This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

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REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

41589 

Vol. 76, No. 136 

Friday, July 15, 2011 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 946 

[Doc. No. AMS–FV–11–0012; FV11–946–2 

FIR] 

Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; 

Decreased Assessment Rate 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as 

final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a 

final rule, without change, an interim 

rule that decreased the assessment rate 

established for the State of Washington 

Potato Committee (Committee) for the 

2011–2012 and subsequent fiscal 

periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per 

hundredweight of potatoes handled. 

The Committee locally administers the 

marketing order for Irish potatoes grown 

in Washington. The interim rule was 

necessary to allow the Committee to 

reduce its financial reserve while still 

providing adequate funding to meet 

program expenses. 

DATES: Effective July 15, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Teresa Hutchinson or Gary D. Olson, 

Northwest Marketing Field Office, 

Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA; Telephone: (503) 326– 

2724, Fax: (503) 326–7440, or E-mail: 

Teresa.Hutchinson@ams.usda.gov or 

GaryD.Olson@ams.usda.gov. 

Small businesses may obtain 

information on complying with this and 

other marketing order regulations by 

viewing a guide at the following Web 

site: http://www.ams.usda.gov/

MarketingOrdersSmallBusinessGuide; 

or by contacting Laurel May, Marketing 

Order Administration Branch, Fruit and 

Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., STOP 

0237, Washington, DC 20250–0237; 

Telephone: (202) 720–2491, Fax: (202) 

720–8938, or E-mail: Laurel.May@ams.

usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule 

is issued under Marketing Order No. 

946, as amended (7 CFR part 946), 

regulating the handling of Irish potatoes 

grown in Washington, hereinafter 

referred to as the ‘‘order.’’ The order is 

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 of Agriculture 

(USDA) is issuing this rule in 

conformance with Executive Order 

12866. 

Under the order, Washington potato 

handlers are subject to assessments, 

which provide funds to administer the 

order. Assessment rates issued under 

the order are intended to be applicable 

to all assessable Washington potatoes 

for the entire fiscal period, and continue 

indefinitely until amended, suspended, 

or terminated. The Committee’s fiscal 

period begins on July 1, and ends on 

June 30. 

In an interim rule published in the 

Federal Register on April 1, 2011, and 

effective on April 2, 2011, (76 FR 18001, 

Doc. No. AMS–FV–11–0012, FV11–946– 

2 IR), § 946.248 was amended by 

decreasing the assessment rate 

established for Washington potatoes for 

the 2011–2012 and subsequent fiscal 

periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per 

hundredweight. The decrease in the per 

hundredweight assessment rate allows 

the Committee to reduce its financial 

reserve while still providing adequate 

funding to meet program expenses. 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Pursuant to requirements set forth in 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 

U.S.C. 601–612), the Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) has 

considered the economic impact of this 

rule on small entities. Accordingly, 

AMS has prepared this final regulatory 

flexibility analysis. 

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. 

There are 43 handlers of Washington 

potatoes subject to regulation under the 

order and approximately 267 producers 

in the regulated production area. Small 

agricultural service firms are defined by 

the Small Business Administration (13 

CFR 121.201) as those having annual 

receipts of less than $7,000,000, and 

small agricultural producers are defined 

as those having annual receipts of less 

than $750,000. 

During the 2009–2010 marketing year, 

the Committee reports that 9,765,131 

hundredweight of Washington potatoes 

were shipped into the fresh market. 

Based on average f.o.b. prices estimated 

by the USDA’s Economic Research 

Service and Committee data on 

individual handler shipments, the 

Committee estimates that 42, or 

approximately 98 percent of the 

handlers, had annual receipts of less 

than $7,000,000. 

In addition, based on information 

provided by the National Agricultural 

Statistics Service, the average producer 

price for Washington potatoes for 2010 

was $7.55 per hundredweight. The 

average gross annual revenue for the 267 

Washington potato producers is 

therefore calculated to be approximately 

$276,130. In view of the foregoing, the 

majority of Washington potato 

producers and handlers may be 

classified as small entities. 

This rule continues in effect the 

action that decreased the assessment 

rate established for the Committee and 

collected from handlers for the 2011– 

2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from 

$0.0035 to $0.003 per hundredweight of 

potatoes. The Committee unanimously 

recommended 2011–2012 expenditures 

of $40,050 and an assessment rate of 

$0.003 per hundredweight of potatoes. 

The assessment rate of $0.003 is $0.0005 

lower than the rate previously in effect. 

Applying the $0.003 per hundredweight 

assessment rate to the Committee’s 

10,000,000 hundredweight crop 

estimate should provide $30,000 in 

assessment income. Thus, income 

derived from handler assessments, along 

with interest income and funds from the 

Committee’s monetary reserve will be 

adequate to cover the budgeted 

expenses. This action will allow the 

Committee to reduce its financial 

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41590 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 136 / Friday, July 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

reserve while still providing adequate 

funding to meet program expenses. 

This rule continues in effect the 

action that decreased the assessment 

obligation imposed on handlers. 

Assessments are applied uniformly on 

all handlers, and some of the costs may 

be passed on to producers. However, 

decreasing the assessment rate reduces 

the burden on handlers, and may reduce 

the burden on producers. 

