[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12140-12141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5752]


 ========================================================================
 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. 65, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 8, 2000 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 12140]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN-99-003]
RIN 0581-AB57


Revision of User Fees for 2000 Crop Cotton Classification 
Services to Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing to 
maintain user fees for cotton producers for 2000 crop cotton 
classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act 
at the same level as in 1999. This is in accordance with the formula 
provided in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987. The 1999 user 
fee for this classification service was $1.35 per bale. This proposal 
would maintain the fee for the 2000 crop at $1.35 per bale. The 
proposed fee and the existing reserve are sufficient to cover the costs 
of providing classification services, including costs for 
administration and supervision.

DATES: Comments must be received by April 7, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments and inquiries should be addressed to: Cotton 
Programs, AMS, USDA, Room 2641-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-
6456. Comments will be available for public inspection during regular 
business hours at the above office in Rm. 2641-South Building, 14th & 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee Cliburn, Cotton Program, AMS, 
USDA, Room 2641-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456. 202-720-
2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed rule has been determined to be 
not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866, and it has not 
been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
    This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, 
Civil Justice Reform. It is not intended to have retroactive effect. 
This rule would 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.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) AMS has considered the economic impact 
of this action on small entities and has determined that its 
implementation will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small businesses.
    The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of 
businesses subject to such actions in order that small businesses will 
not be disproportionately burdened. There are an estimated 35,000 
cotton growers in the U.S. who voluntarily use the AMS cotton classing 
services annually, and the majority of these cotton growers are small 
businesses under the criteria established by the Small Business 
Administration (13 CFR 121.201). Continuing the user fee at the 1999 
crop level will not significantly affect small businesses as defined 
under the RFA because:
    (1) The fee represents a very small portion of the cost-per-unit 
currently borne by those entities utilizing the services (the 1999 user 
fee for classification services was $1.35 per bale; the fee for the 
2000 crop would be maintained at $1.35 per bale; the 2000 crop is 
estimated at 17,945,000 bales);
    (2) The fee for services will not affect competition in the 
marketplace; and
    (3) The use of classification services is voluntary. For the 1999 
crop, 16,409,650 bales were produced, and virtually all of them were 
submitted by growers for the classification service.
    (4) Based on the average price paid to growers for cotton from the 
1998 crop of 65.3 cents per pound, 500 pound bales of cotton are worth 
an average of $326.50 each. The proposed user fee for classification 
services, $1.35 per bale, is less than one percent of the value of an 
average bale of cotton.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    In compliance with OMB regulations (5 CFR part 1320) which 
implement the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 
the information collection requirements contained in the provisions to 
be amended by this proposed rule have been previously approved by OMB 
and were assigned OMB control number 0581-0009 under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
    It is anticipated that the proposed changes, if adopted, would be 
made effective July 1, 2000, as provided by the Cotton Statistics and 
Estimates Act.

Fees for Classification Under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act 
of 1927

    The user fee charged to cotton producers for High Volume Instrument 
(HVI) classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates 
Act (7 U.S.C. 473a) was $1.35 per bale during the 1999 harvest season 
as determined by using the formula provided in the Uniform Cotton 
Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended by Public Law 102-237. The fees 
cover salaries, costs of equipment and supplies, and other overhead 
costs, including costs for administration, and supervision.
    This proposed rule establishes the user fee charged to producers 
for HVI classification at $1.35 per bale during the 2000 harvest 
season.
    Public Law 102-237 amended the formula in the Uniform Cotton 
Classing Fees Act of 1987 for establishing the producer's 
classification fee so that the producer's fee is based on the 
prevailing method of classification requested by producers during the 
previous year. HVI classing was the prevailing method of cotton 
classification requested by producers in 1999. Therefore, the 2000 
producer's user fee for classification service is based on the 1999 
base fee for HVI classification.
    The fee was calculated by applying the formula specified in the 
Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended by Public Law 102-
237. The 1999 base fee for HVI classification exclusive of adjustments, 
as provided by the Act, was $2.14 per bale. An increase of one and 
thirty-nine hundredths percent, or three cents per bale increase due to 
the implicit price deflator of the gross domestic product added to the 
$2.14 would result in a 2000 base fee of $2.17 per bale. The formula in 
the Act

