Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 175 / Wednesday, September 10, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 53605 

§ 1653.34 Processing tax levies and 

Criminal Restitution Orders. 

(a) The payment of tax levies and 

criminal restitution orders from the TSP 

is governed solely by the Federal 

Employees’ Retirement Systems Act, 5 

U.S.C. chapter 84, and by the terms of 

this subpart. Although the TSP will 

honor tax levies or criminal restitution 

orders properly issued, those entities 

have no jurisdiction over the TSP and 

the TSP cannot be made a party to the 

underlying proceedings. 

(b) The TSP will review a tax levy or 

criminal restitution order to determine 

whether it is enforceable against the 

TSP only after it has received a 

complete copy of the document. Receipt 

by an employing agency or any other 

agency of the Government does not 

constitute receipt by the TSP. Tax levies 

and criminal restitution orders should 

be submitted to the TSP record keeper 

at the current address as provided at 

http://www.tsp.gov. Receipt by the TSP 

record keeper is considered receipt by 

the TSP. To be complete, a tax levy or 

criminal restitution order must meet all 

the requirements of § 1653.32 or 

§ 1653.33; it must also provide (or be 

accompanied by a document that 

provides): 

(1) The participant’s TSP account 

number or Social Security number 

(SSN); and 

(2) The name and mailing address of 

the payee. 

(c) As soon as practicable after the 

TSP receives a document that purports 

to be a qualifying tax levy or criminal 

restitution order, the participant’s 

account will be frozen. After the 

participant’s account is frozen, no 

withdrawal or loan disbursements will 

be allowed until the account is 

unfrozen. All other account activity will 

be permitted, including contributions, 

loan repayments, adjustments, 

contribution allocations and interfund 

transfers. Once a disbursement from the 

account is made in accordance with the 

restitution order or levy, the hold will 

be removed from the participant’s 

account. 

(d) As soon as practicable after receipt 

of a complete copy of a tax levy or 

criminal restitution order, the TSP will 

review it to determine whether it is 

qualifying as described in § 1653.32 or 

§ 1653.33. The TSP will mail a decision 

letter to all parties containing the 

following information: 

(1) A determination regarding 

whether the restitution order or levy is 

qualifying; 

(2) A statement of the applicable 

statutes and regulations; 

(3) An explanation of the effect the 

restitution order or levy has on the 

participant’s TSP account; and 

(4) If the qualifying restitution order 

or levy requires payment, the letter will 

provide: 

(i) An explanation of how the 

payment will be calculated and an 

estimated amount of payment; 

(ii) The anticipated date of payment. 

(e) The TSP decision letter is final. 

There is no administrative appeal from 

the TSP decision. 

§ 1653.35 Calculating entitlement. 

A levy or criminal restitution order 

can only require the payment of a 

specified dollar amount from the TSP. If 

the restitution order or levy awards a 

specific dollar amount, the payee’s 

entitlement will be the lesser of: 

(a) The dollar amount stated in the 

levy or restitution order; or 

(b) The vested account balance on the 

date of disbursement, minus any 

outstanding loan balance. 

§ 1653.36 Payment. 

(a) Payment pursuant to a qualifying 

levy or criminal restitution order will be 

made 30 days after the TSP decision 

letter. 

(b) In no case will payment exceed the 

participant’s calculated entitlement. 

(c) The entire amount of a restitution 

order or levy entitlement must be 

disbursed at one time. A series of 

payments will not be made. A payment 

pursuant to a restitution order or levy 

extinguishes all rights to any further 

payment under that order or levy, even 

if the entire amount of the entitlement 

cannot be paid. Any further award must 

be contained in a separate restitution 

order or levy. 

(d) If a participant has funds in more 

than one type of account, payment will 

be made from each account in the 

following order, until the amount of the 

levy or restitution order is reached: 

(1) Civilian account; 

(2) Uniformed services account; 

(3) Beneficiary participant account. 

(e) Payment will be made pro rata 

from the participant’s traditional and 

Roth balances. The distribution from the 

traditional balance will be further pro 

rated between the tax-deferred balance 

and tax-exempt balance. The payment 

from the Roth balance will be further 

pro rated between contributions in the 

Roth balance and earnings in the Roth 

balance. In addition, all payments will 

be distributed pro rata from all TSP 

Funds in which the participant’s 

account is invested. All pro rated 

amounts will be based on the balances 

in each fund or source of contributions 

on the day the disbursement is made. 

(f) The payment is taxable to the 

participant and is subject to Federal 

income tax withholding. The tax 

withholding will be taken from the 

payee’s entitlement and the gross 

amount of the payment (i.e., the net 

payment distributed to the payee plus 

the amount withheld from the payment 

for taxes) will be reported to the IRS as 

income to the participant. 

(g) A properly paid levy or restitution 

order cannot be returned to the TSP. 

[FR Doc. 2014–21636 Filed 9–9–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6760–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 1220 

[Docket No. AMS–LPS–13–0066] 

Soybean Promotion, Research, and 

Consumer Information Program: 

Amendment of Procedures and 

Notification of Request for Referendum 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as a 

final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing 

Service (AMS) is affirming without 

changes its interim rule (79 FR 12037) 

to amend the procedures to Request a 

Referendum at 7 CFR Part 1220 by 

removing the specific number of 

soybean producers eligible to request a 

referendum under the Soybean 

Promotion, Research, and Consumer 

Information program, commonly known 

as the Soybean Checkoff Program. The 

number of soybean producers will be 

replaced with language that allows the 

Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) to 

update this number based on 

information provided by the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Additionally, this rule removes specific 

USDA and Farm Service Agency (FSA) 

Web site and office addresses and 

replaces them with more flexible 

language. These changes will enable 

AMS to announce future Requests for 

Referendum without engaging in 

additional informal rulemaking. 

