Also on the cold-beverage front, the venerable Milk Commission will be dismantled July 1 and its responsibilities transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Created in 1934, the commission “ensures that the citizens of the Commonwealth have a constant, available and reasonably priced supply of milk,” according to its mission statement. The agency runs on money collected from the milk industry, not state funds, but the state decided to consolidate it in the name of efficiency. The change will cost $755,801 in general fund money and add 10 jobs.

Net increase to the state funds as a result of ABC and Milk Commission plans for fiscal years 2003 and 2004: $7,564,199. — Melissa Scott Sinclair