[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 156 (Monday, August 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-19893]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 15, 1994]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Parts 958 and 982

[Docket Nos. FV94-958-1FIR, FV94-982-2FIR]

 

Expenses and Assessment Rates for Specified Marketing Orders 
(Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onions and Oregon and Washington Filberts/
Hazelnuts)

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 958 and 982 for the 1994-95 fiscal period. 
Authorization of these budgets enables the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion 
Committee and the Filbert/Hazelnut 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: Sections 958.238 and 982.338 are effective July 1, 
1994, through June 30, 1995.

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; Robert J. Curry (M.O. 958) or Teresa L. Hutchinson (M.O. 982), 
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. 130 and Order No. 958, both as amended (7 CFR part 958), 
regulating the handling of onions grown in designated counties in 
Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon; and Marketing Agreement and Order 
No. 982, both as amended (7 CFR part 982), regulating the handling of 
filberts/hazelnuts grown in Oregon and Washington. 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, 
Idaho-Eastern Oregon onions and Oregon-Washington filberts/hazelnuts 
are subject to assessments. It is intended that the assessment rates as 
issued herein will be applicable to all assessable onions and filberts/
hazelnuts handled during the 1994-95 fiscal period, which began July 1, 
1994, and ends June 30, 1995. 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 statues have small 
entity orientation and compatibility.
    There are approximately 450 producers of Idaho-Eastern Oregon 
onions under Marketing Order 958, and approximately 35 handlers. Also, 
there are approximately 950 producers of Oregon and Washington 
filberts/hazelnuts under Marketing Order 982, and approximately 21 
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 Committee and the Board, the agencies responsible for local 
administration of their respective orders, and submitted to the 
Department for approval. The members of this Committee and the Board 
are producers and handlers of Idaho-Eastern Oregon onions and Oregon 
and Washington filberts/hazelnuts. 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 by the 
Committee and Board. Thus, directly affected persons have had an 
opportunity to participate and provide input.
    The recommended assessment rates were derived by dividing 
anticipated Committee and Board expenses by expected respective 
shipments of Idaho-Eastern Oregon onions and assessable Oregon and 
Washington filberts/hazelnuts handled. Because these rates will be 
applied to actual shipments of onions and of assessable filberts/
hazelnuts, the assessment rates must be established at levels that will 
provide sufficient income to pay the Committee's and Board's expenses.
    The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee met on March 22, 1994, and 
unanimously recommended a 1994-95 budget of $1,020,039, $10,161 less 
than the previous year. Increases in expenditures, which include $154 
for research and $18,500 for promotion and advertising, will be offset 
by decreases of $18,495 for salary expenses and $10,320 for travel and 
office expenses. Major expenses items include $113,785 for salary 
expenses, $57,600 for travel and office expenses, $60,154 for research, 
$668,500 for promotion and advertising, $60,000 for export, and $50,000 
for contingencies.
    The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of 
$0.10 per hundredweight, the same as last season. This rate, when 
applied to anticipated shipments of 8,000,000 hundredweight, will yield 
$800,000 in assessment income. This, along with $30,000 in interest 
income and $190,039 from the Committee's authorized reserve, will be 
adequate to cover budgeted expenses. Funds in the reserve at the 
beginning of the 1994-95 fiscal period, estimated at $898,928, were 
within the maximum permitted by the order of one fiscal period's 
expenses.
    In a mail vote conducted the week of March 28, 1994, the Filbert/
Hazelnut Marketing Board unanimously recommended a 1994-95 budget of 
$507,010, $97,215 more than the previous year. The major budget item is 
$250,000 for the Board's promotion program to maintain and expand 
markets for filberts/hazelnuts. This is $30,000 more than budgeted last 
year for promotion. Other increases include $2,865 for general and 
administrative expenses, $1,350 for furniture, $1,000 for a crop 
survey, $20,000 for research, and $42,000 for the emergency reserve 
fund.
    The Board also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of $0.007 
per pound, the same as last year. This rate, when applied to 
anticipated shipments of 56,000,000 pounds, will yield $392,000 in 
assessment income. This, along with $28,000 from previously unassessed 
1993 crop filberts, $6,000 in interest income, and $81,010 from the 
Board's authorized reserve, will be adequate to cover budgeted 
expenses. Funds in the reserve at the beginning of the 1994-95 
marketing year, estimated at $453,673, were within the maximum 
permitted by the order of one marketing year's expenses.
    Interim final rules were published in the Federal Register on May 
12, 1994, for 7 CFR part 958 (59 FR 24631) and 7 CFR part 982 (59 FR 
24632). Those rules added Sec. 958.238 and Sec. 982.338 which 
authorized expenses, and established assessment rates for the Committee 
and Board. Those rules provided that interested persons could file 
comments through June 13, 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 Committee and Board 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 
July 1, 1994. The marketing orders require that the rates of assessment 
for the fiscal periods apply to all assessable onions and filberts/
hazelnuts handled during the fiscal periods. In addition, handlers are 
aware of these actions which were recommended by the Committee and 
Board and published in the Federal Register as interim final rules.

List of Subjects

7 CFR part 958

    Marketing agreements, Onions, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

7 CFR part 982

    Filberts, Hazelnuts, Marketing agreements, Nuts, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 958 and 982 
are amended as follows:

PART 958--ONIONS GROWN IN CERTAIN DESIGNATED COUNTIES IN IDAHO, AND 
MALHEUR COUNTY, OREGON

    Accordingly, the interim rule amending 7 CFR part 958 which was 
published at 59 FR 24631 on May 12, 1994, is adopted as a final rule 
without change.

PART 982--FILBERTS/HAZELNUTS GROWN IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON

    Accordingly, the interim rule amending 7 CFR part 982 which was 
published at 59 FR 24632 on May 12, 1994, is adopted as a final rule 
without change.

    Dated: August 8, 1994.
Robert C. Keeney,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 94-19893 Filed 8-12-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P