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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 243 / Wednesday, December 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
effect. Section 524 of the Act provides that it shall not affect or preempt any other Federal or State law authorizing promotion or research relating to an agricultural commodity.
Under section 519 of the Act 7 U.S.C.
7418, a person subject to an order may file a written petition with USDA stating that an order, any provision of an order, or any obligation imposed in connection with an order, is not established in accordance with the law, and request a modification of an order or an exemption from an order. Any petition filed challenging an order, any provision of an order, or any obligation imposed in connection with an order, shall be filed within 2 years after the effective date of an order, provision, or obligation subject to challenge in the petition. The petitioner will have the opportunity for a hearing on the petition. Thereafter, USDA will issue a ruling on the petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United States for any district in which the petitioner resides or conducts business shall have the jurisdiction to review a final ruling on the petition, if the petitioner files a complaint for that purpose not later than 20 days after the date of the entry of USDAs final ruling.

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Executive Order 13175
This final rule has been reviewed under E.O. 13175Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments. E.O. 13175 requires Federal agencies to consult and coordinate with tribes on a governmentto-government basis on: 1 Policies that have tribal implication including regulation, legislative comments, or proposed legislation; and 2 other policy statements or actions that have substantial direct effects on one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.
AMS has assessed the impact of this final rule on Indian tribes and determined that this rule will not have tribal implications that require consultation under E.O. 13175.
Additionally, AMS hosts a quarterly teleconference with tribal leaders where matters of mutual interest regarding the marketing of agricultural products are discussed. Information about the final rule was shared with tribal leaders during a quarterly conference call. AMS
will continue to work with the USDA
Office of Tribal Relations to ensure meaningful consultation is provided as needed with regards to the regulations.

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Regulatory Flexibility Act Pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA
5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., AMS has performed a RFA review regarding the impact of the final rule on 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. AMS determined that small businesses will not be unduly burdened.
The North American Industry Classification System NAICS code for sheep farms is 112410. The Small Business Association SBA size classification for this industry limits the number of employees for a small business to 100 people. Based on industry response, almost all lamb farms employ fewer than 100 people; in fact, almost all lamb farms employ less than 15 people. The majority of lamb farms are considered small businesses.
According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture AC17A51, there were 60,675 farms that sold sheep and lambs.
This number includes sheep and lambs raised for dairy, wool, and meat. This final rule focuses only on those lambs raised for meat. The census does not break down the data to the level of lamb feeder farms. Therefore, AMS has worked with industry stakeholders to understand the makeup of the industry.
According to lamb industry estimates, of those 60,675 farms, 500 farms are considered feeder farms that raise lambs for meat. Additionally, the lamb industry estimates that of those 500
feeder farms, approximately 10 percent, or 50 of those feeder farms, could potentially purchase/sell their lambs at market agencies. The remainder of the feeder farms sell lambs directly to a first handler. Therefore, AMS has concluded that the number of feeder farms that raise lambs for meat that will be financially impacted by this final rule will not be considered substantial.
This final rule does not increase the assessment rates under the Order, thus no new economic burden is placed on producers, feeders, seedstock producers, or first handlers for sales that take place outside of market agencies, as that process for paying assessments will not change. When a sale takes place at a market agency, no new burden will be placed on producers or seedstock producers, regardless of size, as they will continue to pay their assessments to the market agency. No new burden will be placed on first handlers of any size as they will remit assessments to the market agency instead of the Board.

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However, the final rule will place a burden on feeder farms who pay assessments twice, having to seek reimbursement for two assessments paid for the same lambs by filling out a Lamb Assessment Refund form. However, AMS concluded that this impact will not be considered substantial. Under this final rule, a lamb feeder farm could potentially pay assessments twice in scenarios 4 and 5 described above and will need to fill out a refund form after selling the lambs through a market agency to recoup the twice-paid assessment. This paperwork burden is described in detail in the Paperwork Reduction Act section of this final rule.
During the initial 60-day comment period 85 FR 62617, AMS sought comments on whether the limited data available is representative of industry lamb numbers and what alternative data sources, if any, were available to further refine this analysis. Unfortunately, no data existed.
This final rule does require market agencies to report and collect assessments from producers, feeders, seedstock producers, and first handlers;
and remit to the Board, thus placing a new burden on market agencies to collect and remit assessments for the sale and purchase of lambs.
NAICS code for marketing agencies is 424520. Firms in the 424-sector classification are defined as large or small depending on the number of employees rather than sales values. SBA
size classification for this industry limits the number of employees for a small business to 100. Data on employee numbers for this industry is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. The most recent available data to determine the size of firms in the industry is from the 2012
Economic Census. According to the data, the vast majority of the firms 666
of 668 total firms are small businesses.
According to industry, of the 666
existing firms, approximately 300
market agencies that sell lambs will be impacted by this final rule. Currently, 50 full-time market agencies are voluntarily collecting and remitting producer assessments to the Board;
however, they are not collecting and remitting first handler assessments.
Additionally, 250 seasonal market agencies are not collecting and remitting either of the assessments to the Board.
The Board provided AMS an estimate that all 50 full-time market agencies currently utilize computer software in their information collection and billing processes. Therefore, implementation costs will consist of upgrades to each respondents existing computer software system and hands-on training to amend
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