September 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published a final rule in the Federal Register of August 22, 2007, adjusting patent fees for fiscal year 2007 to reflect fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This document corrects errors in that final rule.

On May 3, 2007, PHMSA published a final rule to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; Parts 171-180) by revising and consolidating the requirements applicable to the use of the International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, the Canadian Transport of Dangerous Goods Regulations, and the International Atomic Energy Agency Safety Standards Series: Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. This rule corrects errors in the final rule.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is confirming the effective date of October 24, 2007, for a direct final rule that was published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2007 (72 FR 44951). This direct final rule amended the NRC's regulations concerning the size standard it uses to qualify an NRC licensee as a small entity under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and has made the same change to its annual fee rule.

NMFS proposes a regulation to implement the annual harvest guideline (HG) for Pacific mackerel in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. This HG has been calculated according to the regulations implementing the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and establishes allowable harvest levels for Pacific mackerel off the Pacific coast.

The Secretary is amending the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program, Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program regulations to implement the changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), resulting from enactment of the Third Higher Education Extension Act of 2006 (THEEA), Pub. L. 109-292. These final regulations reflect the provisions of the THEEA that authorize the discharge of the outstanding balance of certain Perkins, FFEL, and Direct Loan Program loans for survivors of eligible public servants and other eligible victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of quinclorac in or on imported barley grain. BASF Corporation requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

On January 31, 2007, PHMSA published a final rule that amended requirements in the Hazardous Materials Regulations applicable to the air transportation of compressed oxygen cylinders and oxygen generators. In response to appeals submitted by entities affected by the January 31 final rule, this final rule amends requirements adopted in the January 31, 2007 final rule and delays the effective date of these requirements from October 1, 2007 to October 1, 2008.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all McDonnell Douglas Model DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82 (MD-82), DC-9- 83 (MD-83), DC-9-87 (MD-87), and MD-88 airplanes. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections for cracking of the overwing frames from stations 845 to 905 (MD-87 stations 731 to 791), left and right sides, and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD results from reports of cracked overwing frames. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct such cracking, which could sever the frame, increase the loading of adjacent frames, and result in damage to adjacent structure and loss of overall structural integrity of the airplane.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

The Commission is adopting a temporary rule under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 that establishes an alternative means for investment advisers who are registered with the Commission as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of section 206(3) of the Advisers Act when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. The Commission is adopting the temporary rule on an interim final basis as part of its response to a recent court decision invalidating a rule under the Advisers Act, which provided that fee-based brokerage accounts were not advisory accounts and were thus not subject to the Advisers Act. As a result of the Court's decision, which takes effect on October 1, fee-based brokerage customers must decide whether they will convert their accounts to fee- based accounts that are subject to the Advisers Act or to commission- based brokerage accounts. We are adopting the temporary rule to enable investors to make an informed choice between those accounts and to continue to have access to certain securities held in the principal accounts of certain advisory firms while remaining protected from certain conflicts of interest. The temporary rule will expire and no longer be effective on December 31, 2009.

This proposed rule would amend the regulatory definition of outpatient hospital services for the Medicaid program. Outpatient hospital services are a mandatory part of the standard Medicaid benefit package. The current regulatory definition at 42 CFR 440.20 is broader than the definition in Medicare, and can overlap with other covered benefit categories. The purpose of this amendment is to align the Medicaid definition more closely to the Medicare definition in order to improve the functionality of the applicable upper payment limits under 42 CFR 447.321 (which are based on a comparison to Medicare payments for the same services), provide more transparency in determining available coverage in any State, and generally clarify the scope of services for which Federal financial participation (FFP) is available under the outpatient hospital services benefit category.

The Board is publishing amendments to Regulation AA (Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices) to update the address where consumer complaints regarding a state member bank may be sent.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance regarding the treatment of transactions involving obligations between members of a consolidated group and the treatment of transactions involving the provision of insurance between members of a consolidated group. The regulations will affect corporations filing consolidated returns.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance regarding certain changes made to the rules governing S corporations under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005. The proposed regulations are necessary to replace obsolete references in the current regulations and to allow taxpayers to make proper use of the provisions that made changes to prior law. In particular, the proposed regulations provide guidance on the S corporation family shareholder rules, the definitions of ``powers of appointment'' and ``potential current beneficiaries'' (PCBs) with regard to electing small business trusts (ESBTs), the allowance of suspended losses to the spouse or former spouse of an S corporation shareholder, and relief for inadvertently terminated or invalid qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) elections. The proposed regulations will affect S corporations and their shareholders. This document also provides a notice of a public hearing on these proposed regulations.

