January 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim final rule raises the value limit of timber that can be granted by line officers to individuals for use free of charge. Current regulations limit the value of free use timber that a designated forest officer can grant to an individual in a fiscal year to $20. Forest Supervisors are limited to $100 per year per individual and Regional Foresters are limited to $5,000 per year per individual. Free use exceeding $5,000 must be reviewed by the Chief of the Forest Service. The ability of the Forest Service to respond to legitimate requests for free use have been restricted by these limits as timber values have increased over the years. The Forest Service is raising the limits to $200 for forest officers, $5,000 for Forest Supervisors, and $10,000 for Regional Foresters. Any request for free use in excess of $10,000 in value would still require review by the Chief of the Forest Service. No other changes to the regulations concerning free use of timber are being proposed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating today's final rule, the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (DBPR), to provide for increased protection against the potential risks for cancer and reproductive and developmental health effects associated with disinfection byproducts (DBPs). The final Stage 2 DBPR contains maximum contaminant level goals for chloroform, monochloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid; National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, which consist of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) and monitoring, reporting, and public notification requirements for total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and haloacetic acids (HAA5); and revisions to the reduced monitoring requirements for bromate. This document also specifies the best available technologies for the final MCLs. EPA is also approving additional analytical methods for the determination of disinfectants and DBPs in drinking water. EPA believes the Stage 2 DBPR will reduce the potential risks of cancer and reproductive and developmental health effects associated with DBPs by reducing peak and average levels of DBPs in drinking water supplies. The Stage 2 DBPR applies to public water systems (PWSs) that are community water systems (CWSs) or nontransient noncommunity water systems (NTNCWs) that add a primary or residual disinfectant other than ultraviolet light or deliver water that has been treated with a primary or residual disinfectant other than ultraviolet light. This rule also makes minor corrections to drinking water regulations, specifically the Public Notification tables. New endnotes were added to these tables in recent rulemakings; however, the corresponding footnote numbering in the tables was not changed. In addition, this rule makes a minor correction to the Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule by replacing a sentence that was inadvertently removed.

The FAA is correcting a typographical error in an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that was published in the Federal Register on December 5, 2005 (70 FR 72366). The error resulted in an incorrect telephone number for the FAA's point of contact. This AD applies to all EMBRAER Model EMB-120, -120ER, -120FC, -120QC, and -120RT airplanes. This AD requires modifying electrical harnesses located at the left- and right-hand wing roots, and re-routing and modifying the harness of the right-hand outboard flap actuator.

The Securities and Exchange Commission published a document in the Federal Register on June 29, 2005 (70 FR 37496) adopting rules under Regulation NMS, including the redesignation of the national market system rules previously adopted under section 11A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''), and two amendments to the joint industry plans for disseminating market information. In that document, two paragraphs from Rule 11Aa3-2 under the Exchange Act were inadvertently omitted from their redesignation into Regulation NMS. This document corrects that omission by adding paragraphs (a)(8)(i) and (a)(8)(ii) to Rule 608 of Regulation NMS.

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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has crafted a Web page for the rulemaking titled ``Expanded Definition of Byproduct Material,'' also known as the ``NARM rulemaking.'' The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the NRC to establish a regulatory framework for the expanded definition of byproduct material to include certain naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive material through rulemaking. Documents in support of this rulemaking will be posted on the Web page via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at https:// ruleforum.llnl.gov as they become publicly available.

This amendment to 40 CFR 35.162 will address a situation which occurred in EPA's FY 2006 CWA Section 106 appropriation process. The President's FY 2006 budget specifically requested an increase in Section 106 funding for enhanced monitoring activities, particularly for statistically-valid assessments of water quality nationwide and for strengthening State and interstate monitoring programs. This action announces EPA's amendment of its CWA allocation regulation to provide the Agency with the flexibility to allot separately these funds that have been appropriated by Congress for Section 106 grants and targeted for monitoring. The amendment applies only to those portions of Section 106 funds which have been targeted in EPA's appropriations process for specific water pollution control elements.

