[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 73 (Friday, April 16, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18831-18833]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9658]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 73 / Friday, April 16, 1999 /
Proposed Rules
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Part 1220
[No. LS-98-001]
Soybean Promotion and Research Program: Request for Referendum
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: This action would change the number of eligible soybean
producers estimated in the proposed ``Request for Referendum'' on the
Soybean Promotion and Research Order (Order) as published in the
September 4, 1998, Federal Register and would amend the regulations
accordingly. The estimated number of eligible soybean producers would
change from 381,000 soybean producers to 600,813 soybean producers
based on the results of a statistical survey.
DATES: Written comments must be received by May 17, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Send two copies of comments to Ralph L. Tapp, Chief;
Marketing Programs Branch; Livestock and Seed Program, Agricultural
Marketing Service (AMS), USDA; STOP-0251; 1400 Independence Avenue,
SW.; Washington, D.C. 20250-0251. Comments will be available for public
inspection during regular business hours in Room 2627 South Agriculture
Building; 14th and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, D.C.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ralph L. Tapp, Chief, Marketing
Programs Branch, 202/720-1115.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regulatory Impact Analysis
Executive Order 12866 and 12988 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act and
the Paperwork Reduction Act
The Department of Agriculture (Department) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil
Justice Reform. It is not intended to have a retroactive effect. This
rule would not preempt State or local laws, regulations, or policies,
unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule.
The Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act (Act)
provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted before
parties may file suit in court. Under Sec. 1971 of the Act, a person
subject to the 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 the law and
request a modification of the Order or an exemption from the Order. The
petitioner is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on the petition.
After a hearing the Secretary will rule on the petition. The statute
provides that the district court of the United States in any district
in which the petitioner resides or carries on business has jurisdiction
to review the Secretary's decision if a complaint for that purpose is
filed not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of the
Secretary's decision.
Further, Sec. 1974 of the Act provides, with certain exceptions,
that nothing in the Act may be construed to preempt or supersede any
other program relating to soybean promotion, research, consumer
information, or industry information organized and operated under the
laws of the United States or any State. One exception in the Act
concerns assessments collected by the Qualified State Soybean Boards
(QSSBs). The exception provides that to ensure adequate funding of the
operations of QSSBs under the Act, no State law or regulation may limit
or have the effect of limiting the full amount of assessments that a
QSSB in that State may collect, and which is authorized to be credited
under the Act. Another exception concerns certain referendums conducted
during specified periods by a State relating to the continuation or
termination of a QSSB or State soybean assessment.
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 601 et seq.), the Administrator of
AMS has considered the economic effect of this proposed action on small
entities and has determined that its implementation will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small business
entities.
According to the statistical survey initiated by the Department,
there are 600,813 soybean producers who would be eligible to
participate in the ``Request for Referendum.'' The majority of
producers subject to the Order are small businesses under the criteria
established by the Small Business Administration.
Further, the requirements set forth in the proposed rule are
substantially similar to the rules that established the eligibility and
participation requirements for a July 26, 1995, soybean producer poll
published as a final rule on March 22, 1995 (60 FR 15027), in the
Federal Register.
The procedures to request a referendum would not impose a
substantial burden or have a significant impact on persons subject to
the Order. Further, participation is not mandatory. Not all persons
subject to the Order are expected to participate. The Department would
determine producer eligibility.
In compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
regulations [5 CFR Part 1320] which implements the Paperwork Reduction
Act [44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.], the information collection requirements
contained in this proposed rule have been previously approved by OMB
and were assigned OMB control number 0581-0093. The information
collection requirements in the proposed rule include the following:
(1) Any eligible person who requests a referendum must legibly
print his/her name, or if applicable, the producer entity represented,
address, telephone number, and county on the ``Request for a Soybean
Referendum'' form (Form LS-51-1). Each person must read the
certification statement on the form and sign it certifying that he/she
or the producer entity represented meets the eligibility requirements.
