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AG says milk board lacks authority to regulate prices Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The Milk Stabilization Board likely lacks authority to regulate milk prices on its own, the state attorney general's office said in an opinion Wednesday. Rep. Dan Greenberg, R-Little Rock, requested the opinion out of concern that Act 754 of 2007, which created the board, violated the state constitution. "The plain language of the act suggests the regulation of milk prices might be one of the board's powers," Greenberg said. He said he did not believe the board should be able to unilaterally raise or lower milk prices. He said he sought an attorney general's opinion after asking five House colleagues whether they thought the law gave the board power to set milk prices and getting five different responses. In Wednesday's opinion, attorney general's office said the "act is not entirely clear on this point, but the board likely lacks authority to set prices without further action of the General Assembly because there are no clear guidelines by which the board might regulate prices." Greenberg said he was pleased with the opinion. "I think it is appropriate for the government to keep an eye on milk prices, but I'm less comfortable that we should do direct price regulation," he said. Greenberg, who opposed the creation of a Milk Stabilization Board last year, said he thought the AG's opinion might make the board useless. "I'm not sure what it can do now if it has no teeth and can't regulate milk prices," he said. Rep. Johnny Hoyt, D-Conway, sponsor of the legislation creating the board, and Woody Bryant, chairman of the board, both said they agreed with the attorney general's opinion. They also said the board is considering a variety of possible ways to increase milk production in Arkansas and save more dairies from going out of business. "Our job is to come up with some type of plan that can help stabilize the income of dairy farmers so we can stop losing dairy farms and enhance the income so maybe other people will want to start a dairy farm in Arkansas and hopefully create a larger volume of milk in Arkansas," said Bryant, who owns a dairy farm in White County. He said the board has met five times and is to meet again Feb. 14. Tax credits for dairy farmers and state grants have been discussed as possible ways to assist farmers, he said. "Regulating the price of milk is not something (the board) can do," Hoyt said. |
