October 25, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Secretary amends the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibits sex discrimination in federally assisted education programs and activities. These amendments clarify and modify Title IX regulatory requirements pertaining to the provision of single-sex schools, classes,\1\ and extracurricular activities in elementary and secondary schools. The amendments expand flexibility for recipients to provide single-sex education, and they explain how single-sex education may be provided consistent with the requirements of Title IX.

In November 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will adopt an amendment to increase the ``upper age limit'' for airline pilots up to age 65 provided another crewmember pilot is under age 60. On September 27, 2006, Administrator Blakey established an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) on the Age 60 issue. One of its tasks is to recommend whether the United States should adopt the new ICAO standard. The FAA and the ARC are requesting comments from the public about whether the FAA should adopt the ICAO standard and any issues surrounding adopting or not adopting the standard.

This order amends certain features of the transportation credit provisions of the Appalachian and Southeast marketing orders on an interim basis. More than the required number of producers in the Appalachian and Southeast marketing areas have approved the issuance of the interim order as amended.

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted in final form on May 17, 2006. The SIP revision provides the second 10-year carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan for the Memphis/Shelby County Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Area. The second 10-year maintenance plan includes a new motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) for CO for the year 2017. EPA is proposing to approve this SIP revision, including the new 2017 MVEB for carbon monoxide, because it satisfies the requirement of the Clean Air Act for the second 10-year maintenance plan for the Memphis/Shelby County Area. In addition, in this rulemaking, EPA is providing information on the status of its transportation conformity adequacy determination for the new MVEB for the year 2017 that is contained in the second 10-year CO maintenance plan for the Memphis/Shelby County Area. In the Final Rules Section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this rule, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this document. Any parties interested in commenting on this document should do so at this time.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public hearing on the regulation of certain conventional foods that companies are marketing as ``functional foods.'' The purpose of the hearing is for the agency to share its current regulatory framework and rationale regarding the safety evaluation and labeling of these foods, and to solicit information and comments from interested persons on how FDA should regulate these foods under the agency's existing legal authority.

This action proposes to revise Class D airspace at Mesa, AZ, Falcon Field Airport. The airspace would be modified to accommodate general aviation pilots transitioning the Phoenix area as described in the forthcoming proposed Phoenix Class B airspace redesign. Revising the Falcon Field airspace will provide a wider corridor for general aviation pilots to transition north and south beneath the proposed Phoenix Class B airspace and remain west of the Falcon Field Airport Class D airspace.

The Department of the Treasury and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau are proposing changes to the regulations that govern the classification and labeling of cigars and cigarettes for Federal excise tax purposes under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The proposed regulatory changes contained in this document address concerns that TTB has regarding the adequacy of the current regulatory standards for distinguishing between cigars and cigarettes. The document also summarizes and responds to three petitions received by TTB requesting rulemaking action regarding the classification of cigars and cigarettes, with particular reference to the distinction between little cigars and cigarettes. The proposals contained in this document clarify the application of existing statutory definitions and update and codify administrative policy in order to provide clearer and more objective product classification criteria. These clarifications are intended to reduce possible revenue losses through the misclassification of cigarettes as little cigars. In addition, these clarifications should facilitate the determination of payments under the Master Settlement Agreement.

This rule amends the Department of Transportation's regulations implementing the governmentwide nonprocurement debarment and suspension requirements. Specifically, this rule adopts the optional lower tier coverage prohibiting excluded persons from participating in subcontracts at tiers lower than the first tier below a covered nonprocurement transaction.