We received great news Wednesday and it looks like we are headed for the big win that we have been waiting for, recognizing that the devil is in the details. We can’t celebrate quite yet, but we were told by our attorney Chip English who filed the lawsuit on our behalf, that the QIP did not have the authority to tax us because they didn’t follow the proper procedure, namely they didn’t have a hearing before the referendum when implementing the QIP.
CDFA has effectively acknowledged this in an email from the state Attorney General’s office and are in the process of putting together a plan of action designed to get the QIP to be implemented pursuant to the proper (and to date not followed) regulatory procedure. To do this, CDFA would have to go through the hearing process and if the hearing officer recommended amendments to the Pooling Plan (not the so-called QIP§, then any proposed QIP amendment to the Pooling Plan be voted on by the California producers, and the quota holders would need either 65% of the producers or 65% of the volume of milk produced voting in favor to put it into place. The only way there would not be a referendum, would be if the hearing officer concluded that the quota program should not continue now that we have the Federal Order.
We believe it is virtually impossible for the quota to pass under these circumstances, and we will keep everybody informed as this process starts to take shape. We also have 343 signatures on our new Chapter 3.5 petition, all signed and ready to go, just in case anything goes wrong. This means we are not taking any chances, so continue getting signed petitions to Debbie and Rachel. We will keep our Petitions ready and loaded, and you keep your ears and eyes open. We must remain vigilant until we see the final papers signed.
We know that you likely have questions and comments, but we respectfully ask that you hold off on those and allow us to update you as we have more information. Thank you, it is a total team effort, and we have a lot more thank you-s to announce, but it is not over yet.
Stay informed,
Stop QIP Dairy Tax
