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

7226 

Vol. 73, No. 26 

Thursday, February 7, 2008 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 1260 

[No. LS–07–0141] 

Beef Promotion and Research; 

Reapportionment 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would 

adjust representation on the Cattlemen’s 

Beef Promotion and Research Board 

(Board), established under the Beef 

Promotion and Research Act of 1985 

(Act), to reflect changes in cattle 

inventories and cattle and beef imports 

that have occurred since the most recent 

Board reapportionment rule became 

effective in February of 2005. These 

adjustments are required by the Beef 

Promotion and Research Order (Order) 

and would result in an increase in 

Board membership from 104 to 106, 

effective with the Department of 

Agriculture’s (Department) 

appointments for terms beginning early 

in the year 2009. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received by March 10, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Comments must be posted 

online at www.regulations.gov or sent to 

Kenneth R. Payne, Chief, Marketing 

Programs Branch, Livestock and Seed 

Program, Agricultural Marketing 

Service, USDA, Room 2628–S, STOP 

0251, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20250–0251; or fax to 

(202) 720–1125. All comments should 

reference the docket number, the date, 

and the page number of this issue of the 

Federal Register. Comments will be 

available for public inspection at the 

aforementioned address, as well as on 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kenneth R. Payne, Chief, Marketing 

Programs Branch, on 202/720–1115, fax 

202/720–1125, or by e-mail at 

Kenneth.Payne@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Order 12866 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) has waived the review process 

required by Executive Order 12866 for 

this action. 

Executive Order 12988 

This proposed rule has been reviewed 

under Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform. It is not intended to 

have retroactive effect. 

Section 11 of the Act provides that 

nothing in the Act may be construed to 

preempt or supersede any other program 

relating to beef promotion organized 

and operated under the laws of the 

United States or any State. There are no 

administrative proceedings that must be 

exhausted prior to any judicial 

challenge to the provisions of this rule. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act and 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

Pursuant to the requirements set forth 

in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

(5 U.S.C. 601–612), the Administrator of 

the Agricultural Marketing Service 

(AMS) has considered the economic 

effect of this action on small entities and 

has determined that this proposed rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The purpose of RFA is to fit 

regulatory actions to the scale of 

businesses subject to such actions in 

order that small businesses will not be 

unduly burdened. 

In the February 2007 publication of 

‘‘Farms, Land in Farms, and Livestock 

Operations,’’ the Department’s National 

Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 

estimates that in 2006 the number of 

operations in the United States with 

cattle totaled approximately 970,000. 

The majority of these operations that are 

subject to the Order may be classified as 

small entities. 

The proposed rule imposes no new 

burden on the industry. It only adjusts 

representation on the Board to reflect 

changes in domestic cattle inventory 

and cattle and beef imports. The 

adjustments are required by the Order 

and would result in an increase in 

Board membership from 104 to 106. 

Background and Proposed Action 

The Board was initially appointed 

August 4, 1986, pursuant to the 

provisions of the Act (7 U.S.C. 2901– 

2911) and the Order issued thereunder. 

Domestic representation on the Board is 

based on cattle inventory numbers, and 

importer representation is based on the 

conversion of the volume of imported 

cattle, beef, or beef products into live 

animal equivalencies. 

Section 1260.141(b) of the Order 

provides that the Board shall be 

composed of cattle producers and 

importers appointed by the Department 

from nominations submitted by certified 

producer organizations. A producer may 

only be nominated to represent the unit 

in which that producer is a resident. 

Section 1260.141(c) of the Order 

provides that at least every 3 years and 

not more than every 2 years, the Board 

shall review the geographic distribution 

of cattle inventories throughout the 

United States and the volume of 

imported cattle, beef, and beef products 

and, if warranted, shall reapportion 

units and/or modify the number of 

Board members from units in order to 

reflect the geographic distribution of 

cattle production volume in the United 

States and the volume of cattle, beef, or 

beef products imported into the United 

States. 

