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. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

35807

Vol. 65, No. 109

Tuesday, June 6, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[Docket No. CN–99–003]

RIN 0581–AB57

Revision of User Fees for 2000 Crop

Cotton Classification Services to

Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) will maintain user fees

for cotton producers for 2000 crop

cotton classification services under the

Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act at

the same level as in 1999. This is in

accordance with the formula provided

in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act

of 1987. The 1999 user fee for this

classification service was $1.35 per bale.

This final rule would maintain the fee

for the 2000 crop at $1.35 per bale. The

fee and the existing reserve are

sufficient to cover the costs of providing

classification services, including costs

for administration and supervision.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee

Cliburn, Cotton Program, 202–720-2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposed rule detailing the revisions

was published in the Federal Register

on March 8, 2000 (65 FR 12140). A 30-

day comment period was provided for

interested persons to respond to the

proposed rule. No comments were

received, and no changes have been

made in the provisions of the final rule.

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.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

Pursuant to requirements set forth in

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) AMS has considered

the economic impact of this action on

small entities and has determined that

its implementation 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 35,000 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 121.201).

Continuing the user fee at the 1999 crop

level will not significantly affect small

businesses as defined under the RFA

because:

(1) The fee represents a very small

portion of the cost-per-unit currently

borne by those entities utilizing the

services (the 1999 user fee for

classification services was $1.35 per

bale; the fee for the 2000 crop will be

maintained at $1.35 per bale; the 2000

crop is estimated at 17,945,000 bales);

(2) The fee for services will not affect

competition in the marketplace; and

(3) The use of classification services is

voluntary. For the 1999 crop, 16,409,650

bales were produced, and virtually all of

them were submitted by growers for the

classification service.

(4) Based on the average price paid to

growers for cotton from the 1998 crop of

65.3 cents per pound, 500 pound bales

of cotton are worth an average of

$326.50 each. The user fee for

classification services, $1.35 per bale, is

less than one percent of the value of an

average bale of cotton.

Paperwork Reduction Act

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 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 (44 U.S.C.

3501 et seq.).

The changes will be made effective

July 1, 2000, 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 $1.35 per bale during

the 1999 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, and supervision.

This final rule establishes the user fee

charged to producers for HVI

classification at $1.35 per bale during

the 2000 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 1999. Therefore, the 2000

producer’s user fee for classification

service is based on the 1999 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

1999 base fee for HVI classification

exclusive of adjustments, as provided by

the Act, was $2.14 per bale. An increase

of one and thirty-nine hundredths

percent, or three cents per bale increase

due to the implicit price deflator of the

gross domestic product added to the

$2.14, would result in a 2000 base fee

of $2.17 per bale. The formula in the Act

provides for the use of the percentage

35808 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 109 / Tuesday, June 6, 2000 / Rules and Regulations

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 2000 crop is

estimated at 17,945,000 bales. The 2000

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 33 cents

per bale reduction and was subtracted

from the 2000 base fee of $2.17 per bale,

resulting in a fee of $1.84 per bale.

With a fee of $1.84 per bale, the

projected operating reserve would be

49.77 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 $1.84

must be reduced by 49 cents per bale,

to $1.35 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 will

establish the 2000 season fee at $1.35

per bale.

Accordingly, § 28.909, paragraph (b)

will reflect the continuation of the HVI

classification fee at $1.35 per bale.

As provided for in the Uniform Cotton

Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended,

a five cent per bale discount would

continue to be applied to voluntary

centralized billing and collecting agents

as specified in § 28.909(c).

Growers or their designated agents

requesting classification data provided

on computer punched cards will

continue to be charged the fee of 10

cents per card in § 28.910(a) to reflect

the costs of providing this service.

Requests for punch card classification

data represented less than 1.0 percent of

the total bales classed from the 1999

crop, down from 2.6 percent in 1997.

Growers or their designated agents

receiving classification data by methods

other than computer punched cards

would continue to incur no additional

fees if only one method of receiving

classification data was requested. The

fee for each additional method of

receiving classification data in § 28.910

would remain at five cents per bale, and

it would be applicable even if the same

method was requested. However, if

computer punched cards were

requested, a fee of ten cents per card

would be charged. The fee in § 28.910(b)

for an owner receiving classification

data from the central database would

remain at five cents per bale, and the

minimum charge of $5.00 for services

provided per monthly billing period

would remain the same. The provisions

of § 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

§ 28.911 will be maintained at $1.35 per

bale.

The fee for returning samples after

classification in § 28.911 will remain at

40 cents per sample.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, it is

determined that good cause exists for

not postponing the effective date of this

rule until 30 days after publication in

the Federal Register because: (1) the

cotton crop year begins July 1, 2000, (2)

a uniform fee for the entire crop is

mandated by the Cotton Statistics and

Estimates Act, and (3) a 30 day

comment period was provided for in the

proposed rule and no comments were

received.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

Administrative practice and

procedure, 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 7 CFR

part 28, Subpart D, continues to read as

follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 471–476.

2. In § 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised

to read as follows:

§ 28.909 Costs.

* * * * *

(b) The cost of High Volume

Instrument (HVI) cotton classification

service to producers is $1.35 per bale.

* * * * *

3. In § 28.911, the last sentence of

paragraph (a) is revised to read as

follows:

§ 28.911 Review classification.

(a) * * * The fee for review

classification is $1.35 per bale.

* * * * *

Dated: May 31, 2000.

Kenneth C. Clayton,

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 00–14114 Filed 6–1–00; 4:36 pm]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 1160

[DA–00–07]

Fluid Milk Promotion Order;

Amendments to the Order

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This document amends the

Fluid Milk Promotion Order to allow a

fluid milk processor to be represented

by up to 3 members on the 20-member

Board and allow a Board member whose

fluid milk processor company affiliation

has changed to serve for a period of up

to 6 months or until a successor is

appointed, whichever is sooner. The

amendments, requested by the National

Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board

(Board), which administers the Order,

are necessary to ensure Board continuity

and full representation and should

allow the Board to operate in an

efficient and effective manner.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 7, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David R. Jamison, Chief, USDA/AMS/

Dairy Programs, Promotion and

Research Branch, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Stop 0233, Room 2958

South Building, Washington, DC 20250–

0233, (202) 720–6909,

David.Jamison2@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

601–612) requires the Agency to

examine the impact of a proposed rule

on small entities. Small businesses in

the fluid milk processing industry have

been defined by the Small Business

Administration as those processors

employing not more than 500

employees. For purposes of determining

a processor’s size, if the plant is part of

a larger company operating multiple

plants that collectively exceed the 500-

employee limit, the plant will be

considered a large business even if the

local plant has fewer than 500

employees. There are approximately 275

fluid milk processors subject to the

provisions of the Fluid Milk Promotion

Order. Most of these processors are

considered small entities.