May 18, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to sell a 1.556 acre triangular parcel of public land in the northwest portion of the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, to the owner of lands adjoining two sides of the parcel. The third side is bounded by a street right-of-way. The adjoining private owner has requested that the parcel be sold to him by direct sale at not less than the appraised market value of the land.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), this notice announces that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs, has submitted the collection of information abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The PRA submission describes the nature of the information collection and its expected cost and burden; it includes the actual data collection instrument.

FMCSA announces its decision to exempt Mr. Thomas Deke from its rule prohibiting persons with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) from operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. The exemption will enable Mr. Deke to operate CMVs in interstate commerce.

On April 27, 2006, the Office of the United States Trade Representative filed a Request for an Extraordinary Challenge Committee to review decisions as stated above with the United States Section of the NAFTA Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Committee review was requested of the final affirmative countervailing duty determination made by the International Trade Administration, respecting Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada. These determinations were published in the Federal Register. The NAFTA Secretariat has assigned Case Number ECC-2006-1904-01USA to this request.

An open meeting of the Area 5 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comment, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

The Department of the Treasury, 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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning an existing final regulation, REG-103320-00, Disclosure of Returns and Return Information to Designee of Taxpayer.

The Coast Guard proposes establishing a 1200 foot safety zone in the vicinity of Mathews, VA centered on position 37-23-56N/076-20- 42W on July 1, 2006 in support of the Mathews County Fireworks Event. This action is intended to restrict vessel traffic on the East River as necessary to protect mariners from the hazards associated with fireworks displays.

The FHWA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a new information collection, which is summarized below under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a guidance document entitled ``Guidance for Industry: Preparing a Claim of Categorical Exclusion or an Environmental Assessment for Submission to the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition'' (the guidance). This guidance provides information to industry on how to prepare a claim of categorical exclusion or an environmental assessment (EA) for submission to the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) in notifications for food contact substances, food additive petitions, color additive petitions, requests for exemption from regulation as a food additive, generally recognized as safe (GRAS) petitions, and petitions for certain food labeling regulations.

The Federal Highway Administration has submitted the following request for emergency processing of a public information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35.) This notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to OMB for review, comment and approval. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and the expected burden. Comments: Comments should be directed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 Seventeenth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for the Federal Highway Administration. Type of Request: New.

This notice announces the application of NSF International for expansion of its recognition to use additional test standards, and presents the Agency's preliminary finding to grant this request for expansion. This preliminary finding does not constitute an interim or temporary approval of this application.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.5(b), this notice announces that new information collections requirements (ICRs) listed below have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). These new ICRs pertain to 49 CFR parts 213, 216, 229, and 238. Additionally, FRA hereby announces that other ICRs listed below have been re-approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). These ICRs pertain to parts 230, 241, and 260. The OMB approval numbers, titles, and expiration dates are included herein under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

This rule finalizes the proposed rule of the same name which was published November 27, 2002. It implements the revised collection and reporting of racial/ethnic data by State agencies on persons receiving benefits from the Food Stamp Program (FSP). The changes comply with new racial/ethnic data collection standards issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) while also providing regulatory flexibility and reform for this area of the program regulations.

The FDIC proposes to amend 12 CFR part 327 to make the deposit insurance assessment system react more quickly and more accurately to changes in institutions' risk profiles, and in so doing to eliminate several causes for complaint by insured depository institutions. The proposed revisions would provide for assessment collection after each quarter ends, which would allow for consideration of more current supervisory information. The computation of institutions' assessment bases would change in the following ways: institutions with $300 million or more in assets would be required to determine their assessment bases using average daily deposit balances, and the float deduction used to determine the assessment base would be eliminated. In addition, the rules governing assessments of institutions that go out of business would be simplified; newly insured institutions would be assessed for the assessment period they become insured; prepayment and double payment options would be eliminated; institutions would have 90 days from each quarterly certified statement invoice to file requests for review and requests for revision; the rules governing quarterly certified statement invoices would be adjusted for a quarterly assessment system and for a three-year retention period rather than the present five-year period.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations concerning the importation of animals and animal products by adding Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine to the list of regions in which highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 is considered to exist. We took that action because there have been outbreaks of HPAI subtype H5N1 in those countries. The interim rule was necessary to prevent the introduction of HPAI subtype H5N1 into the United States.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a renewal of a currently approved information collection requirement regarding authorized negotiators. The clearance currently expires on October 31, 2006. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate and based on valid assumptions and methodology; and ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected.