(a) Each producer shall pay each month an assessment of $0.10 per hundredweight from the price paid to the producer for milk produced by him or her and received by a handler. The funds shall be deducted from the producer's check, and the deduction identified on the producer's statement furnished by the handler. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 10 of this title, the assessment on the producer imposed by this subchapter shall be collected by and paid to the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets of the State of Vermont, and shall be paid by him or her to the Treasurer of the State of Vermont, to be held by the Treasurer in a separate account entitled "Vermont Dairy Promotion Fund." The interest earned by the Fund shall be retained as part of the Fund and shall be disbursed as provided by the provisions of this subchapter. Each handler receiving milk from a producer shall be liable for the assessment due under this subchapter from the producer; and each handler shall withhold from monies due any producer the assessment due from that producer to the State under this subchapter, shall be responsible to the Secretary for the payment and collection thereof, and shall not be liable to the producer or to any other person for the amount of the payment if the payment is paid to the State.

(b) [Repealed.]  (Added 1965, No. 175, § 61; amended 1966, No. 52 (Sp. Sess.), § 1, eff. March 12, 1966; 1979, No. 101 (Adj. Sess.), § 5; 1981, No. 198 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. April 22, 1982; 1987, No. 6, § 2, eff. April 1, 1987; 1989, No. 256 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; 1991, No. 232 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 1999, No. 49, § 123; 2003, No. 42, § 2, eff. May 27, 2003; 2007, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. May 20, 2008; 2015, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 18.)