Rule-Making Notices (Hearing Notices)

Statutes interpreted: Chapter 96, Stats.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (“DATCP") has general authority to adopt rules interpreting statutes under its jurisdiction under s. 93.07 (1), Stats. DATCP is specifically authorized to adopt rules under s. 96.15, Stats., to facilitate the administration and enforcement of ch. 96, Stats. (the Agricultural Marketing Act).

Related rules or statutes

Chapter ATCP 140 is the overarching rule applicable to each of the individual marketing orders. Chapters ATCP 141 through 148 are the marketing orders with ch. ATCP 141 being the marketing order for cherries.

Plain language analysis

Background

DATCP administers Wisconsin's agricultural marketing law which authorizes the creation of marketing orders for agricultural commodities. Each marketing order board collects assessments from producers of the applicable commodity. The assessments may be expended by the board for promotion, research or consumer education of the commodity. The provisions of ch. 96, Stats., and ch. ATCP 140 Wis. Adm. Code and the applicable marketing order (chs. ATCP 141 to 148) govern the organization of each of the seven marketing order boards, the election of marketing board members, the assessment of producers, and the use of assessments.

In recent years, the number of cherry growers has decreased so that currently there are 33 growers. The number of growers in each district has also changed. With the number of growers down to 33, it became difficult to consistently elect 7 members willing to serve on the Board. The Board requested the proposed amendment in order to have representation appropriate to the size of the industry. The Board also requested that the elections be at large rather than by district so that the representation would remain equitable regardless of changes to the location of producers.

In order to make any change to a marketing order, in addition to conducting the traditional rulemaking process, the change must be approved at a referendum of the producers of the affected commodity.

Rule content

This rule changes the cherry marketing board from a 7 member board with two districts each represented by 3 board members plus one at large member to a 5 member board with all members elected at large.

Summary of, and comparison with existing or proposed federal statutes and regulations

Federal programs

There is a federal marketing order for cherries under which assessments are collected in a manner similar to the state cherry marketing order. The state and federal marketing orders are operated cooperatively to effectively use the assessments for the benefit of cranberry growers.

Surrounding state programs

There are very few cherry producers in the surrounding states and none of the surrounding states have a cherry marketing order.

Data and analytical methodologies

DATCP worked with representatives of the Wisconsin cherry industry to determine the changes proposed in this rule.

Analysis and supporting documents used to determine effect on small business

DATCP worked with representatives of the Wisconsin cherry industry determine the effect of the proposed rule on small businesses.

Effect on Small Business

This rule will have no negative economic impact on small businesses. The reduction of board membership plus the elimination of election districts will reduce the cost of administering elections and thus free up more assessment monies for cherry promotion, research, and education benefiting cherry growers.

Contact Person

Stacie Ashby

[phone]

[e-mail]

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

Rule Subject:     Cherry Marketing Order

Adm. Code Reference: Chapter ATCP 141

Rules Clearinghouse #: CR 14-051

DATCP Docket #:   14-R-06

Rule summary

This rule changes the cherry marketing board from a 7 member board with two districts each represented by 3 board members plus one at large member to a 5 member board with all members elected at large.

Small business affected

This rule applies to cherry growers which are all small businesses. This rule will have no negative economic impact on small businesses. The reduction of board membership plus the elimination of election districts will reduce the cost of administering elections and thus free up more assessment monies for cherry promotion, research and education benefiting cherry growers.

Reporting, bookkeeping, and other procedures

The rule creates no reporting, bookkeeping or other procedures for small businesses.

Professional skills required

The proposed rule does not require profession skill of small businesses.

Accommodation for small business

The rule has no negative impact upon small businesses and thus no accommodation is needed.

Conclusion

This rule will generally benefit affected businesses, including “small businesses." This rule will not have any adverse effect on “small business," and is not subject to the delayed “small business" effective date provided in s. 227.22 (2) (e), Stats.

