119-63.7. Termination of assessment.

(a) Upon the Commissioner's receipt of a petition signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the dealers requesting a referendum pursuant to this section, or a receipt of a petition signed by at least fifty percent (50%) of the distributors requesting a referendum pursuant to this section, the Department shall notify the Foundation, and the Foundation shall, within six months, conduct a referendum upon the question of continuing the assessment. If a majority of the votes eligible to be cast by dealers in the referendum are cast against continuing the assessment then in effect and a majority of the votes eligible to be cast by distributors in the referendum are cast against continuing the assessment then in effect, or if the Foundation fails to conduct a referendum within the six-month period, the assessment expires at the end of the year that follows the year in which the Commissioner received a petition pursuant to this section. If more than two-thirds of the eligible votes cast by dealers and more than two-thirds of the eligible votes cast by distributors in the referendum conducted pursuant to this section are in favor of continuing the assessment, then no subsequent referendum shall be required to be conducted pursuant to this section for a period of at least three years from the date the petition was received by the Commissioner.

(b) The Foundation may, on its own initiative, conduct a referendum at any time upon the question of continuing the assessment. If a majority of the votes eligible to be cast by dealers in the referendum are cast against continuing the assessment and if a majority of the votes eligible to be cast by distributors in the referendum are cast against continuing the assessment, the assessment then in effect expires at the end of the year that follows the year in which the referendum was conducted.

(c) The Foundation shall certify to the Department the election results of any referendum conducted pursuant to this Article and shall provide the Department, upon written request, with any documents, papers, tallies, or other information related to the conduct of any referendum conducted by the Foundation.