May 4, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
Results 1 - 19 of 19
Presumption of Sound Condition: Aggravation of a Disability by Active Service
This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations regarding the presumption of soundness of a veteran by adding a requirement that, in order to rebut the presumption of soundness of a veteran on entrance into active service, VA must prove not only that the condition existed prior to entrance into active service, but also that it was not aggravated by the veteran's active service. This amendment reflects a change in VA's interpretation of the statute governing the presumption of sound condition, and is based on a recent opinion of VA's General Counsel as well as a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The intended effect of this amendment is to require that VA, not the claimant, prove that the disability preexisted entrance into military service and that the disability was not aggravated by such service before the presumption of soundness on entrance onto active duty is overcome.
Medicare Program; Update of Ambulatory Surgical Center List of Covered Procedures
This interim final rule with comment period revises the list of procedures that are covered when furnished in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in accordance with section 1833(i)(1) of the Social Security Act. We published our proposed deletions and additions in the Federal Register on November 26, 2004. In this interim final rule, we respond to public comments and make final additions to and deletions from the current list of Medicare approved ambulatory surgical center (ASC) procedures.
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; New Mexico; San Juan County Early Action Compact Area
The EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Governor of New Mexico on December 16, 2004. The proposed revisions will incorporate the Early Action Compact (EAC) Clean Air Action Plan into the New Mexico SIP. The EAC is a voluntary program between the New Mexico Department of Environment (NMED), the Cities of Aztec, Bloomfield, and Farmington, San Juan County, and EPA. EPA is proposing approval of the photochemical modeling in support of the attainment demonstration of the 8-hour ozone standard within the San Juan County EAC area. EPA is proposing these actions as a strengthening of the SIP in accordance with the requirements of sections 110 and 116 of the Federal Clean Air Act (the Act). The revisions will contribute to improvement in air quality and continued attainment of the 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone.
Definition of Federal Election Activity
The Federal Election Commission seeks comments on proposed changes to its rules defining ``Federal election activity'' under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (``FECA''). The proposed changes would retain the existing definition of ``voter registration activity'' and modify the existing definitions of ``get- out-the-vote activity'' and ``voter identification'' consistent with the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. FEC. The Commission has made no final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.
State, District, and Local Party Committee Payment of Certain Salaries and Wages
The Federal Election Commission is seeking comment on proposed changes to regulations regarding payments by State, district or local party committees for salaries and wages of employees who spend 25 percent or less of their compensated time in a month on Federal election activity and activity in connection with Federal elections. Currently, these committees may use funds whose only restriction is that they comply with State law. The proposed changes would require these expenses to be paid using at least some Federal funds, consistent with the ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. Federal Election Commission. The Commission is appealing this ruling to the DC Circuit. In the interim, the Commission is initiating this rulemaking. The Commission has not made any final decision on the issues presented in this rulemaking. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.
Pistachios Grown in the State of California; Termination of Language in Table 3, “Maximum Defect and Minimum Size Levels”
This proposed rule would terminate language in Table 3, ``Maximum Defect and Minimum Size Levels,'' of the marketing order regulating pistachios produced in the State of California. This language was erroneously included in Table 3 at the time of promulgation of the order. Correction of the table was unanimously recommended by the Administrative Committee for Pistachios, the committee responsible for local administration of the order.
Introductions of Plants Genetically Engineered To Produce Industrial Compounds
We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended our regulations regarding genetically engineered organisms to require that introductions of plants genetically engineered to encode compounds for industrial use be conducted only under permit. Prior to the interim rule, such introductions could be accomplished under notification, an expedited permitting procedure. The interim rule was necessary to strengthen our regulations for introductions of this small subgroup of genetically engineered plants until such time as the issues related to these plants are fully considered in conjunction with subsequent regulatory revision.
Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; 2005 Management Measures
NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2005 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2006 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 1, 2006. Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area. The measures establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ)(3- 200 nm) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non-treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and to provide for inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters).
Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Social Security Administration
On February 11, 2005, SSA, with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (70 FR 7192-7196) that would supplement, for officers and employees of SSA, the OGE Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. The proposed regulations would set forth prohibitions and prior approval requirements for certain outside employment and other outside activities for all SSA employees, except special Government employees, and would set forth additional prior approval requirements for SSA Administrative Law Judges. To allow the public additional time to send us comments, we are reopening the comment period.
