December 21, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce, 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.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance on the normalization requirements applicable to public utilities that benefit (or have benefited) from accelerated depreciation methods or from the investment tax credit permitted under pre-1991 law. The proposed regulations permit a utility whose assets cease to be public utility property to return to its ratepayers the normalization reserve for excess deferred income taxes (EDFIT) with respect to those assets and, in certain circumstances, also permit the return of part or all of the reserve for accumulated deferred investment tax credits (ADITC) with respect to those assets. This document also provides notice of a public hearing on these proposed regulations and a withdrawal of proposed regulations [REG-104385-01] published March 4, 2003, at 68 FR 10190.

This document corrects Notice of Federal Advisory Committee that was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, December 13, 2005 (70 FR 73720). The Executive Director of the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries gives notice of a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations (portions of which will be open to the public) in Washington, DC at the Office of Professional Responsibility on January 9 and 10, 2006.

The Board is publishing a final rule amending the staff commentary that interprets the requirements of Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure). The staff commentary is amended to increase the asset-size exemption threshold for depository institutions based on the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. The adjustment from $34 million to $35 million reflects the increase of that index by 3.51 percent during the twelve-month period ending in November 2005. Thus, depository institutions with assets of $35 million or less as of December 31, 2005, are exempt from data collection in 2006.

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) has scheduled its regular business meetings to take place in Washington, DC from Tuesday through Wednesday, January 10-11, 2006, at the times and location noted below.

This notice announces Agency approval of applications submitted by Sipcam Agro, USA Inc. to conditionally register the pesticide products, Tetraconazole Technical, EPA Registration Number 60063-11 and Eminent 125 SL Fungicide, EPA Registration Number 60063- 12, containing a new active ingredient not included in any previously registered products pursuant to the provisions of section 3(c)(7)(C) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended.

This regulation extends time-limited tolerances for the pesticides listed in Unit II. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. These actions are in response to EPA's granting of emergency exemptions under section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizing use of these pesticides. Section 408(l)(6) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires EPA to establish a time-limited tolerance or exemption from the requirement for a tolerance for pesticide chemical residues in food that will result from the use of a pesticide under an emergency exemption granted by EPA.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Special Committee 207, Airport Security Access Control Systems.

In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Office of Science Policy and Planning, the National Institute of Health (NIH) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Proposed Collection: Title: A Process/Outcome Evaluation of Parkinson's Disease Research Centers. Type of Information Collection Request: New. Need and Use of Information Collection: This study is primarily an outcome evaluation, designed to assess the extent to which the NINDS-funded Morris K. Udall Centers for Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research have achieved the program's short-term and long-term goals. The study also includes elements of a process evaluation in its examination of the major activities conducted by the Udall Centers, the relationship between Center activities and the achievement of program goals, and the NINDS management of the program. The results of the full-scale evaluation should be very helpful to NINDS in identifying the most relevant measures for tracking the future progress of the Centers, developing strategies to enhance the program's effectiveness, and improving program management. NINDS will also use the findings to inform its National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council, and to address inquiries from the public regarding the impact of the Udall Centers Program. Lastly, Udall Center awardees will be able to use the evaluation results to improve the performance of their Centers; and other NIH Institutes and Centers may use the methodology and results of this evaluation to guide their own centers assessments. Frequency of Response: Once or twice. Affected Public: Researchers, Not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; individuals or households. Type of Respondents: Adult professionals. The annual reporting burden is represented in the following table:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is submitting the Nanotechnology White Paper External Review Draft for independent external peer review, which will be conducted in the February timeframe. Public comments will be accepted prior to the meeting of the external peer review panel. All comments received by January 31, 2006 will be shared with the external peer review panel for their consideration. Comments received beyond that time will be considered by EPA. The public release of this draft document is solely for the purpose of seeking public comment and peer review. This draft white paper does not represent and should not be construed to represent any EPA policy, viewpoint, or determination. Members of the public may obtain the draft white paper from https://www.regulations.gov; or http:/ /www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm; or from Dr. Kathryn Gallagher via the contact information below. The Nanotechnology White Paper External Review Draft identifies data gaps that need to be filled and recommends research for both environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology that would inform the appropriate regulatory safeguards for nanotechnology. The draft white paper describes the technology and provides a discussion of potential environmental benefits of nanotechnology. Risk management issues and the Agency's statutory mandates are outlined, following an extensive discussion of risk assessment issues. The draft white paper concludes with recommendations on next steps for addressing science policy issues and research needs. Supplemental information is provided in a number of appendices. Following the expert review, EPA will issue a final white paper on nanotechnology in early 2006. To obtain additional information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm.

