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.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

79383 

Vol. 85, No. 238 

Thursday, December 10, 2020 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 984 

[Docket No. AMS–SC–20–0053; SC20–984– 

1 FR] 

Walnuts Grown in California; Changes 

to Reporting Requirements 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule revises the reporting 

requirements prescribed under the 

Federal marketing order regulating the 

handling of walnuts grown in 

California. This action requires 

California walnut handlers to report 

purchase commitments (walnuts sold 

but not yet shipped) with domestic and 

foreign buyers, monthly. This change 

provides more accurate information 

about supply and demand to the 

industry, which also enhances 

marketing efforts. 

DATES: Effective January 11, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Terry Vawter, Regional Director, 

Marketing Order and Agreement 

Division, California Marketing Field 

Office, Specialty Crops Program, AMS, 

USDA; Telephone: (559) 487–5905, Fax: 

(559) 487–5906; or Email: 

Terry.Vawter@usda.gov. 

Small businesses may request 

information on complying with this 

regulation by contacting Richard Lower, 

Marketing Order and Agreement 

Division, Specialty Crops Program, 

AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence 

Avenue SW, STOP 0237, Washington, 

DC 20250–0237; Telephone: (202) 720– 

2491, Fax: (202) 720–8938, or Email: 

Richard.Lower@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final 

rule, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, amends 

regulations issued to carry out a 

marketing order as defined in 7 CFR 

900.2(j). This final rule is issued under 

Marketing Order No. 984, as amended (7 

CFR part 984), regulating the handling 

of walnuts grown in California. Part 984 

(referred to as 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 California Walnut Board 

(hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Board’’) 

locally administers the Order and is 

comprised of growers and handlers of 

walnuts operating within California, 

and a public member. 

The Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) is issuing this final rule in 

conformance with Executive Orders 

13563 and 13175. This action falls 

within a category of regulatory actions 

that the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) exempted from Executive 

Order 12866 review. Additionally, 

because this final rule does not meet the 

definition of a significant regulatory 

action, it does not trigger the 

requirements contained in Executive 

Order 13771. See OMB’s Memorandum 

titled ‘‘Interim Guidance Implementing 

Section 2 of the Executive Order of 

January 30, 2017, titled ‘Reducing 

Regulation and Controlling Regulatory 

Costs’ ’’ (February 2, 2017). 

This final rule has been reviewed 

under Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform. This final rule is not 

intended to have retroactive effect. 

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 USDA 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. A handler 

is afforded the opportunity for a hearing 

on the petition. After the hearing, USDA 

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 to review USDA’s ruling on 

the petition, provided an action is filed 

not later than 20 days after the date of 

the entry of the ruling. 

This final rule revises reporting 

requirements under the Order by 

authorizing the Board to collect reports 

from handlers about monthly purchase 

commitments with domestic and foreign 

buyers. The Board believes that the 

collection of this information enables 

the industry to have more accurate and 

timely data regarding the industry’s 

monthly supply and demand, and 

enhances overall marketing efforts. 

The Marketing Order Revision 

Committee (MORC) met to discuss the 

proposal in a public meeting via 

teleconference on April 2, 2020. The 

MORC recommended the change in 

reporting requirements to enable the 

industry to have more complete 

information on purchase commitments. 

The Board unanimously recommended 

this action at a public meeting held on 

May 7, 2020, where stakeholders were 

encouraged to express their views and 

provide input. 

Section 984.71 authorizes the Board 

to require handlers to report inventory 

of inshell and shelled walnuts as 

specified by the Board. 

Section 984.72 authorizes the Board 

to require that handlers who handle 

merchantable walnuts, inshell or 

shelled, at any time during the 

marketing year shall submit reports 

showing the quantity handled and other 

pertinent information, as specified by 

the Board. 

Section 984.73 authorizes the Board, 

with the approval of the Secretary, to 

require handlers to report walnut 

receipts from growers, handlers, or 

others on a form and at designated 

times. 

