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lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules This proposal invites comments on revising 1218.40, 1218.41 and 1218.42 of the Order regarding Council membership, nominations, and term of office, respectively. The Council administers the Order with oversight by USDA. Under the program, assessments are collected from domestic producers and importers and used for research and promotion projects designed to increase the demand for highbush blueberries.
The proposed action would remove the first-handler and alternate position and add two exporter member and alternate positions. This would help ensure that the Council reflects the distribution of domestic blueberry production and imports into the U.S. Conforming changes would be made to the nomination procedures. This proposal would also allow members and alternates to remain in office until a successor is appointed. This change would allow the Council to continue administration of the Order should appointments be delayed beyond the specified term of office. Authority for this action is provided in 1218.40b and 1218.47m of the Order and section 7414 of the 1996 Act.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35, the information collection and recordkeeping requirements that are imposed by the Order have been approved previously under OMB
control number 05810093 and 0505
0001. Eligible producers, importers, exporters, first-handler, and public members interested in serving on the Council are required to complete a background questionnaire Form AD
755 to verify their eligibility. Adding an exporter member and alternate member to the Council would require four additional exporters to submit background forms AD755 to USDA, once every three years, in order to be considered for appointment to the Council. The Secretary requires two names to be submitted for each open seat on the Council. The public reporting burden is estimated to increase the total burden hours by less than one hour. This additional burden would be included in the existing information collection approved for use under OMB control number 05810093.
In addition, serving on the Council is optional, and the burden of submitting the background form would be offset by the benefits of additional representation on the Council.
The previously approved background questionnaire would be revised eliminating the first-handler section. It would impose an increase of the total reporting and recordkeeping burden hours by less than one hour on
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blueberry producers, importers, or exporters.
As with all Federal promotion programs, reports and forms are periodically reviewed to reduce information requirements and duplication by industry and public sector agencies. USDA has not identified any relevant Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this proposed rule.
Regarding alternatives, the Council has been discussing its membership and potential changes to reflect the distribution of domestic production and imports for the past few years. The Councils Executive Committee met to formulate and consider various options.
One option was to replace two of the four regional producer positions, with the exporter positions, reallocating the two regions as East and West, with one position for each region. Another option considered was to eliminate the firsthandler and public member positions;
reallocate the regions to East and West, with one position for each region; and add two importer positions and two exporter positions. The Council also considered maintaining the status quo.
It concluded, upon reviewing the domestic production and import statistics, that it was important to have foreign producer representation from the top four countries importing highbush blueberries into the U.S.
represented on the Council. Thus, the Council recommended revising the Order to remove the first-handler and alternate position and add two exporter member and alternate positions.
Regarding outreach efforts, this action was discussed by the Council at meetings in October 2018, as well as by the Council and committees in 2019 and 2020. The Council met in November 2020 and in June 2021 and unanimously made its recommendation. All of the Councils meetings are open to the public and interested persons are invited to participate and express their views.
AMS is committed to complying with the E-Government Act, to promote the use of the internet and other information technologies to provide increased opportunities or citizen access to Government information and services, and for other purposes.
We have performed this initial RFA
analysis regarding the impact of the proposed action on small entities and we invite comments concerning the potential effects of this action.
USDA has determined that this proposed rule is consistent with and would effectuate the purpose of the 1996 Act.

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A 60-day comment period is provided to allow interested persons to respond to this proposal. All written comments received in response to this proposed rule by the date specified will be considered prior to finalizing this action.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1218
Administrative practice and procedure, Advertising, Blueberry promotion, Consumer information, Marketing agreements, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 1218 is proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 1218BLUEBERRY
PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND
INFORMATION ORDER
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR
part 1218 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 74117425; 7 U.S.C.
7401.

2. In 1218.40, paragraph a is revised to read as follows:

1218.40

Establishment and membership.

a Establishment of the U.S.
Highbush Blueberry Council. There is hereby established a U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, hereinafter called the Council, shall be comprised of no more than 20 members and alternates for the 2022 Council, and comprised of no more than 21 members and alternates for the 2023 Council and each subsequent Council, appointed by the Secretary from nominations as follows:
1 The 2022 Council shall be comprised of:
i One producer member and alternate from each of the following regions:
A Region 1 Western Region all states from the Pacific east to the Rockies: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
B Region 2 Midwest Region all states east of the Rockies to the Great Lakes and south to the Kansas/Missouri/
Kentucky state line: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
C Region 3 Northeast Region all states east of the Great Lakes and North of the North Carolina/Tennessee state line: Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, DC, and West Virginia.

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