Oranges, Grapefruit, Tangerines, and Tangelos Grown in Florida; Expenses and Assessment Rate for 1994-95 Fiscal Year

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 905

[Docket No. FV94-905-1FIR]

Oranges, Grapefruit, Tangerines, and Tangelos Grown in Florida;

Expenses and Assessment Rate for 1994-95 Fiscal Year

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Deparment of Agriculture (Department) is adopting as a

final rule, without change, the provisions of the interim final rule

which authorized expenses and established an assessment rate for the

1994-95 fiscal year under Marketing Order No. 905. Authorization of

this budget enables the Citrus Administrative Committee (Committee) to

incur expenses that are reasonable and necessary to administer the

program. Funds to administer this program are derived from assessments

on handlers.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 1, 1994, through July 31, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Britthany Beadle, Marketing Order

Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O.

Box 96456, Room 2525-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456; telephone: (202)

720-5127; or William Pimental, Southeast Marketing Field Office, Fruit

& Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O. Box 2276, Winter Haven, Florida

33883-2276; telephone: (813) 299-4770.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing

Agreement and Marketing Order No. 905, as amended, [7 CFR Part 905]

regulating the handling of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and

tangelos grown in Florida, hereinafter referred to as the order. The

order is effective under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of

1937, as amended [7 U.S.C. 601-674], hereinafter referred to as the

Act.

The Department is issuing this rule in conformance with Executive

Order 12866.

This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,

Civil Justice Reform. Under the marketing order provisions now in

effect, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tangelos grown in Florida

are subject to assessments. It is intended that the assessment rate as

issued herein will be applicable to all assessable citrus fruit during

the 1994-95 fiscal year, beginning August 1, 1994, through July 31,

1995. This rule will not preempt any state or local laws, regulations,

or policies, unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this

rule.

The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted

before parties may file suit in court. Under section 8c(15)(A) of the

Act, any handler subject to an 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 law and requesting a modification of the order or to be exempted

therefrom. Such handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on

the petition. After the hearing the Secretary would rule on the

petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United States

in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or

her principal place of business, has jurisdiction in equity to review

the Secretary's ruling on the petition, provided a bill in equity is

filed not later than 20 days after date of the entry of the ruling.

Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility

Act (RFA), the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service

(AMS) has considered the economic impact of this rule on small

entities.

The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of

business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will

not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued

pursuant to the Act, and rules issued thereunder, are unique in that

they are brought about through group action of essentially small

entities acting on their own behalf. Thus, both statutes have small

entity orientation and compatibility.

There are approximately 100 citrus handlers subject to regulation

under the marketing order covering fresh oranges, grapefruit,

tangerines, and tangelos grown in Florida, and approximately 10,200

producers of these fruits in Florida. Small agricultural producers have

been defined by the Small Business Administration [13 CFR 121.601] as

those having annual receipts of less than $500,000, and small

agricultural service firms are defined as those whose annual receipts

are less than $5,000,000. A minority of these handlers and a majority

of these producers may be classified as small entities.

This marketing order, administered by the Department, requires that

the assessment rate for a particular fiscal period shall apply to all

assessable citrus fruit handled from the beginning of such period. An

annual budget of expenses and assessment rate is prepared by the

Committee and submitted to the Department for approval. The Committee

members are handlers and producers of Florida citrus. They are familiar

with the Committee's needs and with the costs for goods, services, and

personnel in their local area and are thus in a position to formulate

appropriate budgets. The budget is formulated and discussed in public

meetings. Thus, all directly affected persons have an opportunity to

participate and provide input.

The assessment rate recommended by the Committee is derived by

dividing anticipated expenses by the expected cartons (\4/5\ bushel) of

fruit shipped. Because that rate is applied to actual shipments, it

must be established at a rate which will produce sufficient income to

pay the Committee's expected expenses. The annual budget and assessment

rate are usually recommended by the Committee shortly before a season

starts, and expenses are incurred on a continuous basis. Therefore,

budget and assessment rate approvals must be expedited so that the

Committee will have funds to pay its expenses.

The Committee met June 21, 1994, and unanimously recommended

expenses of $210,000 for the 1994-95 fiscal year, with an assessment

rate of $0.003 per \4/5\ bushel carton of fresh fruit shipped.

In comparison, 1993-94 budget expenses were $200,000 with an

approved assessment of $0.00285. This represents increases of $10,000

in expenses and of $0.00015 in the assessment rate from the amounts

recommended for the current fiscal year.

The assessment rate, when applied to anticipated shipments of

66,000,000 cartons of assessable fruit, will yield a total of $198,000

in assessment income. Interest income for 1994-95 is estimated at

$2,000. This, along with $10,000 from the Committee's authorized

reserve fund, will be adequate to cover additional expenses. Funds in

the reserve at the end of the 1994-95 fiscal year, estimated at

$125,000, will be within the maximum permitted by the order of

approximately one-half of one fiscal year's expenses.

Major expense categories for the current fiscal year include

$98,300 for salaries, $36,000 for the Manifest department, and $12,600

for insurance and bonds.

An interim final rule was issued on August 8, 1994, and published

in the Federal Register [59 FR 41378, August 12, 1994]. A 30-day

comment period was provided for interested persons. No comments were

received.

While this action will impose some additional costs on handlers,

the costs are in the form of uniform assessments on all handlers. Some

of the additional costs may be passed on to producers. However, these

costs would be significantly offset by the benefits derived from the

operation of the marketing order. Therefore, the Administrator of the

AMS has determined that this action will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

It found that the specified expenses for the marketing order

covered in this rule are reasonable and likely to be incurred and that

such expenses will tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act.

It is further found that good cause exists for not postponing the

effective date of this action until 30 days after publication in the

Federal Register [5 U.S.C. 553] because the Committee needs to have

sufficient funds to pay its expenses which are incurred on a continuous

basis. The 1994-95 fiscal year for the program began April 1, 1994. The

marketing orders require that the rates of assessment apply to all

assessable oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tangelos handled during

the fiscal year. In addition, handlers are aware of this action which

was recommended by the Committee at a public meeting and published in

the Federal Register as an interim final rule. No comments were

received concerning the interim final rule that is adopted in this

action without change as a final rule.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 905

Grapefruit, Marketing agreements, Oranges, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Tangelos, Tangerines.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 905 is

amended as follows:

PART 905--ORANGES, GRAPEFRUIT, TANGERINES, AND TANGELOS, GROWN IN

FLORIDA

Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR Part 905 which

was published at 59 FR 41378 on August 12, 1994, is adopted as a final

rule without change.

Dated: November 1, 1994.

Eric M. Forman,

Acting Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.

[FR Doc. 94-27518 Filed 11-4-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P