(a)
Each producer and producer-handler shall pay fees established for each hundredweight of milk produced by him or her in the state and delivered to a handler. The fees shall be collected by the first handler that purchases, or otherwise acquires possession or control of, this milk by deducting the fee from any payment which is due the producer for this milk. Each producer-handler shall pay the fee on his or her own production. For the purposes of this article, a handler that sells unprocessed milk, of which he or she has the right to possession or control by contract or otherwise, to another handler, and delivers this milk in unprocessed form to this other handler or causes this milk to be delivered to this other handler directly from the producer, is the first handler of this milk.
(b)
For the purpose of this chapter, the class 1 fee of each producer shall be determined on the hundredweight equivalent computed by combining the class 1 fat usage and the class 1 skim usage included in the payment to the producer. This skim usage shall be computed by dividing the solids-not-fat usage by the monthly average solids-not-fat test of skim milk first received from the producer by handlers or producer-handlers.
(c)
The fee of each producer for all other milk shall be determined on the total hundredweight of milk produced and delivered remaining after deducting the class 1 equivalent as computed herein.
(d)
The collection of fees to be paid by handlers, including producer-handlers, pursuant to Section 64303 is to be used for the handler portion of council assessments only, and shall not affect payments of producers, nor in any way change the method of producer payment for milk.