DATES: Effective Date: September 11, 

2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James R. Brow, Agricultural Marketing 

Specialist, Research and Promotion 

Division, Livestock, Poultry, and Seed 

Program, AMS, USDA, Room 2010–S, 

STOP 0251, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC, 20250–0251; 

Telephone 202/720–0633; Fax 202/720– 

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53606 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 175 / Wednesday, September 10, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

1125; email to James.Brow@

ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

This action affirms the interim rule 

concerning Executive Orders 12866, 

12988, and 13563; the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601–612; the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35); and the E-Gov Act (44 

U.S.C. 101). Further, for this action, the 

Office of Management and Budget has 

determined that this action is not 

significant under Executive Order 12866 

and therefore has not been reviewed by 

OMB. 

Background Information 

The Soybean Promotion, Research, 

and Consumer Information Act (Act) (7 

U.S.C. 6301–6311) provides for the 

establishment of a coordinated program 

of promotion and research designed to 

strengthen the soybean industry’s 

position in the marketplace, and to 

maintain and expand domestic and 

foreign markets and uses for soybeans 

and soybean products. The program is 

financed by an assessment of 0.5 of 1 

percent of the net market price of 

soybeans sold by producers. The final 

rule establishing a Soybean Promotion, 

Research, and Consumer Information 

program was published in the July 9, 

1991, issue of the Federal Register (56 

FR 31043), and assessments began on 

September 1, 1991. 

The Act specifies that the Secretary 

shall, five years after the conduct of the 

initial referendum and every five years 

thereafter, provide soybean producers 

an opportunity to request a referendum 

on the Soybean Promotion, Research, 

and Consumer Information Order 

(Order). Additionally, the Act specifies 

that these subsequent polls require that 

at least 10 percent (not in excess of onefifth in any one State) of all producers 

must request a referendum in order to 

trigger the conduct of a referendum. If 

a referendum is requested, it will be 

held within one year of that 

determination. 

The next Request for Referendum will 

be conducted May 2019, at FSA county 

offices. 

Changes to the Regulations 

In the interim rule, AMS amended 

§ 1220.616 to remove the specific 

number of soybean producers from the 

regulatory language. Data provided by 

FSA has been used to amend the 

number of soybean producers prior to 

any Request for Referendum. The data 

have been sorted in such a manner as 

to include all producers who were 

engaged in the production of soybeans 

in at least one of the two years prior to 

the Request for Referendum, excluding 

counting a producer more than once if 

that producer engaged in production 

during both years. Using the last two 

crop-year acreage reports for which 

complete data is available ensures that 

all eligible producers are counted, as 

some producers use soybeans in rotation 

with other crops and do not plant 

soybeans every year. This methodology 

is consistent with that used in previous 

requests for referendum and will 

continue to be used by USDA to update 

the number of eligible soybean 

producers. 

For the 2014 Request for Referendum 

previously conducted and subsequent 

requests for referendum, the data 

provided by FSA allows the Secretary to 

update this number. 

In addition to the changes relating to 

the number of eligible soybean 

producers, AMS amended §§ 1220.619, 

1220.622 and 1220.628 with more 

flexible language. 

Comments 

On March 4, 2014, USDA published 

in the Federal Register (79 FR 12037) an 

interim rule with a request for 

comments to be received by April 3, 

2014. USDA received no comments. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1220 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Advertising, Agricultural 

research, Marketing agreements, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Soybeans and soybean 

products. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR Part 1220 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 1220—SOYBEAN PROMOTION, 

RESEARCH, AND CONSUMER 

INFORMATION 

■ Accordingly, the interim rule that 

amended 7 CFR Part 1220, which was 

published on March 4, 2014 at 79 FR 

12037, is adopted as a final rule without 

change. 

Dated: September 4, 2014. 

Rex A. Barnes, 

Associate Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2014–21512 Filed 9–9–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

9 CFR Part 77 

[Docket No. APHIS–2014–0058] 

Bovine Tuberculosis Status of 

Michigan; Advance Counties From 

Modified Accredited Advanced to 

Accredited-Free 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Interim rule and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We are amending the bovine 

tuberculosis regulations to advance the 

status of Antrim, Charlevoix, 

Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Otsego, 

and Presque Isle Counties in Michigan 

from modified accredited advanced to 

accredited-free. We have determined 

that these counties meet the criteria for 

accredited-free status. This action 

relieves certain restrictions on the 

interstate movement of cattle and bison 

from these areas of Michigan. 

DATES: This interim rule is effective on 

September 10, 2014. We will consider 

all comments that we receive on or 

before November 10, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0058. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2014–0058, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at http://

www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2014-0058 or 

in our reading room, which is located in 

room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 

14th Street and Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading 

room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays. To be sure someone is there to 

help you, please call (202) 799–7039 

before coming. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

C. William Hench, Senior Staff 

Veterinarian, Surveillance, 

Preparedness and Response Services, 

Cattle Health Center, VS, APHIS, 2150 

Centre Avenue, Building B, MSC 3–E– 

20, Fort Collins, CO 80526–8117; (970) 

494–7378. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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