Agencies and Commissions January 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of the following hearing of the U.S.- China Economic and Security Review Commission. Name: William A. Reinsch, Chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The Commission is mandated by Congress to investigate, assess, and report to Congress annually on ``the national security implications of the economic relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China.'' Pursuant to this mandate, the Commission will hold a public hearing in Washington, DC on January 28, 2015, ``Foreign Investment Climate in China: Present Challenges and Potential for Reform.'' Background: This is the first public hearing the Commission will hold during its 2015 report cycle to collect input from academic, industry, and government experts on national security implications of the U.S. bilateral trade and economic relationship with China. The hearing will seek to assess the most recent and pressing challenges facing foreign firms operating in China, with a spotlight on China's Anti-Monopoly Law enforcement, and the potential for China's planned reforms to create a more transparent, cooperative, and fair environment for foreign investors. The hearing will be co-chaired by Commissioners William A. Reinsch and Daniel Slane. Any interested party may file a written statement by January 28, 2015, by mailing to the contact below. A portion of each panel will include a question and answer period between the Commissioners and the witnesses. Location, Date and Time: Room: TBD. Wednesday, January 28, 2015, 8:30 a.m.3:15 p.m. Eastern Time. A detailed agenda for the hearing will be posted to the Commission's Web site at www.uscc.gov. Also, please check our Web site for possible changes to the hearing schedule. Reservations are not required to attend the hearing.

On December 8, 2014, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published a notice in the Federal Register to solicit public comments on, among other things, the factors relevant to determining affiliation between entities involved in a franchise or similar business relationship and also on the current processes for making such determinations. This notice announces the extension of the current comment period for an additional 60 days until April 7, 2015.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) hereby gives notice that it has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for a three-year extension with change of the State and Local Government Information Report (EEO-4). The EEOC is proposing revisions to the race and ethnicity categories on the EEO-4 report to conform to OMB's Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (October 30, 1997) (Revised Standards), as applied in OMB Bulletin No. 00-02, Guidance on Aggregation and Allocation of Data on Race for Use in Civil Rights Monitoring and Enforcement (March 9, 2000).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce receipt of a notice of intent to audit the 2011, 2012, and 2013 statements of account submitted by Galaxie concerning the royalty payments its Business Establishment Service made pursuant to two statutory licenses.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce receipt of three notices of intent to audit the 2011, 2012, and 2013 statements of account submitted by 98frogfm.com, Christmas Music 24/7, and ZadioRadio concerning the royalty payments each made by each pursuant to two statutory licenses.

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collections. Comments are requested concerning: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, Agency, we, or our) proposes to amend existing regulations related to mergers and consolidations of Farm Credit System (System) banks and associations to clarify the merger review and approval process and incorporate existing practices in the regulations. The proposed rule would identify when the statutory 60-day review period begins, require that only independent tabulators be authorized to validate ballots and tabulate stockholder votes on mergers or consolidations, require institutions to hold informational meetings on proposed mergers or consolidations if circumstances warrant, explain the reconsideration petition process and specify the voting record date list to be provided to stockholders who wish to file a reconsideration petition. The proposed rule would update cross-references in the existing regulations, incorporate cross references to stockholder voting rules contained elsewhere in part 611, and clarify or update terminology to enhance transparency.

This is a Notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of Mississippi (FEMA4205DR), dated 01/07/2015. Incident: Severe Storms and Tornadoes. Incident Period: 12/23/2014. Effective Date: 01/07/2015. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 03/09/2015. Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan Application Deadline Date: 10/07/2015.

The Privacy Act, as amended, requires the RRB to issue a public notice of its use and intent to use, information obtained from state agencies in ongoing computer matching programs regarding individuals who received benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. The information received through the computer matching programs may consist of either: (1) A report of unemployment or sickness payments made by the state for the same period that benefits were paid by the RRB, or (2) a report of wages paid to an individual, and the names and addresses of employers who reported those wages to the state for the same period that benefits were paid by the RRB. The purpose of this notice is to advise individuals applying for or receiving benefits under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act of the use made by the RRB of the information obtained from state agencies by means of a computer match.

