03-31790. Milk in the Pacific Northwest and Arizona-Las Vegas Marketing Areas; Reconvening of Hearing on Proposed Amendments to Tentative Marketing Agreements and Orders

7 CFR part	Marketing area	AO Nos.
1124	Pacific Northwest	AO-368-A32
1131	Arizona-Las Vegas	AO-271-A37

AGENCY:

Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Proposed Rule; Notice of reconvened public hearing on proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces the reconvening of the public hearing begun on September 23, 2003, in Tempe, Arizona, and reconvened on November 17, 2003, in Seattle, Washington, to consider proposals to amend the producer-handler provisions of the Arizona-Las Vegas and Pacific Northwest orders and to consider elimination of the ability to simultaneously pool the same milk on the Arizona-Las Vegas milk order and on a State-operated order that provides for marketwide pooling. The proposals seek to, among other things, end the regulatory exemption of producer-handlers from the pooling and pricing provisions of these two milk marketing orders if their Class I route distribution exceeds three million pounds of milk per month in either order.

DATES:

The hearing will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2004.

ADDRESSES:

The reconvened hearing will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel Alexandria, 1900 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, VA 22314, telephone: [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jack Rower, Marketing Specialist, Order Formulation and Enforcement Branch, USDA/AMS/Dairy Programs, STOP 0231-Room 2971, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-0231, [phone], e-mail address [e-mail].

Persons requiring a sign language interpreter or other special accommodations should contact Joanne Walter via email [e-mail] before the reconvened hearing begins.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Prior documents in this proceeding:

Notice of Hearing: Issued July 31, 2003; published August 6, 2003 (68 FR 46505).

Correction to Notice of Hearing: Issued August 20, 2003; published August 26, 2003 (68 FR 51202).

Notice of Reconvened Hearing: Issued October 27, 2003; published October 31, 2003 (68 FR 62027).

Notice is hereby given that the reconvened hearing that was adjourned in Seattle, Washington, on November 21, 2003, by the Administrative Law Judge designated to hold said hearing and preside thereof will reconvene in session at 8:30 a.m., January 20, 2004, at the Embassy Suites Hotel Alexandria Hotel, 1900 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, VA 22314. At this reconvened hearing, additional testimony will be received on proposed amendments 1 through 5, listed in the initial hearing notice (68 FR 46505) and as corrected (68 FR 51202), to the tentative marketing agreements and to the orders regulating the handling of milk in the Arizona-Las Vegas and Pacific Northwest marketing areas.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Parts 1124 and 1131

• Milk marketing orders

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.

Dated: December 18, 2003.

A.J. Yates,

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.