January 4, 2006 – 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The OCC, Board, FDIC and OTS (``we'' or ``the Agencies'') are reviewing our regulations to identify outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulatory requirements pursuant to the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA).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 with respect to rules regarding Prompt Corrective Action and the Disclosure and Reporting of CRA-Related Agreements, which are in the Capital and Community Reinvestment Act categories of regulations. 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. This is our last request for comment on categories of regulations in the first 10-year cycle of regulatory review under EGRPRA. 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.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the northern Mexican gartersnake, Thamnophis eques megalops, as threatened or endangered with critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The petitioners provided three listing scenarios for consideration by the Service: (1) Listing the United States population as a Distinct Population Segment (DPS); (2) listing the species throughout its range in the United States and Mexico based on its range-wide status; or (3) listing the species throughout its range in the U.S. and Mexico based on its status in the United States. We find the petition has presented substantial information that the northern Mexican gartersnake is a listable entity, and we find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial data indicating that listing may be warranted. Therefore, we are initiating a status review to determine if listing this species is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information regarding this species. Any determinations on critical habitat will be made if and when a listing action is initiated for this species.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b(e)(3)), of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit Administration Board (Board).

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category daily retention limit for two of the previously designated restricted fishing days (RFD) should be adjusted. These General category RFDs are being waived to provide reasonable opportunity for utilization of the coastwide General category BFT quota. Therefore, NMFS waives the RFDs for December 31, 2005, and January 1, 2006, and increases the daily retention limit from zero to two large medium or giant BFT on these previously designated RFDs.