July 24, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of a public hearing to receive evidence on proposed amendments to Marketing Order No. 915 (order), which regulates the handling of avocados grown in south Florida. The amendments are proposed by the Florida Avocado Administrative Committee (Committee), which is responsible for local administration of the order. The proposed amendments would: Provide the Committee authority to borrow funds, revise the voting requirements for changing the assessment rate, allow District I nominations to be conducted by mail, and provide the Committee authority to accept voluntary contributions. The proposed amendments are intended to improve the operation and functioning of marketing order program.

This proposed rule would adjust the number of members for certain States on the United Soybean Board (Board) to reflect changes in production levels that have occurred since the Board was reapportioned in 2003, which became effective with 2004 nominations. These adjustments are required by the Soybean Promotion and Research Order (Order) and would result in an increase in Board membership from 64 to 68 effective with the Secretary's 2007 nominations and appointments.

Section 1301 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (Pub. L. 109-59; 119 Stat. 1144) established a program to provide grants to States for Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS) to improve the safe, secure, and efficient movement of people and goods throughout the United States and to improve the health and welfare of the national economy. Section 1301 requires the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to establish regulations on the manner in which the proposed projects will be evaluated and rated, in order to determine which projects shall receive grant funding. This proposed rule would establish the required evaluation and rating guidelines for proposed projects. If this rule were adopted, a proposed project would become eligible to be funded under this program only if the Secretary finds that the project meets the requirements of the rule. In making such findings, the Secretary will evaluate and rate each project as ``highly recommended,'' ``recommended,'' or ``not recommended'' based on the results of preliminary engineering, the project justification criteria, and the degree of non-Federal financial commitment.

The Commander, First Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the AMTRAK Pelham Bay Bridge, across the Hutchinson River, mile 0.5, at New York City, New York. This deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed position from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 23, 30, August 13, 20, and 27, 2006. This deviation is necessary to facilitate scheduled bridge maintenance.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A310 airplanes. This proposed AD would require revising the Limitations section of the airplane flight manual by incorporating restrictions for high altitude operations. This proposed AD results from several incidents of pitch oscillations with high vertical loads that occurred during turbulence at high altitudes. We are proposing this AD to prevent pitch oscillations during turbulence, which could result in reduced controllability of the airplane.

On Wednesday, June 7, 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency published a proposed rule entitled ``National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Water Transfers Proposed Rule.'' As initially published in the Federal Register on June 7, 2006, written comments on the proposed rulemaking were to be submitted to EPA on or before July 24, 2006 (a 45-day public comment period). Since publication, EPA has received several requests for additional time to submit comments. Therefore, the public comment period is being extended for 14 days and will now end on August 7, 2006.

This final rule will revise the Class E airspace at Pinedale, WY. Additional controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft executing a new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) approach procedure at Pinedale/Ralph Wenz Field. This action will improve the safety of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft executing this new procedure at Pinedale/Ralph Wenz Field, Pinedale, WY.

This action amends the Norton Sound Low Offshore Airspace Area in Alaska. Specifically, this action modifies the Norton Sound Low Offshore Airspace Area in the vicinity of the Shishmaref Airport, AK, by lowering the offshore airspace floor to 1,200 feet mean sea level (MSL) within a 30-mile radius of the airport. Additionally, this action modifies the airspace in the vicinity of Nome Airport, AK, by lowering the airspace floor to 700 feet MSL within a 25-mile radius of the airport, and 1,200 feet MSL within a 77.4-mile radius of the Nome VORTAC. The FAA is taking this action to provide additional controlled airspace for aircraft instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the Nome and Shishmaref Airports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is publishing this interpretive release with respect to the scope of ``brokerage and research services'' and client commission arrangements under Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''). The Commission is soliciting further comment on client commission arrangements under Section 28(e).

The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 requires that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC) prescribe final regulations, after notice and opportunity for comment, to provide for deposit insurance assessments under section 7(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (the FDI Act). The FDIC is proposing to amend its regulations to create different risk differentiation frameworks for smaller and larger institutions that are well capitalized and well managed; establish a common risk differentiation framework for all other insured institutions; and establish a base assessment rate schedule.

Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005, the FDIC must by regulation set the Designated Reserve Ratio (DRR) for the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) within a range of 1.15 percent to 1.50 percent of estimated insured deposits. In this rulemaking, the FDIC seeks comment on the proposal to establish the DRR for the DIF at 1.25 percent of estimated insured deposits.