[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 151 (Monday, August 7, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40116-40117]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19332]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Part 987
[Docket No. FV95-987-1PR]
Domestic Dates Produced or Packed in Riverside County,
California; Expenses and Assessment Rate
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This proposed rule would authorize expenditures and establish
an assessment rate under Marketing Order No. 987 for the 1995-96 crop
year. Authorization of this budget would enable the California Date
Administrative Committee (Committee) to incur expenses that are
reasonable and necessary to administer the program. Funds to administer
this program are derived from assessments on handlers.
DATES: Comments must be received by September 6, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments
concerning this proposal. Comments must be sent in triplicate to the
Docket Clerk, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 96456,
room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, FAX 202-720-5698. Comments
should reference the docket number and the date and page number of this
issue of the Federal Register and will be available for public
inspection in the Office of the Docket Clerk during regular business
hours.
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 Maureen Pello, California Marketing Field Office, Fruit and
Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, suite 102B, 2202 Monterey Street,
Fresno, California 93721, telephone 209-487-5901.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule is issued under Marketing
Agreement and Order No. 987, both as amended (7 CFR part 987),
regulating the handling of dates produced or packed in Riverside
County, 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 of Agriculture (Department) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This proposal has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil
Justice Reform. Under the marketing order now in effect, California
dates are subject to assessments. Funds to administer the California
date marketing order are derived from such assessments. It is intended
that the assessment rate as issued herein will be applicable to all
assessable dates during the 1995-96 crop year which begins October 1,
1995, and ends September 30, 1996. This proposal 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 request 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 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 behalf.
[[Page 40117]]
Thus, both statutes have small entity orientation and compatibility.
There are approximately 135 producers of California dates under the
marketing order and approximately 25 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 California date
producers and handlers may be classified as small entities.
The budget of expenses for the 1995-96 crop year was prepared by
the California Date Administrative Committee, the agency responsible
for local administration of the marketing order, and submitted to the
Department for approval. The members of the Committee are producers and
handlers of California dates. They are familiar with the Committee's
needs and with the costs for goods and services in their local area and
are, thus, in a position to formulate an appropriate budget. The budget
was formulated and discussed in a public meeting. Thus, all directly
affected persons have had an opportunity to participate and provide
input.
The assessment rate recommended by the Committee was derived by
dividing anticipated expenses by expected shipments of California
dates. Because that rate will be applied to actual shipments, it must
be established at a rate that will provide sufficient income to pay the
Committee's expenses.
The Committee met on May 18, 1995, and by votes of 6 to 3
recommended a 1995-96 assessment rate and operating expenses and
increased market promotion expenses to fund the Committee's marketing
plan. The two handlers voting against the funding for the marketing
plan believe individual handlers should do more advertising on their
own; the other no vote came from a producer who expressed concerns
about the outstanding assessments owed the Committee. However, the
majority of Committee members expressed the need for the industry to
work together to promote California dates and help reduce current
inventories.
The 1995-96 budget of $774,218 is $203,218 more than the previous
year. Included in the budgeted expenditures is an operating budget of
$160,000, $24,865 more than last year, with a 26.25 percent surplus
account allocation, for a net operating budget of $118,000, or $18,000
more than last year. Also included is $656,218 allocated for market
promotion, $206,218 more than last year.
Budget items for 1995-96 which have increased compared to those
budgeted for 1994-95 (in parentheses) are: Executive Director's salary,
$66,000 ($57,500), Marketing Assistant's Salary, $24,000 ($18,500),
health and welfare benefits, $10,500 ($8,500), payroll taxes, $8,000
($5,814), rent, $7,500 ($7,000), professional services--accounting,
$3,000 ($2,000), contingency, $5,200 ($221), consumer public relations,
$151,500 ($60,000), consumer media, $336,218 ($265,000), industrial
promotion, $115,000 ($30,000), and $13,000 for a secretary/receptionist
and $6,000 for export promotion, for which no funding was recommended
last year. Items which have decreased compared to the amount budgeted
for 1994-95 (in parentheses) are: Copier lease and maintenance, $2,100
($2,400), retail trade promotion, $35,000 ($45,000), and ($4,000) for
equipment for marketing efforts, for which no funding was recommended
this year. All other items are budgeted at last year's amounts.
The assessment rate of $2.25 per hundredweight is $0.75 more than
last season. This rate, when applied to anticipated date shipments of
36,000,000 pounds (360,000 hundredweight), would yield $810,000 in
assessable income. This, along with $1,000 in interest income, would
result in $36,782 in excess income which would be allocated to the
Committee's reserve. Funds in the reserve as of September 30, 1996,
which the Committee estimates would be $235,782, should be within the
maximum amount permitted by the order. Funds held by the Committee at
the end of the crop year, including the reserve, which are in excess of
the crop year's expenses may be used to defray expenses for four months
and thereafter the Committee shall refund or credit the excess funds to
the handlers.
While this action would 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 would be offset by the benefits derived by the operation of the
marketing order. Therefore, the Administrator of the AMS has determined
that this action would not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
A 30-day comment period is provided to allow interested persons to
respond to this proposal. All written comments timely received will be
considered before a final determination is made on this matter.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 987
Dates, Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 987 is
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 987--DOMESTIC DATES PRODUCED OR PACKED IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 987 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.
2. A new Sec. 987.338 is added to read as follows:
Sec. 987.338 Expenses and assessment rate.
Expenses of $774,218 by the California Date Administrative
Committee are authorized, and an assessment rate of $2.25 per
hundredweight of assessable dates is established for the crop year
ending September 30, 1996. Unexpended funds may be carried over as a
reserve within the limitations specified in Sec. 987.72(c) and (d).
Dated: July 31, 1995.
Martha B. Ransom,
Acting Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 95-19332 Filed 8-4-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
