February 24, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS issues 2006 specifications for the Atlantic bluefish fishery, including state-by-state commercial quotas, a recreational harvest limit, and recreational possession limits for Atlantic bluefish off the east coast of the United States. The intent of these specifications is to establish the allowable 2006 harvest levels and possession limits to attain the target fishing mortality rate (F), consistent with the stock rebuilding program in Amendment 1 to the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action will publish final specifications that are modified from those contained in the proposed rule.

This notice announces our decision to approve the Accreditation Commission for Healthcare (ACHC) for recognition as a national accreditation program for home health agencies seeking to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs.

This notice announces an administrative hearing to be held on April 13, 2006, at the Richard Bolling Federal Building, 601 E. 12th Street, Room 235, Kansas City Conference Room, Kansas City, MO 64106- 2898, to reconsider CMS' decision to disapprove Iowa State plan amendment 05- 003. Closing Date: Requests to participate in the hearing as a party must be received by the presiding officer by March 13, 2006.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for possible use to assist the homeless.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Gulfstream Model GIV-X and GV-SP series airplanes. This AD requires revising the Limitations section of the airplane flight manual by incorporating new procedures to follow in the event that the cockpit displays go blank or malfunction. This AD results from a report that all four of the cockpit flight panel display units simultaneously went blank during flight. We are issuing this AD to ensure that the flightcrew is advised of the appropriate procedures to follow in the event that the cockpit displays go blank or malfunction, which could result in a reduction of the flightcrew's situational awareness and possible loss of control of the airplane.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all EMBRAER Model EMB-135 airplanes; and Model EMB-145, -145ER, -145MR, - 145LR, -145XR, -145MP, and -145EP airplanes. This AD requires repetitive inspections of the pitot static heating relay K0057 for damage to the pin-type contacts, relay enclosure, and finishing material and corrective actions if necessary. This AD also requires doing a terminating modification, which ends the repetitive inspections. This AD results from a report of a burning drain hose and smoke caused by an overheated pitot static heating relay. We are issuing this AD to prevent over-heating of a certain pitot static heating relay, which could result in the burning of the windowsill drain hoses and consequent smoke or fire in the airplane cockpit.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold several public hearings in Hawaii to seek input on measures to end bottomfish overfishing in Hawaii and options for fishing regulations for bottomfish and pelagics in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). Further, the Council will hold its 131st meeting and convene a meeting of its Advisory Panel to consider and take actions on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region.

This notice amends the Federal Register notice published on September 28, 2005 regarding the guarantee fee charged under SBA's Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program. Upon further review, and in the interest of mitigating the impact of the required fee increase on a single group (Surety companies), effective April 3, 2006, the following guarantee fees will be effective: (1) The guarantee fee payable by Principals (small businesses) will be $7.29 per thousand dollars of the contract amount, in lieu of $6.00 per thousand dollars of the contract amount, as is currently required. (2) The guarantee fee payable by Prior Approval Sureties and by Preferred Surety Bond (PSB) Sureties will be 26% of the bond premium, in lieu of 20% of the bond premium, as is currently required, or 32% of the bond premium as was announced in the prior Federal Register notice. SBA has determined that the fee increases are necessary to supplement reserves in the SBG Program's revolving fund and offset unfunded program liabilities resulting from defaults under guaranteed bonds. SBA invites public comments on this fee change.

Notice is hereby given that the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, USA (CNMI), Division of Fish and Wildlife [Paul Hamilton, responsible official], P.O. Box 10007, Saipan, Mariana Islands 96950, has applied in due form for a permit to take green (Chelonia mydas), and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) sea turtles for purposes of scientific research.