Section 984.76 authorizes the Board, 

with the approval of the Secretary, to 

request handlers to furnish other reports 

and information as needed to enable the 

Board to perform its duties under the 

Order. 

Sections 984.471, 984.472, and 

984.473 provide the requirements 

related to reports of inventory, 

merchantable walnuts shipped, and 

walnuts received from growers, 

respectively. 

Currently, reports of shipments and 

receipts are filed by handlers on CWB 

Form No. 6 no later than the 5th day of 

month following such shipments or 

receipts. This report also includes the 

quantity shipped to domestic and 

foreign buyers for shelled and inshell 

walnuts, including information about 

the quantity of walnuts exported by 

country of destination. Pursuant to this 

final rule, handlers would report 

purchase commitments of walnuts, not 


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79384 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 238 / Thursday, December 10, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

yet shipped, made with domestic and 

foreign buyers. The change and 

information about each handler’s 

shipments and receipts are expected to 

provide more timely information about 

supply and demand for walnuts, and 

enhance marketing and promotion 

efforts. 

Section 984.472 is amended to add 

new paragraph (c), which requires 

handlers to submit reports on the 

purchase commitments with buyers that 

are not yet shipped. The title of Section 

984.472 is also amended to read 

‘‘Reports of merchantable walnuts 

shipped, received, and committed.’’ 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Pursuant to requirements set forth in 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the 

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) 

has considered the economic impact of 

this action 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 

businesses subject to such actions in 

order that small businesses will not be 

unduly or disproportionately burdened. 

Marketing orders issued pursuant to the 

Act, and 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 approximately 90 handlers 

subject to regulation under the Order 

and approximately 4,400 walnut 

growers in the production area. The 

Small Business Administration (SBA) 

defines small agricultural service firms 

as those having annual receipts of less 

than $30,000,000, and small agricultural 

producers as those having annual 

receipts of less than $1,000,000 (13 CFR 

121.201). 

According to the Board, there are 

approximately 4,400 producers and 90 

handlers in the production area. The 

Board also reported that approximately 

82 percent of California’s walnut 

handlers shipped merchantable walnuts 

valued under $30 million during the 

2018–2019 marketing year, and would, 

therefore, be considered small handlers 

according to the SBA definition. 

Data from the 2017 Census of 

Agriculture, published by USDA’s 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS), show that 86 percent of 

California farms growing walnuts had 

walnut sales of less than $1 million. In 

an alternative computation using NASS 

data, the 3-year average crop value 

(2016/17 to 2018/19) was $1.24 billion. 

Average bearing acres over that same 3- 

year period were 333,000. Dividing crop 

value by acres yields a revenue per acre 

estimate of $3,733. Using these 

numbers, it would take approximately 

268 acres ($1,000,000/$3,733) to yield 

$1 million in annual walnut sales. The 

2017 Census of Agriculture Census data 

show that 80 percent of walnut farms in 

2017 were below 260 acres. By either 

measure, the NASS data demonstrate 

that well over three-fourths of California 

walnut farms would be considered 

small businesses according to the SBA 

definition. 

This final rule revises the title of 

section 984.472 and adds a new 

paragraph (c) to include the requirement 

for handlers to report monthly purchase 

commitments made with domestic and 

foreign buyers. This action provides 

more accurate and timely information 

regarding the industry’s monthly supply 

and demand, and enhances overall 

marketing efforts. 

During the MORC meeting on April 2, 

2020, alternatives were discussed, 

including not collecting information 

about purchase commitments. However, 

the industry believes that information 

about walnut supply and demand is 

critical in supporting overall marketing 

efforts. Timely and accurate information 

gives the handlers and the Board 

valuable data, permitting them to focus 

on their sales efforts. At the May 7, 

2020, meeting, the Board discussed the 

MORC’s recommendation and its 

reasoning. There was agreement about 

the value of having the commitment 

information, along with information on 

shipments and receipts. 

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) under 

OMB No. 0581–0178, Vegetable and 

Specialty Crops. This final rule requires 

changes to the Board’s existing CWB 

Form No. 6 by changing the title and 

adding the provision to collect 

information on purchase commitments 

with domestic and foreign buyers. The 

revised form has been submitted to 

OMB for approval. 

