February 3, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The OCC, Board, FDIC, and OTS (``we'' or ``the Agencies'') are reviewing our regulations to identify outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulatory requirements pursuant to the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA). Today, we request your comments and suggestions on ways to reduce burden in rules we have categorized as Money Laundering, Safety and Soundness, and Securities. All comments are welcome. We specifically invite comment on the following issues: Whether statutory changes are needed; whether the regulations contain requirements that are not needed to serve the purposes of the statutes they implement; the extent to which the regulations may adversely affect competition; whether the cost of compliance associated with reporting, recordkeeping, and disclosure requirements, particularly on small institutions, is justified; whether any regulatory requirements are inconsistent or redundant; and whether any regulations are unclear. We will analyze the comments received and propose burden-reducing changes to our regulations where appropriate. Some of your suggestions for burden reduction might require legislative changes. Where legislative changes would be required, we will consider your suggestions in recommending appropriate changes to Congress.

The Department of Health and Human Services, with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), is amending the HHS regulation that supplements the OGE Standards of Ethical Conduct. This interim final rule specifies additional procedural and substantive requirements that are necessary to address ethical issues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and updates nomenclature, definitions, and procedures applicable to other components of the Department. The rule: Revises the definition of a significantly regulated organization for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Updates the organization titles of designated separate agencies; Amends the gift exception for native artwork and craft items received from Indian tribes or Alaska Native organizations; Aligns the FDA prohibited holdings limit with the de minimis holdings exemption in OGE regulations; Revises prior approval procedures for outside activities; and, subject to certain exceptions: Prohibits NIH employees from engaging in certain outside activities with supported research institutions, health care providers or insurers, health-related trade or professional associations, and biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and other companies substantially affected by the programs, policies, or operations of the NIH; Bars NIH employees who file a public or confidential financial disclosure report from holding financial interests in substantially affected organizations; Subjects NIH non-filer employees to a monetary cap on holdings in such organizations; Specifies for NIH employees prior approval procedures for and limitations on the receipt of certain awards from outside sources; and Imposes a one-year disqualification period during which NIH employees are precluded from official actions involving an award donor. In addition, the Department is adding a new supplemental part to expand financial disclosure reporting requirements for certain outside activities and to ensure that prohibited financial interests are identified.

The Federal Election Commission is amending its rules regarding contributions and donations by individuals aged 17 years or younger (``Minors''). These final rules conform to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. In McConnell, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional section 318 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which prohibited Minors from contributing to candidates and from contributing or donating to political party committees. Accordingly, this final rule amends the Commission's regulations to reflect the Supreme Court's decision by removing the regulatory prohibitions on contributions by Minors to candidates, and on contributions and donations by Minors to political party committees. Additional information appears in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

The EPA is requesting comment on two issues raised in a petition for reconsideration action of EPA's rule to implement the 8- hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard). In addition, EPA is proposing to clarify two aspects of the implementation rule. On April 30, 2004, EPA issued a final rule addressing key elements of the program to implement the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Subsequently, on June 29, 2004 and September 24, 2004, three different parties each filed a petition for reconsideration of certain specified aspects of the final rule. By letter dated September 23, 2004, EPA granted reconsideration of three issues raised in the petition for reconsideration filed by Earthjustice on behalf of several environmental organizations. Today, we are providing additional information and soliciting comment on two of the issues on which we granted reconsideration. The issues that we are addressing today are whether the section 185 fee provisions apply once the 1-hour NAAQS is revoked and the timing for determining what is an ``applicable requirement'' for purposes of anti-backsliding once the 1-hour NAAQS is revoked. We will shortly address the issue of new source review (NSR) anti-backsliding in a separate action. We are requesting public comment on the issues discussed in this action, which are described in section III of the Supplementary Information section of this preamble. We plan to issue a final decision on these issues no later than May 20, 2005. We are also proposing to revise the implementation rule in two respects. First we are proposing to find that contingency measures for failure to make reasonable further progress or attain by the applicable attainment date for the 1-hour ozone standard are no longer required of an area after revocation of that standard. Second, although Sec. 51.905 of the rule provided that areas designated nonattainment for the 1-hour NAAQS at the time of designation as nonattainment for the 8-hour NAAQS remain subject to any outstanding 1-hour attainment demonstration requirement, we failed to list the attainment demonstration as an ``applicable requirement.'' We are proposing to revise the definition of ``applicable requirement'' to include the 1-hour attainment demonstration. We are seeking comment only on the issues specifically identified in this document. We do not intend to respond to comments addressing other issues.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) delays the effective date of the final rule published in the Federal Register on December 20, 2004, which generally relates to evaluation of prime contractor's performance and authorized factors in source selection when placing orders against Federal Supply Schedules, government-wide acquisition contracts, and multi-agency contracts, as corrected by the document published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2005, until March 14, 2005.