Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 17 /Tuesday, January 27, 1998 / Proposed Rules 3849

Stop Code 0244, Washington, DC

20090–6456, telephone (202) 720–6930

or (888) 720–9917.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

referendum will be conducted among

mushroom producers and importers to

determine whether the continuance of

the Mushroom Promotion, Research,

and Consumer Information Order

(Order) [7 CFR 1209] is favored by

persons voting in the referendum. The

Order is authorized under the

Mushroom Promotion, Research, and

Consumer Information Act (Act) [7

U.S.C. 6101–6112].

The representative period for

establishing voter eligibility for the

referendum shall be the period from

July 1, 1996, through June 30, 1997.

Paragraph (b)(2) of § 1926 of the Act

requires that the Order be approved by

a majority of producers and importers

voting in the referendum which

majority, on average, annually produces

and imports into the United States more

than 50 percent of mushrooms annually

produced and imported by all those

persons voting in the referendum. Only

mushroom producers and importers

who either produced or imported, on

average, over 500,000 pounds of

mushrooms annually during the

representative period will be eligible to

vote in the referendum. Persons who

have received an exemption from

assessment for the entire representative

period are ineligible to vote. The

referendum shall be conducted by mail

ballot from February 24 through March

13, 1998. Faxed ballots will be accepted.

Section 1926 of the Act provides that

the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary)

shall conduct a referendum effective 5

years after the date on which the Order

became effective. The Order became

effective on January 8, 1993. The

referendum must be conducted among

mushroom producers and importers to

ascertain whether they favor

continuation, termination, or

suspension of the Order. Persons voting

in the referendum will certify their

eligibility to vote and will designate

their status either as a mushroom

producer or importer. Producers and

importers will be required to certify the

pounds of mushrooms they either

produced or imported during the

representative period.

The Order shall continue in effect if

it is approved by a simple majority of

producers and importers voting in the

referendum and that majority represents

more than 50 percent of the mushrooms

produced and imported by those voting

in the referendum. If the Secretary

determines that suspension or

termination of the Order is favored by

a majority of the producers and

importers voting in the referendum,

which majority, on average, annually

produces and imports into the United

States more than 50 percent of the

mushrooms annually produced and

imported by all those voting in the

referendum, the Secretary shall

terminate or suspend the collection of

assessments under the Order and

suspend or terminate activities under

the Order as soon as practicable.

In accordance with the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 [Pub. L. 104–13],

the referendum ballot has been

approved by the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) and has been

assigned OMB number 0581–0093.

There are approximately 138 eligible

voters. It will take an average of 15

minutes for each voter to read the voting

instructions and complete the

referendum ballot. The total burden on

the total number of voters will be 34.5

hours.

Referendum Order

It is hereby directed that a referendum

be conducted among mushroom

producers and importers to determine

whether they favor the continuance of

the Order. The representative period for

establishing voter eligibility for the

referendum shall be the period from

July 1, 1996, through June 30, 1997. A

referendum shall be conducted by mail

ballot from February 24 through March

13, 1998. Faxed ballots will be accepted.

By interim final rule, referendum

procedures were published in the

Federal Register on December 23, 1997

[62 FR 66973]. Comments concerning

the provisions of the rule must be

received by January 22, 1998. The

Procedure for the Conduct of Referenda

in Connection with the Mushroom

Promotion, Research, and Consumer

Information Order [7 CFR 1209.300–

1209.307] shall be used to conduct the

referendum. Ballots will be mailed to all

known mushroom producers and

importers on or before February 17,

1998. Eligible voters who do not receive

a ballot by mail may call the following

toll-free telephone number to receive a

ballot: 1 (888) 720–9917. All ballots will

be subject to verification. Ballots must

be received by the referendum agents by

mail or fax no later than March 13,

1998, to be counted.

Stacey L. Bryson and Martha B.

Ransom, Research and Promotion

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs,

Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Room 2535–

S, Stop Code 0244, P.O. Box 96456,

Washington, D.C. 20090–6456, are

designated as the referendum agents of

the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct

the referendum.

Ballots to be cast in the referendum,

and any related material relevant to the

referendum, will be mailed by the

referendum agents to all known

mushroom producers and importers.

