Grapes Grown in a Designated Area of Southeastern California; Expenses and Assessment Rate for 1994 Fiscal Year

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

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

that authorized expenses and established an assessment rate for the

California Desert Grape Administrative Committee (Committee) under

Marketing Order No. 925 for the 1994 fiscal year. Authorization of this

budget enables the Committee to incur expenses that are reasonable and

necessary to administer its program. Funds to administer the program

are derived from assessments on handlers.

EFFECTIVE DATES: Section 925.213 is effective January 1, 1994, through

December 31, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Britthany E. Beadle, Marketing Order

Administration Branch, F&V, AMS, USDA, PO Box 96456, room 2524-S,

Washington, DC 20090-6456; telephone: (202) 720-5127; or Peter Parks,

California Marketing Field Office, Marketing Order Administration

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey Street,

Suite 102 B, Fresno, CA 93721, telephone: (209) 487-5901.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule is issued under Marketing

Order and Agreement No. 925 (7 CFR part 925) regulating the handling of

table grapes grown in a designated area of California. The marketing

agreement and order are 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, table grapes grown in California are subject to assessments. It

is intended that the assessment rate specified herein will be

applicable to all assessable grapes handled during the 1994 fiscal

year, which began January 1, 1994, through December 31, 1994. This

final 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 608c(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 action 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 20 handlers of grapes subject to regulation

under the marketing order each season. In addition, there are

approximately 90 producers of table grapes in the regulated area. 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 $3,500,000. The majority of

these producers and handlers may be classified as small entities.

The marketing order requires that the assessment rate for a

particular fiscal year shall apply to all assessable grapes handled

from the beginning of such year. An annual budget of expenses is

prepared by the Committee and submitted to the Department for approval.

The members of the Committee are producers and handlers of the

regulated commodity. 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 an appropriate budget. The

budget is formulated and discussed in a public meeting. 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 expected shipments of table grapes.

Because this 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 recommended budgets and rates of

assessment are usually acted upon by the Committee shortly before a

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

Therefore, the budget and assessment rate approval must be expedited so

that the Committee will have funds to pay its expenses.

The California Desert Grape Administrative Committee met on

November 4, 1993, and unanimously recommended a total expense amount of

$103,544, which is $75,056 less in expenses than the previous year.

The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of

$0.01 per lug for the 1994 fiscal year, which is $0.01 less in the

assessment rate from the 1993 fiscal year. The assessment rate, when

applied to anticipated shipments of 9,000,000 lugs, would yield $90,000

in assessment income. This along with $2,500 in interest income and

$113,000 from the Committee's authorized reserves will be adequate to

cover estimated expenses.

Major expense categories for the 1994 fiscal year include $50,000

for a U.C. Riverside research grant, $24,000 for the Western Grape Leaf

Skeletonizer project, $11,704 for salaries, and $4,340 for rent. Funds

in the reserve at the end of the fiscal year, estimated at $101,956,

will be within the maximum permitted by the order of one fiscal year's

expenses.

This action was issued as an interim final rule on January 13,

1994, and published in the Federal Register (59 FR 3316, January 21,

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 will be offset by the benefits derived from the operation of the

marketing orders. 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 is found that the specified expenses for the marketing order

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

such expenses and the specified assessment rate to cover 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 fiscal year for the program began on January 1, 1994.

The marketing order requires that the rate of assessment for the fiscal

year apply to all assessable table grapes 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 as a

final rule without change.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 925

Grapes, Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 925 is hereby

amended as follows:

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 925 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.

Note: This section will not appear in the annual Code of Federal

Regulations.

PART 925--GRAPES GROWN IN A DESIGNATED AREA OF SOUTHEASTERN

CALIFORNIA

2. For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the interim final

rule adding Sec. 925.213 which was published at 59 FR 3316, is adopted

as a final rule without change.

Dated: March 29, 1994.

Robert C. Keeney,

Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.

[FR Doc. 94-7891 Filed 4-1-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P