[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 83 (Thursday, April 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24230-24231]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-10056]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 83 / Thursday, April 30, 2015 / 
Notices  

[[Page 24230]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation


Tobacco Transition Program; Final Date To Request Payments; No 
Change to Final Assessment Procedures

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Farm Service Agency (FSA), on behalf of the Commodity 
Credit Corporation (CCC), is announcing that the final date for holders 
of Tobacco Transition Payment Program (TTPP) contracts to request 
payments on their existing contracts is July 1, 2015. Through TTPP, 
eligible former tobacco quota holders and producers of quota tobacco 
received annual payments from funds that CCC collected through 
quarterly assessments on domestic manufacturers and importers of 
tobacco products under the Tobacco Transition Assessment Program 
(TTAP), as required by the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 
2004 (FETRA). The authority to issue TTAP assessments ended with fiscal 
year 2014.

DATES: Submit claims for payment by July 1, 2015; no claims will be 
accepted after this date.

ADDRESSES: Any USDA FSA county office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Dawson; telephone: (202) 720-
0448. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for 
communications (Braille, large print, audio tape, etc.) should contact 
the USDA Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On behalf of CCC, FSA administers the Tobacco Transition Program 
(TTP), which includes TTPP and TTAP. The TTP regulations are located in 
7 CFR part 1463, subpart B; TTAP regulations are located in subpart A. 
This notice does not change the regulations. TTPP was authorized by 
Title VI of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-357). 
Title VI is also known as FETRA (7 U.S.C. 518-519a). FETRA repealed the 
tobacco marketing quota and related price support programs authorized 
by Title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and by the 
Agricultural Act of 1949, and provided for payments to persons who were 
owners of farms with tobacco quotas, or who were producers of quota 
tobacco. As specified in FETRA, TTPP used funds from assessments 
collected quarterly from domestic tobacco manufacturers and importers 
to make TTPP contract payments; those payments ended with fiscal year 
2014. There will be no new TTPP contracts issued; the July 1, 2015 
deadline is only for claims for payment under existing contracts.

Final TTPP Contract Payments Procedures

    FSA is clarifying a few final procedures and dates for both the 
orderly close-out of TTPP, and the effect of the former on the close-
out of the TTAP. Accordingly, this notice clarifies how final payments 
will be handled after fiscal year 2014. Specifically, all claims for 
payments on existing contracts must be received in an FSA county office 
by July 1, 2015. This notice will also discuss the final ``true-up'' 
for TTAP.
    FSA has already made every effort to pay in full existing TTPP 
contract holders. We believe that the only remaining pending payments 
are those that may be due to the surviving spouses, beneficiaries of an 
estate, or successors in interest of now-deceased contract holders.
    In accordance with 7 CFR 1463.113, the TTPP payment can be 
transferred to the surviving spouse of a deceased TTPP contract holder 
upon presentation of a death certificate, without regard to any will or 
other document created on behalf of or by the deceased contract holder. 
If there is no surviving spouse of a deceased contract holder, the TTPP 
payment can be transferred to the estate of the deceased by any person 
authorized under State law to distribute assets of the deceased TTPP 
contract holder. The regulations for successor-in-interest contracts 
are found in 7 CFR 1463.112. This notice does not change those 
regulations. Evidence of authority to distribute assets of a deceased 
TTPP contract holder must be submitted to FSA by July 1, 2015.
    Persons who are surviving spouses, beneficiaries of an estate, or 
successors in interest may not have received payment if contact 
information was not provided to FSA in a timely fashion, or if the 
right to receive such payments was not documented as required. Any such 
persons who wish to receive payments must provide contact information, 
present evidence of authority to distribute assets (if applicable), and 
submit a claim for payment, using form CCC-971, ``Transfer of Tobacco 
Transition Payment Program Contracts Exempt From Maximum Discount 
Rate,'' to a local FSA county office. The CCC-971 form must have an 
original signature. All of the above information and form CCC-971 must 
be submitted to any local FSA office either in person, or received by 
mail, no later than July 1, 2015. Form CCC-971 is available online at 
http://forms.sc.egov.usda.gov/efcommon/eFileServices/eForms/CCC971-971-A.PDF.

Final Assessment Procedures Will Not Change

    This notice does not change the final dates or procedures for 
assessments that were specified in the most recent final rule for TTAP, 
published on April 9, 2014 (79 FR 19462-19464). As specified in the 
preamble of that final rule, FSA will make any necessary final ``trued 
up'' revisions to the assessments for all 10 fiscal years of the 
Tobacco Transition Program and issue revised assessments on or before 
December 1, 2015. The final ``trued up'' assessment will include any 
adjustments needed to cover payments made for final claims for payments 
on existing TTPP contracts received by July 1, 2015. After December 1, 
2015, there will be no revised assessments issued for any fiscal years. 
The final date for appeals of assessments is January 16, 2016, as 
specified in 7 CFR 1463.11; that date is not changing with this notice.


[[Page 24231]]


    Signed on April 27, 2015.
Val Dolcini,
Administrator, Farm Service Agency, and Executive Vice President, 
Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2015-10056 Filed 4-29-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-05-P