ADMINISTRATIVE RULES FISCAL ESTIMATE AND ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS
Type of Estimate and Analysis
X Original ⍽ Updated ⍽ Corrected
Administrative Rule Chapter, Title and Number
Ch. ATCP 141, Cherry Marketing Order
Subject
Marketing Order program for Cherries
Fund Sources Affected			Chapter 20 , Stats. Appropriations Affected
⍽ GPR ⍽ FED ⍽ PRO ⍽ PRS X SEG ⍽ SEG-S			None
Fiscal Effect of Implementing the Rule
X No Fiscal Effect ⍽ Indeterminate	⍽ Increase Existing Revenues ⍽ Decrease Existing Revenues		⍽ Increase Costs ⍽ Could Absorb Within Agency's Budget ⍽ Decrease Costs
The Rule Will Impact the Following (Check All That Apply)
⍽ State's Economy ⍽ Local Government Units		X Specific Businesses/Sectors ⍽ Public Utility Rate Payers
Would Implementation and Compliance Costs Be Greater Than $20 million? ⍽ Yes X No
Policy Problem Addressed by the Rule
This rule changes the cherry marketing board from a 7 member board with two districts each represented by 3 board members plus one at large member to a 5 member board with all members elected at large. DATCP administers Wisconsin's agricultural marketing law which authorizes the creation of marketing orders for agricultural commodities. Each marketing order board collects assessments from producers of the applicable commodity. The assessments may be expended by the board for promotion, research or consumer education of the commodity. The provisions of Ch. 96, Stats., and Ch. ATCP 140 Wis. Adm. Code and the applicable marketing order (Chs. ATCP 141 to 148) govern the organization of each of the seven marketing order boards, the election of marketing board members, the assessment of producers and the use of assessments. In recent years, the number of cherry growers has decreased so that currently there are 33 growers. The number of growers in each district has also changed. With the number of growers down to 33, it became difficult to consistently elect 7 members willing to serve on the Board. The Board requested the proposed amendment in order to have representation appropriate to the size of the industry. The Board also requested that the elections be at large rather than by district so that the representation would remain equitable regardless of changes to the location of producers.
Summary of Rule's Economic and Fiscal Impact on Specific Businesses, Business Sectors, Public Utility Rate Payers, Local Governmental Units and the State's Economy as a Whole (Include Implementation and Compliance Costs Expected to be Incurred)
Local Governments This rule will not impact local governments. Cherry Growers This rule will have no negative economic impact on small businesses. The reduction of board membership plus the elimination of election districts will reduce the cost of administering elections and thus free up more assessment monies for cherry promotion, research and education benefiting cherry growers. Utility Rate Payers The rule will have no impact on utility rate payers. General Public This rule will have no effect on the general.
Benefits of Implementing the Rule and Alternative(s) to Implementing the Rule
Benefits This rule will benefit cherry growers by improving and making more equitable representation on the Cherry Marketing Board and by reducing the cost of cherry Board elections thereby freeing up more assessment monies for cherry promotion, research and education. General Public The general public will benefit from this rule as a result of continued growth of an important segment of the Wisconsin economy. Alternatives The alternative is to leave cherry board representation as is instead of making the representation that is more equitable and appropriate to the size of the industry.
Long Range Implications of Implementing the Rule
Long-term, implementing the rule will benefit business, the general public, and the Wisconsin economy as improved representation and lower cost elections will promote growth of the cherry industry in Wisconsin.
Compare With Approaches Being Used by Federal Government
There is a federal marketing order for cherries under which assessments are collected in a manner similar to the state cranberry marketing order. The state and federal marketing orders are operated cooperatively to effectively use the assessments for the benefit of cranberry growers.
Compare With Approaches Being Used by Neighboring States (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota)
There are very few cherry producers in the surrounding states and none of the surrounding states have a cranberry marketing order. Comments Received in Response to Web Posting and DATCP Response No comments were received in response either to the posting on the DATCP external website or the statewide administrative rules website.

Notice of Hearings

Natural Resources

Environmental Protection — General, Chs. NR 100—

rulemaking_notices EmR1417 EmR1417

(DNR # OE-10-14(E))

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT pursuant to ss. 227.16 and 227.17, Stats, the Department of Natural Resources, hereinafter the Department, will hold a public hearing on revisions to chapter NR 150 Wis. Admin. Code, relating to Emergency Board Order OE-10-14(E), related to the Department's environmental analysis procedures under the Environmental Policy Act. An emergency rule is needed to clarify the procedures for the review and analysis of new administrative rules in order to assure that the intent of the ch. NR 150 revision is being met and potential procedural questions do not invalidate the years of work and public engagement on new rules packages, and for additional housekeeping changes to ensure that the intent of the recent ch. NR 150 rewrite is being met, all in a manner that is consistent with past WEPA compliance approaches that have been upheld by the courts. Once the emergency rule is approved, a permanent rule will subsequently be required. The hearing will be held on the date(s) and at the time(s) and location(s) listed below.

