Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 86 / Thursday, May 2, 1996 / Rules and Regulations 19511

(c) * * *

(3) To circumvent controls on

employment levels.

(4) In lieu of appointing a surplus or

displaced Federal employee as required

by 5 CFR part 330, subpart F (Agency

Career Transition Assistance Plan for

Displaced Employees) and subpart G

(Interagency Career Transition

Assistance Plan for Displaced

Employees.)

4. In § 300.504, paragraphs (a) and (b)

are revised to read as follows:

§ 300.504 Prohibition on employeremployee relationship.

* * * * *

(a) Time limit on use of temporary

help service firm. An agency may use a

temporary help service firm(s) in a

single situation, as defined in § 300.503,

initially for no more than 120 workdays.

Provided the situation continues to exist

beyond the initial 120 workdays, the

agency may extend its use of temporary

help services up to the maximum limit

of 240 workdays.

(b) Time limit on use of individual

employee of a temporary help service

firm. (1) An individual employee of any

temporary help firm may work at a

major organizational element

(headquarters or field) of an agency for

up to 120 workdays in a 24-month

period. The 24-month period begins on

the first day of assignment.

(2) An agency may make an exception

for an individual to work up to a

maximum of 240 workdays only when

the agency has determined that using

the services of the same individual for

the same situation will prevent

significant delay.

* * * * *

5. Section 300.505 is revised to read

as follows:

§ 300.505 Relationship of civil service

procedures.

Agencies continue to have full

authority to meet their temporary needs

by various means, for example,

redistributing work, authorizing

overtime, using in-house pools, and

making details or time-limited

promotions of current employees. In

addition, agencies may appoint

individuals as civil service employees

on various work schedules appropriate

for the work to be performed.

6. Section 300.507 is revised to read

as follows:

§ 300.507 Documentation and Oversight.

Agencies are required to maintain

records and provide oversight to

establish that their use of temporary

help service firms is consistent with

these regulations. As needed, OPM may

require agencies to provide information

on their use of temporary help service

firms.

[FR Doc. 96–10739 Filed 5–1–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6325–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 28

[CN–96–001]

Revision of User Fees for 1996 Crop

Cotton Classification Services to

Growers

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is reducing user fees for

cotton producers for 1996 crop cotton

classification services under the Cotton

Statistics and Estimates Act in

accordance with the formula provided

in the Uniform Cotton Classing Fees Act

of 1987. The 1995 user fee for the

classification service was $1.60 per bale.

This final rule will reduce the fee for the

1996 crop to $1.50 per bale. The

reduced fee is due to increased

efficiency in classing operations, and it

is sufficient to recover the costs of

providing classification services,

including costs for administration,

supervision, and development and

maintenance of standards.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lee

Cliburn, 202–720–2145.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A

proposed rule detailing the revisions

was published in the Federal Register

on February 29, 1996, (61 FR 7756). A

30-day comment period was provided

for interested persons to respond to the

proposed rule; no comments were

received.

This final rule has been determined to

be not significant for purposes of

Executive Order 12866, and therefore it

has not been reviewed by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB).

This final rule has been reviewed

under Executive Order 12778, 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 which must be exhausted

prior to any judicial challenge to the

provisions of this rule.

The Administrator, Agricultural

Marketing Service (AMS), has

considered the economic impact of this

final rule on small entities pursuant to

the requirements set forth in the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5

U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

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

about 40,000 cotton growers who

voluntarily submit their cotton for the

classification service. The majority of

the growers are small businesses under

the criteria established by the Small

Business Administration. The

Administrator of AMS has certified that

this action will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities as defined in

the RFA because:

(1) the fee reduction reflects a

decrease in the cost-per-unit currently

borne by those entities utilizing the

services;

(2) the cost reduction will not affect

competition in the marketplace; and

(3) the use of classification services is

voluntary.

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 amended by this final rule

have been previously approved by OMB

and were assigned OMB control number

0581–0009.

The changes will be made effective

July 1, 1996, 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 $1.60 per bale during

the 1995 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, cost of

equipment and supplies, and other

overhead costs, including costs for

administration, supervision,

development, and maintenance of

cotton standards.

