(a) Each vested milk dealer shall, in addition to a bond, when less than 75% of the maximum amount owed, also be required to pay monthly 2¢ per hundredweight to the board on all milk purchased from producers during the prior month. The board shall maintain the moneys received in an interest- bearing account and the moneys, including interest, shall be credited to the account of each individual paying vested milk dealer. In the event a vested milk dealer defaults in payment to producers, the moneys submitted by the defaulting vested milk dealer, including interest, shall be made available to the producers shipping to the defaulting vested milk dealer.

(b) At the time the value of the bond and the security fund moneys credited to each vested milk dealer shall equal the total amount owed for the above mentioned 40-day payment period, the payments to the fund shall cease or may, with the approval of the board, be used to decrease the value of the bond at the end of the license year. Should the vested milk dealer agree to post a bond for a minimum of 75% of the highest aggregate amount owed for the 40-day pay period, payment to the security fund shall not be required.

(c) Nothing shall prevent any vested milk dealer from increasing the vested milk dealer's bond beyond the 30% nor increasing the amount paid into the security fund credited to the vested milk dealer to provide additional protection for the vested milk dealer's producers.

(d) At the time a vested milk dealer discontinues purchasing milk from producers, after all the producers are paid in full, the moneys, including interest and minus the administrative fee, as provided for in subsection (e), shall be returned to the vested milk dealer.

(e) The board may impose an administrative fee on the security fund moneys on an annual basis at not more than .5% of the total fund.

(f) Any security fund established and maintained under this section shall be considered a security trust fund for the exclusive benefit of producers supplying milk to the vested milk dealer paying into the fund. No claims of the Commonwealth or any other person may be made against the fund until all amounts due to producers for supplying milk to the vested milk dealer have been paid. Amounts paid into the security trust fund shall be considered an expense to the vested milk dealer necessary for maintaining a license and shall not be considered an asset of the vested milk dealer.