Only mushroom producers and

importers who either produced or

imported, on average, over 500,000

pounds of mushrooms annually during

the representative period will be eligible

to vote in the referendum. Persons who

have received an exemption from

assessment for the entire representative

period are ineligible to vote.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1209

Administrative practice and

procedure, Advertising, Agricultural

research, Marketing agreements,

Mushrooms, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 6101–6112.

Dated: January 21, 1998.

Enrique E. Figueroa,

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 98–1908 Filed 1–26–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection

Service

9 CFR Part 71

[Docket No. 97–099–1]

EIA; Handling Reactors at Livestock

Markets

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend

the regulations pertaining to livestock

facilities under State or Federal

veterinary supervision to require that

any livestock facility accepting equines

classified as reactors to equine

infectious anemia must quarantine these

animals at all times at least 200 yards

from all equines that are not reactors to

this disease. Currently, livestock

facilities accepting reactors to equine

infectious anemia are required to

quarantine the reactors that will remain

at the facility for longer than 24 hours

at least 200 yards away from all other

animals. This proposed amendment

would help to prevent the interstate

spread of equine infectious anemia, a

contagious, vector-borne disease

affecting equines.
3850 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 17 /Tuesday, January 27, 1998 / Proposed Rules

1 Information regarding research on EIA

transmission may be obtained by contacting Dr. Tim

Cordes, Senior Staff Veterinarian, Equine Programs,

VS, APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road Unit 36,

Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; (301) 734–3279; or email: tcordes@aphis.usda.gov.

DATES: Consideration will be given only

to comments received on or before

March 30, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Please send an original and

three copies of your comments to

Docket No. 97–099–1, Regulatory

Analysis and Development, PPD,

APHIS, suite 3C03, 4700 River Road

Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238.

Please state that your comments refer to

Docket No. 97–099–1. Comments

received may be inspected at USDA,

room 1141, South Building, 14th Street

and Independence Avenue SW.,

Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,

except holidays. Persons wishing to

inspect comments are requested to call

ahead on (202) 690–2817 to facilitate

entry into the comment reading room.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

James P. Davis, Senior Staff

Veterinarian, National Animal Health

Programs Staff, VS, APHIS, 4700 River

Road Unit 36, Riverdale, MD 20737–

1231, (301) 734–5970; or E-mail:

jdavis@aphis.usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations in subchapter C,

‘‘Interstate Transportation of Animals

(Including Poultry) and Animal

Products,’’ of chapter I, title 9, of the

Code of Federal Regulations contain

provisions designed by the Animal and

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

to prevent the dissemination of animal

diseases in the United States. Part 71 of

subchapter C includes general

provisions. Section 71.20 pertains to

APHIS approval of livestock facilities,

which include stockyards, livestock

markets, buying stations, concentration

points, or any other premises under

State or Federal veterinary supervision

where livestock are assembled. Section

71.20(a) includes an agreement that

livestock facilities must execute to

obtain APHIS approval, and

subparagraph (16) of the agreement

pertains to livestock facilities that

accept horses. (According to the

definitions in § 71.1, ‘‘horses’’ includes

‘‘horses, asses, mules, ponies, and

zebras.’’ Throughout this document, the

same definition applies.) According to

§ 71.20(a)(16), approved livestock

facilities may elect either to accept or

not accept horses that are reactors to

equine infectious anemia (EIA).

EIA is a contagious, potentially fatal

disease affecting horses that is spread by

infected blood coming into contact with

the blood in a healthy animal.

Therefore, humans can spread EIA from

horse to horse through unsafe

vaccination or blood-testing practices;

naturally, the disease is spread by insect

vectors. Although, theoretically, EIA

could be spread by any type of bloodconsuming insect, such as mosquitoes

and deer flies, the disease is generally

spread by large horse flies. EIA spreads

when a blood-consuming insect is

interrupted during a feeding on an

infected animal and then resumes

feeding on an uninfected animal while

the infected blood is still on the insect’s

mouthparts. While mosquitoes have

finely structured mouthparts that

directly penetrate small blood vessels,

the mouthparts of horse flies and deer

flies include scissorlike blades that cut

and slash the horse’s skin leaving

relatively large amounts of blood on the

mouthparts. Research has shown that

deer flies and smaller species of horse

flies are not as easily disrupted from

their bloodmeals on horses as are large

horse flies. The large flies cause painful

bites that trigger a physiological

response from the horse. If disrupted by

the horse while feeding, the horse fly

may then move to another horse to

complete the bloodmeal.1

Regulations pertaining to the

interstate movement of animals affected

with EIA are located in 9 CFR part 75.

