[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-604]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: January 11, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Parts 966 and 984

[Docket Nos. FV93-966-2FIR, FV93-984-1FIR]

 

Expenses and Assessment Rates for Specified Marketing Orders 
(Florida Tomatoes and California Walnuts)

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 two interim final rules 
that authorized expenditures and established assessment rates under 
Marketing Orders 966 and 984 for the 1993-94 fiscal period. 
Authorization of these budgets enables the Florida Tomato Committee and 
the Walnut Marketing Board (Committee and Board) 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: August 1, 1993, through July 31, 1994.

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; John R. Toth (M.O. 966), Southeast Marketing Field Office, Fruit 
and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 2276, Winter Haven, FL 
33883-2276, telephone 813-299-4770; or Richard P. Van Diest (M.O. 984), 
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 effective under Marketing 
Agreement No. 125 and Order No. 966, both as amended (7 CFR part 966), 
regulating the handling of tomatoes grown in Florida; and Marketing 
Agreement and Order No. 984, both as amended (7 CFR part 984), 
regulating the handling of walnuts grown in California. 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 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, 
Florida tomatoes and California walnuts are subject to assessments. It 
is intended that the assessment rates as issued herein will be 
applicable to all assessable tomatoes and walnuts handled during the 
1993-94 fiscal period, which began August 1, 1993, and ends July 31, 
1994. 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 250 producers of Florida tomatoes under 
Marketing Order 966, and approximately 50 handlers. Also, there are 
approximately 5,000 producers of California walnuts under Marketing 
Order 984, and approximately 65 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 $3,500,000. The majority of the producers and handlers 
covered under these orders may be classified as small entities.
    The budgets of expenses for the 1993-94 fiscal period were prepared 
by the Committee and the Board, the agencies responsible for local 
administration of their respective orders, and submitted to the 
Department for approval. The members of the Florida Tomato Committee 
are producers. The members of the California Walnut Board are producers 
and handlers. They are familiar with the Committee's and Board's 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 and Board expenses by expected respective 
shipments of Florida tomatoes and merchantable California walnuts. 
Because these rates will be applied to actual shipments of tomatoes and 
of certified merchantable walnuts, the assessment rates must be 
established at levels that will provide sufficient income to pay the 
Committee's and Board's expenses.
    The Florida Tomato Committee met September 9, 1993, and unanimously 
recommended a 1993-94 budget of $2,682,000, which is $4,000 less than 
the previous year. Increases in expenditures, which include $6,250 for 
office rent, $200 for miscellaneous, and $4,000 for research expense, 
will be offset by decreases of $7,000 for office salaries and $7,450 
for employees' retirement program. Major expense items include $276,000 
for office salaries, $200,000 for research expense, and $2,000,000 for 
education and promotion expense.
    The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of 
$0.04 per 25-pound container, the same as last year. This rate, when 
applied to anticipated shipments of 58,000,000 25-pound containers, 
will yield $2,320,000 in assessment income. This, along with $20,000 in 
interest and other income and $342,000 from the Committee's authorized 
reserve, will be adequate to cover budgeted expenses. Funds in the 
Committee's authorized reserve at the beginning of the 1993-94 fiscal 
period were $1,349,348, which is within the maximum permitted by the 
order of one fiscal period's expenses.
    The Walnut Marketing Board met September 10, 1993, and unanimously 
recommended a 1993-94 budget of $1,941,647, $69,551 more than the 
previous year. Increases include $4,511 for administrative salaries, 
$171 for general insurance, $200 for audit, $7,649 for group life, 
retirement, and medical plan, $835 for office salaries, $7,904 for 
office rent, $6,000 for office supplies and miscellaneous, $1,000 for 
telephone and FAX, $2,000 for equipment maintenance and warranties, 
$9,000 for furniture, fixtures, and automobiles, $7,450 for production 
research director, and the addition of a $43,000 acreage survey 
category. These increases will be partially offset by decreases of $300 
for social security and hospital insurance taxes, $5,000 for domestic 
market research and development, and $14,869 for production research. 
Major expenses include $101,331 for administrative salaries, $40,771 
for office salaries, $875,000 for domestic market research and 
development, $490,488 for production research, $91,068 for production 
research director, and $43,000 for a walnut acreage survey. A reserve 
for contingencies of $50,000 is also included in the 1993-94 budget.
    The Board also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of $0.009 
per kernelweight pound, $0.001 less than the previous year. This rate, 
when applied to anticipated shipments of 2,157,386 kernelweight pounds 
of merchantable walnuts, will yield $1,941,647 in assessment income, 
which will be adequate to cover budgeted expenses. Unexpended funds may 
be used temporarily during the first five months of the subsequent 
marketing year, but must be made available to the handlers from whom 
collected within that period.
    Interim final rules were published in the Federal Register in 
October 27, 1993, for 7 CFR part 966 (58 FR 57719); and on October 28, 
1993, for 7 CFR Part 984 (58 FR 57959). Those rules added Sec. 966.231 
and Sec. 984.344 which authorized expenses, and established assessment 
rates for the Committee and Board. Those rules provided that interested 
persons could file comments through November 26, 1993, for 7 CFR part 
966 and through November 29, 1993, for 7 CFR part 984. 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 Committee and Board need to 
have sufficient funds to pay their expenses which are incurred on a 
continuous basis. The 1993-94 fiscal periods for the programs began on 
August 1, 1993. The marketing orders require that the rates of 
assessment for the fiscal periods apply to all assessable tomatoes and 
walnuts handled during the fiscal periods. In addition, handlers are 
aware of these actions which were recommended by the Committee and 
Board at public meetings and published in the Federal Register as 
interim final rules.

List of Subjects

7 CFR Part 966

    Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Tomatoes.

7 CFR Part 984

    Marketing agreements, Nuts, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Walnuts.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 966 and 984 
are amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR parts 966 and 984 is revised to 
read as follows:

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

    Note: These sections will not appear in the annual Code of 
Federal Regulations.

PART 966--TOMATOES GROWN IN FLORIDA

    2. Accordingly, the interim rule adding Sec. 966.231 which was 
published at 58 FR 57719 on October 27, 1993, is adopted as a final 
rule without change.

PART 984--WALNUTS GROWN IN CALIFORNIA

    3. Accordingly, the interim rule adding Sec. 984.344 which was 
published at 58 FR 57959 on October 28, 1993, is adopted as a final 
rule without change.

    Dated: January 5, 1994.
Robert C. Keeney,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 94-604 Filed 1-10-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P