[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 162 (Tuesday, August 20, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 42993-42994]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20790]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Parts 997 and 998
[Docket No. FV96-998-1 FIR]
Increased Assessment Rate for Domestically Produced Peanuts
Handled By Persons Not Subject to Peanut Marketing Agreement No. 146
and for Marketing Agreement No. 146; Regulating the Quality of
Domestically Produced Peanuts
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 increased the administrative assessment rate under Marketing
Agreement 146 (agreement) for the 1995-96 crop year. Authorization of
the increase in the administrative assessment rate enabled the Peanut
Administrative Committee (Committee) to collect sufficient funds to pay
expenses for the remainder of the year. Funds to administer this
program are derived from assessments on handlers who have signed the
agreement. Public Law 103-66 requires the Department to impose an
administrative assessment on farmers' stock peanuts received or
acquired by handlers who are not signatory (non-signatory handlers) to
the agreement. Therefore, the increase in the assessment rate under the
agreement must be applied to all non-signatory handlers.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Sue Clark, Program Assistant,
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, FAX 202-720-5698, or William G. Pimental,
Marketing Specialist, Southeast Marketing Field Office, Fruit and
Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 2276, Winter Haven, FL 33883-
2276, telephone 941-299-4770, FAX 941-299-5169. Small businesses may
request information on compliance with this regulation by contacting:
Jay Guerber, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable
Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 96456, room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-
6456, telephone 202-720-2491, FAX 202-720-5698.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule is issued pursuant to the
requirements of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as
amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), and as further amended December 12, 1989,
hereinafter referred to as the ``Act''; Pub. L. 101-220, section 4 (1),
(2), 103 Stat. 1878, December 12, 1989; Pub. L. 103-66, section
8b(b)(1), 107 Stat. 312, August 10, 1993; and under Marketing Agreement
146 (7 CFR part 998) regulating the quality of domestically produced
peanuts.
The Department is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive
Order 12866.
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil
Justice Reform. The Department established a 1995-96 crop year
assessment rate applicable to non-signatory and signatory handlers
effective July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996. This rule increases the
administrative assessment rates for the crop year which began July 1,
1995. Farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by non-signatory
handlers and farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by handlers
signatory to the agreement, other than from those described in
Secs. 998.31 (c) and (d), are subject to the assessments. This rule
will not preempt any state or local laws, regulations, or policies,
unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule. There
are no administrative procedures which must be exhausted prior to any
judicial challenge to the provisions of this rule.
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA), 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.
The interim final rule incorrectly stated that there are
approximately 45 non-signers and 76 signatory handlers subject to the
two regulations. Also, there are approximately 47,000 producers of
peanuts in the 16 States covered under the agreement. 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. A majority of the
producers and the non-signatory handlers may be classified as small
entities, and some of the handlers covered under the agreement are
small entities.
Under the agreement, the assessment rate for a particular crop year
applies to all assessable tonnage handled from the beginning of such
year (i.e., July 1). Funds to administer the peanut agreement program
are paid to the Committee and are derived from signatory handler
assessments. An annual budget of expenses is prepared by the Committee
and submitted to the Department for approval. The members of the
Committee are handlers and producers of peanuts. They are familiar with
the Committee's needs and with the costs for goods and services, and
personnel for program operations and, thus, are in a position to
formulate appropriate budgets. The budgets are formulated and discussed
at industry-wide meetings. Thus, all directly affected persons have an
opportunity to provide input in recommending the budget and assessment
rate. The handlers of peanuts who are directly affected have signed the
marketing agreement authorizing the expenses that
[[Page 42994]]
may be incurred and the imposition of assessments.
The assessment rate recommended by the Committee for the 1995-96
crop year was derived by dividing anticipated expenses by expected
receipts and acquisitions of farmers' stock peanuts. It applies to all
assessable peanuts received or acquired by handlers from July 1, 1995.
Farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by handlers signatory to
the agreement, other than from those described in Secs. 998.31 (c) and
(d), are subject to assessments. Because that rate is applied to actual
receipts and acquisitions, it must be established at a rate which will
produce sufficient income to pay the Committee's expenses.