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 final rule. 

AMS is committed to complying with 

the E-Government Act, to promote the 

use of the internet and other 

information technologies to provide 

increased opportunities for citizen 

access to Government information and 

services, and for other purposes. 

The Board’s meetings were widely 

publicized throughout the walnut 

industry and all interested persons were 

invited to attend the meetings and 

encouraged to participate in the 

deliberations on all issues. The MORC’s 

meeting on April 2, 2020, and the 

Board’s meeting on May 7, 2020, were 

public meetings held via teleconference 

and all entities, both large and small, 

were encouraged to express their views 

on this issue. 

A proposed rule concerning this 

action was published in the Federal 

Register on August 25, 2020, (85 FR 

52278). Copies of the proposal were 

provided by the Board to members and 

handlers. Finally, the proposed rule was 

made available through the internet by 

USDA and the Office of the Federal 

Register. A 30-day comment period 

ending September 24, 2020, was 

provided to allow interested persons to 

respond to the proposal. Ten comments 

were received. 

Seven of the comments favored 

adding the requirement for handlers to 

report purchase commitments, two of 

the commenters did not favor the 

change, and one commenter neither 

favored nor opposed the change. 

Those favoring the change did so for 

similar reasons: The value in having 

accurate information about monthly 

inventories; the value in collecting the 

data and the importance of the data in 

relationship to the Board’s marketing 

efforts; and the ability of the 

information to provide market trend 

data and an overall better picture of the 

market. 

The two commenters who opposed 

the change did so because they were 

concerned about the reporting burden 

imposed on walnut handlers. One 

commenter also noted such 

commitment data could be impacted by 

cancelled orders or order adjustments. 

The other commented that the value of 

the information might not be offset by 

the increased reporting burden on 

walnut handlers. 

The commenter who did not take a 

position for or against the changes to the 

Order discussed the potential for such 

reported information to be skewed by 

backorders, and urged AMS to consider 

an additional inventory category with a 

shipping time limit. 

As to the two commenters who did 

not favor the change, it should be noted 

that some walnut handlers are also 

members of the Board, and this change 

to the reporting requirements was 

discussed in two separate public 

meetings a month apart. The vote on the 

change by the MORC on April 2, 2019, 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 238 / Thursday, December 10, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 79385 

1Public Law 111–203, section 1471, 124 Stat. 

1376, 2185–87 (2010), codified at TILA section 

129H, 15 U.S.C. 1639h. 

and by the full Board on May 7, 2019, 

were unanimous. There were no 

opposing votes, and no handlers 

commented on the rule during the 

comment period. The handlers serving 

on the MORC and the Board did not feel 

that the additional information required 

by the change represented a significant 

burden to the reporting requirements. 

AMS believes that benefits of this 

change to the marketing of walnuts 

outweigh the concerns of the minimal 

increase in the reporting burden. Also, 

AMS finds the claim of commitment 

data being impacted by cancelled orders 

or order adjustments to be highly 

speculative, with no firm evidence 

presented to substantiate the assertion. 

Thus, there are no changes made to the 

final rule. 

In addition, the comment about 

changes to the data created by potential 

backorders may not materialize, since 

handlers are free to make interhandler 

transfers of walnuts to meet their 

purchase commitments; and the nature 

of agricultural commodities, in general, 

is not conducive to the development of 

backorders. In agriculture, a crop is 

produced and harvested, and more is 

not coming until about a year later. 

Accordingly, no changes will be made 

to the rule as proposed. 

A small business guide on complying 

with fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop 

marketing agreements and orders may 

be viewed at: https://

www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/ 

moa/small-businesses. Any questions 

about the compliance guide should be 

sent to Richard Lower at the previously 

mentioned address in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

After consideration of all relevant 

material presented, including the 

information and recommendation 

submitted by the Board and other 

available information, it is hereby found 

that this rule will tend to effectuate the 

declared policy of the Act. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 984 

Marketing agreements, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Walnuts. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 984 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 984—WALNUTS GROWN IN 

CALIFORNIA 

■ 1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 984 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674. 

