HF 1766

1st Engrossment - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to ethanol producer payments; eliminating a 
  1.3             requirement for ownership disclosure; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 41A.09, 
  1.5             subdivision 3a. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  1.8   41A.09, subdivision 3a, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 3a.  [ETHANOL PRODUCER PAYMENTS.] (a) The 
  1.10  commissioner shall make cash payments to producers of ethanol 
  1.11  located in the state that have begun production by June 30, 2000.
  1.12  For the purpose of this subdivision, an entity that holds a 
  1.13  controlling interest in more than one ethanol plant is 
  1.14  considered a single producer.  The amount of the payment for 
  1.15  each producer's annual production, except as provided in 
  1.16  paragraph (c), is 20 cents per gallon for each gallon of ethanol 
  1.17  produced on or before June 30, 2000, or ten years after the 
  1.18  start of production, whichever is later.  The first claim for 
  1.19  production after June 30, 2003, must be accompanied by Annually, 
  1.20  within 90 days of the end of its fiscal year, an ethanol 
  1.21  producer receiving payments under this subdivision must file a 
  1.22  disclosure statement on a form provided by the commissioner.  
  1.23  The initial disclosure statement must include a detailed summary 
  1.24  description of the organization of the business structure of the 
  1.25  claimant, a listing of the percentages of ownership by any 
  2.1   person or other entity with an ownership interest of five 
  2.2   percent or greater, the distribution of income received by the 
  2.3   claimant, including operating income and payments under this 
  2.4   subdivision and a copy of its annual audited financial 
  2.5   statements, including the auditor's report and footnotes.  The 
  2.6   disclosure statement must include information sufficient to 
  2.7   demonstrate that a majority of the ultimate beneficial interest 
  2.8   in the demonstrating what percentage of the entity receiving 
  2.9   payments under this section is owned by farmers or spouses of 
  2.10  farmers, as defined in or other entities eligible to farm or own 
  2.11  agricultural land in Minnesota under the provisions of section 
  2.12  500.24, residing in Minnesota.  Subsequent quarterly claims 
  2.13  reports must report reflect noncumulative changes in ownership 
  2.14  of ten percent or more of the entity.  Payments must not be made 
  2.15  to a claimant that has less than a majority of Minnesota farmer 
  2.16  control except that the commissioner may grant an exemption from 
  2.17  the farmer majority ownership requirement to a claimant that, on 
  2.18  May 29, 2003, has demonstrated greater than 40 percent farmer 
  2.19  ownership which, when combined with ownership interests of 
  2.20  persons residing within 30 miles of the plant, exceeds 50 
  2.21  percent.  In addition, a claimant located in a city of the first 
  2.22  class which qualifies for payments in all other respects is not 
  2.23  subject to this condition.  Information provided under this 
  2.24  paragraph is The report need not disclose the identity of the 
  2.25  persons or entities eligible to farm or own agricultural land 
  2.26  with ownership interests, individuals residing within 30 miles 
  2.27  of the plant, or of any other entity with less than ten percent 
  2.28  ownership interest, but the claimant must retain information 
  2.29  within its files confirming the accuracy of the data provided.  
  2.30  This data must be made available to the commissioner upon 
  2.31  request.  Not later than the 15th day of February in each year 
  2.32  the commissioner shall deliver to the chairs of the standing 
  2.33  committees of the senate and the house of representatives that 
  2.34  deal with agricultural policy and agricultural finance issues an 
  2.35  annual report summarizing aggregated data from plants receiving 
  2.36  payments under this section during the preceding calendar year.  
  3.1   Audited financial statements and notes and disclosure statements 
  3.2   submitted to the commissioner are nonpublic data under section 
  3.3   13.02, subdivision 9.  Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 
  3.4   13 relating to nonpublic data, summaries of the submitted 
  3.5   audited financial reports and notes and disclosure statements 
  3.6   will be contained in the report to the committee chairs and will 
  3.7   be public data.  
  3.8      (b) No payments shall be made for ethanol production that 
  3.9   occurs after June 30, 2010.  
  3.10     (c) If the level of production at an ethanol plant 
  3.11  increases due to an increase in the production capacity of the 
  3.12  plant, the payment under paragraph (a) applies to the additional 
  3.13  increment of production until ten years after the increased 
  3.14  production began.  Once a plant's production capacity reaches 
  3.15  15,000,000 gallons per year, no additional increment will 
  3.16  qualify for the payment. 
  3.17     (d) Total payments under paragraphs (a) and (c) to a 
  3.18  producer in a fiscal year may not exceed $3,000,000. 
  3.19     (e) By the last day of October, January, April, and July, 
  3.20  each producer shall file a claim for payment for ethanol 
  3.21  production during the preceding three calendar months.  A 
  3.22  producer that files a claim under this subdivision shall include 
  3.23  a statement of the producer's total ethanol production in 
  3.24  Minnesota during the quarter covered by the claim.  For each 
  3.25  claim and statement of total ethanol production filed under this 
  3.26  subdivision, the volume of ethanol production must be examined 
  3.27  by an independent certified public accountant in accordance with 
  3.28  standards established by the American Institute of Certified 
  3.29  Public Accountants. 
  3.30     (f) Payments shall be made November 15, February 15, May 
  3.31  15, and August 15.  A separate payment shall be made for each 
  3.32  claim filed.  Except as provided in paragraph (g), the total 
  3.33  quarterly payment to a producer under this paragraph may not 
  3.34  exceed $750,000.  
  3.35     (g) Notwithstanding the quarterly payment limits of 
  3.36  paragraph (f), the commissioner shall make an additional payment 
  4.1   in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year to ethanol producers 
  4.2   for the lesser of:  (1) 20 cents per gallon of production in the 
  4.3   fourth quarter of the year that is greater than 3,750,000 
  4.4   gallons; or (2) the total amount of payments lost during the 
  4.5   first three quarters of the fiscal year due to plant outages, 
  4.6   repair, or major maintenance.  Total payments to an ethanol 
  4.7   producer in a fiscal year, including any payment under this 
  4.8   paragraph, must not exceed the total amount the producer is 
  4.9   eligible to receive based on the producer's approved production 
  4.10  capacity.  The provisions of this paragraph apply only to 
  4.11  production losses that occur in quarters beginning after 
  4.12  December 31, 1999. 
  4.13     (h) The commissioner shall reimburse ethanol producers for 
  4.14  any deficiency in payments during earlier quarters if the 
  4.15  deficiency occurred because appropriated money was insufficient 
  4.16  to make timely payments in the full amount provided in paragraph 
  4.17  (a).  Notwithstanding the quarterly or annual payment 
  4.18  limitations in this subdivision, the commissioner shall begin 
  4.19  making payments for earlier deficiencies in each fiscal year 
  4.20  that appropriations for ethanol payments exceed the amount 
  4.21  required to make eligible scheduled payments.  Payments for 
  4.22  earlier deficiencies must continue until the deficiencies for 
  4.23  each producer are paid in full. 
  4.24     Sec. 2.  [DELAYED PAYMENTS IN 2003.] 
  4.25     Not later than 60 days after the effective date of section 
  4.26  1, the commissioner of agriculture shall pay any producer denied 
  4.27  payment for failure to meet the ownership and reporting 
  4.28  requirements imposed by Laws 2003, chapter 128, article 3, 
  4.29  section 38, the amount to which the producer would have been 
  4.30  otherwise entitled. 
  4.31     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  4.32     Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final 
  4.33  enactment.