The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 mandates the US Secretary of Agriculture to reform the Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO) on or before April 1,1999. This reform effort must reduce the number of FMMO's from the existing 31 to net less than 10 and not more than 14. A FMMO must be reserved for California should dairy farmers in that State choose to petition the Secretary to have their marketings of milk regulated under the Federal Milk Marketing Order Program. In the process of order consolidation, the Secretary is authorized (but not mandated) to review other aspects of the order program, including: (i) the use of utilization rates and multiple basing points for the pricing of fluid milk and (ii) the use of uniform multiple component pricing when developing one or more basic formula prices for manufacturing milk.