Form LS-51-1 shall be obtained in person, by mail, telephone, or
facsimile from the county Farm Service Agency (FSA) office where FSA
maintains and processes the producer's administrative farm records or
at the county FSA office serving the county where the producer owns or
rents land. Form LS-51-1 may be returned by mail, by facsimile, or in
person to the same county FSA office
[[Page 18832]]
where the form was obtained. A producer or producer entity
representative who obtains Form LS-51-1 in person during the ``Request
for Referendum'' period from the appropriate county FSA office may
complete Form LS-51-1 at that time. The estimated average time burden
for completing the procedure is 5 minutes per person.
(2) Using information from each returned Form LS-51-1, county FSA
personnel shall enter the producer's name, and if applicable, producer
entity representative, the date received (and the postmarked date for
mailed requests), and the method the form was received on the ``List of
Soybean Producers Requesting a Referendum'' (Form LS-51-2). This
information may be used for the purpose of challenging the eligibility
of producers. Many county FSA offices will use more than one Form LS-
51-2 depending on the number of producers requesting a referendum.
Because only county FSA office personnel would be required to complete
Form LS-51-2, the time required to complete this form is not included
in the estimated average reporting burden for a producer.
Background
The Act (7 U.S.C. 6301-6311) provides for the establishment of a
coordinated program of promotion and research designed to strengthen
the soybean industry's position in the marketplace and to maintain and
expand domestic and foreign markets and uses for soybeans and soybean
products. The program is financed by an assessment of 0.5 of one
percent of the net market price of soybeans sold by producers. Pursuant
to the Act, an Order was made effective July 9, 1991, and the
collection of assessments began September 1, 1991.
The Act required that an initial referendum be conducted no earlier
than 18 months and no later than 36 months after the issuance of the
Order to determine whether the Order should be continued.
The initial referendum was conducted on February 9, 1994. On April
1, 1994, the Secretary announced that of the 85,606 valid ballots cast,
46,060 (53.8 percent) were in favor of continuing the Order and the
remaining 39,546 votes (46.2 percent) were against continuing the
Order. The Act required approval by a simple majority for the Order to
continue.
The Act also required that within 18 months after the Secretary
announced the results of the initial referendum, the Secretary would
conduct a poll among producers to determine if producers favored a
referendum on the continuance of the payment of refunds under the
Order.
A July 25, 1995, nationwide poll of soybean producers did not
generate sufficient support for a refund referendum to be held based on
the total number of producers in the United States established at that
time. A refund referendum would have been held if at least 20 percent
(not in excess of one-fifth of which may be producers in any one State)
of the 381,000 producers (76,200) nationwide requested it. Only 48,782
soybean producers participated in the poll. Consequently, refunds were
discontinued on October 1, 1995.
The Act also specifies that the Secretary shall, 5 years after the
conduct of the initial referendum and every 5 years thereafter, provide
soybean producers an opportunity to request a referendum on the Order.
For all such referendums, if the Secretary determines that at least
10 percent of U.S. producers engaged in growing soybeans (not in excess
of one-fifth of which may be producers in any one State) support the
conduct of a referendum, the Secretary must conduct a referendum within
1 year of that determination. If these requirements are not met, a
referendum would not be conducted.
On September 4, 1998, AMS published a proposed ``Request for
Referendum'' rule in the Federal Register (63 FR 47200). The proposed
rule set forth procedures to be followed in conducting the ``Request
for Referendum.'' The proposed rule included provisions concerning
definitions, supervision of the process for requesting a referendum,
eligibility, certification and request procedures, counting and
reporting results, and disposition of the forms and records. The
proposed rule also provided that the ``Request for Referendum,'' be
conducted at the county FSA offices and that FSA assist AMS by
determining eligibility, counting, and reporting results. Finally, the
proposed rule provided that the Secretary would use the latest official
number of U.S. soybean farms as reported by the Department's National
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) as representing the total number
of U.S. soybean producers. At the time the proposed rule was published,
the latest official data available and reported by NASS was based on
the 1992 Census of Agriculture (1992 Census) which showed that 381,000
farms produced soybeans.
Comments on the proposed rule were due in the Department by October
5, 1998. The Department received six comments from State and national
soybean organizations concerning the Department's estimated number of
soybean producers eligible to participate in the ``Request for
Referendum.'' Four comments were filed on time and two comments were
filed after the comment period ended. The late comments generally
expressed the same views as the timely comments. In addition, six other
comments were received addressing other matters in the September 4,
1998, proposed rule will be discussed in a final rule.
