(A) There is hereby created in the state treasury the agricultural commodity depositors fund. The state shall not be held liable for any claims presented against the fund under section 926.18 of the Revised Code. The fund shall consist of a per-bushel fee remitted by licensed handlers under this section, any sums that the director of agriculture may collect by any legal action on behalf of the fund, and any property or securities acquired through the use of moneys in the fund. All investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund. The moneys in the fund shall be used exclusively to indemnify depositors as provided in section 926.18 of the Revised Code and to pay the examination and administrative costs of this chapter as provided in division (E) of this section.

(B) All licensed handlers shall remit the fee determined by the director in accordance with section 926.17 of the Revised Code on:

(1) All agricultural commodities delivered to them for storage under a bailment agreement or for sale, exchange, or negotiation or solicitation of sale by depositors who produced them or caused them to be produced;

(2) All agricultural commodities delivered to them for storage under a bailment agreement, regardless of who produced the commodities, if a receipt is to be issued for the commodities;

(3) All agricultural commodities that are being stored by licensed handlers who own them solely, jointly, or in common with others and who are issuing a receipt for them in accordance with section 926.25 of the Revised Code. The maximum number of bushels on which a licensed handler shall be required to pay the fee under division (B)(3) of this section between the first day of July and the thirtieth day of June of any marketing year shall be the greatest number of bushels of all commodities for which receipts are outstanding at any one time during that period.

(4) All agricultural commodities that are not involved in a transaction described in division (B)(1), (2), or (3) of this section and the monetary proceeds of which are controlled by a handler who is not involved in the production of the commodities and who serves as an intermediary between the producer and a handler receiving the commodities. In such a situation, the handler responsible for paying the producer shall remit the fee.

(C) All licensed handlers shall account for and remit moneys under division (B) of this section to the director in such manner and using such forms as the director shall prescribe by rule.

(D) All disbursements from the fund shall be paid by the treasurer of state pursuant to vouchers authorized by the director.

(E) At the request of the director of agriculture , the director of budget and management shall transfer not more than five hundred thousand dollars per fiscal year from the agricultural commodity depositors fund to the commodity handler regulatory program fund created in section 926.19 of the Revised Code to pay the examination and administrative costs of this chapter.

Effective Date: 07-29-1998; 11-05-2004