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

10479

Vol. 60, No. 38

Monday, February 27, 1995

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 959

[Docket No. FV94–959–1FIR]

South Texas Onions; Increased

Expenses and Establishment of

Assessment Rate

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Agriculture (Department) is adopting as

a final rule, with appropriate changes,

the provisions of an amended interim

final rule that increased the level of

authorized expenses and established an

assessment rate that generated funds to

pay those expenses. This final rule

further increases authorized expenses.

Authorization of this budget enables the

South Texas Onion Committee

(Committee) to incur expenses that are

reasonable and necessary to administer

the program. Funds to administer this

program are derived from assessments

on handlers.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 1, 1994, through

July 31, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Martha Sue Clark, Marketing Order

Administration Branch, Fruit and

Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, P.O.

Box 96456, room 2523–S, Washington,

DC 20090–6456, telephone 202–720–

9918, or Belinda G. Garza, McAllen

Marketing Field Office, Fruit and

Vegetable Division, AMS, USDA, 1313

East Hackberry, McAllen, TX 78501,

telephone 210–682–2833.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule

is issued under Marketing Agreement

No. 143 and Order No. 959, both as

amended (7 CFR part 959), regulating

the handling of onions grown in South

Texas. This marketing agreement and

order are effective under the

Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act

of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601–674),

hereinafter referred to as the Act.

The Department is issuing this rule in

conformance with Executive Order

12866.

This rule has been reviewed under

Executive Order 12778, Civil Justice

Reform. Under the marketing order

provisions now in effect, South Texas

onions are subject to assessments. It is

intended that the assessment rate as

issued herein will be applicable to all

assessable onions handled during the

1994–95 fiscal period, which began

August 1, 1994, and ends July 31, 1995.

This rule will not preempt any State or

local laws, regulations, or policies,

unless they present an irreconcilable

conflict with this rule.

The Act provides that administrative

proceedings must be exhausted before

parties may file suit in court. Under

section 608c(15)(A) of the Act, any

handler subject to an order may file

with the Secretary a petition stating that

the order, any provision of the order, or

any obligation imposed in connection

with the order is not in accordance with

law and requesting a modification of the

order or to be exempted therefrom. A

handler is afforded the opportunity for

a hearing on the petition. After the

hearing the Secretary would rule on the

petition. The Act provides that the

district court of the United States in any

district in which the handler is an

inhabitant, or has his or her principal

place of business, has jurisdiction in

equity to review the Secretary’s ruling

on the petition, provided a bill in equity

is filed not later than 20 days after the

date of the entry of the ruling.

Pursuant to the requirements set forth

in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA),

the Administrator of the Agricultural

Marketing Service (AMS) has

considered the economic impact of this

rule on small entities.

The purpose of the RFA is to fit

regulatory actions to the scale of

business subject to such actions in order

that small businesses will not be unduly

or disproportionately burdened.

Marketing orders issued pursuant to the

Act, and the rules issued thereunder, are

unique in that they are brought about

through group action of essentially

small entities acting on their own

behalf. Thus, both statutes have small

entity orientation and compatibility.

There are approximately 47 producers

of South Texas onions under this

marketing order, and approximately 34

handlers. Small agricultural producers

have been defined by the Small

Business Administration (13 CFR

121.601) as those having annual receipts

of less than $500,000, and small

agricultural Service firms are defined as

those whose receipts are less than

$5,000,000. The majority of South Texas

onion producers and handlers may be

classified as small entities.

The budget of expenses for the 1994–

95 fiscal period was prepared by the

South Texas Onion Committee, the

agency responsible for local

administration of the marketing order,

and submitted to the Department for

approval. The members of the

Committee are producers and handlers

of South Texas onions. They are familiar

with the Committee’s needs and with

the costs of goods and services in their

local areas and are thus in a position to

formulate an appropriate budget. The

budget was formulated and discussed in

a public meeting. Thus, all directly

affected persons have had an

opportunity to participate and provide

input.

The assessment rate recommended by

the Committee was derived by dividing

anticipated expenses by expected

shipments of South Texas onions.

Because that rate will be applied to

actual shipments, it must be established

at a rate that will provide sufficient

income to pay the Committee’s

expenses.

Committee administrative expenses of

$80,000 for personnel, office, and

compliance expenses were

recommended in a mail vote. The

assessment rate and funding for the

research and promotion projects were to

be recommended at a later Committee

meeting. The Committee administrative

expenses of $80,000 were published in

the Federal Register as an interim final

rule August 12, 1994 (59 FR 41382).

That interim final rule added § 959.235,

authorizing expenses for the Committee,

and provided that interested persons

could file comments through September

12, 1994. No comments were filed.

