On April 28, 1997, the Commission issued a Proposed Rule premised on the formal findings of fact required by the Compact that reflected the by-now extensive record.[1] The Commission’s proposed rule would establish a flat or fixed over-order obligation of $16.94, to last for six months from July to December 1997.[2]
With regard
to the finding related to dairy farm pricing, the Commission determined that price regulation was necessary to “address chronic pricing problems”
including “the volatility of farmer milk prices[,] . . . their chronic insufficiency, [and] the
failure of prices to adjust for inflation.”[3]
The Commission also found that the stabilizing function of the regulation would be in the broader public interest, including that of consumers.
Notwithstanding this determination, the Commission included a provision
providing for reimbursement to the state WIC programs for the entire amount of the over-order
obligation, a “hold harmless” safeguard. [4]