[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]


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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.

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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 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