Section 1260.141(d) of the Order 

authorizes the Board to recommend to 

the Department modifications to the 

number of cattle per unit necessary for 

representation on the Board. 

Section 1260.141(e)(1) provides that 

each geographic unit or State that 

includes a total cattle inventory equal to 

or greater than 500,000 head of cattle 

shall be entitled to one representative 

on the Board. Section 1260.141(e)(2) 

provides that States that do not have 

total cattle inventories equal to or 

greater than 500,000 head shall be 

grouped, to the extent practicable, into 

geographically-contiguous units, each of 

which have a combined total inventory 

of not less than 500,000 head. Such 

grouped units are entitled to at least one 

representative on the Board. Each unit 

that has an additional 1 million head of 

cattle within a unit qualifies for 

additional representation on the Board 

as provided in § 1260.141(e)(4). As 

provided in § 1260.141(e)(3), importers 

are represented by a single unit, with 

the number of Board members based on 

a conversion of the total volume of 

imported cattle, beef, or beef products 

into live animal equivalencies. 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 26 / Thursday, February 7, 2008 / Proposed Rules 7227 

The initial Board appointed in 1986 

was composed of 113 members. 

Reapportionment, based on a 3-year 

average of cattle inventory numbers and 

import data, reduced the Board to 111 

members in 1990 and 107 members in 

1993 before the Board was increased to 

111 members in 1996. The Board was 

decreased to 110 members in 1999, 108 

members in 2001, 104 members in 2005, 

and will be increased to 106 members 

with appointments for terms effective 

early in 2009. 

The current Board representation by 

States or units was based on an average 

of the January 1, 2002, 2003, and 2004, 

inventory of cattle in the various States 

as reported by NASS. Current importer 

representation was based on a combined 

total average of the 2001, 2002, and 

2003 live cattle imports as published by 

the Department’s Foreign Agricultural 

Service and the average of the 2001, 

2002, and 2003 live animal equivalents 

for imported beef products. 

Recommendations concerning Board 

reapportionment were presented to the 

Board at its September 20, 2007, 

meeting, and were approved by the 

Executive Committee, on behalf of the 

Board, on October 16, 2007. In 

considering reapportionment, the Board 

reviewed cattle inventories as well as 

cattle, beef, and beef product import 

data for the period of January 1, 2005, 

to January 1, 2007. The Board 

recommended that a 3-year average of 

cattle inventories and import numbers 

should be continued. The Board 

determined that an average of the 

January 1, 2005, 2006, and 2007, 

Department cattle inventory numbers 

would best reflect the number of cattle 

in each State or unit since publication 

of the last reapportionment rule 

published in 2005. 

The Board reviewed data published 

by the Department’s Economic Research 

Service to determine proper importer 

representation. The Board 

recommended the use of a combined 

total of the average of the 2004, 2005, 

and 2006, cattle import data and the 

average of the 2004, 2005, and 2006, live 

animal equivalents for imported beef 

products. The method used to calculate 

the total number of live animal 

equivalents was the same as that used 

in the previous reapportionment of the 

Board, except that the live animal 

equivalent weight was changed in 2006 

from 509 pounds to 592 pounds. The 

recommendation for importer 

representation is based on the most 

recent 3-year average of data available to 

the Board at its September 20, 2007, 

meeting to be consistent with the 

procedures used for domestic 

representation. 

The Board’s recommended 

reapportionment plan would increase 

the number of representatives on the 

Board from 104 to 106. One State—

Nebraska—would gain one member. The 

importer unit would also gain one 

member. The States and units affected 

by the reapportionment plan and the 

current and proposed member 

representation per unit are as follows: 

State/unit Current representation 

Proposed 

representation 

1. Nebraska ...... 6 7 

2. Importer ........ 8 9 

The 2008 nomination and 

appointment process was in progress 

while the Board was developing its 

recommendations. Thus, the Board 

reapportionment as proposed by this 

rulemaking would be effective, if 

adopted, with appointments that will be 

effective early in the year 2009. 

