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

29215

Vol. 66, No. 104

Wednesday, May 30, 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: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) will 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 final rule would maintain the fee

for the 2001 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, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Darryl Earnest, Cotton Program, 202–

720–2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposed rule detailing the revisions

was published in the Federal Register

on April 23, 2001. (66 FR 20408). A 15-

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 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 § 121.201).

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 will 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 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 final

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.).

These changes will 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 final 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

2001 base fee of $2.22 per bale. The

formula in the Act provides for the use

of the percentage change in the implicit

29216 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 104 / Wednesday, May 30, 2001 / Rules and Regulations

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 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.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28

Administrative practice and

procedure, Cotton, Cotton samples,

Grades, Market news, Reporting and

record keeping requirements, Standards,

Staples, Testing, Warehouses.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, 7 CFR Part 28 is amended as

follows:

PART 28—COTTON CLASSING

TESTING STANDARDS

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR

Part 28, Subpart D—Cotton

Classification and Market News Services

for Producers, 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 23, 2001.

Kenneth C. Clayton,

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 01–13562 Filed 5–25–01; 10:50 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–U

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 928

[Docket No. FV01–928–1 IFR]

Papayas Grown in Hawaii; Suspension

of Grade, Inspection, and Related

Reporting Requirements

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Interim final rule with request

for comments.

SUMMARY: This rule indefinitely

suspends the grade, inspection,

inspection waiver procedures, and

related exempt shipment reporting

requirements under the marketing order

regulating papayas grown in Hawaii,

due to current overproduction and

unprecedented low prices for fresh

papayas. These requirements went into

effect on January 2, 2001. This action

results from a unanimous

recommendation of the Papaya

Administrative Committee (committee

or PAC) at an emergency meeting on

December 28, 2000. This action is

expected to permit the industry to

utilize funds earmarked for inspection

for enhanced marketing efforts, thus

improving producer returns by

increasing consumer demand.

DATES: Effective May 31, 2001;

comments received by July 30, 2001 will

be considered prior to issuance of a final

rule.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are

invited to submit written comments

concerning this rule. Comments must be

sent to the Docket Clerk, Marketing

Order Administration Branch, Fruit and

Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, room

2525–S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington,

DC 20090–6456; Fax: (202) 720–8938, or

E-mail: moab.docketclerk@usda.gov. All

comments should reference the docket

number and the date and page number

of this issue of the Federal Register and

will be made available for public

inspection in the Office of the Docket

Clerk during regular business hours, or

can be viewed at: http://

www.ams.usda.gov/fv/moab.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Terry Vawter, Marketing Specialist,

California Marketing Field Office,

Marketing Order Administration

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs,

AMS, USDA, 2202 Monterey Street,

suite 102B, Fresno, California 93721;

telephone: (559) 487–5901, Fax: (559)

487–5906; or George Kelhart, Technical

Advisor, Marketing Order

Administration Branch, Fruit and