This interim rule amends the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) regulations to implement a provision of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, which raised the age limit for residents of emergency shelters who are eligible to receive CACFP meals to include children through age 18. This rule also extends eligibility for participation to emergency shelters that primarily serve children through age 18 who are homeless and seeking shelter without their families. These changes are expected to increase the number of emergency shelters that will be eligible to participate in CACFP as well as the number of homeless children that will have access to free, nutritious meals.

This notice proposes to amend the regulations that implement the section 410 program, under which States can receive incentive grants for alcohol-impaired driving prevention programs. The proposed amendments implement changes that were made to the section 410 program by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU). As a result of SAFETEA-LU, States are provided with two alternative means to qualify for a section 410 grant. Under the first alternative, States may qualify as a ``low fatality rate State'' if they have an alcohol-related fatality rate of 0.5 or less per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Under the second alternative, States may qualify as a ``programmatic State'' if they demonstrate that they meet three of eight grant criteria for fiscal year 2006, four of eight grant criteria for fiscal year 2007, and five of eight grant criteria for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. Qualifying under both alternatives would not entitle the State to receive additional grant funds. SAFETEA-LU also provides for a separate grant to the ten States that are determined to have the highest rates of alcohol-related driving fatalities. This notice of proposed rulemaking proposes criteria States must meet and procedures they must follow to qualify for section 410 grants, beginning in fiscal year 2006.

This document contains temporary regulations establishing the Employers' Annual Federal Tax Program (Form 944) (hereinafter referred to as the Form 944 Program). The temporary regulations relate to sections 6011 and 6302 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) concerning reporting and paying income taxes withheld from wages and reporting and paying taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) (collectively, employment taxes). These temporary regulations provide requirements for filing returns under FICA and returns of income tax withheld under section 6011 and Sec. Sec. 31.6011(a)-1 and 31.6011(a)- 4 of the Employment Tax Regulations. These temporary regulations generally require employers who receive written notification from the Commissioner of their qualification for the Form 944 Program to file a Form 944, ``Employer's Annual Federal Tax Return,'' rather than Form 941, ``Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return.'' In addition, these temporary regulations provide requirements for employers to make deposits of employment taxes under section 6302 and Sec. 31.6302-1. These temporary regulations permit employers in the Form 944 Program to deposit or remit their accumulated employment taxes annually with their Form 944 if they satisfy the provisions of the de minimis deposit rule, as modified. Also, these temporary regulations modify the lookback period used to determine an employer's status as a monthly or semi-weekly depositor. The portions of this document that are final regulations provide necessary cross-references to the temporary regulations as well as technical revisions. The technical revisions correct the table of contents in Sec. 31.6302-0 and a cross-reference in Sec. 31.6302- 1(e)(2) and remove all references to an IRS district director, as that position no longer exists within the IRS. In addition, a cross- reference to the temporary regulations under section 6011 was added to the final regulations under section 6071, regarding the time for filing returns. The text of the temporary regulations also serves, in part, as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register. In addition to the provisions contained in these temporary regulations related to the Form 944 Program, the proposed regulations provide a modification to the de minimis deposit rule applicable to quarterly return filers.

This document is issued under the joint authority of the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of General Services and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of a summary of rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005- 07 which amend the FAR. An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-07 which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at https://www.acqnet.gov/far.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to modify the provision regarding Annual Representations and Certifications to include a section whereby the contracting officer can insert the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and small business size standard for the procurement. Its exclusion in the original drafting of the subject provision was an oversight. When the FAR provision is included in a solicitation, the provision regarding Small Business Program Representations, where this information is normally placed, is not included. Without this change, there is no standard way in which the NAICS code and small business size standard can be communicated to the vendor.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Executive Order 13357, which removed sanctions against Libya.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement Section 637 of Division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005. Section 637 provides that no funds made available under the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2005, or under any other Act for fiscal year 2005 and each fiscal year thereafter, shall be expended for purchase of a product or service offered by Federal Prison Industries, Inc., unless the agency making the purchase determines that the offered product or service provides the best value to the buying agency.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed to convert the interim rule published in the Federal Register at 69 FR 77870, December 28, 2004, to a final rule with changes. This rule implemented new Free Trade Agreements with Australia and Morocco as approved by Congress (Public Laws 108-286 and 108-302). These Free Trade Agreements were scheduled to become effective on or after January 1, 2005. However, the Moroccan Free Trade Agreement has not yet been implemented and is therefore removed from this final rule. The rule also established a table of services excluded from the coverage of the various trade agreements, corrected the threshold for Canadian services, revised the list of Least Developed Countries, revised FAR terminology relating to international trade agreements and the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), and revised the FAR clauses that implement application of the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a, 10b, 10b- 1, and 10c) and trade agreements to construction material.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to address the contractor personal identification requirements in Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-12), ``Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors,'' and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS PUB) Number 201, ``Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors.''