In addition, the Committee’s meeting 

was widely publicized throughout the 

Washington potato industry and all 

interested persons were invited to 

attend the meeting and participate in 

Committee deliberations on all issues. 

Like all Committee meetings, the 

January 26, 2011, meeting was a public 

meeting and all entities, both large and 

small, were able to express views on 

this issue. 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35), the order’s information 

collection requirements have been 

previously approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) and 

assigned OMB No. 0581–0178, 

Vegetable and Specialty Crops. No 

changes in those requirements as a 

result of this action are anticipated. 

Should any changes become necessary, 

they would be submitted to OMB for 

approval. 

This action imposes no additional 

reporting or recordkeeping requirements 

on either small or large Washington 

potato handlers. As with all Federal 

marketing order programs, reports and 

forms are periodically reviewed to 

reduce information requirements and 

duplication by industry and public 

sector agencies. 

USDA has not identified any relevant 

Federal rules that duplicate, overlap or 

conflict with this rule. 

Comments on the interim rule were 

required to be received on or before May 

31, 2011. No comments were received. 

Therefore, for reasons given in the 

interim rule, we are adopting the 

interim rule as a final rule, without 

change. 

To view the interim rule, go to: 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!document

Detail;D=AMS–FV–11–0012–0001. 

This action also affirms information 

contained in the interim rule concerning 

Executive Orders 12866 and 12988, and 

the E-Gov Act (44 U.S.C. 101). 

After consideration of all relevant 

material presented, it is found that 

finalizing the interim rule, without 

change, as published in the Federal 

Register (76 FR 18001, April 1, 2011) 

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. 

PART 946—IRISH POTATOES GROWN 

IN WASHINGTON [AMENDED] 

■ Accordingly, the interim rule 

amending 7 CFR part 946, which was 

published at 76 FR 18001 on April 1, 

2011, is adopted as a final rule, without 

change. 

Dated: July 12, 2011. 

Ellen King, 

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–17881 Filed 7–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

12 CFR Part 202 

[Regulation B; Docket No. R–1408] 

RIN 7100–AD67 

Equal Credit Opportunity 

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System (Board). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: Section 701 of the Equal 

Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) requires 

a creditor to notify a credit applicant 

when it has taken adverse action against 

the applicant. The ECOA adverse action 

requirements are implemented in the 

Board’s Regulation B. Section 615(a) of 

the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) 

also requires a person to provide a 

notice when the person takes an adverse 

action against a consumer based in 

whole or in part on information in a 

consumer report. Certain model notices 

in Regulation B include the content 

required by both the ECOA and the 

FCRA adverse action provisions, so that 

creditors can use the model notices to 

comply with the adverse action 

requirements of both statutes. The Board 

is amending these model notices in 

Regulation B to include the disclosure 

of credit scores and related information 

if a credit score is used in taking adverse 

action. The revised model notices reflect 

the new content requirements in section 

615(a) of the FCRA as amended by 

section 1100F of the Dodd-Frank Wall 

Street Reform and Consumer Protection 

Act. 

DATES: These rules are effective August 

15, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Krista P. Ayoub, Counsel; Mandie K. 

Aubrey or Nikita M. Pastor, Senior 

Attorneys; or Catherine Henderson, 

Attorney, Division of Consumer and 

Community Affairs, (202) 452–3667 or 

(202) 452–2412, Board of Governors of 

the Federal Reserve System, 20th and C 

Streets, NW., Washington, DC 20551. 

For users of a Telecommunications 

Device for the Deaf (TDD) only, contact 

(202) 263–4869. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act 

(ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq., makes 

it unlawful for creditors to discriminate 

in any aspect of a credit transaction on 

the basis of sex, race, color, religion, 

national origin, marital status, or age 

(provided the applicant has the capacity 

to contract), because all or part of an 

applicant’s income derives from public 

assistance, or because an applicant has 

in good faith exercised any right under 

the Consumer Credit Protection Act. 

The Board’s Regulation B (12 CFR part 

202) implements the ECOA. 

Section 701(d) of the ECOA generally 

requires a creditor to notify a credit 

applicant against whom it has taken an 

adverse action. Under section 701(d)(6) 

of the ECOA, an adverse action 

generally means a denial or revocation 

of credit, a change in the terms of an 

existing credit arrangement, or a refusal 

to grant credit in substantially the 

amount or on substantially the terms 

requested. 

Section 615(a) of the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. 

1681m(a), also requires a person to 

provide an adverse action notice when 

the person takes an adverse action based 

in whole or in part on information in a 

consumer report. The definition of 

adverse action in section 603(k) of the 

FCRA incorporates, for purposes of 

credit transactions, the definition of 

adverse action under the ECOA. The 

adverse action provisions in both the 

ECOA and the FCRA require certain 

disclosures to be given to consumers. 

The ECOA adverse action provisions 

are implemented in Regulation B. There 

are no implementing regulations for the 

adverse action requirements of section 

615(a) of the FCRA. However, as 

explained in staff commentary that 

accompanies Regulation B, certain 

model notices in Regulation B include 

the content required by both the ECOA 

and the FCRA, so that persons can use 

the model notices to comply with the 

adverse action requirements of both 

statutes. 

On July 21, 2010, the Dodd-Frank 

Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) was 

signed into law. Public Law 111–203, 

124 Stat. 1376. Section 1100F of the 

Dodd-Frank Act amends section 615(a) 

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