[[Page 12141]]

provides for the use of the percentage change in the implicit price 
deflator of the gross national product (as indexed for the most recent 
12-month period for which statistics are available). However, this has 
been replaced by the gross domestic product by the Department of 
Commerce as a more appropriate measure for the short-term monitoring 
and analysis of the U.S. economy.
    The number of bales to be classed by the United States Department 
of Agriculture from the 2000 crop is estimated at 17,855,275 bales. The 
2000 base fee was decreased 15 percent based on the estimated number of 
bales to be classed (one percent for every 100,000 bales or portion 
thereof above the base of 12,500,000, limited to a maximum adjustment 
of 15 percent). This percentage factor amounts to a 33 cents per bale 
reduction and was subtracted from the 2000 base fee of $2.17 per bale, 
resulting in a fee of $1.84 per bale.
    With a fee of $1.84 per bale, the projected operating reserve would 
be 49.77 percent. The Act specifies that the Secretary shall not 
establish a fee which, when combined with other sources of revenue, 
will result in a projected operating reserve of more than 25 percent. 
Accordingly, the fee of $1.84 must be reduced by 49 cents per bale, to 
$1.35 per bale, to provide an ending accumulated operating reserve for 
the fiscal year of 25 percent of the projected cost of operating the 
program. This would establish the 2000 season fee at $1.35 per bale.
    Accordingly, Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) would reflect the 
continuation of the HVI classification fee at $1.35 per bale.
    As provided for in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as 
amended, a five cent per bale discount would continue to be applied to 
voluntary centralized billing and collecting agents as specified in 
Sec. 28.909(c).
    Growers or their designated agents requesting classification data 
provided on computer punched cards will continue to be charged the fee 
of 10 cents per card in Sec. 28.910(a) to reflect the costs of 
providing this service. Requests for punch card classification data 
represented less than 1.0 percent of the total bales classed from the 
1999 crop, down from 2.6 percent in 1997. Growers or their designated 
agents receiving classification data by methods other than computer 
punched cards would continue to incur no additional fees if only one 
method of receiving classification data was requested. The fee for each 
additional method of receiving classification data in Sec. 28.910 would 
remain at five cents per bale, and it would be applicable even if the 
same method was requested. However, if computer punched cards were 
requested, a fee of ten cents per card would be charged. The fee in 
Sec. 28.910(b) for an owner receiving classification data from the 
central database would remain at five cents per bale, and the minimum 
charge of $5.00 for services provided per monthly billing period would 
remain the same. The provisions of Sec. 28.910(c) concerning the fee 
for new classification memoranda issued from the central database for 
the business convenience of an owner without reclassification of the 
cotton will remain the same.
    The fee for review classification in Sec. 28.911 would be 
maintained at $1.35 per bale.
    The fee for returning samples after classification in Sec. 28.911 
would remain at 40 cents per sample.
    A thirty-day comment period is provided for public comments. This 
period is appropriate because it is anticipated that the proposed 
changes, if adopted, would be made effective July 1, 2000, as provided 
by the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

    Administrative practice and procedure, Cotton, Cotton samples, 
Grades, Market news, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Standards, Staples, Testing, Warehouses.
    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 28 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 28--[Amended]

    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 28, Subpart D, continues 
to read as follows:


    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 471--476.
    2. In Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 28.909  Costs.

* * * * *
    (b) The cost of High Volume Instrument (HVI) cotton classification 
service to producers is $1.35 per bale.
* * * * *
    3. In Sec. 28.911, the last sentence of paragraph (a) is revised to 
read as follows:


Sec. 28.911  Review classification.

    (a) * * * The fee for review classification is $1.35 per bale.
* * * * *

    Dated: March 6, 2000.
Kathleen A. Merrigan,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 00-5752 Filed 3-7-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P