RULES AND REGULATIONS
Title 70—WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND STANDARDS
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
[ 70 PA. CODE CH. 9 ]
Weighmasters
[48 Pa.B. 6841]
[Saturday, October 27, 2018]The Department of Agriculture (Department) amends §§ 9.10 and 9.24 (relating to weighmaster's certificate; and limitations of certificate for anthracite) to read as set forth in Annex A.
Effective Date
This final-form rulemaking will be effective upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Authority
This final-form rulemaking is authorized under 3 Pa.C.S. §§ 4101—4194 (relating to Consolidated Weights and Measures Act) (act). Sections 4150 and 4190 of the act (relating to enforcement and regulations; and rules and regulations) authorize the Department to promulgate regulations as necessary to carry out the act and, more specifically, authorize the Department to promulgate regulations as necessary to carry out Subchapter C of the act (relating to public weighmasters).
Purpose
This final-form rulemaking deletes outdated and unnecessary regulatory requirements.
The Department issues licenses to public weighmasters under the act. A licensed public weighmaster is authorized to issue a weighmaster's certificate with respect to various commercial weighings he performs. The weight appearing on a weighmaster's certificate is used to determine a weight-based price in commerce. Licensed public weighmasters typically conduct commercial weighings using vehicle scales at quarries, landfills and the like.
As part of the process by which the Department renews or issues a license to a public weighmaster, the Department reviews the public weighmaster certificate forms the applicant plans to issue to ensure these forms meet basic content requirements. This final-form rulemaking is needed to delete outdated, burdensome provisions requiring that weighmaster's certificates and certificates of quality for anthracite coal be prepared in triplicate and bear additional language distinguishing the original certificate from the copies. These provisions are not required by statute, date from a time when multipage carbon copy forms were in extensive use and no longer serve a practical purpose.
The deletion of the previously described requirements will relieve licensed public weighmasters of an unnecessary regulatory burden and will help the Department make better use of its weights and measures enforcement staff. In a typical year the Department processes roughly 6,600 applications for renewals of weighmaster licenses. It requires that an applicant submit a sample of its weighmaster's certificate form as part of the application process. The Department finds problems or deficiencies in about 2,200 of these 6,600 applications. Approximately 1,650 (75%) of these 2,200 rejected applications are rejected for lack of compliance with one or more of the regulatory previously described requirements. The deletion of these outdated regulatory requirements will spare the Department the time, effort and expense of enforcement.
Section 9.24(a) imposes the same type of unnecessary regulatory burden as previously described, but pertains to the ''certificate of quality'' that must exist for certain weighings of anthracite coal. As previously described, the requirement of triplicate forms and notations distinguishing originals from copies no longer serves a practical purpose.
In summary, the Department is satisfied there is a need for this final-form rulemaking, and that it is otherwise consistent with Executive Order 1996-1, ''Regulatory Review and Promulgation.''
Comments and Responses
A notice of proposed rulemaking was published at 47 Pa.B. 5952 (September 23, 2017), affording the public, the Legislature and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) the opportunity to offer comments.
A single comment was received from the public. The commentator offered his comments on behalf of a company that utilizes licensed public weighmasters in its business. The commentator offered general support for the proposed regulation and estimated the regulatory change would save the commentator's business approximately $1,200 each year. The comment did not necessitate any change to the text of this final-form rulemaking.
IRRC offered two comments with respect to the proposed rulemaking.
IRRC's first comment recommended the Department either delete language at § 9.24(a) requiring that a certificate of quality for anthracite coal be ''sufficiently mucilaged at the left end to permit it to be securely attached to the corresponding copies of the certificate of the weighmaster'' or explain how this language is consistent with the purpose of the regulation. The Department agrees that the referenced language is outdated and serves no practical purpose, and has deleted it in this final-form rulemaking.
IRRC's second comment requested revisions to the timeline for this final-form rulemaking that was presented in Item No. 29 of the Regulatory Analysis Form that accompanied the regulatory package for the proposed regulation. The Department has made those revisions in the Regulatory Analysis Form for this final-form rulemaking.
Persons Likely to be Affected
This final-form rulemaking will have a positive impact on licensed public weighmasters and the Department.
Fiscal Impact
Commonwealth
This final-form rulemaking will have some positive fiscal impact upon the Commonwealth. The Department will save time and manpower costs associated with requiring compliance with the current outdated regulatory requirements. The Department estimates these annual savings at $14,850.
