Department of Agriculture June 13, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This agenda provides summary descriptions of significant and not significant regulations being developed in agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in conformance with Executive Orders (EO) 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' and 13563 ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.'' The agenda also describes regulations affecting small entities as required by section 602 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, Public Law 96-354. This agenda also identifies regulatory actions that are being reviewed in compliance with section 610(c) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. We invite public comment on those actions as well as any regulation consistent with EO 13563. The Agricultural Act of 2014 was signed into law on February 7. The new law makes major changes in commodity programs, streamlines conservation programs, modifies provisions of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and expands programs for specialty crops, organic farmers, bioenergy, rural development, and beginning farmers and ranchers. Implementing these changes will require USDA to modify existing regulations and in some cases introduce new regulatory actions. Due to the rigorous process in place for modifying and proposing such actions, much of the information necessary for inclusion in the Spring Regulatory Agenda was unavailable at the time of publication. USDA takes seriously its commitments to transparency, collaboration and public participation, and strongly encourages the public to review the steps it is taking to implement the Agricultural Act of 2014, including up-to-date regulatory information, at its Farm Bill Web site: https://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/ usdahome?navid=farmbill. USDA has attempted to list all regulations and regulatory reviews pending at the time of publication except for minor and routine or repetitive actions, but some may have been inadvertently missed. There is no legal significance to the omission of an item from this listing. Also, the dates shown for the steps of each action are estimated and are not commitments to act on or by the date shown. USDA's complete regulatory agenda is available online at www.reginfo.gov. Because publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory flexibility agendas required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 602), USDA's printed agenda entries include only: (1) Rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; and (2) Rules identified for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.