■ 2. Amend § 984.472 by revising the 

section heading and adding paragraph 

(c) to read as follows: 

§ 984.472 Reports of merchantable 

walnuts, received, shipped, and committed. 

* * * * * 

(c) Reports of merchantable walnuts 

on which handlers have made purchase 

commitments with buyers during the 

month, but which have not yet been 

shipped, shall be submitted to the Board 

on CWB Form No. 6, not later than the 

5th day of the month following the 

month in which the walnuts were 

committed. Such reports shall show the 

quantity of walnuts committed in either 

inshell or shelled pounds. If the handler 

made no commitments during any 

month, he/she shall mark ‘‘None’’ in the 

‘‘Purchase Commitments’’ section of 

CWB Form No. 6. 

Bruce Summers, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26880 Filed 12–9–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency 

12 CFR Part 34 

[Docket No. OCC–2020–0039] 

RIN 1557–AF04 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

12 CFR Part 226 

[Docket No. R–1729] 

RIN 7100–AG00 

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 

PROTECTION 

12 CFR Part 1026 

Appraisals for Higher-Priced Mortgage 

Loans Exemption Threshold 

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, Treasury (OCC), Board of 

Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System (Board); and Bureau of 

Consumer Financial Protection 

(Bureau). 

ACTION: Final rules, official 

interpretations and commentary. 

SUMMARY: The OCC, the Board, and the 

Bureau are finalizing amendments to the 

official interpretations for their 

regulations that implement section 

129H of the Truth in Lending Act 

(TILA). Section 129H of TILA 

establishes special appraisal 

requirements for ‘‘higher-risk 

mortgages,’’ termed ‘‘higher-priced 

mortgage loans’’ or ‘‘HPMLs’’ in the 

agencies’ regulations. The OCC, the 

Board, the Bureau, the Federal Deposit 

Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the 

National Credit Union Administration 

(NCUA), and the Federal Housing 

Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, 

the Agencies) jointly issued final rules 

implementing these requirements, 

effective January 18, 2014. The 

Agencies’ rules exempted, among other 

loan types, transactions of $25,000 or 

less, and required that this loan amount 

be adjusted annually based on any 

annual percentage increase in the 

Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 

Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI–W). 

If there is no annual percentage increase 

in the CPI–W, the OCC, the Board, and 

the Bureau will not adjust this 

exemption threshold from the prior 

year. However, in years following a year 

in which the exemption threshold was 

not adjusted, the threshold is calculated 

by applying the annual percentage 

increase in the CPI–W to the dollar 

amount that would have resulted, after 

rounding, if the decreases and any 

subsequent increases in the CPI–W had 

been taken into account. Based on the 

CPI–W in effect as of June 1, 2020, the 

exemption threshold will remain at 

$27,200, effective January 1, 2021. 

DATES: This final rule is effective 

January 1, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

OCC: MaryAnn Nash, Counsel, Chief 

Counsel’s Office, (202) 649–6287; for 

persons who are deaf or hard of hearing 

TTY, (202) 649–5597. 

Board: Lorna M. Neill, Senior 

Counsel, Division of Consumer and 

Community Affairs, Board of Governors 

of the Federal Reserve System, at (202) 

452–3667; for users of 

Telecommunications Device for the Deaf 

(TDD) only, contact (202) 263–4869. 

Bureau: Rachel Ross, AttorneyAdvisor, Office of Regulations, Bureau 

of Consumer Financial Protection, at 

(202) 435–7700. If you require this 

document in an alternative electronic 

format, please contact 

CFPB_Accessibility@cfpb.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 

(Dodd-Frank Act) amended the Truth in 

Lending Act (TILA) to add special 

appraisal requirements for ‘‘higher-risk 

mortgages.’’ 1 In January 2013, the 

Agencies jointly issued a final rule 

implementing these requirements and 

adopted the term ‘‘higher-priced 


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