A 30-day comment period is provided 

to allow interested persons to respond 

to this proposal. Thirty days is deemed 

appropriate to facilitate the adjustment 

of the representation on the Board, 

which is required by the Order at least 

every 3 years, and not more than every 

2 years. To permit timely execution of 

the annual nomination and appointment 

process, publication of a subsequent 

final rule must occur as soon as 

practical. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1260 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Advertising, Agricultural 

research, Imports, Marketing agreement, 

Meat and meat products, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

For reasons set forth in the preamble, 

it is proposed that 7 CFR part 1260 be 

amended as follows: 

PART 1260—BEEF PROMOTION AND 

RESEARCH 

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 1260 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 2901–2911. 

2. In § 1260.141, paragraph (a) and the 

table immediately following it, are 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 1260.141 Membership of Board. 

(a) Beginning with the 2008 Board 

nominations and the associated 

appointments effective early in the year 

2009, the United States shall be divided 

into 39 geographical units and 1 unit 

representing importers, and the number 

of Board members from each unit shall 

be as follows: 

CATTLE AND CALVES1

State/unit (1,000 

Head) Directors 

1. Alabama ...................... 1,307 1 

2. Arizona ........................ 930 1 

3. Arkansas ..................... 1,773 2 

4. California ..................... 5,450 5 

5. Colorado ...................... 2,617 3 

6. Florida ......................... 1,707 2 

7. Idaho ........................... 2,117 2 

8. Illinois .......................... 1,347 1 

9. Indiana ........................ 883 1 

10. Iowa ........................... 3,783 4 

11. Kansas ...................... 6,550 7 

12. Kentucky ................... 2,363 2 

13. Louisiana ................... 847 1 

14. Michigan .................... 1,030 1 

15. Minnesota .................. 2,390 2 

16. Mississippi ................. 1,013 1 

17. Missouri ..................... 4,450 4 

18. Montana .................... 2,383 2 

19. Nebraska ................... 6,500 7 

20. Nevada ...................... 500 1 

21. New Mexico .............. 1,543 2 

22. New York .................. 1,410 1 

23. North Carolina ........... 860 1 

24. North Dakota ............. 1,760 2 

25. Ohio ........................... 1,280 1 

26. Oklahoma .................. 5,350 5 

27. Oregon ...................... 1,397 1 

28. Pennsylvania ............. 1,603 2 

29. South Dakota ............ 3,717 4 

30. Tennessee ................ 2,240 2 

31. Texas ........................ 13,933 14 

32. Utah ........................... 830 1 

33. Virginia ...................... 1,640 2 

34. Wisconsin .................. 3,383 3 

35. Wyoming ................... 1,403 1 

36. Northwest .................. .................. 1 

Alaska .......................... 15 ..................

Hawaii .......................... 158 ..................

Washington .................. 1,107 ..................

Total ......................... 1,280 ..................

37. Northeast ................... .................. 1 

Connecticut .................. 54 ..................

Delaware ...................... 23 ..................

Maine ........................... 90 ..................

Massachusetts ............. 46 ..................

New Hampshire ........... 38 ..................

New Jersey .................. 41 ..................

Rhode Island ............... 5 ..................

Vermont ....................... 272 ..................

Total ......................... 569 ..................

38. Mid-Atlantic ............... .................. 1 

Maryland ...................... 228 

West Virginia ............... 412 ..................

Total ......................... 640 ..................

39. Southeast .................. .................. 2 

Georgia ........................ 1,187 ..................

South Carolina ............. 415 ..................

Total ......................... 1,602 ..................

40. Importer 2 ................... .................. 9 

1 2005, 2006, and 2007 average of January 1 cattle inventory data. 2 2004, 2005, and 2006 average of annual import 

data. 

Dated: February 1, 2008. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–2194 Filed 2–6–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with PROPOSALS