This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

20408

Vol. 66, No. 78

Monday, April 23, 2001

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN–00–010]

RIN 0581–AB57

Revision of User Fees for 2001 Crop

Cotton Classification Services to

Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is proposing to maintain

user fees for cotton producers for 2001

crop cotton classification services under

the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act

at the same level as in 2000. This is in

accordance with the formula provided

in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act

of 1987. The 2000 user fee for this

classification service was $1.35 per bale.

This proposal would maintain the fee

for the 2001 crop at $1.35 per bale. The

proposed fee and the existing reserve

are sufficient to cover the costs of

providing classification services,

including costs for administration and

supervision.

DATES: Comments must be received by

May 8, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments and inquiries

should be addressed to, Cotton

Programs, AMS, USDA, Room 2641–S,

P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090–

6456. E-mail comments may be sent to:

CottonComments@usda.gov. Comments

will be available for public inspection

during regular business hours at the

above office in Rm. 2641–South

Building, 14th & Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Darryl Earnest, Cotton Program, AMS,

USDA, Room 2641–S, P.O. Box 96456,

Washington, DC 20090–6456. 202–720–

2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

proposed 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 proposed 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 that 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 § 121.601).

Continuing the user fee at the 2000 crop

level will not significantly affect small

businesses as defined in 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 2000 user fee for

classification services was $1.35 per

bale; the fee for the 2001 crop would be

maintained at $1.35 per bale; the 2001

crop is estimated at 18,337,850 bales);

(2) The fee for services will not affect

competition in the marketplace; and

(3) The use of classification services is

voluntary. For the 2000 crop, 17,219,500

bales were produced; and, virtually all

of them were voluntarily submitted by

growers for the classification service.

(4) Based on the average price paid to

growers for cotton from the 1999 crop of

45 cents per pound, 500 pound bales of

cotton are worth an average of $225

each. The proposed 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.).

It is anticipated that the proposed

changes, if adopted, would be made

effective July 1, 2001, 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 2000 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 proposed rule establishes the

user fee charged to producers for HVI

classification at $1.35 per bale during

the 2001 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 2000. Therefore, the 2001

producer’s user fee for classification

service is based on the 2000 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

2000 base fee for HVI classification

exclusive of adjustments, as provided by

the Act, was $2.17 per bale. An increase

of 2.26 percent, or 5 cents per bale

increase due to the implicit price

deflator of the gross domestic product

added to the $2.17 would result in a

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 78 / Monday, April 23, 2001 / Proposed Rules 20409

2001 base fee of $2.22 per bale. The

formula in the Act provides for the use

of the percentage 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, gross national

product 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 2001 crop is

estimated at 18,337,850 bales. The 2001

base fee was decreased 15 percent based

on the estimated number of bales to be

classed (1 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 2001 base fee of $2.22 per bale,

resulting in a fee of $1.89 per bale.

With a fee of $1.89 per bale, the

projected operating reserve would be

51.56 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 $1.89

must be reduced by 54 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

would establish the 2001 season fee at

$1.35 per bale.

Accordingly, § 28.909, paragraph (b)

would 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 5 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 2000

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 5 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 10 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 5 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 would be maintained at $1.35

per bale.

The fee for returning samples after

classification in § 28.911 would remain

at 40 cents per sample.

A fifteen-day comment period is

provided for public comments. This

period is deemed appropriate because it

is anticipated that the proposed

changes, if adopted, would be made

effective July 1, 2001, as provided by the

Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act.

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 proposed to

be amended as follows:

PART 28—COTTON CLASSING,

TESTING, AND STANDARDS

Subpart D—Cotton Classification and

Market News Service for Producers

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: April 18, 2001.

Kenneth C. Clayton,

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 01–10065 Filed 4–19–01; 2:06 pm]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–U

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. 2000–NM–201–AD]

Airworthiness Directives; Israel

Aircraft Industries, Ltd., Model Galaxy

Airplanes

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

SUMMARY: This action withdraws a

notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)

that proposed a new airworthiness

directive (AD), applicable to certain

Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd., Model

Galaxy airplanes. That action would

have required replacement of certain

existing fasteners in the aft pickup

fittings of the horizontal stabilizer.

Since the issuance of the NPRM, the

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

has received information from Galaxy

Aerospace Company indicating that the

replacement has already been carried

out on all the affected airplanes and that

the replacement is now standard on all

airplanes off the production line.

Accordingly, the proposed rule is

withdrawn.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan

Rodina, Aerospace Engineer, ANM–116,

FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate,

1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton,

Washington 98055–4056; telephone

(425) 227–2125; fax (206) 227–1149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposal to amend part 39 of the Federal

Aviation Regulations to add a new

airworthiness directive (AD), applicable

to certain Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd.,

Model Galaxy airplanes, was published

in the Federal Register on October 30,

2000 (65 FR 64631). The proposed rule

would have required replacement of

certain existing fasteners in the aft

pickup fittings of the horizontal

stabilizer. That action was prompted by

information from the Civil Aviation

Administration of Israel (CAAI), which

is the airworthiness authority for Israel,

indicating that early fatigue failure of

the fasteners that support the aft pickup

fittings of the horizontal stabilizer can

occur. The proposed actions were

intended to prevent such fatigue failure,