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EXHIBIT II

SALES AND ASSETS OF FOUR COOPERATIVES AND FOUR NONCOOPERATIVE FIRMS REPORTING LARGEST SALES OF FOUR FARM PRODUCTS IN 1975

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---USDA Co-operative Research Report, July, 1978

EXHIBIT III

SALES AND ASSETS OF FOUR COOPERATIVES AND FOUR NONCOOPERATIVE FIRMS REPORTING LARGEST SALES OF THREE FARM SUPPLIES IN 1975

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---USDA Co-operative Research Report, July, 1978

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46-505 0 - 79 - 20

48%

77%

---USDA Co-operative Research Report, July, 1978

Introduction

Chapter Seven

Periodic
Reauthorization
of Regulatory
Programs

Although unnecessary or inappropriate regulation is contrary to the public interest, regulatory programs tend to survive longer than they should. Institutional inertia and the press of current business tend to defer governmental reconsideration of earlier decisions establishing such programs. The beneficiaries of regulatory policies may also find it in their interest to oppose changes. Such beneficiaries may be politically influential in Congress, and the costs of their benefits may be spread widely among consumers generally. All of these factors create practical obstacles to mobilizing adequate political support for a careful reconsideration of the value of any particular regulatory agency or function.

The Commission believes that periodic governmental review of regulatory arrangements is essential, both to keep the multitude of such arrangements in reasonable harmony and to assure their relevance to current problems. Without such review, other measures to procure greater coordination, efficiency, and fairness in regulation have little hope of avoiding unwise proliferation of regulatory requirements. To assure that regulatory requirements serve the public interest and achieve the objectives set out in earlier chapters of this report, obstacles to effective governmental review must be overcome. An institutionalized review procedure, subject to schedules and deadlines, is essential for this purpose.

Accordingly, the Commission supports-as a supplement to existing methods of legislative oversight-the use of an additional legislative technique to force periodic reconsideration of the goals and methods of federal economic regulation. Popularly described as "sunset" legislation, this procedure is in essence a statutory plan for periodic reauthorization or termination of regulatory programs. If reauthorization is not affirmatively legislated within a stipulated time after review of a specific regulatory agency or function, the agency or function is phased out of existence. The Commission suggests that the selection of agencies or functions to be reviewed be made initially by the President, subject to congressional approval, and that only a small number of reviews be undertaken by any one Congress until further experience with the technique is gained.

Sunset legislation has been enacted in approximately half the states during the last two years. The legislation varies somewhat but generally provides a set period (usually six to ten years) after which a government agency or function is automatically abolished unless it is reauthorized by legislation. The purpose is not to abolish agencies or functions but to force thoughtful reconsideration of whether it is appropriate either to recast or abandon them. The philosophy embodied in this legislation is related to the concepts of "zero-based budgeting" and intensive legislative oversight, which delve into the rationale for an agency's existence as well as the caliber of its performance.

It is too early to assess the effectiveness of state sunset legislation. Newspaper reports describing a flood of paperwork caused by such legislation in Colorado confirm the Commission's judgment that such legislation may not achieve its salutary purpose unless its scope is carefully limited. Thus, while the Commission believes that sunset legislation at the federal level would be a desirable step, it has done so with a number of qualifications set forth at the end of this chapter.

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