According to these regulations, EIA

reactors may be moved interstate only

for immediate slaughter, to a diagnostic

or research facility, to the animal’s

home farm, or to an approved stockyard

for sale for immediate slaughter.

Approximately 1,600 horses in the

United States test positive for EIA each

year. Currently, 40 percent of these

animals move through livestock markets

on their way to slaughter.

Section 71.20(a)(16)(ii) currently

specifies that approved livestock

facilities must place any EIA reactor in

a quarantined pen at least 200 yards

from all non-EIA-reactor horses and

other animals, unless the EIA reactor

will be moving out of the facility within

24 hours of arrival. The purpose of

quarantining the EIA reactors is to

prevent EIA transmission: Because the

types of flies that transmit EIA generally

remain in the immediate vicinity of the

horses with which they are associated,

quarantining EIA reactors at least 200

yards away from healthy horses is

effective in preventing EIA spread.

However, as described above, the

regulations currently allow an EIA

reactor to be mixed in with healthy

horses if the EIA reactor will be at the

livestock facility for less than 24 hours.

While in the past such short-term

mixing of healthy and infected horses

was not believed to contribute

significantly to EIA spread, we now

believe that allowing healthy horses to

come into close contact with EIA

reactors for any length of time could

allow for infection of the healthy horses.

Therefore, to help prevent the interstate

spread of EIA, we are proposing to

prohibit the mixing of healthy and

infected horses at approved livestock

facilities for any period of time. Thus,

we are proposing to amend the

quarantine requirement in

§ 71.20(a)(16)(ii) to remove the

quarantine exception for EIA reactors

that will be in the approved livestock

facility for less than 24 hours. EIA

reactors would need to be quarantined

at least 200 yards away from non-EIAreactor horses at all times.

Currently, § 71.20(a)(16)(ii) also

requires that EIA reactors be

quarantined at least 200 yards away

from all other animals in the approved

livestock facility. This requirement

exists because it was formerly believed

that insect vectors could spread EIA to

healthy horses as far as 200 yards away

from reactors if other animals were

located between the reactors and the

healthy horses. We previously believed

that a fly could move from a reactor to

feed on a nonequine animal or animals

located nearby and then move on to a

healthy horse, infecting it. However, as

stated previously, we now know that

EIA transmission by insect vector occurs

only when an insect is feeding on an

infected horse, is interrupted during the

feeding, and then moves on to feed on

a healthy horse while the infected blood

is still on the insect’s mouthparts. Horse

flies are not known to feed on

nonequine animals when horses are

available because these flies prefer the

relatively supple skin of horses.

Moreover, the likelihood that blood

from an infected horse would still be on

the insect’s mouthparts after the insect

had fed on another animal is slight. For

these reasons, we now believe that the

possibility of disease transmission

occurring under these circumstances is

extremely unlikely. We are proposing to

amend § 71.20(a)(16)(ii) to remove the

words ‘‘or other animals.’’ We believe

that, in the interest of preventing EIA

spread, it is only necessary to require

EIA reactors to be quarantined at least

200 yards away from all equines that are

not reactors.

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory

Flexibility Act

This proposed rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12866. The rule

has been determined to be not
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 17 /Tuesday, January 27, 1998 / Proposed Rules 3851

significant for the purposes of Executive

Order 12866 and, therefore, has not

been reviewed by the Office of

Management and Budget.

The regulations in 9 CFR part 71

require that any horses classified as EIA

reactors and accepted by a facility for

sale are to be placed in quarantined

pens at least 200 yards from all nonEIA-reactor horses or other animals,

unless moving out of the facility within

24 hours of arrival. The proposed rule

would remove the ‘‘less-than-24-hours’’

exemption: Quarantine would be

required regardless of the length of time

between an EIA reactor’s arrival and

departure from a facility. The proposed

rule would also amend the regulations

by requiring that EIA reactors be

quarantined at least 200 yards away

from all equines that are not reactors,

rather than at least 200 yards away from

all other animals.

Facilities that buy and sell horses are

included in the Small Business

Administration’s SIC (Standard

Industrial Classification) category

‘‘Livestock Services, Except Veterinary.’’

Firms in this category with annual

receipts of less than $5 million are

considered small entities. It is likely

that most, if not all, of the

approximately 200 facilities that buy

and sell horses are ‘‘small’’ under this

definition.

