Revision of User Fees for 1997 Crop Cotton Classification Services to Growers

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN-97-001]

Revision of User Fees for 1997 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 1997 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 1996 user

fee for this classification service was $1.50 per bale. This rule would

reduce the fee for the 1997 crop to $1.40 per bale. The reduction in

fees resulted from increased efficiency in classing operations. The fee

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, 1997.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A proposed rule detailing the revisions was

published in the Federal Register on March 17, 1997, (62 FR 12577). 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 it has not been reviewed by the

Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988,

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 proposal on small entities

pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility

Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). It has been determined that the

implementation of this rule will not have a significant economic impact

on a substantial number of small businesses.

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 an estimated 40,000

cotton growers in the U.S. who voluntarily use the AMS cotton classing

services annually, and the majority of these cotton growers are small

businesses under the criteria established by the Small Business

Administration (13 CFR 121.601). 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 (the 1996 user

fee for classification services was $1.50 per bale; the fee for the

1997 crop will be reduced to $1.40 per bale; the 1997 crop is estimated

at 17,587,000 bales);

(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) of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et

seq.), the information collection requirements contained in the

provisions to be amended by this proposed rule have been previously

approved by OMB and were assigned OMB control number 0581-0009 under

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

The changes will be made effective July 1, 1997, 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 $1.50 per bale during the 1996 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, costs of equipment and supplies, and other overhead

costs, including costs for administration, supervision, and development

and maintenance of cotton standards.

This rule establishes the user fee charged to producers for HVI

classification at $1.40 per bale during the 1997 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 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 1996. Therefore, the 1997

producer's user fee for classification service is based on the 1996

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 1996 base fee for HVI classification exclusive of adjustments,

as provided by the Act, was $2.04 per bale. A two percent, or four

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

domestic product added to the $2.04 results in a 1997 base fee of $2.08

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 1997 crop is

[[Page 25800]]

estimated at 17,587,000. The 1997 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

1997 base fee of $2.08 per bale, resulting in a fee of $1.77 per bale.

With a fee of $1.77 per bale, the projected operating reserve would

be 41.93 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 $1.77 was reduced by 37 cents per bale, to

$1.40 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 1997 season fee at $1.40 per bale.

Accordingly, Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) will be 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 will remain at five cents per bale,

and it will be applied even if the same method is requested. The fee in

Sec. 28.910(b) for an owner receiving classification data from the

central database will remain at five cents per bale, and the minimum

charge of $5.00 for services provided per monthly billing period will

remain the same. The provisions of Sec. 28.910(c) 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 $1.50 per bale to $1.40 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 continues 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 $1.40 per bale.

* * * * *

3. 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 $1.40 per bale.

* * * * *

Dated: May 6, 1997.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97-12345 Filed 5-9-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P