[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 151 (Monday, August 7, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40116-40117]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19332]



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


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Part 987

[Docket No. FV95-987-1PR]


Domestic Dates Produced or Packed in Riverside County, 
California; Expenses and Assessment Rate

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would authorize expenditures and establish 
an assessment rate under Marketing Order No. 987 for the 1995-96 crop 
year. Authorization of this budget would enable the California Date 
Administrative Committee (Committee) to incur expenses that are 
reasonable and necessary to administer the program. Funds to administer 
this program are derived from assessments on handlers.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 6, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments 
concerning this proposal. Comments must be sent in triplicate to the 
Docket Clerk, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 96456, 
room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, FAX 202-720-5698. Comments 
should reference the docket number and the date and page number of this 
issue of the Federal Register and will be available for public 
inspection in the Office of the Docket Clerk during regular business 
hours.

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 Maureen Pello, 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 issued under Marketing 
Agreement and Order No. 987, both as amended (7 CFR part 987), 
regulating the handling of dates produced or packed in Riverside 
County, 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 of Agriculture (Department) is issuing this rule in 
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
    This proposal has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil 
Justice Reform. Under the marketing order now in effect, California 
dates are subject to assessments. Funds to administer the California 
date marketing order are derived from such assessments. It is intended 
that the assessment rate as issued herein will be applicable to all 
assessable dates during the 1995-96 crop year which begins October 1, 
1995, and ends September 30, 1996. This proposal 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 request 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 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 behalf. 

[[Page 40117]]
Thus, both statutes have small entity orientation and compatibility.
    There are approximately 135 producers of California dates under the 
marketing order and approximately 25 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 California date 
producers and handlers may be classified as small entities.
    The budget of expenses for the 1995-96 crop year was prepared by 
the California Date Administrative Committee, the agency responsible 
for local administration of the marketing order, and submitted to the 
Department for approval. The members of the Committee are producers and 
handlers of California dates. They are familiar with the Committee's 
needs and with the costs for goods and services in their local area and 
are, thus, in a position to formulate an appropriate budget. The budget 
was formulated and discussed in a public meeting. Thus, all directly 
affected persons have had an opportunity to participate and provide 
input.
    The assessment rate recommended by the Committee was derived by 
dividing anticipated expenses by expected shipments of California 
dates. Because that rate will be applied to actual shipments, it must 
be established at a rate that will provide sufficient income to pay the 
Committee's expenses.
    The Committee met on May 18, 1995, and by votes of 6 to 3 
recommended a 1995-96 assessment rate and operating expenses and 
increased market promotion expenses to fund the Committee's marketing 
plan. The two handlers voting against the funding for the marketing 
plan believe individual handlers should do more advertising on their 
own; the other no vote came from a producer who expressed concerns 
about the outstanding assessments owed the Committee. However, the 
majority of Committee members expressed the need for the industry to 
work together to promote California dates and help reduce current 
inventories.
    The 1995-96 budget of $774,218 is $203,218 more than the previous 
year. Included in the budgeted expenditures is an operating budget of 
$160,000, $24,865 more than last year, with a 26.25 percent surplus 
account allocation, for a net operating budget of $118,000, or $18,000 
more than last year. Also included is $656,218 allocated for market 
promotion, $206,218 more than last year.
    Budget items for 1995-96 which have increased compared to those 
budgeted for 1994-95 (in parentheses) are: Executive Director's salary, 
$66,000 ($57,500), Marketing Assistant's Salary, $24,000 ($18,500), 
health and welfare benefits, $10,500 ($8,500), payroll taxes, $8,000 
($5,814), rent, $7,500 ($7,000), professional services--accounting, 
$3,000 ($2,000), contingency, $5,200 ($221), consumer public relations, 
$151,500 ($60,000), consumer media, $336,218 ($265,000), industrial 
promotion, $115,000 ($30,000), and $13,000 for a secretary/receptionist 
and $6,000 for export promotion, for which no funding was recommended 
last year. Items which have decreased compared to the amount budgeted 
for 1994-95 (in parentheses) are: Copier lease and maintenance, $2,100 
($2,400), retail trade promotion, $35,000 ($45,000), and ($4,000) for 
equipment for marketing efforts, for which no funding was recommended 
this year. All other items are budgeted at last year's amounts.
    The assessment rate of $2.25 per hundredweight is $0.75 more than 
last season. This rate, when applied to anticipated date shipments of 
36,000,000 pounds (360,000 hundredweight), would yield $810,000 in 
assessable income. This, along with $1,000 in interest income, would 
result in $36,782 in excess income which would be allocated to the 
Committee's reserve. Funds in the reserve as of September 30, 1996, 
which the Committee estimates would be $235,782, should be within the 
maximum amount permitted by the order. Funds held by the Committee at 
the end of the crop year, including the reserve, which are in excess of 
the crop year's expenses may be used to defray expenses for four months 
and thereafter the Committee shall refund or credit the excess funds to 
the handlers.
    While this action would 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 would be offset by the benefits derived by the operation of the 
marketing order. Therefore, the Administrator of the AMS has determined 
that this action would not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.
    A 30-day comment period is provided to allow interested persons to 
respond to this proposal. All written comments timely received will be 
considered before a final determination is made on this matter.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 987

    Dates, Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 987 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 987--DOMESTIC DATES PRODUCED OR PACKED IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY, 
CALIFORNIA

    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 987 continues to read as 
follows:

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

    2. A new Sec. 987.338 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 987.338  Expenses and assessment rate.

    Expenses of $774,218 by the California Date Administrative 
Committee are authorized, and an assessment rate of $2.25 per 
hundredweight of assessable dates is established for the crop year 
ending September 30, 1996. Unexpended funds may be carried over as a 
reserve within the limitations specified in Sec. 987.72(c) and (d).

    Dated: July 31, 1995.
Martha B. Ransom,
Acting Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 95-19332 Filed 8-4-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P