Oregon-California Potatoes; 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 will

generate funds to pay those expenses. Authorization of this budget

enables the Oregon-California 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 Teresa L. Hutchinson, 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. 114 and Order No. 947, both as amended (7 CFR part 947),

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

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

effect Oregon-California potatoes are subject to assessments. Funds to

administer the Oregon-California potato order are derived from such

assessments. It is intended that the assessment rate as issued herein

will be applicable to all assessable potatoes during the 1995-96 fiscal

period, which began 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 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 550 producers of Oregon-California potatoes

under this marketing order, and approximately 40 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

Oregon-California potato producers and handlers may be classified as

small entities.

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

by the Oregon-California 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 Oregon-California 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 Oregon-

California 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 on March 15, 1995, and unanimously recommended a

budget of $46,200, $1,100 more than last season. Budget items for 1995-

96 which have increased compared to those budgeted for 1994-95 (in

parentheses) are: Annual report, $1,500 ($1,400), audit, $1,000 ($800),

inspection fees, $2,500 ($2,000), and miscellaneous, $600 ($300). All

other items are budgeted at last year's amounts.

The Committee also unanimously recommended an assessment rate of

$0.006 per hundredweight, the same as last season. This rate, when

applied to anticipated shipments of 7,920,000 hundredweight, will yield

$47,520 in assessment income, which will be adequate to cover budgeted

expenses.

[[Page 38476]]

Funds in the reserve on June 30, 1995, estimated at $27,000, were

within the maximum permitted by the order of one fiscal period's

expenses.

An interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on June

6, 1995 (60 FR 29750). That interim final rule added Sec. 947.246 to

authorize expenses and establish an assessment rate for the Committee.

That rule provided that interested persons could file comments through

July 6, 1995. 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 by 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.

After consideration of all relevant matter presented, including the

information and recommendations 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.

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 1995-96 fiscal period began on July 1, 1995. The marketing

order requires that the rate of assessment for the fiscal period apply

to all assessable potatoes handled during the fiscal period. In

addition, handlers are aware of this action which was unanimously

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

Federal Register as an interim final rule.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 947

Marketing agreements, Potatoes, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 947 is

amended as follows:

PART 947--IRISH POTATOES GROWN IN MODOC AND SISKIYOU COUNTIES,

CALIF., AND IN ALL COUNTIES IN OREGON, EXCEPT MALHEUR COUNTY

Accordingly, the interim final rule amending 7 CFR part 947 which

was published at 60 FR 29750, is adopted as a final rule without

change.

Dated: July 21, 1995.

Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,

Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.

[FR Doc. 95-18478 Filed 7-26-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P