This notice provides guidelines on the Award of United States- Mexico Border Program and Alaska Rural and Native Villages Program Grants Authorized by the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007. This notice provides information and guidelines on how the EPA will award and administer the United States-Mexico Border Program and the Alaska Rural and Native Villages Program in accordance with the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (Pub. L. 110-5). The Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007, provides budget authority for funding the United States-Mexico Border Program and the Alaska Rural and Native Villages Program. Each grant recipient will receive a copy of this notice from EPA.

This proposed rule would provide a special enrollment period (SEP) for Medicare Part B and premium Part A for certain individuals who are sponsored by prescribed organizations as volunteers outside of the United States and who have health insurance that covers them while outside the United States. Under the SEP provision, qualifying volunteers can delay enrollment in Part B and premium Part A, or terminate such coverage, for the period of service outside of the United States and reenroll without incurring a premium surcharge for late enrollment or reenrollment. This proposed rule would also codify provisions that require certain beneficiaries to pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) in addition to the standard Medicare Part B premium, plus any applicable increase for late enrollment or reenrollment. The income-related monthly adjustment amount is to be paid by beneficiaries who have a modified adjusted gross income that exceeds certain threshold amounts. It also represents the amount of decreases in Medicare Part B premium subsidy, that is, the amount of the Federal government's contribution to the Federal Supplementary Medicare Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to fully use the C season allowance of the 2007 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the GOA.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an Agency delivering the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural Development, consolidates and amends the regulations utilized to service water and waste loan and grant programs. The rule will combine the water and waste loan and grant servicing regulations found in 7 CFR parts 1951, 1955, and 1956 into one regulation. Unnecessary and burdensome requirements for water and waste loan and grant servicing under the program will be eliminated. The streamlining of the water and waste loan and grant servicing regulation will allow the Agency to provide better service to entities needing assistance in resolving financial and economic problems in their communities and, in general, improve the quality of life in rural areas. Additionally, this rule implements Section 6018 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 1936a) for Rural Development's Business, Housing and Utilities programs.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard), issues this final rule to amend provisions of its previously issued final rule, to allow for greater participation in the TWIC program and codify final fees to obtain a TWIC. This final rule continues to further secure our Nation's ports and modes of transportation, and also implements the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) and the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 (SAFE Port Act). Those statutes require credentialed merchant mariners and individuals with unescorted access to secure areas of vessels and facilities to undergo a security threat assessment and receive a biometric credential, known as a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). With this final rule, the Coast Guard amends its regulations on vessel and facility security, requiring the use of the TWIC as an access control measure. Specifically, the Coast Guard is amending its definition of secure areas, to take into account facilities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, whose workers are not required to obtain work visas from the United States before being allowed to work. With this final rule, TSA amends its regulations on TWIC to allow additional non-resident aliens to apply for a TWIC if they are working in a job that requires them to have unescorted access to a maritime facility regulated under 33 CFR parts 105 or 106. TSA also amends the scope provision of the rule to include additional non-resident aliens that may apply for TWIC. TSA amends its regulations to clarify those credentialed merchant mariners who may receive a TWIC at a reduced fee. TSA amends the fee portion of the regulation, increasing the replacement credential fee from $36 to $60 and codifying the other fees that were announced in the Federal Register on March 20, 2007. Finally, TSA announces a reduction in the fee charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct fingerprint-based criminal history record checks (CHRCs) that are submitted to the FBI electronically. Therefore, the standard fee for a TWIC is $132.50 and the reduced TWIC fee for applicants who have completed a comparable threat assessment is $105.25.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is exempting a Privacy Act system of records from the following subsections of the Privacy Act: (c)(3) and (4), (d)(1), (2), (3), and (4); (e)(1), (2), (3), (5), and (8); and (g), pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a (j) and (k). The Privacy Act system of records is the ``El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) Seizure System, (JUSTICE/DEA- 022).'' The exemptions are necessary to prevent the compromise of ongoing investigative efforts, to help ensure the integrity of law enforcement and investigatory information, to ensure third party privacy, and to protect the physical safety of sources of information and law enforcement personnel.

This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is contained in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2006, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register.