Hearing, Presubmission Schedule and Prehearing Conference; Milk Marketing Area No. 5 [28 Pa.B. 2192] Under the Milk Marketing Law (31 P. S. § 700j-101 et seq.) the Milk Marketing Board (Board) will conduct a public hearing for Milk Marketing Area No. 5 on June 30, 1998, commencing at 1 p.m. in Room 202 of the Agriculture Building, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA. If necessary, the hearing will be continued on July 1.
Purpose and scope of the hearing
The purpose of the hearing will be to receive testimony and exhibits concerning cost replacement in Milk Marketing Area No. 5, the evidence to be limited to the following:
1. Evidence of annualized costs for the processing, packaging and delivery cost centers based solely on audits of the cross-section milk dealers' financial statements (PMMB-60s) for the 1997 calendar year.
2. Evidence of costs for containers and ingredients based on audits of applicable invoices of the cross-section milk dealers dated not later than April 30, 1998.
3. Evidence of costs for purchasing Class II price-controlled packaged products based on audits of applicable invoices of the cross-section milk dealers dated not later than April 30, 1998, along with recommendations concerning a methodology for calculating the prices of products and container sizes for which no evidence of purchase costs is presented.
4. Evidence of labor, insurance and utility costs based on applicable data for the milk cost centers from the 1997 PMMB-60 reports of the cross-section milk dealers and offering a comparison of costs and bottling points for the first quarters of 1997 and 1998.
5. Evidence concerning a reasonable rate of return to milk dealers.
Entries of appearance
The staff of the Board is deemed to be a party to this hearing, and the attorneys representing staff are deemed to have entered their appearances. Other persons that may be affected by the Board order fixing prices in Area No. 5 may be included on the Board's list of parties by:
1. Having their counsel file with the Board, on or before May 20, 1998, a notice of appearance substantially in the form prescribed by 1 Pa. Code § 31.25, which shall identify by name and address the party on whose behalf the appearance is made.
Thereafter documents and other written communications required to be served upon or furnished to that party shall be sent to the attorney of record.
2. If unrepresented by counsel and wishing to appear on their own behalf under 1 Pa. Code § 31.21, filing with the Board, on or before May 20, 1998, an address to which documents and other written communications required to be served upon them or furnished to them may be sent.
Witnesses, exhibits, presentation of evidence
The parties shall observe the following requirements for advance filing of witness information and exhibits. The Board may exclude witnesses or exhibits of a party that fails to comply with these requirements. In addition, the parties shall have available in the hearing room at least 20 copies of each document for the use of nonparties attending the hearing.
1. On or before June 8, 1998, each party shall file with the Board seven copies and serve on all other parties one copy of:
a. A list of witnesses who will testify for the party, along with a statement of the subjects concerning which each witness will testify. A witness who will be offered as an expert shall be so identified, along with the witness's area or areas of proposed expertise.
b. Each exhibit to be presented, including testimony to be offered in written form.
2. On or before June 17, 1998, each party shall file and serve as set forth in paragraph 1 information concerning rebuttal witnesses and copies of rebuttal exhibits.
Parties that wish to offer in evidence documents on file with the Board, public documents or records in other proceedings before the Board, or who wish the Board to take official notice of facts, shall comply with, respectively, 1 Pa. Code § 35.164, 35.165, 35.167 or 35.173. Whenever these rules require production of a document as an exhibit, copies shall be provided to each Board member and to all other parties; in addition, at least 20 copies shall be available for distribution to nonparties attending the hearing.
Requests for data from Board staff
Requests by parties for Board staff to provide data pertinent to the hearing shall be made in writing and received in the Board office on or before May 29, 1998.
Prehearing conference
A prehearing conference for all parties will be held at 1:30 p.m. on June 24, 1998, in Room 110 of the Agriculture Building, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg. Parties shall come prepared to address requests for the production of documents relied on in formulating their testimony and exhibits.
Board's filing address
The filing address for the Board is Milk Marketing Board, Room 110, Agriculture Building, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110.
Persons who require this information in an alternate format, should call (717) 787-4194 or 1 (800) 654-5984 (PA Relay Service for TDD Users).
BEVERLY R. MINOR,
Chairperson[Pa.B. Doc. No. 98-747. Filed for public inspection May 8, 1998, 9:00 a.m.]
