Check-Off Funds for Stone?

The Natural Stone Council (NSC) announced on March 16 that the stone trade group would develop the effort to help expand the market for natural stone in the United States and increase demand of natural stone products.
The proposal closely follows the lead of U.S. commodity industries, such as beef, pork and dairy, in collecting per-unit fees from producers for programs to benefit the entire trade.
“Our goal is to increase the understanding of, preference for and consumption of natural stone,” said Gary Distelhorst, chairman of the NSC’s Check-off Committee. “Our current marketing efforts aren’t sustainable based solely on the generous donations of industry members, so we are seeking a way to fairly fund research and promotion of natural stone that will benefit us all.”
A check-off program must be authorized by Congress to start the program. Cornerstone Government Affairs, a Washington-based lobbing firm, is being retained to work on behalf of the NSC to further the passage of this legislation in Congress. Both Cornerstone and the NSC will work with the appropriate federal agencies and Congress to pass legislation authorizing the program.
Other federally approved check-off programs also require holding an industry referendum to start fee collections. The natural-stone check-off program, according to an NSC news release, ideally would be implemented by early 2010.
Revenue from the check-off program would be administered and approved by a government-appointed research and promotions board. The group would be representative of all industry segments – including importers – and would be responsible for allocating funds and approving business and marketing plans.
Board members would be nominated by industry leaders and appointed officially by a federal Cabinet secretary, who would also oversee the activities of the board and approve budgets in order to assure compliance with the authorizing legislation.
Current check-off programs bring in substantial funds from within their industries. With beef, the $1 per head fee charged whenever cattle are sold provided the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board – the “Beef Board” – with $42.9 million in fiscal 2008.
The check-off programs in other industries provided funding for, among other things, consumer promotions such as, “Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner,” and “Got Milk?”