May 3, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the availability of and requests comments on the proposed design criteria for the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH model LZ N07 airship. The German aviation airworthiness authority, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA), forwarded an application for type validation of the Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) model LZ N07 airship on October 1, 2001. The airship will meet the provisions of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) normal category for airships operations and will be certificated for day and night visual flight rules (VFR); additionally, an operator of this airship may petition for exemption to operate the airship in other desired operations.

NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2007 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2008 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 1, 2008. Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area. The measures establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ)(3- 200 nm) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non-treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and to provide for inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters).

The purpose of this notice is to announce a meeting of the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Council (Council) created by the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact Act of 1998 (Compact). Thus far, the Federal Government and 27 states are parties to the Compact which governs the exchange of criminal history records for licensing, employment, and similar purposes. The Compact also provides a legal framework for the establishment of a cooperative federal-state system to exchange such records. The United States Attorney General appointed 15 persons from federal and state agencies to serve on the Council. The Council will prescribe system rules and procedures for the effective and proper operation of the Interstate Identification Index System. Matters for discussion are expected to include: (1) Establishment of State Noncriminal Justice Audit Programs (2) New National Child Protection Act/Volunteers for Children Act Guidelines (3) New Compact Council Strategic Plan The meeting will be open to the public on a first-come, first- seated basis. Any member of the public wishing to file a written statement with the Council or wishing to address this session of the Council should notify Mr. Todd C. Commodore at (304) 625-2803, at least 24 hours prior to the start of the session. The notification should contain the requestor's name and corporate designation, consumer affiliation, or government designation, along with a short statement describing the topic to be addressed and the time needed for the presentation. Requesters will ordinarily be allowed up to 15 minutes to present a topic.

The USDA, Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement to designate a portion of the National Forest roads, trails, and areas, open to public motor vehicle use on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF), and assign the type of use(s) and season of use allowed on each road and trail or portion thereof. Roads, trails and areas not selected for designation will be closed to public motor vehicles year round (excepting the use of over-snow vehicles). Additionally, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest currently has 1,337,760 acres open to motorized cross country travel. These acres will be closed year round to motorized cross country travel, excluding over-snow vehicles.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on National Guard and Reserves in the GWOT will meet in closed session on May 15-16, 2007; at the Strategic Analysis Inc., 3601 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA. The mission of the Defense Science Board is to advise the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics on scientific and technical matters as they affect the perceived needs of the Department of Defense. At these meetings, the Defense Science Board Task Force will: assess the consequences for force structure, morale, and mission capability of deployments of members of the National Guard and the Reserves in the course of the global war on terrorism that are lengthy, frequent, or both. In accordance with Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended ( 5 U.S.C. App. II), it has been determined that these Defense Science Board Task Force meetings concern matters listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and that, accordingly, the meetings will be closed to the public.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on Nuclear Deterrence Skills will meet in closed session on May 30-31, 2007; at the Strategic Analysis Inc., 3601 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA. The mission of the Defense Science Board is to advise the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics on scientific and technical matters as they affect the perceived needs of the Department of Defense. At these meetings, the Defense Science Board Task Force will: Assess all aspects of nuclear deterrent skills as well as the progress Department of Energy (DoE) has made since the publication of the Chiles Commission report. In accordance with Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. II), it has been determined that these Defense Science Board Task Force meetings concern matters listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and that, accordingly, the meetings will be closed to the public.

In compliance with the Section 3506(c)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service announces the proposed extension of a public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) announces the proposed extension of a public information collection and seeks public comments on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

We are proposing to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems, and to implement certain provisions made by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-171), the Medicare Improvements and Extension Act under Division B, Title I of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-432), and the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (Pub. L. 109-417). In addition, in the Addendum to this proposed rule, we describe the proposed changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the rates for Medicare hospital inpatient services for operating costs and capital-related costs. We also are setting forth proposed rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals and hospital units excluded from the IPPS that are paid in full or in part on a reasonable cost basis subject to these limits or that have a portion of a prospective payment system payment based on reasonable cost principles. These proposed changes would be applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2007. In this proposed rule, we discuss our proposals to further refine the diagnosis-related group (DRG) system under the IPPS to better recognize severity of illness among patientsfor FY 2008, we are proposing to adopt a Medicare Severity DRG (MS-DRG) classification system for the IPPS. We are also proposing to use the structure of the proposed MS-DRG system for the LTCH prospective payment system (referred to as MS-LTC-DRGs) for FY 2008. Among the other policy changes that we are proposing to make are changes related to: Limited revisions of the reclassification of cases to proposed MS-DRGs, the proposed relative weights for the proposed MS- LTC-DRGs; the wage data, including the occupational mix data, used to compute the wage index; applications for new technologies and medical services add-on payments; payments to hospitals for the indirect costs of graduate medical education; submission of hospital quality data; provisions governing application of sanctions relating to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA); provisions governing disclosure of physician ownership in hospitals and patient safety measures; and provisions relating to services furnished to beneficiaries in custody of penal authorities.