[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