[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 27, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-18210]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: July 27, 1994]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Parts 948 and 953
[Docket Nos. FV94-948-1FIR, FV94-953-1FIR]
Expenses and Assessment Rates for Specified Marketing Orders
(Colorado Potatoes and Southeastern Potatoes)
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture (Department) is adopting as a
final rule, without change, the provisions of two interim final rules
that authorized expenditures and established assessment rates under
Marketing Orders 948 and 953 for the 1994-95 fiscal period.
Authorization of these budgets enables the Colorado Potato
Administrative Committee, Northern Colorado Office (Area III) and the
Southeastern Potato Committee (Committees) to incur expenses that are
reasonable and necessary to administer the programs. Funds to
administer these programs are derived from assessments on handlers.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 1, 1994, through May 31, 1995, for Sec. 953.251
and July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1995, for Sec. 948.211.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Sue Clark, Marketing Order
Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O.
Box 96456, room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, telephone 202-720-
9918; or Dennis L. West, (M.O. 948), Northwest Marketing Field Office,
Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, Green-Wyatt Federal Building,
room 369, 1220 Southwest Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204, telephone
503-326-2724.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule is effective under Marketing
Agreement No. 97 and Order No. 948, both as amended (7 CFR part 948),
regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado; and
Marketing Agreement No. 104 and Order No. 953, both as amended (7 CFR
part 953), regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in
Southeastern States (Virginia and North Carolina). The marketing
agreements and orders 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 of Agriculture (Department) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil
Justice Reform. Under the marketing order provisions now in effect,
Irish potatoes grown in Colorado and Virginia and North Carolina are
subject to assessments. It is intended that the assessment rates as
issued herein will be applicable to all assessable Irish potatoes
handled during the 1994-95 fiscal period, which began June 1, 1994, and
ends May 31, 1995, for Southeastern potatoes and began July 1, 1994,
and ends June 30, 1995, for Colorado potatoes. This 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. A 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 the date of the entry of the ruling.
Pursuant to 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 the 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 approximately 85 producers of Colorado Area III potatoes
under the marketing order and approximately 15 handlers. Also, there
are approximately 150 producers of Southeastern potatoes under the
marketing order and approximately 60 handlers. Small agricultural
producers have been defined by the Small Business Administration (13
CFR 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. The majority of the producers and
handlers covered under these orders may be classified as small
entities.
The budgets of expenses for the 1994-95 fiscal period were prepared
by the Committees, the agencies responsible for local administration of
their respective orders, and submitted to the Department for approval.
The members of these Committees are producers and handlers of Colorado
Area III and Virginia and North Carolina potatoes. They are familiar
with the Committees' needs and with the costs for goods and services in
their local areas and are thus in a position to formulate appropriate
budgets. The budgets were formulated and discussed in public meetings.
Thus, all directly affected persons have had an opportunity to
participate and provide input into these processes.
The recommended assessment rates were derived by dividing
anticipated Committee expenses by expected respective shipments of
Colorado Area III and Virginia and North Carolina potatoes. Because
these rates will be applied to actual shipments of potatoes, the
assessment rates must be established at levels that will provide
sufficient income to pay the Committees' expenses.
The Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Northern Colorado
Office (Area III) met on April 14, 1994, and unanimously recommended a
1994-95 budget of $24,325, $7,474 more than the previous year.
Increases in the Federal portion of the administrative budget include
$200 for Committee meetings, $450 for Committee mileage, $50 for
insurance and bond, $2,860 for the manager's salary, $620 for medical
insurance, $1,750 for office equipment, $500 for office supplies, $219
for payroll taxes, $200 for telephone, $250 for miscellaneous, $125 for
manager's expense, and $250 for Federal meetings.
The major expense item is $11,500 for the manager's salary. The
actual salary will be $10,781.50, based on nine months full-time work
and three months at three-quarter time. An additional $718.50 was
budgeted to have available and will only be spent if the workload
necessitates full-time work.
The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of
$0.02 per hundredweight, the same as last season. This rate, when
applied to anticipated potato shipments of 1,476,750 hundredweight,
will yield $29,535 in assessment income, which is adequate to cover
budgeted expenses. Funds in the reserve at the beginning of the 1994-95
fiscal period, estimated at $31,113, will be within the maximum
permitted by the order of two fiscal periods' expenses.
In Colorado, both a State and a Federal marketing order operate
simultaneously. The State order authorizes promotion, including paid
advertising, which the Federal order does not. All expenses in this
category are financed under the State order. The jointly operated
programs consume about equal administrative time and the two orders
continue to split administrative costs equally.
The Southeastern Potato Committee met April 20, 1994, and
unanimously recommended a 1994-95 budget of $11,000, the same as last
year. Major expense items include $6,800 for Committee staff salaries
and $900 for travel expenses.
The Committee also recommended an assessment rate of $0.0075 per
hundredweight, $0.0025 less than last season's rate. When the Committee
met, planting for the 1994-95 crop season had not been completed.
However, the manager estimated shipments would generate about $7,000 in
assessment income. This, along with funds from the Committee's $15,000
reserve, will be adequate to cover the expenses incurred. Funds
remaining at the end of the 1994-95 fiscal period should be about the
maximum permitted by the order of approximately one fiscal period's
expenses.
Interim final rules were published in the Federal Register on May
26, 1994, for 7 CFR part 948 (59 FR 27223) and 7 CFR part 953 (59 FR
27222). Those rules added Sec. 948.211 and Sec. 953.251 which
authorized expenses, and established assessment rates for the
Committees. Those rules provided that interested persons could file
comments through June 27, 1994. No comments were received.
While this action will impose some additional costs on handlers,
the costs are in the form of uniform assessments on handlers. Some of
the additional costs may be passed on to producers. However, these
costs will be offset by the benefits derived by the operation of the
marketing orders. 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 orders
covered in this rulemaking are reasonable and likely to be incurred and
that such expenses and the specified assessment rates 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 Committees need to have
sufficient funds to pay their expenses which are incurred on a
continuous basis. The 1994-95 fiscal periods for the programs began on
June 1, 1994, for Southeastern potatoes and July 1, 1994, for Colorado
Area III potatoes. The marketing orders require that the rates of
assessment for the fiscal periods apply to all assessable potatoes
handled during the fiscal periods. In addition, handlers are aware of
these actions which were recommended by the Committees at public
meetings and published in the Federal Register as interim final rules.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Parts 948 and 953
Marketing agreements, Potatoes, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 948 and 953
are amended as follows:
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR parts 948 and 953 continues to
read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.
PART 948--IRISH POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO
Accordingly, the interim rule adding Sec. 948.211 which was
published at 59 FR 27223 on May 26, 1994, is adopted as a final rule
without change.
PART 953--IRISH POTATOES GROWN IN SOUTHEASTERN STATES
Accordingly, the interim rule adding Sec. 953.251 which was
published at 59 FR 27222 on May 26, 1994, is adopted as a final rule
without change.
Dated: July 21, 1994
Terry C. Long,
Acting Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 94-18210 Filed 7-26-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