Hearing Information

Date:   Friday, September 26, 2014
Time:   9:00 a.m.
Location:   State Natural Resources Building (GEF 2)
  101 S. Webster Street, Room G09
  Madison, WI 53707

Reasonable accommodations, including the provision of informational material in an alternative format, will be provided for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Contact Jeff Schimpff, Wisconsin DNR, Madison, WI 53707; by E-mail to [e-mail], or by calling [phone]. A request must include specific information and be received at least 10 days before the date of the scheduled hearing.

Availability of the proposed rules and fiscal estimate

The proposed rule and supporting documents, including the fiscal estimate, may be viewed and downloaded from the Administrative Rules System Web site which can be accessed through the link https://health.wisconsin.gov/admrules/public/Home. If you do not have Internet access, a printed copy of the proposed rule and supporting documents, including the fiscal estimate, may be obtained free of charge by contacting Jim Pardee (BETEA/7), Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Energy, Analysis and Sustainability, 101 S. Webster St, Madison, WI, 53703, or by calling [phone].

Submitting Comments

Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before October 13, 2014. Written comments may be submitted by U.S. mail, fax, E-mail, or through the Internet and will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the public hearing. Written comments and any questions on the proposed rules should be submitted to:

Jeff Schimpff (BEAS/7)

Department of Natural Resources

Bureau of Energy, Analysis and Sustainability

101 S Webster St, Madison, WI 53703

Phone:   [phone]

Fax:   [phone]

E-mail:   [e-mail]

Internet:   Use the Administrative Rules System Web site accessible through the link provided

Analysis Prepared by the Department of Natural Resources

Finding/nature of emergency

An emergency rule is needed to clarify the procedures for the review and analysis of new administrative rules in order to assure that the intent of the ch. NR 150 revision is being met and potential procedural questions do not invalidate the years of work and public engagement on new rules packages, and for additional housekeeping changes to ensure that the intent of the recent ch. NR 150 rewrite is being met, all in a manner that is consistent with past WEPA compliance approaches that have been upheld by the courts. Once the emergency rule is approved, a permanent rule will subsequently be required.

Detailed description of the objective of the proposed rule

The previous version of ch. NR 150 classified most administrative rules as “Type 3 actions", a classification requiring some form of public notice and no additional environmental analysis as part of the formal rules process.

The Rule changes would be simple editorial changes to clarify that emergency rules are “minor actions requiring no additional environmental analysis, and that the process for developing permanent rules are “equivalent analysis actions" under the new ch. NR 150, similar to how they were treated under the old ch. NR 150.

These changes would more clearly outline the required review process for administrative rules. Additional changes to clarify publication requirements, WEPA compliance determinations for various permits and plan approvals and other housekeeping changes, consistent with the intent of the rule, as presented to the public and approved by the NRB, may also come to light as implementation of the new rule progresses.

Description of the existing policies relevant to the rule, new policies proposed to be included in the rule, and an analysis of policy alternatives

The rule change would clarify what was intended and what was presented to the public through the Natural Resources Board process for development of the current ch. NR 150.

Detailed explanation of statutory authority for the rule (including the statutory citation and language)

The department is responsible for compliance with department rules and procedures pursuant to s. 1.11, and 227.11, Stats., provides rule authority

Pursuant to s. 227.24 (1) (a) Stats., the department finds that putting this rule into effect prior to the time it would take effect using the permanent rule process is necessary to ensure that the department and public time involved in lengthy rule processes for current rules is not compromised by a confusing definition in ch. NR 150.

Estimate of amount of time that state employees will spend developing the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule

48 hours.

List with description of all entities that may be affected by the proposed rule

It is anticipated that no entities shall be affected by the proposed rule. This clarifies internal procedures for rules development.

Summary and preliminary comparison with any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the proposed rule

None.

Anticipated economic impact of implementing the rule (note if the rule is likely to have a significant economic impact on small businesses)

None.

Anticipated number, month, and locations of public hearings

The Department anticipates holding one public hearing in the month of September 2014.

The Department will hold this hearing in Madison to seek public comment on the changes to the rule.

Effect on Small Business

This rule will have no effect on small business. The Small Business Regulatory Coordinator may be contacted at [e-mail], or by calling [phone].