(1) The assessment on all milk processed in this state shall be fifty-three and one-half hundredths of one cent per hundredweight.

(2) All assessments shall be levied on the operator of the first milk plant receiving the milk for processing. This includes milk plants producing their own milk for processing and milk plants that receive milk from other sources.

(3) All assessments shall be in addition to those collected under chapter 15.44 RCW and/or Title 142 WAC.