Georgia § 2-8-211 - Requirement for referendum; voters and voting rights; approval; record keeping; confidentiality.

§ 2-8-211. Requirement for referendum; voters and voting rights; approval; record keeping; confidentiality.

No marketing order issued pursuant to this article shall be made effective by the commission until a referendum thereon is held. The commission shall determine: The amount of the proposed assessment established by the marketing order; The time and place of the referendum; Procedures for conducting the referendum and the counting of votes; The proposed effective date for the imposition of the assessment established by the marketing order, which shall be no be less than 90 days from the date the referendum ballot is required to be returned to the commission in order to be considered on the question presented; and Any other matters pertaining to the referendum. The amount of the proposed assessment established by the marketing order shall be stated on the referendum ballot. The amount may not exceed four-tenths of one cent for each gallon of propane sold in this state by distributors to dealers. All dealers may vote in the referendum. Each dealer shall have one vote. Any dispute over eligibility to vote or any other matter relating to the referendum shall be resolved by the commission. The commission shall make reasonable efforts to provide all dealers with notice of the referendum and an opportunity to vote. A proposed assessment shall become effective if more than 50 percent of the eligible dealers in the state vote and more than 50 percent of the eligible votes cast by the dealers are cast in favor of the assessment. If the assessment is approved by the referendum, then the commission shall notify the department of the amount and the effective date of the assessment. The department shall notify all dealers of the assessment. Each distributor, as the owner of propane at the time of odorization, or at the time of import of odorized propane, shall make the assessment based on the volume of odorized propane sold in this state and placed in commerce in this state. Each distributor shall collect the assessment from the dealer to whom the sale is made and shall remit to the commission the sum of the amount of the assessment multiplied by the number of gallons of propane sold to any dealer during the assessment period. A distributor shall keep records of the number of gallons of propane sold to dealers. All documents or records regarding purchases and sales shall be made available to the commission upon its written request for the purpose of determining the distributor's compliance with the provisions of this article. The commission shall keep the records confidential and shall not disclose the records except to its accountants, attorneys, or financial advisors without a court order directing it to do so. (Code 1981, § 2-8-211 , enacted by Ga. L. 2019, p. 91, § 1/HB 512.)