May 4, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or containing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.

The General Services Administration is amending the Federal Management Regulation (FMR) by adding the requirement that transportation managers who obligate the Government for rate tender procurements must be properly authorized in writing. This written authorization will certify that the transportation manager is competent and trained in transportation management and has the authority to commit Government funds for the procurement of transportation or transportation services. The FMR and any corresponding documents may be accessed at GSA's website at https://www.gsa.gov/fmr.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

The revised information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposals.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing that lamb producers, feeders, seedstock producers, and first handlers of lamb and lamb products voting in a national referendum from January 31, 2005, through February 28, 2005, have approved the continuation of the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order (Order).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seeks comments on the economic impact of its regulations on small entities. As required by Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, we are attempting to identify rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. We also request comments on ways to make these regulations easier to read and understand. The focus of this notice is rules that specifically relate to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles, motorcycles, and motor vehicle equipment.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICRs describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on September 22, 2004 (69 FR 56819). An earlier Federal Register notice with a 30-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on December 2, 2004 (69 FR 70167).

This document is a summary of the International Bureau's decision to approve the application of Allied Communications International, Inc. to provide international voice and data service between the United States and Cuba. The International Bureau determined that the present and future public convenience and necessity require a grant of the application.

The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection(s), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a valid control number. Comments are requested concerning (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) 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.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of a certain pesticide chemical in or on various food commodities.

The EPA is approving as a revision to Michigan's Clean Air Act State Implementation Plan (SIP) prepared by Michigan that will limit the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from large stationary sources (i.e., electric generating units, industrial boilers and cement kilns). This SIP, which the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) submitted for EPA approval on August 5, 2004, meets all of the requirements contained in an EPA rule that was published in the Federal Register on October 27, 1998. The federal rule, otherwise known as the Phase I NOX SIP Call, requires NOX reductions from sources in 19 States in the eastern half of the country and the District of Columbia. MDEQ's August 5, 2004, submittal also satisfies the conditions described in EPA's conditional approval notice published in the Federal Register on April 16, 2004. The effect of this approval is to ensure federal enforceability of the state NOX plan and to maintain consistency between the state-adopted plan and the approved Michigan SIP. EPA proposed approval of this SIP revision and published a direct final approval on December 23, 2004. EPA received adverse comments on the proposed rulemaking and, therefore, withdrew the direct final rulemaking on February 15, 2005.

In this document, the Commission announces a change in the date of the meeting of its Consumer Advisory Committee meeting (Committee).

We are proposing to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. In addition, in the Addendum to this proposed rule, we describe the proposed changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the rates for Medicare hospital inpatient services for operating costs and capital-related costs. We also are setting forth proposed rate-of-increase limits as well as proposed policy changes for hospitals and hospital units excluded from the IPPS that are paid in full or in part on a reasonable cost basis subject to these limits. These proposed changes would be applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2005, with one exception: The proposed changes relating to submittal of hospital wage data by a campus or campuses of a multicampus hospital system (that is, the proposed changes to Sec. 412.230(d)(2) of the regulations) would be effective upon publication of the final rule. Among the policy changes that we are proposing to make are changes relating to: the classification of cases to the diagnosis-related groups (DRGs); the long-term care (LTC)-DRGs and relative weights; the wage data, including the occupational mix data, used to compute the wage index; rebasing and revision of the hospital market basket; applications for new technologies and medical services add-on payments; policies governing postacute care transfers, payments to hospitals for the direct and indirect costs of graduate medical education, submission of hospital quality data, payment adjustment for low-volume hospitals, changes in the requirements for provider-based facilities; and changes in the requirements for critical access hospitals (CAHs).