Ukraine has implemented economic and institutional reforms since gaining independence in 1991. The government of Ukraine (``GOU'') has undertaken substantial reforms relating to the factors examined by the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') under section 771(18)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). See memorandum to David Spooner from Lawrence Norton, Shauna Lee-Alaia, and Anthony Hill, Decision Memorandum Regarding Ukraine's Status as a Non- Market Economy Country for Purposes of the Antidumping Duty Law Under a Changed Circumstances Review of the Antidumping Duty Order on Carbon and Certain Alloy Steel Wire Rod from Ukraine (February 16, 2006) (``Decision Memorandum''). Based on the preponderance of evidence on reforms in Ukraine to date, analyzed as required under section 771(18)(B) of the Act, the Department determines that (1) revocation of Ukraine's non-market economy (``NME'') status under section 771(18)(B) of the Act is warranted, and (2) the effective date of this decision is February 1, 2006. Accordingly, Ukrainian producers and exporters will be subject, to the antidumping rules applicable to market economy countries with respect to the analysis of transactions occurring on or after February 1, 2006.

Notice is hereby given that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Acquisition Management and Policy of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken final agency action in the following case: Paul H. Kornak, Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany, New York: Upon recommendations from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), Acting Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Research Oversight (ORO), and the Under Secretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), that were based on the criminal convictions of making and using a materially false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(3); mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1341 and 1346; and criminally negligent homicide, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 13 and New York Penal Law Sec. 125.10, the HHS debarring official has permanently debarred Mr. Paul Kornak, former research coordinator at the Stratton VA Medical Center. This action is taken pursuant to the HHS government-wide nonprocurement debarment and suspension regulation at 45 CFR part 76. As such, Mr. Kornak is excluded for life from participating in any and all Federal agency transactions, both procurement and nonprocurement, as set forth in part 76. Of the 48 criminal charges contained in his Indictment, Paul Kornak pled guilty to the three criminal charges listed above. See United States of America v. Paul H. Kornak, Criminal Action No. 03-CR-436 (FJS), U.S. District Court (N.D.N.Y.) (January 18, 2005). In addition to the 71-month term of imprisonment imposed, Mr. Kornak was directed to pay restitution to two pharmaceutical companies and the VA in the amount of approximately $639,000. As part of his guilty plea, Mr. Kornak admitted to the following facts: In August 2000, Mr. Kornak applied for employment to the VA, submitting a false ``Declaration for Federal Employment'' form. Mr. Kornak denied that he had been convicted or on probation in the preceding 10 years, whereas in fact, he had been convicted of mail fraud in 1992 and placed on probation for 3 years. By October of 2000, Mr. Kornak was responsible for organizing, coordinating, implementing, and directing all research elements in the Stratton VA Medical Center oncology research program. Specifically, Mr. Kornak was the site coordinator at the Stratton VA Medical Center for the ``Iron (Fe) and Atherosclerosis Study'' (FeAST), cancer studies known as Tax 325 and Tax 327, and a bladder cancer study. The FeAST study was a clinical trial that tested a novel procedure for controlling atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries, by reducing the iron in the body through blood drawing. The Tax 325 cancer treatment study involved the administration of pharmaceutical products to patients with metastatic or locally recurrent gastric cancer previously untreated with chemotherapy for advanced disease. The Tax 327 study involved the administration of pharmaceutical products to patients with metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer. The purpose of the bladder cancer study, which was co- sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, was to compare the use of difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) to the use of a placebo in patients with low grade superficial bladder cancer according to time to first recurrence of the tumor and toxicities. From May 14, 1999, to July 10, 2002, in connection with the above protocols, Mr. Kornak participated in a scheme to defraud the sponsors of the clinical studies in that ``he would and repeatedly did submit false documentation regarding patients and study subjects and enroll and cause to be enrolled persons as study subjects who did not qualify under the particular study protocol.'' Mr. Kornak caused the death of a study subject when he ``failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that death would occur when he knowingly and willfully made and used * * * documents falsely stating and representing the results of [the study subject's] blood chemistry analysis * * *, which false documents purported that [the study subject] met the inclusion and exclusion criteria for participation in Tax 325 when the actual results did not meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria and showed impaired kidney and liver function, and [the study subject] thus was administered the chemotherapeutic drugs docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-FU in connection with Tax 325 on or about May 31, 2001, and died as a result thereof on or about June 11, 2001.'' Based on the criminal conviction and the facts admitted to above, HHS and VA believe that a debarment period longer than the standard length of debarment is warranted in this case. Mr. Kornak admitted to a dishonest handling of the research records and demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of vulnerable human subjects under his care. In pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide, Mr. Kornak admitted that a reasonable person would have perceived a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death if an ineligible subject were enrolled in the cancer study in question and that his failure to perceive such a risk in enrolling the ineligible subject constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care. Moreover, a longer debarment period is warranted in this case because of an established pattern of misconduct and criminal behavior on the part of Mr. Kornak. As stated above, Mr. Kornak has a prior conviction of mail fraud. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management excluded Mr. Kornak from all Federal nonprocurement transactions for an indefinite period, effective July 22, 1993. Nonetheless, beginning in 1999, Mr. Kornak actively participated in federally sponsored research protocols in violation of the imposed exclusion. A lifetime debarment of Mr. Kornak is necessary to protect the public interest overall. Given the scope of his criminal conviction, his longstanding pattern of criminal behavior, and his total disregard for the safety and well-being of human subjects, Mr. Kornak's responsibility to engage in transactions with the Federal Government cannot be assured at any time in the future.