Approximately 95 percent of the domestically produced peanut crop is
marketed by handlers who are signatory to the agreement.
Public Law 101-220 amended section 608b of the Act to require that
all peanuts handled by persons who have not entered into the agreement
(non-signers) be subject to quality and inspection requirements to the
same extent and manner as are required under the Agreement.
Approximately 5 percent of the U.S. peanut crop is marketed by non-
signer handlers.
Public Law 103-66 (107 Stat. 312) provides for mandatory assessment
of farmers' stock peanuts acquired by non-signatory peanut handlers.
Under this law, paragraph (b) of section 1001, of the Agricultural
Reconciliation Act of 1993, specified that: (1) Any assessment (except
indemnification assessments) imposed under the Agreement on signatory
handlers also shall apply to non-signatory handlers, and (2) such
assessment shall be paid to the Secretary.
The 1995-96 Committee budget was published in the Federal Register
as an interim final rule on May 17, 1995 (60 FR 26348), and finalized
on July 18, 1995 (60 FR 36635). The non-signatory handler assessment
rate was published in the Federal Register as an interim final rule on
August 21, 1995 (60 FR 43353), and finalized on November 24, 1995 (60
FR 57907). The administrative expenses and assessment rate for the
1995-96 crop year were based on an estimated assessable tonnage of
1,525,000. The Committee now projects that total tonnage will only be
about 1,300,000. In order to have sufficient revenue to cover budgeted
expenses of $1,067,500, the Committee met on March 19, 1996, and
unanimously recommended that the 1995-96 crop year administrative
assessment be increased from $0.70 to $0.83 per net ton of assessable
farmers' stock peanuts.
An interim final rule regarding this action was published in the
June 13, 1996, issue of the Federal Register (61 FR 29926). That
interim final rule amended Secs. 997.100 and 998.408 to increase the
administrative assessment rate for the 1995-96 crop year for the
Committee and non-signatory handlers. That rule provided that
interested persons could file comments through July 15, 1996. 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
signatory to the agreement. Some of the additional costs may be passed
on to producers. However, these costs will be significantly offset by
the benefits derived from the operation of the marketing agreement.
This administrative assessment is required by law to be applied
uniformly to all non-signatory handlers and will be of benefit to all.
Therefore, the AMS has determined that this rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
After consideration of all relevant material presented, including
the information and recommendations submitted by the Committee and
other available information, it is hereby found that this rule, as
hereinafter set forth, will tend to effectuate the declared policy of
the Act.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, it is also found and determined that good
cause exists for not postponing the effective date of this rule until
30 days after publication in the Federal Register because: (1) The
Committee needs to have sufficient funds to pay its expenses which are
incurred on a continuous basis; (2) Public Law 103-66 requires the
Department to impose an administrative assessment on peanuts received
or acquired for the account of non-signatory handlers; (3) the 1995-96
crop year began on July 1, 1995, and the marketing agreement and Pub.
L. 103-66 require that the rate of assessment for the crop year apply
to all peanuts handled during the crop year; (4) handlers are aware of
this action which was unanimously recommended by the Committee at a
public meeting and is similar to other budget actions issued in past
years; and (5) an interim final rule was published on this action and
provided for a 30-day comment period, and no comments were received.
List of Subjects
7 CFR Part 997
Food grades and standards, Peanuts, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
7 CFR Part 998
Marketing agreements, Peanuts, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
PART 997--PROVISIONS REGULATING THE QUALITY OF DOMESTICALLY
PRODUCED PEANUTS HANDLED BY PERSONS NOT SUBJECT TO THE PEANUT
MARKETING AGREEMENT
PART 998--MARKETING AGREEMENT REGULATING THE QUALITY OF
DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED PEANUTS
Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR parts 997 and
998 to increase the administrative assessment rates which was published
at 61 FR 29926 on June 13, 1996, is adopted as a final rule without
change.
Dated: August 9, 1996.
Robert C. Keeney,
Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 96-20790 Filed 8-19-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
