275.350.  Fees, collection of, commodity council merchandising fund created, lapse into general revenue prohibited — disposition of funds. — 1.  Any fee imposed under the commodity merchandising program shall be collected by the appropriate commodity council whether directly from the producers or indirectly from the handlers or processors as stipulated by the provision of the commodity merchandising program.  The councils are authorized to contract with the director pursuant to subsection 5 of this section to perform the duties of this section.  The director shall transfer any fees collected to the director of revenue.

  2.  If any merchandising fee is unpaid on the date on which the fee was due and payable, a penalty of one percent per month shall apply from and after that date until payment plus the penalty is received by the director.  If, after due notice, any person defaults in any payment of the fee or penalties thereon, the amount due may be collected by civil action, and the person adjudged in default shall pay the costs of the action.  The attorney general or, if requested by the attorney general, the prosecuting attorney of any county, in which a cause of action arose under the provisions for the collection of fees due and unpaid shall institute proper action in the courts of this state for the collection of fees and penalties thereon due and unpaid.  The statute of limitation period for the institution of suit for collection shall be one year.

  3.  All fees paid to the director for administration pursuant to section 275.370 shall be credited to the "Commodity Council Merchandising Fund" which is hereby created.  All money credited to the commodity council merchandising fund shall be appropriated by the general assembly for the use and benefit of the state department of agriculture and specified in the annual appropriations to said state department to be for administration of the commodity merchandising programs.  The unexpended balance in the commodity council merchandising fund at the end of the annual period shall not be transferred to the ordinary revenue fund of the state treasurer and accordingly shall be exempt from the provisions of section 33.080 relating to transfer of funds to the ordinary revenue funds of the state by the treasurer.

  4.  The revisions to the commodity merchandising councils act made by this section and effective July 10, 1998, shall not be deemed to be a major change for purposes of section 275.330.

  5.  The director may enter into contracts with appropriate commodity councils, at the request of the commodity councils, to collect, audit and administer checkoff funds and may retain only such fees for the cost of such services, to be deposited into the commodity council merchandising fund.  Such contracts shall be implemented as follows:

  (1)  All other fees paid to the director shall not be considered state funds and shall be administered by the director of revenue pursuant to Article IV, Section 15 of the Missouri Constitution.  The department of agriculture shall keep accurate records of the amount of money collected for each council and the records shall be open to the inspection of officers of the councils.  The director shall provide the director of revenue with the information and reports necessary to facilitate accurate distribution of moneys to the appropriate councils;

  (2)  Not later than the tenth day of each month, the director of revenue shall distribute all moneys deposited as nonstate funds during the preceding month to the treasurers of the appropriate councils, less all authorized refunds paid during the preceding month.  Moneys collected pursuant to national commodity assessment programs shall be distributed pursuant to law.