[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 115 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 29926-29928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-14987]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
7 CFR Parts 997 and 998

[Docket No. FV96-998-1IFR]


Increased Assessment Rate for Domestically Produced Peanuts 
Handled By Persons Not Subject to Peanut Marketing Agreement No. 146 
and for Marketing Agreement No. 146 Regulating the Quality of 
Domestically Produced Peanuts

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Interim final rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This interim final rule increases the administrative 
assessment rate under Marketing Agreement 146 (agreement) for the 1995-
96 crop year. Authorization of the increase in the administrative 
assessment rate enables the Peanut Administrative Committee (Committee) 
to collect sufficient funds to pay expenses for the remainder of the 
year. Funds to administer this program are derived from assessments on 
handlers who have signed the agreement. Public Law 103-66 requires the 
Department of Agriculture (Department) to impose an administrative 
assessment on farmers stock peanuts received or acquired by handlers 
who are not signatory (non-signatory handlers) to the agreement. 
Therefore, this same increase in the assessment rate under the 
agreement will apply to all non-signatory handlers.

DATES: Effective July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996. Comments received 
by July 15, 1996, will be considered prior to issuance of a final rule.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments 
concerning this rule. 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, FAX 202-720-5698, or William G. Pimental, Southeast Marketing 
Field Office, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 2276, 
Winter Haven, FL 33883-2276, telephone 941-299-4770, FAX 941-299-5169.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule is issued pursuant to the 
requirements of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as 
amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674), and as further amended December 12, 1989, 
hereinafter referred to as the ``Act''; Pub. L. 101-220, section 4(1), 
(2), 103 Stat. 1878, December 12, 1989; Pub. L. 103-66, section 
8b(b)(1), 107 Stat. 312, August 10, 1993; and under Marketing Agreement 
146 (7 CFR part 998) regulating the quality of domestically produced 
peanuts.
    The Department is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive 
Order 12866.
    This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil 
Justice Reform. The Department established a 1995-96 crop year 
assessment rate applicable to non-signatory and signatory handlers 
effective July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996. This rule increases the 
administrative assessment rates for the crop year which began July 1, 
1995. Farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by non-signatory 
handlers and farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by handlers 
signatory to the agreement, other than from those described in 
Secs. 998.31 (c) and (d), are subject to the assessments. This rule 
will not preempt any State or local laws, regulations, or policies, 
unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule. There 
are no administrative procedures which must be exhausted prior to any 
judicial challenge to the provisions of this rule.
    Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (RFA), the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has considered the 
economic impact of this rule on small entities.

[[Page 29927]]