This final rule establishes the user fee

charged to producers for HVI

classification at $1.50 per bale during

the 1996 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
19512 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 86 / Thursday, May 2, 1996 / Rules and Regulations

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 1995. Therefore, the 1996

producer’s user fee for classification

service is based on the 1995 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

1995 base fee for HVI classification

exclusive of adjustments, as provided by

the Act, was $2.01 per bale. A 1.4

percent, or three cents per bale increase

due to the implicit price deflator of the

gross domestic product added to the

$2.01 results in a 1996 base fee of $2.04

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,

this 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 1996 crop is

estimated at 19,024,000. The 1996 base

fee was decreased 15 percent based on

the estimated number of bales to be

classed (one 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 31 cents

per bale reduction and was subtracted

from the 1996 base fee of $2.04 per bale,

resulting in a fee of $1.73 per bale.

Assuming a fee of $1.73 per bale, the

projected operating reserve would be

36.9 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 $1.73

must be reduced by 23 cents per bale,

to $1.50 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

establishes the 1996 season fee at $1.50

per bale.

Accordingly, § 28.909, paragraph (b)

is revised to reflect the reduction in the

HVI classification fees.

As provided for in the Uniform Cotton

Classing Fees Act of 1987, as amended,

a five cent per bale discount will

continue to be applied to voluntary

centralized billing and collecting agents

as specified in § 28.909(c).

Growers or their designated agents

will continue to incur no additional fees

if only one method of receiving

classification data is requested. The fee

for each additional method of receiving

classification data in § 28.910(a) will

remain at five cents per bale, and it will

be applicable even if the same method

was requested. Since the Cotton

Division will no longer accept returned

diskettes to eliminate the possibility of

computer virus infection, the cost of

computer tapes or diskettes not returned

will no longer be billed separately to the

requestor. The fee in § 28.910(b) for an

owner receiving classification data from

the central database will remain at five

cents per bale, but a minimum charge of

$5.00 for services provided per monthly

billing period will be assessed. The

provisions of § 28.910 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 reduced from $1.60 per

bale to $1.50 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

procedures, 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 amended as

follows:

PART 28—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 28 is

revised 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 $1.50 per bale.

* * * * *

3. Section 28.910 is amended by

revising the undesignated text

immediately following paragraph (a)(4)

and adding a sentence at the end of

paragraph (b) to read as follows:

§ 28.910 Classification of samples and

issuance of classification data.

(a) * * *

(4) ***

If the issuance of data to growers or

to their agents is made by more than one

method, the fee for each bale issued by

each additional method shall be five

cents. If provided as additional method

of data transfer, the minimum fee for

each tape or diskette issued shall be

$10.00.

(b) * * * The minimum charge

assessed for services obtained from the

central database shall be $5.00 per

monthly billing period.

* * * * *

4. 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 $1.50 per bale.

* * * * *

Dated: April 29, 1996.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 96–10989 Filed 5–1–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

7 CFR Part 915

[Docket No. FV96–915–1IFR]

Avocados Grown in South Florida;

Assessment Rate

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Interim final rule with request

for comments.

SUMMARY: This interim final rule

establishes an assessment rate of $0.16

per bushel of assessable avocados under

Marketing Order No. 915 for the 1996–

97 and subsequent fiscal periods.

Authorization to assess avocado

handlers enables the Avocado

Administrative Committee (committee)

to incur expenses that are reasonable

and necessary to administer the

program.

DATES: Effective April 1, 1996.

Comments received by June 3, 1996,

will be considered prior to issuance of

a final rule.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are

invited to submit written comments

concerning this action. Comments must

be sent in triplicate to the Docket Clerk,

Fruit and Vegetable Division, AMS,

USDA, P.O. Box 96456, room 2523–S,

Washington, DC 20090–6456, FAX 202–

720–5698. Comments should reference

the docket number and the date and

page number of this issue of the Federal

Register and will be available for public

inspection in the Office of the Docket

Clerk during regular business hours.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Caroline C. Thorpe, Marketing Order

Administration Branch, Fruit and