The four comments timely received expressed the belief that the
381,000 soybean farms reported by the 1992 Census and proposed by the
Department as the total number of soybean producers grossly understates
the true number of soybean producers. Furthermore, the commenters
believed that the 1992 Census data (1) was outdated, (2) did not
provide a proper basis for determining the number of soybean producers,
and (3) did not reflect the current number of producers which they
believed had increased since the enactment of the 1996 Farm Bill. Two
commenters recommended that AMS utilize the results of the United
Soybean Board's (Board) recent survey of soybean producers, which was
based on FSA's data, or use other relevant information to determine the
number of soybean farmers eligible to request a referendum. The Board's
survey suggested that there could be as many as 649,000 soybean
producers in the United States which is significantly more soybean
producers than reflected in the 1992 Census data. Further, the most
recent Census data for 1997 as reported by NASS indicated that there
are 354,692 soybean farms. Accordingly, in order to better address this
issue, AMS contracted with an independent surveyor to conduct a survey
of soybean producers.
AMS obtained a list from FSA of approximately 970,000 producers who
produced soybeans, or who produced forage or hay which may have
included soybeans during crop years 1995-97. AMS then developed a
survey from this information designed to determine the number of
producers which meet the definition of a soybean producer contained in
the Act.
To achieve 95 percent confidence in the survey results with a 2
percent margin of error, the surveyor would obtain over 2,400 ``yes''
or ``no'' responses from those interviewed regarding their soybean
producer status. Those interviewed were asked to respond only after
listening to the definition of soybean producer provided under
Sec. 1967 of the Act as read by the
[[Page 18833]]
caller. The definition of producer is ``any person engaged in the
growing of soybeans in the United States who owns, or who shares the
ownership and risk of loss of, such soybeans.''
On March 5, 1999, AMS received the results of the soybean producer
survey. AMS, also, reviewed the methods used for conducting the soybean
producer survey to ensure that the procedures outlined by AMS were
followed. The results indicated that approximately 62 percent of those
surveyed were soybean producers as defined in the Act. Thus, based on
the results, for the purposes of the ``Request for Referendum,'' AMS
proposes to use 600,813 as the total number of U.S. soybean producers.
This number would serve as the basis for determining whether a soybean
referendum would be conducted. A soybean referendum would be conducted
if requested by 10 percent of the total number of U.S. soybean
producers (not in excess of one-fifth of which may be producers in any
one State) engaged in the growing of soybeans.
Since the basis for establishing the total number of producers
would no longer be NASS data, Sec. 1220.30(d) of the proposed rule
would be amended by deleting the phrase ``* * * the latest official
numbers of U.S. soybean farms as reported by the Department's National
Agricultural Statistics Service as the total number of producers.'' and
inserting the phrase ``* * * the number of soybean producers in the
United States is determined to be 600,813.''
A 30-day comment period is provided for interested persons to
comment on this amended proposed rule. This comment period is deemed
appropriate because the Act provides that the Secretary, 5 years after
the conduct of the initial referendum held in 1994, will give soybean
producers the opportunity to request an additional referendum on the
Order. A 30-day comment period will assist in timely implementation of
this rule consistent with the provisions of the Act.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1220
Administrative practice and procedure, Advertising, Agricultural
research, Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Soybeans and soybean products.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, it is proposed that 7
CFR part 1220 be amended as follows:
PART 1220--SOYBEAN PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND CONSUMER INFORMATION
1. The authority citation for part 1220 would continue to read as
follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 6301-6311.
Subpart F--Procedures to Request a Referendum Procedures
2. In Sec. 1220.30, as proposed at 63 FR 47202, September 4, 1998,
paragraph (d) is further proposed to be revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1220.30 General.
* * * * *
(d) For purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, the
number of soybean producers in the United States is determined to be
600,813.
Dated: April 13, 1999.
Barry L. Carpenter,
Deputy Administrator, Livestock and Seed Program.
[FR Doc. 99-9658 Filed 4-14-99; 11:18 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P