(a) Only the first handler of rice is subject to the handler assessment and shall deduct the producer assessment from amounts paid by him or her to the producer and shall be a trustee of these assessments and assessments required to be paid by the handler until they are paid to the commission at the time and in the manner prescribed by the commission. Title to the assessments shall pass immediately to the commission and handlers shall hold the assessments in trust for the benefit of the commission and shall remit them, with assessment reports, in the time and manner specified by the commission. All first handlers, without regard to the volume handled, shall deduct and remit the producer assessment. Failure to collect the assessment from any producer shall not exempt the handler from liability. In addition, failure of a handler to remit the collected producer assessments to the commission shall not relieve the producer of this obligation.

(b) If rice is forfeited under a loan from the Commodity Credit Corporation, the handler shall pay both the producer and handler assessments if the rice is contracted to the handler. If the handler’s total volume for the marketing season is less than 100,000 hundredweight, only the producer assessment shall apply. If the rice forfeited under a loan from the Commodity Credit Corporation is not contracted to a handler, the producer shall pay both the handler and producer assessments. If the total volume handled by the producer during the marketing season is less than 100,000 hundredweight, only the producer assessment shall apply.

(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 567, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1999.)