October 3, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations regarding the importation of horses into the United States by requiring persons who cancel reservations for stall space at import quarantine facilities to notify us earlier and by increasing the fee for canceling reservations.

The Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') has determined that a request for a new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''), received in May 2005, meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for initiation. The period of review (``POR'') of this new shipper review is November 1, 2004, through April 30, 2005.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 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 the continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

Section 8(c)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (USHA) requires the Secretary to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on October 1 of each year. The primary uses of FMRs are to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, and to serve as a rent ceiling in the HOME rental assistance program. Today's notice provides final FY2006 FMRs for all areas that reflect the estimated 40th and 50th percentile rent levels trended to April 1, 2006. Today's notice, however, does not include final determinations on 50th percentile rent levels, as proposed in HUD's notice published on August 25, 2005. The 30-day public comment period on that notice ended September 26, 2005, and HUD is evaluating the public comments. A notice that provides final determinations on 50th percentile FMRs will be issued subsequently, and as further discussed in Section VII of this notice. This notice also invokes the Secretary's authority to waive regulatory requirements for exception FMRs in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and by displacement of residents of the affected area.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, we are proposing to create a new system titled, ``Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration for Ethnic and Racial Minorities (CPTD) System, System No. 09-70-0560.'' Section 122 of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA) (Public Law (Pub. L.) 106-554) grants CMS the authority to award at least nine cooperative agreement demonstration projects that will identify methods to reduce disparities in early cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and American Indian (including Alaskan Native, Eskimo, and Aleut) Medicare beneficiary populations. Demonstration sites will use the best available scientific evidence to identify promising models of cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment interventions to promote health and appropriate utilization of Medicare covered services, eliminate disparities in cancer detection and treatment among ethnic and racial populations of Medicare beneficiaries, and provide information to improve the effectiveness of the Medicare program. The purpose of this system is to collect and maintain demographic and cancer health-related data on Medicare target population beneficiaries who voluntarily enroll in the CPTD Project for Ethnic and Racial Minorities. This system will enable CMS to enroll eligible participants in the demonstration project; randomize participants into intervention and control groups; reimburse demonstration site service claims; and develop, maintain and analyze/evaluate research information showing the potential impact of providing cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment facilitation services to underserved Medicare beneficiaries. Information retrieved from this system may be disclosed to: (1) Support regulatory, reimbursement, and policy functions performed within the agency or by a contractor, grantee, consultant or other legal agent; (2) assist another Federal or state agency with information to enable such agency to administer a Federal health benefits program, or to enable such agency to fulfill a requirement of Federal statute or regulation that implements a health benefits program funded in whole or in part with Federal funds; (3) assist an individual or organization engaged in the performance activities of the demonstration or in a research project or in support of an evaluation project related to the prevention of disease or disability, the restoration or maintenance of health, or payment related projects; (4) support constituent requests made to a congressional representative; (5) support litigation involving the agency; and (6) combat fraud and abuse in certain health benefits programs. We have provided background information about the new system in the Supplementary Information section below. Although the Privacy Act requires only that CMS provide an opportunity for interested persons to comment on the proposed routine uses, CMS invites comments on all portions of this notice. See Dates section for comment period.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice concerning the final effect of the HHS decision to designate a class of employees at the Y-12 facility, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On August 25, 2005, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384q(b), the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the extension of an approved information collection with revision. This information collection is used to support of brokerage services needed to meet domestic and export food assistance program needs. This information collection will allow CCC to determine the availability of brokers to meet CCC's transportation needs. The agreement in this information collection is an addition to the Standard Rules Tender (SRT) Governing Motor Carrier Transportation, and/or Standard Operating Agreement (SOA) Governing Intermodal Transportation that CCC approved.

In response to a petition for rulemaking submitted by Ms. Barbara Sanford, NHTSA published a Request for Comments (RFC) in the Federal Register on January 22, 2003 that included several questions regarding convex mirrors on commercial trucks. The Sanford petition asked the agency to amend our Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for rearview mirrors to require that all commercial trucks traveling on interstate highways have convex mirrors affixed to their front right and left fenders in order to provide drivers of these vehicles an increased field-of-view during lane change maneuvers, which the petitioner stated is necessary to eliminate a blind spot caused by the elevated position of commercial truck drivers relative to passenger cars. Prior to receiving the Sanford petition, the agency had decided to conduct research on heavy truck mirror systems, including fender- mounted mirrors. For reasons discussed in this document, the agency is withdrawing the RFC and is terminating this rulemaking, because additional research is necessary to assess the potential safety benefits of convex mirrors in this application.

