[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18539-18540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8947]
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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 70 / Wednesday, April 12, 1995 /
Rules and Regulations
[[Page 18539]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Part 932
[Docket No. FV94-932-2FIR]
Olives Grown in California; Expenses and Assessment Rate for 1995
Fiscal Year
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture (Department) is adopting as a
final rule, without change, the provisions of an interim final rule
that authorized expenses and established an assessment rate for the
California Olive Committee (Committee) under Marketing Order No. 932
for the 1995 fiscal year. Authorization of this budget enables the
Committee to incur expenses that are reasonable and necessary to
administer this program. Funds to administer this program are derived
from assessments on handlers.
EFFECTIVE DATES: January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1995.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline C. Thorpe, Marketing Order
Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O.
Box 96456, room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, telephone: (202)
720-5127; or Terry Vawter, California Marketing Field Office, Fruit and
Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey Street, suite 102B,
Fresno, California 93721, telephone: (209) 487-5901.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing
Agreement and Order No. 932 (7 CFR part 932), as amended, regulating
the handling of olives grown in California. The marketing agreement and
order are effective under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of
1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), hereinafter referred to as the
``Act.''
The Department is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive
Order 12866.
This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,
Civil Justice Reform. Under the marketing order provisions now in
effect, olives grown in California are subject to assessments. It is
intended that the assessment rate specified herein will be applicable
to all assessable olives and expenses applied to the 1995 fiscal year,
beginning January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1995. This final rule
will not preempt any state or local laws, regulations, or policies,
unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule.
The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 608c(15)(A) of the
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with the Secretary a
petition stating that the order, any provision of the order, or any
obligation imposed in connection with the order is not in accordance
with law and requesting a modification of the order or to be exempted
therefrom. Such handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on
the petition. After the hearing the Secretary would rule on the
petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United States
in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or
her principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review
the Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is
filed not later than 20 days after date of the entry of the ruling.
Pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (RFA), the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing
Service (AMS) has considered the economic impact of this rule on small
entities.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued
pursuant to the Act, and rules issued thereunder, are unique in that
they are brought about through group action of essentially small
entities acting on their own behalf. Thus, both statutes have small
entity orientation and compatibility.
There are 5 handlers of olives regulated under the marketing order
each season and approximately 1,350 olive producers in California.
Small agricultural producers have been defined by the Small Business
Administration (13 CFR Sec. 121.601) as those having annual receipts of
less than $500,000, and small agricultural service firms are defined as
those whose annual receipts are less than $5,000,000. None of the
handlers may be classified as small entities. The majority of the
producers may be classified as small entities.
The marketing order, administered by the Department, requires that
the assessment rate for a particular fiscal year apply to all
assessable olives. Annual budgets of expenses are prepared by the
Committee, the agency responsible for local administration of this
marketing order, and submitted to the Department for approval. The
members of the Committee are handlers and producers of California
olives. They are familiar with the Committee's needs and with the costs
for goods, services, and personnel in their local area, and are thus in
a position to formulate appropriate budgets. The Committee's budget is
formulated and discussed in a public meeting. Thus, all directly
affected persons have an opportunity to participate and provide input.
The assessment rate recommended by the Committee is derived by
dividing the anticipated expenses by actual receipts of olives by
handlers. Because that rate is applied to olive receipts, it must be
established at a rate which will provide sufficient income to pay the
Committee's expected expenses.
The California Olive Committee met on December 8, 1994, and
unanimously recommended a total expense amount of $2,881,650, for its
1995 budget. This is $866,640 less in expenses than the previous year.
The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of
$30.04 per ton for the 1995 fiscal year, which is $2.83 more in the
assessment rate from the 1994 fiscal year. The assessment rate, when
applied to actual receipts of 69,300 tons from the 1994 olive crop,
would yield $2,081,772 in assessment income. This, along with
approximately $800,000 from the Committee's authorized reserves will be
adequate to cover estimated expenses.
Major expense categories for the 1995 fiscal year include
$1,479,000 for marketing expenses, $682,000 for food
[[Page 18540]] services, and $178,630 for salaries. Funds in the
reserve at the end of the fiscal year, estimated at $200,000 will be
within the maximum permitted by the order of one fiscal year's
expenses.
An interim final rule was issued on January 18, 1995, and published
in the Federal Register. That rule provided a 30-day comment period
which ended February 23, 1995. No comments were received.
While this action will impose some additional costs on handlers,
the costs are in the form of uniform assessments on all handlers. Some
of the additional costs may be passed on to producers. However, these
costs should be significantly offset by the benefits derived from the
operation of the marketing order. Therefore, the Administrator of the
AMS has determined that this action will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
It is found that the specified expenses for the marketing order
covered in this rule are reasonable and likely to be incurred and that
such expenses and the specified assessment rate to cover such expenses
will tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act.
It is further found that good cause exists for not postponing the
effective date of this action until 30 days after publication in the
Federal Register (5 U.S.C. 553) because the Committee needs to have
sufficient funds to pay its expenses which are incurred on a continuous
basis. The 1995 fiscal year for the program began January 1, 1995. The
marketing order requires that the rate of assessment apply to all
assessable olives as applicable during the fiscal year. In addition,
handlers are aware of this action which was recommended by the
Committee at a public meeting and published in the Federal Register as
an interim final rule that is adopted in this action as a final rule
without change.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 932
Marketing agreements, Olives, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 932 is
amended as follows:
PART 932--OLIVES GROWN IN CALIFORNIA
Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 932 which
was published at 60 FR 4531 on January 24, 1995, is adopted as a final
rule without change.
Dated: April 6, 1995.
Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 95-8947 Filed 4-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