The Committee subsequently met on

November 8, 1994, and unanimously

recommended increases of $8,900 for

personnel expenses, $2,300 for office

expenses, and $126,000 for compliance

activities in the recently approved

1994–95 budget. The compliance

increase provided funds to operate road
10480 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 38 / Monday, February 27, 1995 / Rules and Regulations

guard stations surrounding the

production area. The Committee also

unanimously recommended $164,450 in

market development activities and

$88,028 in production research. Budget

items for 1994–95 which increased

compared to those budgeted for 1993–94

(in parentheses) were: Office salaries,

$22,000 ($15,600), insurance, $6,250

($5,250), accounting and audit, $2,600

($2,300), rent and utilities, $5,000

($4,000), field travel, $6,000 ($5,000),

onion breeding research, $88,028

($88,000), and $4,450 for Canadian

onion promotion for which no funding

was budgeted last year. Items which

decreased compared to the amount

budgeted for 1993–94 (in parentheses)

were: Market development program,

$150,000 ($200,000) and ($7,000) for

screening for resistance and tolerance to

purple blotch, ($2,000) for leaf wetness,

($2,600) for variety evaluation, ($4,000)

for thrips monitoring and control, and

($2,000) for the Integrated Pest

Management program, for which no

funding was budgeted this year. All

other items were budgeted at last year’s

amounts.

The initial 1994–95 budget, published

on August 12, 1994, did not establish an

assessment rate. Therefore, the

Committee also unanimously

recommended an assessment rate of

$0.04 per 50-pound container or

equivalent of onions, $0.06 less than last

year’s assessment rate. This rate, when

applied to anticipated shipments of

approximately 5 million 50-pound

containers or equivalents, will yield

$200,000 in assessment income, which,

along with $269,678 from the reserve,

will be adequate to cover budgeted

expenses. Funds in the reserve as of

December 31, 1994, were $607,767,

which is within the maximum

permitted by the order of two fiscal

periods’ expenses.

An amended interim final rule was

published in the Federal Register on

December 15, 1994 (59 FR 64557). That

interim final rule amended § 959.235 to

increase the level of authorized

expenses to $469,678 and establish an

assessment rate of $0.04 per 50-pound

container or equivalent of onions for the

Committee. That rule provided that

interested persons could file comments

through January 17, 1995. No comments

were received.

The Committee, in a telephone vote

completed January 16, 1995,

unanimously recommended an increase

of $50,000 in the funding for the market

development program, increasing

expenditures from $150,000 to

$200,000. This increase is necessary to

cover additional expenses that will be

incurred in conducting the program,

and will result in total promotion

expenses of $214,250 and a total budget

of $519,678. There are adequate funds

in the Committee’s reserve to cover this

additional expenditure, so no increase

in the assessment rate was

recommended.

While this action will impose some

additional costs on handlers, the costs

are in the form of uniform assessments

on handlers. Some of the additional

costs may be passed on to producers.

However, these costs will be offset by

the benefits derived from the operation

of the marketing order. Therefore, the

Administrator of the AMS has

determined that this action will not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

After consideration of all relevant

matter presented, including the

information and recommendations

submitted by the Committee and other

available information, it is hereby found

that this rule, as hereinafter set forth,

will tend to effectuate the declared

policy of the Act.

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

found and determined upon good cause

that it is impracticable, unnecessary,

and contrary to the public interest to

give preliminary notice prior to putting

this rule into effect and that good cause

exists for not postponing the effective

date of this action until 30 days after

publication in the Federal Register

because the Committee needs to have

sufficient funds to pay its expenses

which are incurred on a continuous

basis. The 1994–95 fiscal period began

on August 1, 1994, and the marketing

order requires that the rate of

assessment for the fiscal period apply to

all assessable onions handled during the

fiscal period. In addition, handlers are

aware of this rule which was

unanimously recommended by the

Committee at a public meeting and

published in the Federal Register as an

amended interim final rule. No

comments were received concerning

that amended interim final rule, which

is being adopted as a final rule, with

appropriate changes.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 959

Marketing agreements, Onions,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, 7 CFR part 959 is amended as

follows:

Accordingly, the interim final rule

amending 7 CFR part 959 which was

published at (59 FR 64557) on December

15, 1994, is adopted as a final rule with

the following change:

PART 959—ONIONS GROWN IN

SOUTH TEXAS

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR

part 959 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674.

2. Section 959.235 is revised to read

as follows:

§ 959.235 Expenses and assessment rate.

Expenses of $519,678 by the South

Texas Onion Committee are authorized

and an assessment rate of $0.04 per 50-

pound container or equivalent of onions

is established for the fiscal period

ending July 31, 1995. Unexpended

funds may be carried over as a reserve.

Dated: February 21, 1995.

Sharon Bomer Lauritsen,

Deputy Director, Fruit and Vegetable Division.

[FR Doc. 95–4739 Filed 2–24–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–W

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 21

Replacement and Modification Parts;

Enhanced Enforcement

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of policy on

enforcement.

SUMMARY: This is a notice of the FAA’s

policy to enforce full compliance with

certain regulations on producing

modification or replacement parts for

sale for installation on type certificated

products.

DATES: Preliminary applications for

parts manufacturer approvals must be

submitted by May 30, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Production and Airworthiness

Certification Division, AIR–200, FAA,

800 Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20591, (202) 267–8361.

Background

In the past few years, there has been

increased awareness of, and concern

about, the use of unapproved parts on

aircraft. It is not acceptable for persons

to produce parts without complying

with Federal Aviation Regulations (14

CFR 21.3030(a)). It is the FAA’s

intention to ensure that all persons who

produce parts for sale for installation on

type certificated products comply with

the regulations. The FAA recognizes

that some producers may have relied on

previous FAA statements and practices

regarding enforcement of the rule.