The Coast Guard proposes to change the drawbridge operation regulations of three North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) bridges: the S.R. 74 Bridge, across the AICW mile 283.1 at Wrightsville Beach; the Cape Fear River Memorial Bridge, mile 26.8, at Wilmington; and the Isabel S. Holmes (US 117) Bridge, at mile 1.0, across Northeast Cape Fear River at Wilmington, North Carolina. This proposal will allow the bridges to remain in the closed position at particular dates and times to accommodate road races, marathons and triathlons. Vessels that can pass under the bridges without a bridge opening may do so at all times.

The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of the Integrated Anti- Swimmer System (IAS). The Coast Guard is proposing to deploy and operate the IAS for temporary periods at various U.S. ports throughout the U.S. Maritime Domain, when necessary. The purpose of the Proposed Action is to increase the Coast Guard's ability to detect, track, classify, and interdict, if necessary, potential underwater threats and as a result, protect personnel, ships, and property from sabotage and/ or other subversive acts. Potential threats targeted by the IAS include combat divers and unmanned vehicles. The IAS will be co-located with, and used by, the Coast Guard's newly established Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSSTs). The IAS is proposed to be used at a range necessary to maintain situational awareness and allow the MSSTs sufficient time to react and counter a detected threat. Extensive research and analysis of alternatives has led to the conclusion that an active sonar system is the only currently available technology that affords this capability.

GIPSA requests comments on the applicants for designation to provide official services in the Minnesota area.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), this notice announces that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs, has submitted the collection of information abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The PRA submission describes the nature of the information collection and its expected cost and burden; it includes the actual data collection instrument.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information used by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of a currently approved collection, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on information needed to determine a claimant's eligibility for temporary lodging while undergoing extensive treatment or procedures.

The Administration on Children, Youth and Families herein announces an urgent grant award to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) to provide technical assistance to reestablish the operations of the resource and referral agencies in Mississippi and Louisiana whose operations have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. This grant will help to re-establish child care referral services so that families along the Gulf Coast can find child care. This grant will also support local and Statewide inventories of child care need and availability. The amount of the proposed grant to NACCRRA is $99,500 in FY 2005 child care funds. The duration of the grant is 12 months.

This document changes the date of a public hearing on proposed regulations relating to the circumstances under which a partnership may take partner-level deductions and losses into account in computing its withholding tax obligation with respect to a foreign partner's allocable share of effectively connected taxable income.

This notice announces the issuance of Advisory Circular (AC) 33.4-3, Instructions for Continued Airworthiness; Aircraft Engine High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) and Lightning Protection Features. This AC sets forth acceptable methods of compliance for aircraft engines with the provisions of Sec. 33.4, Instructions for Continued Airworthiness of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). This AC provides guidance for developing instructions for continued airworthiness to ensure the continued airworthiness of aircraft engine HIRF and Lightning protection features.

On September 25, 1991, DOT published a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise the definition of ``gathering line'' in its gas pipeline safety standards. Because the proposal proved controversial, final action was postponed pending collection of additional information. In this Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM), PHMSA is proposing use of a consensus standard to distinguish onshore gathering lines. PHMSA's gas pipeline safety standards do not provide an adequate basis for distinguishing these pipelines from production facilities and transmission lines. In addition, PHMSA is proposing to establish safety standards for certain higher-risk onshore gathering lines, and to relax current standards on certain low-risk onshore gathering lines. (Onshore gathering lines in inlets of the Gulf of Mexico are not affected by this rulemaking.) Operators would use a new risk-based approach to determine which of its gathering lines are ``regulated onshore gathering lines'' and what safety standards the lines must meet. At present, PHMSA's safety standards do not apply to onshore gathering lines in rural locations, while onshore gathering lines in non-rural locations must meet the same requirements as transmission lines. This regulatory approach is insufficient to assure that conditions on gathering lines that pose a greater risk to the public and property are addressed. And it does not take into account the lower risk some other gathering lines pose. The intended effects of the proposed rules are improved identification of gathering lines, improved public confidence in the safety of gathering lines, and safety requirements better tailored to gathering line risks.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A330-301, -321, -322, -341, and -342 airplanes; and Model A340-200 and A340-300 series airplanes. This AD requires repetitive inspections for cracks in the aft face of the rear spar at the area adjacent to the bolt holes and the end of the build slot, and repair if necessary. The AD also provides an optional terminating action for the repetitive inspections. This AD results from a report that, during fatigue tests of the wing, cracks were found in the vertical web of the rear spar between ribs 1 and 2 having initiated at the build slot. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking in the vertical web of the wing rear spar, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the wing.