Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Expenses and Assessment Rate

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

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

that authorized expenses and established an assessment rate that

generated funds to pay those expenses. Authorization of this budget

enables the State of Washington Potato 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: July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Sue Clark, Marketing Order

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

Box 96456, room 2523-S, Washington, DC 20090-6456, telephone 202-720-

9918, or Dennis L. West, Northwest Marketing Field Office, Fruit and

Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, Green-Wyatt Federal Building, room 369,

1220 Southwest Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204, telephone 503-326-

2724.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule is issued under Marketing

Agreement No. 113 and Order No. 946, both as amended (7 CFR part 946),

regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Washington. 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 rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil

Justice Reform. Under the provisions of the marketing order now in

effect, Washington potatoes are subject to assessments. It is intended

that the assessment rate as issued herein will be applicable to all

assessable potatoes handled during the 1995-96 fiscal period, which

begins July 1, 1995, and ends June 30, 1996. 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 request 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 the date of the entry of the ruling.

Pursuant to the 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 the rules issued hereunder, 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 450 producers of Washington potatoes under

this marketing order, and approximately 50 handlers. 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. The majority of Washington potato

producers and handlers may be classified as small entities.

The budget of expenses for the 1995-96 fiscal period was prepared

by the State of Washington Potato Committee, the agency responsible for

local administration of the marketing order, and submitted to the

Department for approval. The members of the Committee are producers and

handlers of Washington potatoes. They are familiar with the Committee's

needs and with the costs of goods and services in their local area and

are thus in a position to formulate an appropriate budget. The budget

was formulated and discussed in a public meeting. Thus, all directly

affected persons have had an opportunity to participate and provide

input.

The assessment rate recommended by the Committee was derived by

dividing anticipated expenses by expected shipments of Washington

potatoes. Because that rate will be applied to actual shipments, it

must be established at a rate that will provide sufficient income to

pay the Committee's expenses.

The Committee met February 22, 1995, and unanimously recommended a

1995-96 budget of $42,300, $4,200 more than the previous year. Budget

items for 1995-96 which have increased compared to those budgeted for

1994-95 (in parentheses) are: Miscellaneous, $2,000 ($1,500), audit,

$1,500 ($1,000), and compliance audits, $6,000 ($5,200). The Committee

also recommended $400 for social security tax expenses for which no

funding was recommended separately last year and $17,400 for an

agreement with the Washington State Potato Commission to provide

certain services to the Committee as specified in the agreement.

Included in the $17,400 for this year are salaries and salary expenses

which were budgeted separately last year at $11,200 and $1,800 and

other expenses which were $2,400 for last year. In this year's

[[Page 28318]] budget, these items are included under the Commission

agreement.

The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of

$0.003 per hundredweight, $0.002 less than last season. This rate, when

applied to anticipated shipments of 9 million hundredweight, will yield

$27,000 in assessment income. This, along with $15,300 from the

Committee's authorized reserve will be adequate to cover budgeted

expenses. Funds in the reserve as of March 31, 1995, were $75,025,

which is within the maximum permitted by the order of two fiscal

periods' expenses.

An interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on

April 6, 1995 (60 FR 17433). That interim final rule added Sec. 946.247

to authorize expenses and establish an assessment rate for the

Committee. That rule provided that interested persons could file

comments through May 8, 1995. No comments were received.

While this rule 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 by the operation of the

marketing order. Therefore, the Administrator of the AMS has determined

that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities.

After consideration of all relevant material presented, including

the information and recommendation submitted by the Committee and other

available information, it is hereby found that this rule, as

hereinafter set forth, will tend to effectuate the declared policy of

the Act.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 946

Marketing agreements, Potatoes, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 946 is

amended as follows:

PART 946--IRISH POTATOES GROWN IN WASHINGTON

Accordingly, the interim final rule adding Sec. 946.247 which was

published at 60 FR 17433, is adopted as a final rule without change.

Dated: May 24, 1995.

Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,

Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.

[FR Doc. 95-13238 Filed 5-30-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P