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-07. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at https://www.acqnet.gov/far.

Continued examination practice, including the use of both continuing applications and requests for continued examination, permits applicants to obtain further examination and advance an application to final agency action. This practice allow applicants to craft their claims in light of the examiner's evidence and arguments, which in turn may lead to well-designed claims that give the public notice of precisely what the applicant regards as his or her invention. However, each continued examination filing, whether a continuing application or request for continued examination, requires the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) to delay taking up a new application and thus contributes to the backlog of unexamined applications before the Office. In addition, current practice allows an applicant to generate an unlimited string of continued examination filings from an initial application. In such a string of continued examination filings, the exchange between examiners and applicants becomes less beneficial and suffers from diminishing returns as each of the second and subsequent continuing applications or requests for continued examination in a series is filed. Moreover, the possible issuance of multiple patents arising from such a process tends to defeat the public notice function of patent claims in the initial application. The Office is making every effort to become more efficient, to ensure that the patent application process promotes innovation, and to improve the quality of issued patents. With respect to continued examination practice, the Office is proposing to revise the patent rules of practice to better focus the application process. The revised rules would require that second or subsequent continued examination filings, whether a continuation application, a continuation-in-part application, or a request for continued examination, be supported by a showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence presented could not have been previously submitted. It is expected that these rules will make the exchange between examiners and applicants more efficient and effective. The revised rules should also improve the quality of issued patents, making them easier to evaluate, enforce, and litigate. Moreover, under the revised rules patents should issue sooner, thus giving the public a clearer understanding of what is patented. The revised rules would also ease the burden of examining multiple applications that have the same effective filing date, overlapping disclosure, a common inventor, and common assignee by requiring that all patentably indistinct claims in such applications be submitted in a single application. The changes proposed in this notice will also allow the Office to focus its patent examining resources on new applications instead of multiple continued examination filings that contain amendments or evidence that could have been submitted earlier, and thus allow the Office to reduce the backlog of unexamined applications. This will mean faster and more effective examination for the vast majority of applicants without any additional work on the applicant's part. Additional resources will be devoted to multiple continued examination filings only where necessary. Comment Deadline Date: To be ensured of consideration, written comments must be received on or before May 3, 2006. No public hearing will be held.

The EPA is approving non-regulatory revisions to the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP) and regulatory revisions to the Nashville-Davidson portion of the Tennessee SIP, submitted by the State of Tennessee through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) on January 26, 1999, October 11, 2001, and April 15, 2005. The revisions amend the Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance program in Nashville-Davidson County and the Nashville (Middle Tennessee) 1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan.

EPA is taking direct final action approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Montana on August 2, 2004. The revisions are to the State's Emergency Episode Avoidance Plan (EEAP). The intended effect of this action is to make federally enforceable those provisions that EPA is approving. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act.

EPA is approving a redesignation request and a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ) is requesting that the Shenandoah National Park area (the SNP area) be redesignated as attainment for the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). In conjunction with its redesignation request, the Commonwealth submitted a SIP revision consisting of a maintenance plan for the SNP area that provides for continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the next 10 years. EPA is also approving the adequacy determination for the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) that are identified in the 8-hour maintenance plan for the SNP area for purposes of transportation conformity, and is approving those MVEBs. EPA is approving the redesignation request and the maintenance plan revision to the Virginia SIP in accordance with the requirements of the CAA.