Federal Management Regulation; Transportation and Management, Transportation Payment and Audit
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.
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing Roswell Springsnail, Koster's Springsnail, Pecos Assiminea, and Noel's Amphipod as Endangered With Critical Habitat
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment for the proposal to designate critical habitat for the Roswell springsnail (Pyrgulopsis roswellensis), Koster's springsnail (Juturnia kosteri), Pecos assiminea (Assiminea pecos), and Noel's amphipod (Gammarus desperatus) (four invertebrates) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are also reopening the public comment period for the proposal to list the four invertebrates as endangered with critical habitat to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment on and request changes to the proposed listing and critical habitat designation, as well as the associated draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment. In addition, we are proposing updated legal descriptions for critical habitat units using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coordinates. We invite all interested parties to submit comments on this proposal within the 30-day comment period.
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS); Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety
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.
Cognitive Radio Technologies and Software Defined Radios
This document modifies the Commission's rules to reflect ongoing technical developments in cognitive radio technologies. In light of the Commission's experience with these rules, the Commission is modifying and clarifying the equipment rules to further facilitate the development and deployment of software defined and cognitive radios. These actions are taken to facilitate opportunities for flexible, efficient, and reliable spectrum use by radio equipment employing cognitive radio technologies and enable a full realization of their potential benefits.
Approval and Promulgation of State Implementation Plans: Michigan: Oxides of Nitrogen
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.
Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Specifications and Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments; Pacific Halibut Fisheries; Corrections
NMFS announces changes to management measures in the commercial and recreational Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries. NMFS also announces regulations for the retention of Pacific halibut landed incidentally in the limited entry longline primary sablefish fishery north of Pt. Chehalis, WA (46[deg]53.30' N. lat.). This document also contains notification of a voluntary closed area (also called an ``area to be avoided'') off Washington for salmon trollers. These actions, which are authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), will allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks. This action also corrects the trawl gear regulatory language for chafing gear and selective flatfish trawl gear.
Amendment of the Commission's Rules to Provide for Flexible Use of the 896-901 MHz and 935-940 MHz Bands Allotted to the Business and Industrial Land Transportation Pool, and Oppositions
In this document, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) extends the periods for both the comment and reply comment deadlines established in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) adopted by the Commission in the 900 MHz B/ILT white space proceeding. The deadline to file comments is extended from April 18, 2005, to May 18, 2005, and the deadline to file reply comments is extended from May 2, 2005, to June 2, 2005. This action is taken to enable interested parties sufficient opportunity to review complex issues raised by the NPRM and to provide commenters a reasonable period of time to continue discussions with other interested parties in an effort to reach consensus that would allow a consistent filing position in this matter for most of the 900 MHz user communities.
Medicare Program; Proposed Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2006 Rates
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).
Minimum Internal Control Standards
In response to the inherent risks of gaming enterprises and the resulting need for effective internal controls in Tribal gaming operations, the National Indian Gaming Commission (Commission or NIGC) first developed Minimum Internal Control Standards (MICS) for Indian gaming in 1999, and then later revised them in 2002. The Commission recognized from the outset that periodic technical adjustments and revisions would be necessary in order to keep the MICS effective in protecting Tribal gaming assets and the interests of Tribal stakeholders and the gaming public. To that end, the following final rule revisions contain certain corrections and revisions to the Commission's existing MICS, which are necessary to correct erroneous citations or references in the MICS and to clarify, improve, and update other existing MICS provisions. The purpose of these final MICS revisions is to address apparent shortcomings in the MICS and various changes in Tribal gaming technology and methods. Public comment to these final MICS revisions was received by the Commission for a period of 48 days after the date of their publication in the Federal Register as a proposed rule on December 1, 2004. Thereafter, the comment period was extended for an additional 31 days until February 18, 2005. After consideration of all received comments, the Commission has made whatever changes to the proposed revisions that it deemed appropriate and is now promulgating and publishing the final revisions to the Commission's MICS Rule, 25 CFR part 542.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
