[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 78 (Monday, April 23, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20408-20409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-10065]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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.
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Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 78 / Monday, April 23, 2001 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 20408]]
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: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing to
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 proposal
would maintain the fee for the 2001 crop at $1.35 per bale. The
proposed fee and the existing reserve are sufficient to cover the costs
of providing classification services, including costs for
administration and supervision.
DATES: Comments must be received by May 8, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Comments and inquiries should be addressed to, Cotton
Programs, AMS, USDA, Room 2641-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-
6456. E-mail comments may be sent to: [email protected]. Comments
will be available for public inspection during regular business hours
at the above office in Rm. 2641-South Building, 14th & Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Darryl Earnest, Cotton Program, AMS,
USDA, Room 2641-S, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC 20090-6456. 202-720-
2145.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposed 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 proposed 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 Sec. 121.601). 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 would 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 proposed 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 proposed 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.).
It is anticipated that the proposed changes, if adopted, would 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 proposed 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
[[Page 20409]]
2001 base fee of $2.22 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, 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, Sec. 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
Sec. 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 Sec. 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 Sec. 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
Sec. 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 Sec. 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 Sec. 28.911 would be
maintained at $1.35 per bale.
The fee for returning samples after classification in Sec. 28.911
would remain at 40 cents per sample.
A fifteen-day comment period is provided for public comments. This
period is deemed appropriate because it is anticipated that the
proposed changes, if adopted, would be made effective July 1, 2001, as
provided by the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 28
Administrative practice and procedure, 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
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 28--COTTON CLASSING, TESTING, AND STANDARDS
Subpart D--Cotton Classification and Market News Service for
Producers
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR Part 28, Subpart D, continues
to read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 471-476.
2. In Sec. 28.909, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 28.909 Costs.
* * * * *
(b) The cost of High Volume Instrument (HVI) cotton classification
service to producers is $1.35 per bale.
* * * * *
3. In Sec. 28.911, the last sentence of paragraph (a) is revised to
read as follows:
Sec. 28.911 Review classification.
(a) * * * The fee for review classification is $1.35 per bale.
* * * * *
Dated: April 18, 2001.
Kenneth C. Clayton,
Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 01-10065 Filed 4-19-01; 2:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-U