March 20, 2006 – 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 comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on December 22, 2005 [FR Doc. E5-7716 Filed 12-21-05].

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). A notice was published in the Federal Register of the pendency before the Department of a proposal to grant such exemption. The notice set forth a summary of facts and representations contained in the application for exemption and referred interested persons to the application for a complete statement of the facts and representations. The application has been available for public inspection at the Department in Washington, DC. The notice also invited interested persons to submit comments on the requested exemption to the Department. In addition the notice stated that any interested person might submit a written request that a public hearing be held (where appropriate). The applicant has represented that it has complied with the requirements of the notification to interested persons. No requests for a hearing were received by the Department. Public comments were received by the Department as described in the granted exemption. The notice of proposed exemption was issued and the exemption is being granted solely by the Department because, effective December 31, 1978, section 102 of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978, 5 U.S.C. App. 1 (1996), transferred the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions of the type proposed to the Secretary of Labor.

This notice informs the public that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is establishing a demonstration USDA Voucher Program, as authorized under section 542 of the Housing Act of 1949 (without regard to section 542(b)), to be administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), pursuant to an Inter Agency Agreement (IAA) between the two Departments, executed on March 1, 2006. This notice informs the public that USDA, acting under the IAA with HUD, shall make up to $16 million available for this purpose, as appropriated under the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006. The notice also sets forth the policies and procedures for use of these vouchers.

The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is to set forth an agreement between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop strategic plans, set priorities, and leverage resources and expertise from multiple sources, including the private sector, toward the goal of improving the clinical utility of biomarker technologies as diagnostic and assessment tools that facilitate the development of safer and more effective cancer therapies. This collaboration among FDA, NCI, and CMS shall be known as the Oncology Biomarker Qualification Initiative.

NMFS announces the closure of several commercial and recreational fisheries in areas extending from Cape Falcon, OR, to Point Sur, CA by inseason action. The recently developed preseason forecast for Klamath River fall Chinook (KRFC) is low such that the expected return in 2006 is significantly less than the 35,000 natural spawner escapement floor established in the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP). All other regulations remain in effect as announced in the 2005 annual management measures for ocean salmon fisheries. This action is necessary to conform to the conservation objectives specified in the FMP.

The New Mexico Collaborative Forest Restoration Program Technical Advisory Panel will meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The purpose of the meeting is to provide recommendations to the Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service Southwestern Region, on which forest restoration grant proposals submitted in response to the collaborative Forest Restoration Program Request For Proposals best meet the objectives of the Community Forest Restoration Act (Title VI, Pub. L. No. 106-393).

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) has adopted a final rule to require Edge and Agreement corporations and U.S. branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks supervised by the Board to establish and maintain procedures reasonably designed to assure and monitor compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the regulations issued thereunder.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the tuberculosis regulations to reduce, from 6 months to 60 days, the period following a whole herd test during which animals may be moved interstate from a modified accredited State or zone or from an accreditation preparatory State or zone without an individual tuberculin test. The interim rule was necessary due to our determination that the 6-month period during which individual tuberculin tests have not been required is too long given the risks of exposure to tuberculosis that exist in modified accredited and accreditation preparatory States or zones, especially those States or zones where there are wildlife populations affected with tuberculosis.

The Department of the Army announces the availability of its ROD for the Proposed Addition of Maneuver Training Land at Fort Irwin, California. On 20 January 2006, the Army published a notice of availability of its SFEIS. The SFEIS reviewed the environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts of five action alternatives associated with the addition of maneuver training land at Fort Irwin, as well as a No Action (status quo) alternative. Based on the SFEIS, the Army has demised to implement Alternative I, the East/West Alternative. Under this alternative, additional lands totaling approximately 150,510 acres would be added to the available training lands. The decision includes training in new areas to the east and west of the existing Fort Irwin, and in a portion of southern Fort Irwin previously off-limits to training. Expansion of the maneuver area of the National Training Center (FTC) provides an extended battle space (land and air) for training Army brigade-sized units according to the Army's training and combat operations. Today's Army can drive faster, shoot farther, and operate over wider ranges than the Army of 1981, when the FTC opened. These advances in technology are the driving factor for this expansion. Alternative I was chosen because it best meets the Army's need for additional training land. There are impacts to many natural resources expected as part of the proposed action. Mitigation has been proposed to offset the impacts identified in the SFEIS. Even taking into account this mitigation, however, there will still be significant impacts to threatened and endangered species, loss of vegetation cover, loss and disruption of soil surfaces, and loss of wilderness characteristics to adjacent wideness areas. The decision also restates the army's continuing commitment to environmental stewardship by implementing mitigation and monitoring measurers to offset potential reverse environmental impacts associated with the preferred alternative, as identified in the SFEIS and the ROD.

The Export-Import Bank, as a part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal Agencies to comment on the proposed information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The form will be used by customers who originally applied for a multibuyer policy using EIB 92-50. Our customers will be able to submit this form on paper or electronically.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS) announces that it is soliciting competitive applications under its Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) program. The HPG program is a grant program which provides qualified public agencies, private nonprofit organizations, and other eligible entities grant funds to assist very low- and low-income homeowners in repairing and rehabilitating their homes in rural areas. In addition, the HPG program assists rental property owners and cooperative housing complexes in repairing and rehabilitating their units if they agree to make such units available to low- and very low- income persons. This action is taken to comply with Agency regulations found in 7 CFR part 1944, subpart N, which require the Agency to announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of preapplications for HPG funds from eligible applicants. The intended effect of this Notice is to provide eligible organizations notice of these dates.

This NOFA announces the timeframe to submit applications for section 514 Farm Labor Housing (FLH) loans and section 516 FLH grants for the construction of new off-farm FLH units and related facilities for domestic farm laborers. The intended purpose of these loans and grants is to increase the number of available housing units for domestic farm laborers. Applications may also include requests for section 521 rental assistance (RA) and operating assistance for migrant units. This document describes the method used to distribute funds, the application process, and submission requirements.