[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 104 (Friday, May 28, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 30553-30554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12138]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 104 / Friday, May 28, 2004 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 30553]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[Doc. No. CN-03-007]
RIN 0581-AC34


Revision of User Fees for 2004 Crop Cotton Classification 
Services to Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will raise user fees 
for cotton producers for 2004 crop cotton classification services under 
the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act. The 2003 user fee for this 
classification service was $1.45 per bale. This rule will raise the fee 
for the 2004 crop to $1.65 per bale. This fee and the existing reserve 
are sufficient to cover the costs of providing classification services, 
including costs for administration and supervision.

DATES: Effective Date: July 1, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Norma McDill, Deputy Administrator, 
Cotton Program, AMS, USDA, Room 2641-S, STOP 0224, 1400 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-0224. Telephone (202) 720-2145, 
facsimile (202) 690-1718, or e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A proposed rule detailing the revisions was 
published in the Federal Register on April 26, 2004 (69 FR 22458). A 
15-day comment period was provided for interested persons to respond to 
the proposed rule. No comments were received and no changes have been 
made in the provisions of the final rule.

Executive Order 12866 and Executive Order 12988T

    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866; and, therefore has not been reviewed 
by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
    This final 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 that 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 so 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). The increase above the 2003 crop level 
as stated will not significantly affect small businesses as defined in 
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 2003 
user fee for classification services was $1.45 per bale; the fee for 
the 2004 crop would be increased to $1.65 per bale; the 2004 crop is 
estimated at 18,300,000 bales).
    (2) The fee for services will not affect competition in the 
marketplace; and
    (3) The use of classification services is voluntary. For the 2003 
crop, 18,224,000 bales were produced; and, almost all of these bales 
were voluntarily submitted by growers for the classification service.
    (4) Based on the average price paid to growers for cotton from the 
2002 crop of 44.5 cents per pound, 500 pound bales of cotton are worth 
an average of $222 each. The user fee for classification services, 
$1.65 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 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.).

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 $1.45 per bale during the 2003 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. The fee 
does not cover the costs for development of cotton standards used in 
the classification of cotton.
    This final rule establishes the user fee charged to producers for 
HVI classification at $1.65 per bale during the 2004 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 2003. Therefore, the 2004 
producer's user fee for classification service is based on the 2003 
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 Pub. L. 102-
237. The 2003 base fee for HVI classification exclusive of adjustments, 
as provided by the Act, was $2.28 per bale. An increase of 1.61 
percent, or 4 cents per bale, increase due to the implicit price 
deflator of the gross domestic product added to the

[[Page 30554]]

$2.28 would result in a 2004 base fee of $2.32 per bale. The formula in 
the Act 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, 
gross national product has been replaced by 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 2004 crop is estimated at 17,662,245 bales. The 
2004 base fee was decreased 15 percent based on the estimated number of 
bales to be classed (1 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 35 cents per bale 
reduction and was subtracted from the 2004 base fee of $2.32 per bale, 
resulting in a fee of $1.97 per bale.
    With a fee of $1.97 per bale, the projected operating reserve would 
be 32.37 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 $1.97 must be reduced by 32 cents per bale, to 
$1.65 per bale, to provide an ending accumulated operating reserve for 
the fiscal year of not more than 25 percent of the projected cost of 
operating the program. This would establish the 2004 season fee at 
$1.65 per bale.
    Accordingly, Sec.  28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to reflect the 
increase of the HVI classification fee from $1.45 to $1.65 per bale.
    As provided for in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as 
amended, a 5 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 receiving classification data 
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 5 cents per bale, and it would be applicable even if 
the same method were requested. The fee in Sec.  28.910(b) for an owner 
receiving classification data from the central database would remain at 
5 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 
increased from $1.45 to $1.65 per bale.
    The fee for returning samples after classification in Sec.  28.911 
would remain at 40 cents per sample.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

    Administrative practice and procedure, Cotton, Cotton samples, 
Grades, Market news, Reporting and record keeping requirements, 
Standards, Staples, Testing, Warehouses.

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 28 is amended as 
follows:

PART 28--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 28, subpart D, continues to 
read as follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 471-476.

0
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 $1.65 per bale.
* * * * *

0
3. In Sec.  28.911, the last sentence of paragraph (a) is revise to 
read as follows:


Sec.  28.911  Review classification.

    (a) * * * The fee for review classification is $1.65 per bale.
* * * * *

    Dated: May 25, 2004.
Kenneth C. Clayton,
Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 04-12138 Filed 5-27-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P