Revision of User Fees for 1996 Crop Cotton Classification Services to Growers

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN-96-001]

Revision of User Fees for 1996 Crop Cotton Classification

Services to Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is reducing user fees

for cotton producers for 1996 crop cotton classification services under

the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act in accordance with the formula

provided in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987. The 1995 user

fee for the classification service was $1.60 per bale. This final rule

will reduce the fee for the 1996 crop to $1.50 per bale. The reduced

fee is due to increased efficiency in classing operations, and it is

sufficient to recover the costs of providing classification services,

including costs for administration, supervision, and development and

maintenance of standards.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee Cliburn, 202-720-2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A proposed rule detailing the revisions was

published in the Federal Register on February 29, 1996, (61 FR 7756). A

30-day comment period was provided for interested persons to respond to

the proposed rule; no comments were received.

This final rule has been determined to be not significant for

purposes of Executive Order 12866, and therefore it has not been

reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778,

Civil Justice Reform. It is not intended to have retroactive effect.

This rule would not preempt any state or local laws, regulations, or

policies unless they present an irreconcilable conflict with this rule.

There are no administrative procedures which must be exhausted prior to

any judicial challenge to the provisions of this rule.

The Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), has

considered the economic impact of this final rule on small entities

pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility

Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

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

businesses subject to such actions in order that small businesses will

not be disproportionately burdened. There are about 40,000 cotton

growers who voluntarily submit their cotton for the classification

service. The majority of the growers are small businesses under the

criteria established by the Small Business Administration. The

Administrator of AMS has certified that this action will not have a

significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities

as defined in the RFA because:

(1) the fee reduction reflects a decrease in the cost-per-unit

currently borne by those entities utilizing the services;

(2) the cost reduction will not affect competition in the

marketplace; and

(3) the use of classification services is voluntary.

In compliance with OMB regulations (5 CFR part 1320) which

implement the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.),

the information collection requirements contained in the provisions

amended by this final rule have been previously approved by OMB and

were assigned OMB control number 0581-0009.

The changes will be made effective July 1, 1996, as provided by the

Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act.

Fees for Classification Under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act

of 1927

The user fee charged to cotton producers for High Volume Instrument

(HVI) classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates

Act (7 U.S.C. 473a) was $1.60 per bale during the 1995 harvest season

as determined by using the formula provided in the Uniform Cotton

Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended by Public Law 102-237. The fees

cover salaries, cost of equipment and supplies, and other overhead

costs, including costs for administration, supervision, development,

and maintenance of cotton standards.

This final rule establishes the user fee charged to producers for

HVI classification at $1.50 per bale during the 1996 harvest season.

Public Law 102-237 amended the formula in the Uniform Cotton

Classing Fees Act of 1987 for establishing the producer's

classification fee so that the

[[Page 19512]]

producer's fee is based on the prevailing method of classification

requested by producers during the previous year. HVI classing was the

prevailing method of cotton classification requested by producers in

1995. Therefore, the 1996 producer's user fee for classification

service is based on the 1995 base fee for HVI classification.

The fee was calculated by applying the formula specified in the

Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended by Public Law 102-

237. The 1995 base fee for HVI classification exclusive of adjustments,

as provided by the Act, was $2.01 per bale. A 1.4 percent, or three

cents per bale increase due to the implicit price deflator of the gross

domestic product added to the $2.01 results in a 1996 base fee of $2.04

per bale. The formula in the Act provides for the use of the percentage

change in the implicit price deflator of the gross national product (as

indexed for the most recent 12-month period for which statistics are

available). However, this has been replaced by the gross domestic

product by the Department of Commerce as a more appropriate measure for

the short-term monitoring and analysis of the U.S. economy.

The number of bales to be classed by the United States Department

of Agriculture from the 1996 crop is estimated at 19,024,000. The 1996

base fee was decreased 15 percent based on the estimated number of

bales to be classed (one percent for every 100,000 bales or portion

thereof above the base of 12,500,000, limited to a maximum adjustment

of 15 percent). This percentage factor amounts to a 31 cents per bale

reduction and was subtracted from the 1996 base fee of $2.04 per bale,

resulting in a fee of $1.73 per bale.

Assuming a fee of $1.73 per bale, the projected operating reserve

would be 36.9 percent. The Act specifies that the Secretary shall not

establish a fee which, when combined with other sources of revenue,

will result in a projected operating reserve of more than 25 percent.

Accordingly, the fee of $1.73 must be reduced by 23 cents per bale, to

$1.50 per bale, to provide an ending accumulated operating reserve for

the fiscal year of 25 percent of the projected cost of operating the

program. This establishes the 1996 season fee at $1.50 per bale.

Accordingly, Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to reflect the

reduction in the HVI classification fees.

As provided for in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act of 1987, as

amended, a five cent per bale discount will continue to be applied to

voluntary centralized billing and collecting agents as specified in

Sec. 28.909(c).

Growers or their designated agents will continue to incur no

additional fees if only one method of receiving classification data is

requested. The fee for each additional method of receiving

classification data in Sec. 28.910(a) will remain at five cents per

bale, and it will be applicable even if the same method was requested.

Since the Cotton Division will no longer accept returned diskettes to

eliminate the possibility of computer virus infection, the cost of

computer tapes or diskettes not returned will no longer be billed

separately to the requestor. The fee in Sec. 28.910(b) for an owner

receiving classification data from the central database will remain at

five cents per bale, but a minimum charge of $5.00 for services

provided per monthly billing period will be assessed. The provisions of

Sec. 28.910 concerning the fee for new classification memoranda issued

from the central database for the business convenience of an owner

without reclassification of the cotton will remain the same.

The fee for review classification in Sec. 28.911 will be reduced

from $1.60 per bale to $1.50 per bale.

The fee for returning samples after classification in Sec. 28.911

will remain at 40 cents per sample.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

Administrative practice and procedures, Cotton, Cotton samples,

Grades, Market news, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements,

Standards, Staples, Testing, Warehouses.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR Part 28 is amended

as follows:

PART 28--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 28 is revised to read as

follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 471-476.

2. In Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:

Sec. 28.909 Costs.

* * * * *

(b) The cost of High Volume Instrument (HVI) cotton classification

service to producers is $1.50 per bale.

* * * * *

3. Section 28.910 is amended by revising the undesignated text

immediately following paragraph (a)(4) and adding a sentence at the end

of paragraph (b) to read as follows:

Sec. 28.910 Classification of samples and issuance of classification

data.

(a) * * *

(4) ***

If the issuance of data to growers or to their agents is made by

more than one method, the fee for each bale issued by each additional

method shall be five cents. If provided as additional method of data

transfer, the minimum fee for each tape or diskette issued shall be

$10.00.

(b) * * * The minimum charge assessed for services obtained from

the central database shall be $5.00 per monthly billing period.

* * * * *

4. In Sec. 28.911, the last sentence of paragraph (a) is revised to

read as follows:

Sec. 28.911 Review classification.

(a) * * * The fee for review classification is $1.50 per bale.

* * * * *

Dated: April 29, 1996.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 96-10989 Filed 5-1-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P