On May 13, 2005 (70 FR 25676), EPA issued direct final rule amendments and a parallel proposal to provide additional compliance options for the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for Miscellaneous Coating Manufacturing. One proposed amendment specified that compliance with the weight percent hazardous air pollutant (HAP) limit in coatings products may be demonstrated based on formulation data. However, the proposed amendment did not include de minimis limits for HAP in formulation data as allowed in other surface coating NESHAP. Due to adverse comment, we withdrew that provision of the direct final, and we are now issuing final amendments to specify that certain raw material formulation data as supplied to coating manufacturers may be used to demonstrate compliance with the weight percent HAP limit.

The Federal Election Commission is amending its rules defining ``electioneering communication'' under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (``FECA'' or the ``Act''). The changes modify the definition of ``publicly distributed'' and the exemptions to the definition of ``electioneering communication'' consistent with the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. FEC, portions of which were affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Specifically, the changes eliminate the exemption from the electioneering communication provisions for certain tax-exempt organizations and revise the definition of ``publicly distributed,'' a term used in the regulatory definition of ``electioneering communication.'' The Commission is not adopting any other regulatory exemptions considered in this rulemaking. The Commission is also deferring further consideration of a proposed exemption for advertisements promoting films, books and plays until after completing the rulemakings that respond to Shays v. FEC. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

This final rule amends the Department of Commerce's Freedom of Information Act regulations (15 CFR part 4) by adding an official authorized To deny requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act, and requests for correction or amendment under the Privacy Act, for the Technology Administration.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will hold the second public meeting of the Veterans' Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction (VBDR). The VBDR was established at the recommendation of the National Research Council report, entitled ``Review of the Dose Reconstruction Program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.'' The report recommended the need to establish an advisory board that will provide suggestions for improvements in dose reconstruction and claim adjudication procedures. The goal of VBDR is to provide guidance and oversight of the dose reconstruction and claims compensation programs for veterans of U.S.- sponsored atmospheric nuclear weapons tests from 1945-1962; veterans of the 1945-1946 occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan; and veterans who were prisoners of war in those regions at the conclusion of World War II. In addition, the advisory board will assist VA and DTRA in communicating with the veterans. Radiation does reconstruction has been carried out by the Department of Defense under the Nuclear Test Personnel Review (NTPR) program since the 1970s. DTRA is the executive agent for the NTPR program which provides participation data and actual or estimated radiation dose information to veterans and the VA. Board members were selected to fulfill the statutory requirements mandated by Congress in Section 601 of Public Law 108-183. The Board was appointed on June 3, 2005, and is comprised of 16 members. Board members were selected to provide expertise in historical dose reconstruction, radiation health matters, risk communications, radiation epidemiology, medicine, quality management, decision analysis and ethics in order to appropriately enable the VBDR to represent and address veterans' concerns. The Board is governed by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), Public Law 92-463, which sets forth standards for the formation and conduct of government advisory committees.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is republishing the proposed rule published on December 13, 2005, due to information that was inadvertently omitted. The purpose of these regulations is to revise the Administrative Law Judge Program. The purpose of these revisions is to remove procedures that appear in other parts of this chapter, update outdated information, and remove the internal examining processes from the regulations. Additionally, these revisions describe OPM and agency responsibilities concerning the Administrative Law Judge Program. This proposed regulation continues the basic intent of making administrative law judges independent in matters of tenure and compensation.

NCUA is issuing its rule on the purchase of assets and assumption of liabilities by federally-insured credit unions to clarify which transfers of assets or accounts require approval by the NCUA Board.