414.570. 1. The council shall set the initial assessment at no greater than one-tenth of one cent per gallon. Thereafter, annual assessments shall be sufficient to cover the costs of the plans and programs developed by the council and approved by the director. The assessment shall not be greater than one-half cent per gallon of odorized propane. The assessment may not be raised by more than one-tenth of one cent per gallon annually.
2. The owner of propane immediately prior to odorization in this state or the owner at the time of import into this state of odorized propane shall be responsible for the payment of the assessment on the volume of propane at the time of import or odorization, whichever is later. Assessments shall be remitted to the council on a monthly basis by the twenty-fifth of the month following the month of collection. Nonodorized propane shall not be subject to assessment until odorized.
3. The director may by regulation, with the concurrence of the council, establish an alternative means for the council to collect the assessment if another means is found to be more efficient and effective. The director may by regulation establish a late payment charge and rate of interest to be imposed on any person who fails to remit to the council any amount due under sections 414.500 to 414.590.
4. Pending disbursement pursuant to a program, plan or project, the council may invest funds collected through assessments and any other funds received by the council only in obligations of the United States or any agency thereof, in general obligations of any state or any political subdivision thereof, in any interest-bearing account or certificate of deposit of a bank that is a member of the Federal Reserve System, or in obligations fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States.
5. The National Propane Education and Research Council, in conjunction with the United States Secretary of Energy may, by regulation, establish a program coordinating the operation of its council with the council established in section 414.530. This may include an assessment rebate, if adopted, of an amount up to twenty-five percent of the National Propane Education and Research Council assessment collected on Missouri distributed odorized propane as presented and described in section nine of the federal Propane Education and Research Act of 1992. Should the National Propane Education and Research Council, as part of the federal Propane Education and Research Act of 1992, establish such an assessment rebate on fees collected by such council, then all funds from such federal assessment rebate shall be the property of the Missouri council as established by section 414.530, and* the use of such funds shall be determined by the Missouri council for the purposes as intended and presented in sections 414.500 to 414.590.
(L. 1993 S.B. 178 § 8)*Word "that" appears here in original rolls.