Pursuant to section 994(a), (o), and (p) of title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission is considering promulgating certain amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary. This notice sets forth the proposed amendments and, for each proposed amendment, a synopsis of the issues addressed by that amendment. This notice also sets forth a number of issues for comment, some of which are set forth together with the proposed amendments; one of which is set forth independent of any proposed amendment; and one of which (regarding retroactive application of proposed amendments) is set forth in the Supplementary Information portion of this notice. The proposed amendments and issues for comment in this notice are as follows: (1) a proposed amendment to make certain technical changes to the Guidelines Manual, including (A) technical changes to reflect the editorial reclassification of certain sections of the United States Code, (B) stylistic and technical changes to the Commentary following Sec. 3D1.5 (Determining the Total Punishment) captioned ``Illustrations of the Operation of the Multiple-Count Rules'' to better reflect its purpose as a concluding commentary to Part D of Chapter Three, and (C) clerical changes to Sec. 2D1.11 (Unlawful Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Possessing a Listed Chemical; Attempt or Conspiracy) and to the commentary of other guidelines; (2) a proposed amendment to Sec. 4A1.2 (Definitions and Instructions for Computing Criminal History) to respond to a circuit conflict regarding the meaning of the ``single sentence'' rule and its implications for the career offender guideline and other guidelines that use predicate offenses, and related issues for comment; (3) a proposed amendment to Sec. 1B1.3 (Relevant Conduct (Factors that Determine the Guideline Range)) to provide more guidance on the use of ``jointly undertaken criminal activity'' in determining relevant conduct under the guidelines, and a related issue for comment on whether the Commission should make changes for policy reasons to the operation of ``jointly undertaken criminal activity''; (4) a proposed amendment to revise the monetary tables throughout the Guidelines Manual, including options for amending the monetary tables in the guidelines to adjust for inflation, conforming changes to other guidelines that refer to monetary tables, and related issues for comment; (5) a proposed amendment to Sec. 3B1.2 (Mitigating Role) to respond to a circuit conflict regarding what determining the ``average participant'' requires, to revise the Commentary to state that certain individuals who perform limited functions in criminal activity may receive a mitigating role adjustment, and to provide a non-exhaustive list of factors for the court to consider in determining whether to apply a mitigating role adjustment and the amount of the adjustment, and a related issue for comment on the application of the mitigating role adjustment; (6) a detailed request for comment on offenses in which controlled substances are colored, packaged, or flavored in ways to appear to be designed to attract use by children; (7) a proposed amendment to Sec. 2D1.1 (Unlawful Manufacturing, Importing, Exporting, or Trafficking (Including Possession with Intent to Commit These Offenses); Attempt or Conspiracy) to address the new statutory penalty structure for offenses involving hydrocodone and hydrocodone combination products in light of recent administrative actions by the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and a related issue for comment; and (8) a proposed amendment to Sec. 2B1.1 (Theft, Property, Destruction, and Fraud), including (A) options to revise the definition of ``intended loss'' at Sec. 2B1.1, comment. (n.3(A)(ii)), (B) options to address the impact of the victims table in Sec. 2B1.1(b)(2), (C) a proposed amendment to revise the specific offense characteristic for sophisticated means in subsection (b)(10)(C), and (D) a proposed amendment to address offenses involving fraud on the market and related offenses, and related issues for comment.

The Committee is proposing to add a product and services to the Procurement List that will be furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have other severe disabilities.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has received a complaint entitled Certain Light-Emitting Diode Products and Components Thereof, DN 3051; the Commission is soliciting comments on any public interest issues raised by the complaint or complainant's filing under section 210.8(b) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 210.8(b)).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). This collection was developed as part of a Federal Government- wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback from the public on service delivery. This notice announces our intent to submit this collection to OMB for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed information collection.

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by WLAJ-TV LLC, the licensee of station WLAJ-TV, channel 51, Lansing, Michigan, requesting the substitution of channel 25 for channel 51 at Lansing. While the Commission instituted a freeze on the acceptance of full power television rulemaking petitions requesting channel substitutions in May 2011, it subsequently announced that it would lift the freeze to accept such petitions for rulemaking seeking to relocate from channel 51 pursuant to a voluntary relocation agreement with Lower 700 MHz A Block licensees. WLAJ-TV LLC has entered into such a voluntary relocation agreement with T-Mobile USA, Inc. and states that operation on channel 25 would eliminate potential interference to and from wireless operations in the adjacent Lower 700 MHZ A Block.