    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.
    There are approximately 45 handlers of peanuts who have not signed 
the agreement and, thus, will be subject to the regulations specified 
herein. Also, there are approximately 47,000 producers of peanuts in 
the 16 States covered under the agreement and approximately 76 handlers 
subject to regulation under the agreement. 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. A majority of the producers and the non-
signatory handlers may be classified as small entities, and some of the 
handlers covered under the agreement are small entities.
    Under the agreement, the assessment rate for a particular crop year 
applies to all assessable tonnage handled from the beginning of such 
year (i.e., July 1). Funds to administer the peanut agreement program 
are paid to the Committee and are derived from signatory handler 
assessments. An annual budget of expenses is prepared by the Committee 
and submitted to the Department for approval. The members of the 
Committee are handlers and producers of peanuts. They are familiar with 
the Committee's needs and with the costs for goods, services, and 
personnel for program operations and, thus, are in a position to 
formulate appropriate budgets. The budgets are formulated and discussed 
at industry-wide meetings. Thus, all directly affected persons have an 
opportunity to provide input in recommending the budget and assessment 
rate. The handlers of peanuts who are directly affected have signed the 
marketing agreement authorizing the expenses that may be incurred and 
the imposition of assessments.
    The assessment rate recommended by the Committee for the 1995-96 
crop year was derived by dividing anticipated expenses by expected 
receipts and acquisitions of farmers' stock peanuts. It applies to all 
assessable peanuts received or acquired by handlers from July 1, 1995. 
Farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by non-signatory handlers 
and farmers' stock peanuts received or acquired by handlers signatory 
to the agreement, other than from those described in Secs. 998.31 (c) 
and (d), are subject to assessments. Because that rate is applied to 
actual receipts and acquisitions, it must be established at a rate 
which will produce sufficient income to pay the Committee's expenses. 
Approximately 95 percent of the domestically produced peanut crop is 
marketed by handlers who are signatory to the agreement.
    Pub. L. 101-220 amended section 608b of the Act to require that all 
peanuts handled by persons who have not entered into the agreement 
(non-signers) be subject to quality and inspection requirements to the 
same extent and manner as are required under the Agreement. 
Approximately 5 percent of the U.S. peanut crop is marketed by non-
signer handlers.
    Pub. L. 103-66 (107 Stat. 312) provides for mandatory assessment of 
farmer's stock peanuts acquired by non-signatory peanut handlers. Under 
this law, paragraph (b) of section 1001, of the Agricultural 
Reconciliation Act of 1993, specified that: (1) Any assessment (except 
indemnification assessments) imposed under the Agreement on signatory 
handlers also shall apply to non-signatory handlers, and (2) such 
assessment shall be paid to the Secretary.
    The 1995-96 Committee budget was published in the Federal Register 
as an interim final rule on May 17, 1995, (60 FR 26348), and finalized 
on July 18, 1995 (60 FR 36635). The non-signatory handler assessment 
rate was published in the Federal Register as an interim final rule on 
August 21, 1995 (60 FR 43353), and finalized on November 24, 1995 (60 
FR 57907). The administrative expenses and assessment rate for the 
1995-96 crop year were based on an estimated assessable tonnage of 
1,525,000. The Committee now projects that total tonnage will only be 
about 1,300,000. In order to have sufficient revenue to cover budgeted 
expenses of $1,067,500, the Committee met on March 19, 1996, and 
unanimously recommended that the 1995-96 crop year administrative 
assessment be increased from $0.70 to $0.83 per net ton of assessable 
farmers' stock peanuts.
    While this action will impose some additional costs on handlers, 
the costs are in the form of uniform assessments on all handlers 
signatory to the agreement. Some of the additional costs may be passed 
on to producers. However, these costs will be significantly offset by 
the benefits derived from the operation of the marketing agreement. 
This administrative assessment is required by law to be applied 
uniformly to all non-signatory handlers and will be of benefit to all. 
Therefore, the AMS has determined that this rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
    After consideration of all relevant matter presented, including the 
information and recommendations submitted by the Committee and other 
available information, it is hereby found that this rule, as 
hereinafter set forth, will tend to effectuate the declared policy of 
the Act.
    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, it is also found and determined upon good 
cause that it is impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public 
interest to give preliminary notice prior to putting this rule into 
effect and that good cause exists for not postponing the effective date 
of this action until 30 days after publication in the Federal Register 
because: (1) The Committee needs to have sufficient funds to pay its 
expenses which are incurred on a continuous basis; (2) Pub. L. 103-66 
requires the Department to impose an administrative assessment on 
peanuts received or acquired for the account of non-signatory handlers; 
(3) the 1995-96 crop year began on July 1, 1995, and the marketing 
agreement and Pub. L. 103-66 require that the rate of assessment for 
the crop year apply to all peanuts handled during the crop year; (4) 
handlers are aware of this action which was unanimously recommended by 
the Committee at a public meeting and is similar to other budget 
actions issued in past years; and (5) this interim final rule provides 
a 30-day comment period, and all comments timely received will be 
considered prior to finalization of this rule.

List of Subjects

7 CFR Part 997

    Food grades and standards, Peanuts, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

7 CFR Part 998

    Marketing agreements, Peanuts, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR parts 997 and 998 
are amended as follows:
    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR parts 997 and 998 continues to 
read as follows:

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

    Note: These sections will not appear in the Code of Federal 
Regulations.

[[Page 29928]]

PART 997--PROVISIONS REGULATING THE QUALITY OF DOMESTICALLY 
PRODUCED PEANUTS HANDLED BY PERSONS NOT SUBJECT TO THE PEANUT 
MARKETING AGREEMENT


Sec. 997.100   [Amended]

    2. Section 997.100 is amended by removing ``$0.70'' and adding in 
its place ``$0.83.''

PART 998--MARKETING AGREEMENT REGULATING THE QUALITY OF 
DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED PEANUTS


Sec. 998.408   [Amended]

    3. In Sec. 998.408, paragraph (c) is amended by removing ``$1.70'' 
and adding in its place ``$1.83'' and by removing ``$0.70'' and adding 
in its place ``$0.83.''

    Dated: June 7, 1996.
Robert C. Keeney,
Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.
[FR Doc. 96-14987 Filed 6-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P