EPA expressed environmental concerns about the projected modeled exceedance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from operational emissions of the project. EPA believes there are additional control measures that could be evaluated to mitigate the proposed projects impact on ambient PM2.5 concentrations. Concerns were also expressed about localized air emission impacts to surrounding communities and the safety risk evaluation of the onsite storage of certain products. Rating EC2.

This document corrects a notice that was published on December 21, 2005 (70 FR 75780-75790), which contained errors that may prove misleading and is in need of clarification. All applications must still be submitted by the deadline date of March 31, 2006. Accordingly, the notice that was published on December 21, 2005 (70 FR 75780-75790) is corrected as follows: On page 75781 in the second column, under the definition for ``Bioenergy Project'', remove the words ``other than an anaerobic digester.'' On page 75787 in the second column, paragraph vii, in the second sentence, revise the number ``$300,000'' to read ``$100,000''. On page 75788 in the second column, paragraph vii, revise the second sentence to read as follows: ``The allocation of points for this criterion shall be as follows: $1-$25,000 equals 2 points, $25,001-$50,000 equals 1 point, $50,001- $300,000 equals 0 points.''

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is considering granting a request for a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Furniture (except drafting tables, hospital beds, medical furniture) Merchant Wholesalers; Office Furniture Merchant Wholesalers; Furniture (except wood), Office-Type, Padded, Upholstered, or Plain, Manufacturing; Furniture Design Services; Furniture Frames and Parts, Metal, Manufacturing; Furniture Frames, Wood, Manufacturing; Furniture Parts, Finished Metal, Manufacturing; Furniture Parts, Finished Plastics, Manufacturing; Furniture Parts, Finished Wood, Manufacturing; Furniture, Factory-type (e.g., cabinets, stools, tool stands, work benches), Manufacturing; Furniture, Hospital (e.g., hospital beds, operating room furniture), Manufacturing; and Furniture, Laboratory- type (e.g., benches, cabinets, stools, tables), Manufacturing. According to the request, no small business manufacturers are supplying this class of product to the Federal government. If granted, the waiver would allow otherwise qualified regular dealers to supply the products of any domestic manufacturer on a Federal contract set aside for small businesses; service-disabled veteran-owned small business or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is denying a request for a waiver of the Nonmanufacturer Rule for Forklifts Manufacturing based on our recent discovery of a small business manufacturer for this class of products. Denying this waiver will require recipients of contracts set aside for small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, or SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program to provide the products of small business manufacturers or processors on such contracts.