[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 127 (Monday, July 3, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34454-34456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-15818]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Housing and Community Development Service
Rural Business and Cooperative Development Service
Rural Utilities Service
Consolidated Farm Service Agency

7 CFR Part 1955


Acquired Property Records

AGENCIES: Rural Housing and Community Development Service, Rural 
Business and Cooperative Development Service, Rural Utilities Service, 
Consolidated Farm Service Agency.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The issuing agencies amend their property management 
regulations to remove solely internal procedures and to make several 
nomenclature changes.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 3, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Gianella, Staff Accountant, 
Accounting Policy and Procedures Section I, Rural Housing and Community 
Development Service, USDA, Finance Office, 1520 Market Street, St. 
Louis, Missouri 63103, Telephone 314-539-6024.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since this action has no impact on the 
public and involves only internal Agency management, it has been 
determined to be exempt from the requirements of Executive Order 12866.

Environmental Impact Statement

    This document has been reviewed in accordance with 7 CFR part 1940, 
subpart G, Environmental Program. The issuing agencies have determined 
that this action does not constitute a major Federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment and in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Public 
Law 91-190, an environmental impact statement is not required.

Intergovernmental Consultation

    These programs/activities are listed in the Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance under numbers:

10.404  Emergency Loans
10.405  Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants
10.406  Farm Operating Loans
10.407  Farm Ownership Loans
10.410  Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans
10.411  Rural Housing Site Loans
10.415  Rural Rental Housing Loans
10.416  Soil and Water Loans
10.421  Indian Tribes and Tribal Corporation Loans
10.434  Nonprofit National Corporations Loan and Grant Program
10.760  Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program
10.764  Resource Conservation and Development Loans
10.765  Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Loans
10.766  Community Facilities Loans
10.767  Intermediary Relending Program
10.768  Business and Industrial Loans
    This internal management regulation does not directly affect these 
programs or activities; therefore, the intergovernmental consultation 
requirement of Executive Order No. 12372 does not apply.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The information collection requirements contained in these 
regulations have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) under the provisions of 44 U.S.C. chapter 35 and have been 
assigned OMB control numbers 0575-0109 and 0575-0110 in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3507). The final rule 
does not revise or impose any new information collection or 
recordkeeping requirement from those approved by OMB.

Discussion of Final Rule

    The issuing agencies are amending their property management 
regulations to remove solely administrative procedures in an effort to 
reduce federal agencies regulation. The procedures will remain in 
internal agency instructions. References to Farmers Home Administration 
(``FmHA'') and ``County Committee'' have been removed to reflect 
changes made by sections 226 and 227 of the Department of Agriculture 
Reorganization Act of 1994. Due to the reorganization of USDA, FmHA 
Farmer Programs now are being 

[[Page 34455]]
administered as Farm Credit Programs by the Consolidated Farm Service 
Agency (CFSA). FmHA Rural Housing loans and Community Facilities loans 
now are administered by the Rural Housing and Community Development 
Service (RHCDS). Water and Waste facility loans are administered by the 
Rural Utilities Service (RUS), and Business and Industrial loans are 
handled by the Rural Business and Cooperative Development Service 
(RBCDS). The affected agencies are jointly issuing this final rule.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1955

    Government property management.

    Accordingly, part 1955, chapter XVIII, title 7, of the CFR, is 
amended as follows:

PART 1955--PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

    1. The authority citation for part 1955 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1989; 42 U.S.C. 1480; 5 U.S.C. 301; 7 CFR 
2.23 and 2.70.

Subpart A--Liquidation of Loans Secured by Real Estate and 
Acquisition of Real and Chattel Property

    2. Section 1955.18 is amended by removing and reserving paragraphs 
(a) through (d) and (f) through (l).

Subpart B--Management of Property

    3. Section 1955.63 is amended by revising the reference to ``County 
Committee'' in the third sentence of the introductory text to read 
``Agency;'' by revising the references to ``FmHA or its successor 
agency under Public Law 103-354'' in paragraph (c) introductory text 
and paragraph (c)(3) to read ``the Agency;'' by removing and reserving 
paragraph (d); and by revising paragraphs (a) and (b) to read as 
follows:
Sec. 1955.63  Suitability determination.

