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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

60097 

Vol. 73, No. 198 

Friday, October 10, 2008 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 1260 

[Doc. No. LS–07–0141] 

Beef Promotion and Research; 

Reapportionment 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule adjusts 

representation on the Cattlemen’s Beef 

Promotion and Research Board (Board), 

established under the Beef Promotion 

and Research Act (Act) of 1985, 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 will 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: Effective Date: October 11, 2008. 

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 final 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 Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) has 

considered the economic effect of this 

action on small entities and has 

determined that this 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 final 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 Final Action 

The Board was initially appointed 

August 4, 1986, pursuant to the 

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

seq.) 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 one 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. 

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 


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60098 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 198 / Friday, October 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

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 will increase the 

number of representatives on the Board 

from 104 to 106. One State-Nebraskawould gain one member. The importer 

unit would also gain one member. The 

States and units affected by the 

reapportionment plan and the current 

and revised member representation per 

unit are as follows: 

State/unit Current representation 

Revised representation 

1. Nebraska .. 6 7 

2. Importer .... 8 9 

On February 7, 2008, the Department 

published in the Federal Register (73 

FR 7226) for public comment a 

proposed rule providing for the 

adjustment in Board membership. The 

proposed rule was published with a 

request for comments to be submitted to 

the Department by March 10, 2008. 

The Department received one 

comment concerning the proposed rule 

for Board reapportionment. The 

commenter raised a number of points 

that are not pertinent to the proposal 

and therefore are not addressed. The 

commenter also suggested that the 

membership of the Board be reduced 

from 106 to six members. The structure 

of the Board is determined by the 

provisions of the Act and Order, which 

take into account production. Therefore, 

the Department has not adopted this 

suggestion. 

It is found that good cause exists to 

make this rule effective less than 30 

days after the date of publication in the 

Federal Register because this rule 

should be in effect as soon as possible 

for the Board appointments that will be 

effective early in the year 2009. 

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, 

7 CFR part 1260 is 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 and 7 

U.S.C. 7401. 

■ 2. In § 1260.141, paragraph (a) is 

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 CALVES 1

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 

CATTLE AND CALVES 1—Continued 

State/unit (1,000 

Head) 

Directors 

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: October 6, 2008. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–24115 Filed 10–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 


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