[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18539-18540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8947]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 70 / Wednesday, April 12, 1995 / 
Rules and Regulations  
[[Page 18539]]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 932

[Docket No. FV94-932-2FIR]


Olives Grown in California; Expenses and Assessment Rate for 1995 
Fiscal Year

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 authorized expenses and established an assessment rate for the 
California Olive Committee (Committee) under Marketing Order No. 932 
for the 1995 fiscal year. Authorization of this budget enables the 
Committee to incur expenses that are reasonable and necessary to 
administer this program. Funds to administer this program are derived 
from assessments on handlers.

EFFECTIVE DATES: January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caroline C. Thorpe, Marketing Order 
Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. 
Box 96456, room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, telephone: (202) 
720-5127; or Terry Vawter, California Marketing Field Office, Fruit and 
Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey Street, suite 102B, 
Fresno, California 93721, telephone: (209) 487-5901.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing 
Agreement and Order No. 932 (7 CFR part 932), as amended, regulating 
the handling of olives grown in 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 is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive 
Order 12866.
    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, 
Civil Justice Reform. Under the marketing order provisions now in 
effect, olives grown in California are subject to assessments. It is 
intended that the assessment rate specified herein will be applicable 
to all assessable olives and expenses applied to the 1995 fiscal year, 
beginning January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1995. This final 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. 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 date of the entry of the ruling.
    Pursuant to the 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 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 5 handlers of olives regulated under the marketing order 
each season and approximately 1,350 olive producers in California. 
Small agricultural producers have been defined by the Small Business 
Administration (13 CFR Sec. 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. None of the 
handlers may be classified as small entities. The majority of the 
producers may be classified as small entities.
    The marketing order, administered by the Department, requires that 
the assessment rate for a particular fiscal year apply to all 
assessable olives. Annual budgets of expenses are prepared by the 
Committee, the agency responsible for local administration of this 
marketing order, and submitted to the Department for approval. The 
members of the Committee are handlers and producers of California 
olives. They are familiar with the Committee's needs and with the costs 
for goods, services, and personnel in their local area, and are thus in 
a position to formulate appropriate budgets. The Committee's budget is 
formulated and discussed in a public meeting. Thus, all directly 
affected persons have an opportunity to participate and provide input.
    The assessment rate recommended by the Committee is derived by 
dividing the anticipated expenses by actual receipts of olives by 
handlers. Because that rate is applied to olive receipts, it must be 
established at a rate which will provide sufficient income to pay the 
Committee's expected expenses.
    The California Olive Committee met on December 8, 1994, and 
unanimously recommended a total expense amount of $2,881,650, for its 
1995 budget. This is $866,640 less in expenses than the previous year.
    The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of 
$30.04 per ton for the 1995 fiscal year, which is $2.83 more in the 
assessment rate from the 1994 fiscal year. The assessment rate, when 
applied to actual receipts of 69,300 tons from the 1994 olive crop, 
would yield $2,081,772 in assessment income. This, along with 
approximately $800,000 from the Committee's authorized reserves will be 
adequate to cover estimated expenses.
    Major expense categories for the 1995 fiscal year include 
$1,479,000 for marketing expenses, $682,000 for food 
[[Page 18540]] services, and $178,630 for salaries. Funds in the 
reserve at the end of the fiscal year, estimated at $200,000 will be 
within the maximum permitted by the order of one fiscal year's 
expenses.
    An interim final rule was issued on January 18, 1995, and published 
in the Federal Register. That rule provided a 30-day comment period 
which ended February 23, 1995. 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. Some 
of the additional costs may be passed on to producers. However, these 
costs should be significantly offset by the benefits derived from the 
operation of the marketing order. 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 order 
covered in this rule are reasonable and likely to be incurred and that 
such expenses and the specified assessment rate 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 needs to have 
sufficient funds to pay its expenses which are incurred on a continuous 
basis. The 1995 fiscal year for the program began January 1, 1995. The 
marketing order requires that the rate of assessment apply to all 
assessable olives as applicable during the fiscal year. In addition, 
handlers are aware of this action which was recommended by the 
Committee at a public meeting and published in the Federal Register as 
an interim final rule that is adopted in this action as a final rule 
without change.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 932

    Marketing agreements, Olives, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 932 is 
amended as follows:

PART 932--OLIVES GROWN IN CALIFORNIA

    Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 932 which 
was published at 60 FR 4531 on January 24, 1995, is adopted as a final 
rule without change.

    Dated: April 6, 1995.
Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,
Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 95-8947 Filed 4-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P