Political Subdivisions
This final-form rulemaking will have not have an appreciable fiscal impact on political subdivisions.
Private Sector
This final-form rulemaking will have some small positive fiscal impact upon the private sector in that licensed public weighmasters will no longer be required to obtain, produce or use triplicate forms for weighmaster's certificates and have forms that distinguish originals from copies. These savings cannot be readily quantified. In addition, the Department estimates that of the public weighmaster license applications that it receives each year and that are deficient and must be returned to applicants for corrections or additional information, approximately 1,650 of these are returned because the applicant has not complied with one or more of the provisions that are being deleted. The Department estimates this final-form rulemaking will save these applicants a total of $18,150 each year in postage and personnel costs.
General Public
This final-form rulemaking will have no appreciable fiscal impact on the general public.
Paperwork Requirements
This final-form rulemaking will simplify paperwork requirements for licensed public weighmasters in that it will do away with outdated regulatory requirements requiring triplicate forms. It will slightly lessen the Department's paperwork load in that applicants for public weighmaster licenses will no longer be required to submit copies of triplicate paper forms and the Department will not be required to review and retain them as part of the application review process.
Regulatory Review
Under section 5(a) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P.S. § 745.5(a)), on September 11, 2017, the Department submitted a copy of the notice of proposed rulemaking, published at 47 Pa.B. 5952, to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) and the Chairpersons of the House and Senate Committees on Agriculture and Rural Affairs for review and comment.
Under section 5(c) of the Regulatory Review Act, the Department is required to submit to IRRC and the referenced Legislative Standing Committees copies of comments received during the public comment period, as well as other documents when requested. In preparing this final-form rulemaking, the Department has considered all comments from IRRC, the House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees and the public.
Under section 5.1(j.2) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P.S. § 745.5a(j.2)), on September 13, 2018, this final-form rulemaking was deemed approved by the House and Senate Committees on Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Under section 5.1(e) of the Regulatory Review Act, IRRC met on September 13, 2018, and approved this final-form rulemaking.
Additional Information
Additional information may be obtained from Walter Remmert, Director, Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408, (717) 787-9089.
Findings
The Department finds that:
(1) Public notice of proposed rulemaking was given under sections 201 and 202 of the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L. 769, No. 240) and regulations promulgated thereunder, 1 Pa. Code §§ 7.1 and 7.2.
(2) A public comment period was provided as required by law, and all comments were considered.
(3) The amendments made to this final-form rulemaking do not enlarge the purpose of the proposed rulemaking published at 47 Pa.B. 5952.
(4) The amendments to the regulations of the Department are necessary and appropriate for the administration of the authorizing statute.
Order
The Department, acting under its authorizing statute, orders that:
(1) The regulations of the Department, 70 Pa. Code Chapter 9, are amended by amending §§ 9.10 and 9.24 to read as set forth in Annex A.
(2) The Department shall submit this order and a copy of Annex A to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of General Counsel for approval as required by law.
(3) The Department shall submit this order and a copy of Annex A to IRRC and the House and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees, as required by law.
(4) The Department shall certify this order and Annex A and shall deposit them with the Legislative Reference Bureau as required by law.
(5) This final-form rulemaking shall take effect immediately upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
RUSSELL C. REDDING,
SecretaryFiscal Note: Fiscal Note 2-187 remains valid for the final adoption of the subject regulations.
Annex A
TITLE 70. WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND STANDARDS
PART I. WEIGHMASTERS
CHAPTER 9. WEIGHMASTERS
GENERAL § 9.10. Weighmaster's certificate.
* * * * * (b) Contents. A weighmaster's certificate must contain the following information:
* * * * * (9) Other relevant information the licensed public weighmaster deems necessary.
(c) Variations in format and size. The form and size of a weighmaster's certificate may be such as to suit any system or accounting device, as long as the certificate otherwise meets the requirements of this chapter.
SOLID FUEL § 9.24. Limitations of certificate for anthracite.
(a) Certificate of quality required. If solid fuel is transported to a licensed public weighmaster under authority of a certificate of transport as described in § 9.23 (relating to certificate affecting weighing requirements), and the solid fuel is anthracite (excluding barley and smaller sizes), the weighmaster may not weigh the anthracite unless the certificate of transport is accompanied by a certificate of quality. A certificate of quality shall be made out in ink or indelible pencil. The format of the certificate of quality must be as follows:
* * * * *
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 18-1668. Filed for public inspection October 26, 2018, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
