OMB Asked to Approve USDA 3/60 Changes

July 23, 2001

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) has asked Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels to approve USDA's proposed solution to problems with the confidentiality part of the mandatory livestock price reporting program. "The market is not transparent to our producers because the 3/60 rule has stepped beyond providing confidentiality and into obscuring the market," Enzi said in a letter to Daniels, and "dammed the flow of information."

He said USDA has formulated a proposal that "meets confidentiality requirements while undamming the flow of information to market participants" and has taken "careful steps to ensure that the 3/60 fiasco will not be repeated." USDA officials presented the proposal to packers at an all-industry meeting, and "they have had ample opportunity to comment."

OMB's approval is one of the last steps before this program is implemented, the senator noted.

REUTERS reports that USDA Friday continued "drudging over final details" to replace the controversial 3/60 confidentiality guideline in livestock price reports. The news agency said USDA spokesman Kevin Herglotz said revisions were in its final stages but would not give a date for its release.

The 3/60 rule barred reporting of sales in markets with less than three buyers or where one firm held 60% of the market. About 40% of transactions reported to USDA were not published because of the 3/60 rule, according to REUTERS.

The new rule has been nicknamed the "3/70/20" rule and under this scheme at least three companies would have to submit data half the time during a 60-day period. Also no one company could account for 70% of the market or be the sole reporting entity 20% of the time.