* * * * *
    (a) Property other than housing. Property which secured loans or 
was acquired under the CONACT will be classified as suitable or surplus 
by the Agency. CONACT property originally classified as suitable may be 
reclassified as surplus because of physical damage such as fire, flood, 
sheet erosion or falling water table; or change in economic conditions 
such as the rising cost of production inputs, viable market outlets and 
obsolescence, which affect its suitability for program purposes. In 
addition, suitable farm property that is not sold to a family-size farm 
operator, including beginning farmers or ranchers, within 12 months 
from the date of the first advertisement pursuant to Sec. 1955.107(a) 
of subpart C of this part will be reclassified surplus. If the property 
is offered for sale as surplus and the purchaser is eligible for Agency 
assistance, it may be reclassified by the Agency as suitable, if it is 
in fact suitable for program purposes.
    (b) Grouping and subdividing farm properties larger than family-
size. The Agency will subdivide farm properties larger than family-size 
whenever possible into parcels for the purpose of creating one or more 
suitable farm properties. Such land shall be subdivided into parcels of 
land the shape and size of which are suitable for farming, the value of 
which shall not exceed the insured farm ownership loan limit of 
$200,000. The Agency may also group two or more individual properties 
into one or more suitable farm properties.
* * * * *
    4. Section 1955.64 is removed and reserved.
    5. Section 1955.66 is amended by removing and reserving paragraphs 
(i), (k)(1), and (l) through (o), and in the third sentence of 
paragraph (j) by revising the reference ``FmHA or its successor agency 
under Public Law 103-354 Instruction 1955-D (available in any Agency 
FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354 office)'' to read 
``subpart B of part 1924 of this chapter.''
    6. Section 1955.72 is amended by revising the reference to ``FmHA 
or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354'' in the heading and 
paragraphs (a) and (b) to read ``the Agency.''
    7. Section 1955.80 is removed and reserved.

Subpart C--Disposal of Inventory Property

    8. Section 1955.107 is amended by revising the references to ``FmHA 
or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354'' in the first 
sentence of the introductory text, in paragraph (d)(3), and in 
paragraph (f)(1)(v) to read ``Agency;'' by removing and reserving 
paragraphs (b), (d)(1), (d)(2), and (d)(6); by revising the references 
to ``County Committee'' in the second sentence of paragraph (f) 
introductory text and in paragraphs (f)(2) and (f)(3) to read 
``Agency;'' by removing the words ``, as determined by the County 
Committee'' in the introductory text of paragraph (f)(1); and by 
revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec. 1955.107  Sale of suitable property (CONACT).

* * * * *
    (a) Sale by the Agency. The Agency will advertise suitable property 
for sale or lease. Tribal Councils or other recognized Indian governing 
bodies having jurisdiction over Indian reservations as defined in 
1955.103 of this subpart, however, will be responsible for notifying 
those parties listed in 1955.66(d)(2) of subpart B of this part.
* * * * *
    9. Section 1955.108 is amended by removing the phrase ``by the 
County Committee'' in the fifth sentence.
    10. Section 1955.109 is amended by revising the reference in the 
third sentence of paragraph (a) to ``Farmer Programs'' to read ``Farm 
Credit Programs;'' by revising the reference in paragraph (c) to ``FmHA 
or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354'' to read ``the 
Agency;'' by removing and reserving paragraphs (b), (d), (e), and (i), 
and by removing the last sentence in paragraph (g).
    11. Section 1955.137 is amended by removing and reserving 
paragraphs (c) and (h); by removing the first three sentences in 
paragraph (b)(7); by revising the references to ``FmHA or its successor 
agency under Public Law 103-354'' the first time it appears in the 
first sentence of paragraph (b)(1)(iii), the introductory text of 
paragraph (b)(2), the second sentence of paragraph (b)(6), the first 
and ninth sentences of paragraph (d), and paragraphs (e)(1), 
(e)(1)(ii), (e)(2) and (e)(4) to read ``Agency''; by removing the 
references to ``FmHA or its successor agency under Public Law 103-354'' 
the second time it appears in the first sentence of paragraph 
(b)(1)(ii), and the second sentence of paragraph (b)(1)(iii); by 
revising the reference to ``SCS'' in the fourth sentence of paragraph 
(b)(1)(iii) to read ``NRCS;'' and by amending the heading of paragraph 
(d) to revise the phrase ``and/or'' to read ``or.''
    12. Section 1955.140 is amended in the first sentence of paragraph 
(a) by revising ``Farmer Programs'' to read ``Farm Credit Programs 
property;'' by removing in the third sentence of paragraph (a) and in 
paragraph (b) the words ``, based on the recommendations of the County 
Committee,''; and by revising ``FmHA or its successor agency under 
Public Law 103-354'' to read ``Agency's'' in the ninth sentence of 
paragraph (a).
    13. Section 1955.141 is amended by removing and reserving 
paragraphs (a) through (c).
    14. Sections 1955.142 and 1955.143 are removed and reserved.
    15. Section 1955.144 is amended by removing the second through the 
fourth sentences.

 
[[Page 34456]]

    Dated: May 22, 1995.
Michael V. Dunn,
Acting Under Secretary for Rural Economic and Community Development.

    Dated: May 22, 1995.
Eugene Moss,
Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services.
[FR Doc. 95-15818 Filed 6-30-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-07-U