Most facilities that buy and sell horses

already have quarantine pens, in

accordance with current regulations.

The estimated 20 percent that do not

have quarantine pens could build or

modify existing pens for quarantine use

at a relatively minor cost: APHIS

estimates that, at most, construction of

a quarantine pen would cost about

$1,000.

However, costs of quarantine pen

construction are not attributable to this

proposed rule because quarantine, per

se, is not a new requirement. Only those

facilities that accept EIA reactors and

that always move all EIA reactors within

24 hours of arrival would need to

construct or modify pens for quarantine

purposes as a consequence of this

proposed rule. As no facility can always

be certain of movement of EIA reactors

within 24 hours, no costs should be

incurred strictly because of this

proposed rule. Moreover, by requiring

all EIA reactors at approved livestock

facilities to be quarantined, the horse

industry in general would benefit from

a further reduction in the risk of EIA

transmission.

Under these circumstances, the

Administrator of the Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service has

determined that this action would not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

Executive Order 12372

This program/activity is listed in the

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

under No. 10.025 and is subject to

Executive Order 12372, which requires

intergovernmental consultation with

State and local officials. (See 7 CFR part

3015, subpart V.)

Executive Order 12988

This proposed rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12988, Civil

Justice Reform. If this proposed rule is

adopted: (1) All State and local laws and

regulations that are in conflict with this

rule will be preempted; (2) no

retroactive effect will be given to this

rule; and (3) administrative proceedings

will not be required before parties may

file suit in court challenging this rule.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This proposed rule contains no

information collection or recordkeeping

requirements under the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501

et seq.).

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 71

Animal diseases, Livestock, Poultry

and poultry products, Quarantine,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Transportation.

Accordingly, 9 CFR part 71 is

proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 71—GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The authority citation for part 71

would continue to read as follows:

Authority: 21 U.S.C. 111–113, 114a, 114a–

1, 115–117, 120–126, 134b, and 134f; 7 CFR

2.22, 2.80, and 371.2(d).

§ 71.20 [AMENDED]

2. In § 71.20, paragraph (a) would be

amended in paragraph (16)(ii) of the

sample agreement by removing the

words ‘‘or other animals, unless moving

out of the facility within 24 hours of

arrival’’.

Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of

January 1998.

Terry L. Medley,

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 98–1778 Filed 1–26–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

11 CFR Part 114

[Notice 1998–3]

Definition of ‘‘Member’’ of a

Membership Association

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking;

technical correction.

SUMMARY: On December 22, 1997, the

Commission published a Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking (‘‘NPRM’’) setting

out proposed revisions to its rules

defining who qualifies as a ‘‘member’’ of

a membership association. The term is

defined twice in the Commission’s

rules, and the definitions are identical.

The NPRM sought comment on three

alternative definitions, but inadvertently

omitted one portion of one alternative

from one of the parallel definitions. This

technical revision to the NPRM corrects

that oversight.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Susan E. Propper, Assistant General

Counsel, or Ms. Rita A. Reimer,

Attorney, 999 E Street, N.W.,

Washington, DC 20463, (202) 219–3690

or (800) 424–9530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

December 22, 1997, the Commission

published a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking seeking comment on three

alternative revisions (Alternatives A, B

and C) to its rules defining who

qualifies as a ‘‘member’’ of a

membership association. 62 FR 66832.

Each Alternative describes a range of

financial and organizational

attachments that would be sufficient to

confer membership status.

A membership association can solicit

contributions from its members to a

separate segregated fund established by

the association, and can include express

electoral advocacy in communications

to its members. 2 U.S.C. 441b(b)(2)(A),

441b(b)(4)(C). The Commission’s rules

for both activities are identical. Those

governing solicitations are found at 11

CFR 114.1(e), and those governing

communications are found at 11 CFR

100.8(b)(4)(iv).

In keeping with the statutory and

regulatory scheme, the Commission

intended that all three alternatives

would apply to both 11 CFR

100.8(b)(4)(iv) and 114.1(e). However,

the NPRM as published inadvertently

omitted Alternative C for paragraph

114.1(e)(2)(ii), although it included it for

parallel paragraph 100.8(b)(4)(iv)(B)(2).

See 62 FR 66837, 66838 (Dec. 22, 1997).

Under Alternative C, a person would be

considered a ‘‘member’’ of a