May 26, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice with comment period contains a draft model agreement for use by the Secretary and manufacturers under the Medicare Coverage Gap Discount Program established by section 3301 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by section 1101 of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Under the agreement, manufacturers of applicable covered Part D drugs must provide applicable discounts to applicable Medicare beneficiaries for applicable covered Part D drugs while in the coverage gap beginning in 2011. It also announces the June 1, 2010 public meeting regarding the draft model agreement.

This interim final rule (IFR) with request for comment is meant to comply with the statutory directive to issue a regulation defining ``underserved rural community'' for purposes of the Rural Physician Training Grant Program in section 749B of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This IFR is technical in nature. It will not change grant or funding eligibility for any other grant program currently available through the Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) or HRSA. For purposes of the Rural Physician Training Grant Program only, HRSA has combined existing definitions of ``underserved'' and ``rural'' by using the definition of rural utilized by the ORHP Rural Health Grant programs and the definition of ``underserved'' established by HRSA's Office of Shortage Designation (OSD) in the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr).

The Department of Energy (DOE) is amending the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation (DEAR) Subchapters EGeneral Contracting Requirements, FSpecial Categories of Contracting, and GContract Management to make changes to conform to the FAR, remove out-of-date coverage, and to update references. Today's rule does not alter substantive rights or obligations under current law.

EPA is proposing to revoke all the tolerances for the fungicide maneb because the Agency has approved requests for voluntary cancellation by registrants of the last registrations for the food uses of maneb in the United States.

EPA is proposing to simplify and streamline the process by which manufacturers of clean alternative fuel conversion systems may demonstrate compliance with vehicle and engine emissions requirements. Specifically, EPA is proposing to revise the regulatory criteria for gaining an exemption from the Clean Air Act prohibition against tampering for the conversion of vehicles and engines to operate on a clean alternative fuel. Under existing EPA regulations, an exemption from the tampering prohibition may only be granted to vehicles and engines covered by a certificate of conformity. The proposed revisions would create additional compliance options beyond certification that would protect manufacturers of clean alternative fuel conversion systems against a tampering violation, depending on the age of the vehicle or engine to be converted. The new options would alleviate some economic and procedural impediments to clean alternative fuel conversions while maintaining environmental safeguards to ensure that acceptable emission levels from converted vehicles are sustained.