, a list of receipts and loss payments, the percentage of eligible producers enrolled and any suggestions for the termination of or improvements to the milk revenue insurance program.
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