[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 31, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 30895-30896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10834]



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  Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 31, 2005 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 30895]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN-05-001]
RIN 0581-AC43


Revision of User Fees for 2005 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 2005 crop cotton classification services under 
the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act. The 2004 user fee for this 
classification service was $1.65 per bale. This rule will raise the fee 
for the 2005 crop to $1.85 per bale with the program. 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, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Darryl Earnest, Acting 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, 2005 (70 FR 21342). 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

    This 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).

Executive Order 12988

    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 2004 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 
(less than 0.4 cents per lb) currently borne by those entities 
utilizing the services. (The 2004 user fee for classification services 
was $1.65 per 500 pound bale; the fee for the 2005 crop will be 
increased to $1.85 per 500 pound bale; the 2005 crop is estimated at 
18,750,000 bales).
    (2) The fee for services will not affect competition in the 
marketplace; and
    (3) The use of classification services is voluntary. For the 2004 
crop, 22,815,000 bales were produced. 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 
2003 crop of 61.8 cents per pound, 500 pound bales of cotton are worth 
an average of $309 each. The user fee for classification services, 
$1.85 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-AC34.

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 $1.65 per bale during the 2004 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 final rule establishes the user fee charged to producers for 
HVI classification at $1.85 per bale during the 2005 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 2004. Therefore, the 2005 
producer's user fee for classification service is based on the 2004 
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 2004 base fee for HVI classification exclusive of adjustments, 
as provided by the Act, was $2.32 per bale. An increase of 2.51 
percent, or 5 cents per bale, due to the implicit price deflator of the 
gross domestic product added to the $2.32 would result in a 2005 base 
fee of $2.37

[[Page 30896]]

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 2005 crop is estimated at 18,096,563 bales. The 
2005 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 decreased 
adjustment of 15 percent). This percentage factor amounts to a 35 cents 
per bale reduction and was subtracted from the 2005 base fee of $2.37 
per bale, resulting in a fee of $2.02 per bale.
    With a fee of $2.02 per bale, the projected operating reserve would 
be 32.45 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 $2.02 was required to be reduced by 17 cents 
per bale, to $1.85 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 2005 
season fee at $1.85 per bale.
    Accordingly, Sec.  28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to reflect the 
increase of the HVI classification fee from $1.65 to $1.85 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 classification data is 
requested only once. The fee for each additional retrieval of 
classification data in Sec.  28.910 will remain at 5 cents per bale. 
The fee in Sec.  28.910(b) for an owner receiving classification data 
from the National database will remain at 5 cents per bale, and the 
minimum charge of $5.00 for services provided per monthly billing 
period will remain the same. The provisions of Sec.  28.910(c) 
concerning the fee for new classification memoranda issued from the 
National database for the business convenience of an owner without 
reclassification of the cotton will remain the same at 15 cents per 
bale or a minimum of $5.00 per sheet.
    The fee for review classification in Sec.  28.911 will be increased 
from $1.65 to $1.85 per bale.
    The fee for returning samples after classification in Sec.  28.911 
will 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 $1.85 per bale.
* * * * *

0
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 $1.85 per bale.
* * * * *

    Dated: May 26, 2005.
Kenneth C. Clayton,
Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 05-10834 Filed 5-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P