2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice applies to FHA single family mortgage insurance programs. This notice announces FHA's planned implementation of risk- based premiums, which are designed for mortgage lenders to offer borrowers an FHA-insured product that provides a range of mortgage insurance premium pricing, based on the risk the insurance contract represents.

The Department of Homeland Security, through the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), announces the availability of the working specification for Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) biometric readers and the TWIC contactless smart card application. This specification is based on recommendations to the Coast Guard and TSA from the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC); comments from the public following publication of the NMSAC recommendations and request for comment; and, the government's review of the NMSAC recommendations and comments received. The working specification is available to review at www.tsa.gov/twic and at https://dms.dot.gov in docket USCG-2007-27415.

This action announces a plan for a series of research projects aimed at addressing the toxicological effects and dosimetry of amphibole asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from Libby, Montana (referred to here as Libby amphibole). Although available human data establish the toxicity of asbestos, and preliminary dose response analyses for Libby amphibole have been developed, these estimates can be refined by addressing some of the key uncertainties that exist due to gaps in our understanding or lack of quantitative descriptions of internal dosimetry and toxicological effects. This planned set of projects is aimed at addressing these gaps and providing tools for quantitative characterization, including a comparative analysis of the toxicity of Libby amphibole relative to asbestos fibers and asbestos- like mineral occurrences. Other key areas of research will also inform the risk assessment, including inherent toxicity of Libby amphibole relative to other forms of asbestos and differential susceptibility, including that of different life stages. EPA conducted an internal and external review of the research plan and has documented the responses to comments.

The IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of Management invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This document announces the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) responses to Agency Clearance requests, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq). An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15.

This final rule amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations applicable to Government-furnished headstones or markers for placement in a national, State veterans, or private cemetery. The final rule specifies that a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse, whose remains are unavailable for burial, and who died after November 11, 1998, is eligible for a memorial headstone or marker for placement in a national or State veterans cemetery. This final rule also specifies that a veteran's dependent child, whose remains are unavailable for burial, and who died after December 22, 2006, is eligible for a memorial headstone or marker for placement in a national or State veterans cemetery. Lastly, this final rule extends for 1 year the authority to provide a Government-furnished headstone or marker for already marked graves of eligible veterans whose deaths occurred on or after September 11, 2001, for placement in private cemeteries. This final rule is necessary to incorporate statutory amendments into VA regulations.

EPA has extended the contract until September 30, 2008, by which its authorized contractor, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Chantilly, VA and its subcontractors, will access information which has been submitted to EPA under all sections of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Some of the information may be claimed or determined to be Confidential Business Information (CBI). Authority exists under the contract to extend it until September 30, 2009. If the contract is extended until September 30, 2009, CBI access will continue until that date.

NMFS issues a proposed rule that would revise the seabird avoidance measures for the Alaska hook-and-line groundfish and halibut fisheries. The proposed rule would strengthen gear standards for small vessels and eliminate certain seabird avoidance requirements that are not needed or not effective. This action is necessary to revise seabird avoidance measures based on the latest scientific information and to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens and associated costs.

The National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for Hazardous Substances (NAC/AEGL Committee) is developing AEGLs on an ongoing basis to provide Federal, State, and local agencies with information on short-term exposures to hazardous substances. This notice provides a list of 37 hazardous substances for Proposed AEGL values, which are available for public review and comment. Comments are welcome on both the Proposed AEGL values and the Technical Support Documents in the public docket.

The CNO Executive Panel will report on the findings and recommendations of the Iran Subcommittee to the Chief of Naval Operations. The meeting will consist of discussions of current and future Navy strategy, plans, and policies with respect to Iran, and discussions of future operating environments and force posture implications.

This notice announces that pesticide related information submitted to EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), including information that may have been claimed as Confidential Business Information (CBI) by the submitter, will be transferred to Guident Technologies and its subcontractor, Nortel Government Solutions in accordance with 40 CFR 2.307(h)(3) and 2.308(i)(2). Guident Technologies and its subcontractor, Nortel Government Solutions, have been awarded a contract to perform work for OPP, and access to this information will enable Guident Technologies and its subcontractor, Nortel Government Solutions, to fulfill the obligations of the contract.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (Agency) is amending the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) regulations to provide additional means to verify that an amount is eligible for rollover to the TSP as authorized by the Treasury Regulations interpreting I.R.C. 401(a)(31), to provide that the procedures applicable to an employee who was misclassified as either CSRS or FERS and the retirement system is corrected to FICA also apply to an employee who elects retroactive non-appropriated fund retirement coverage, and to provide that it will authenticate records in a manner consistent with Federal law and regulations. The Agency is also amending the TSP regulations to provide that it will allow a non-spouse beneficiary to transfer a death benefit payment to an inherited IRA as authorized by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, to provide that a bankruptcy court now lacks jurisdiction over a TSP loan as provided in the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, and to eliminate examples of general and special powers of attorney (some of which are no longer acceptable to the Agency) and, instead, direct participants to a sample form at the TSP Web site.

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.

This final rule will establish a system of revisit user fees applicable to health care facilities that have been cited for deficiencies during initial certification, recertification, or substantiated complaint surveys and require a revisit to confirm that corrections to previously-identified deficiencies have been remedied. Consistent with the President's long-term goal to promote quality of health care and to cut the deficit in half by fiscal year (FY) 2009, the FY 2007 Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) budget request included both new mandatory savings proposals and a requirement that user fees be applied to health care providers that have failed to comply with Federal quality of care requirements. The ``Revisit User Fees'' will affect only those providers or suppliers for which a revisit is required to confirm that previously-identified failures to meet federal quality of care requirements have been remedied. The fees are estimated at $37.3 million annually and will recover the costs associated with the Medicare Survey and Certification program's revisit surveys. The fees will take effect on the date of publication of the final rule and will be in effect until the date that the continued authority provided by Congress expires. At the time of publication of this regulation the applicable date is September 30, 2007. If no legislation is enacted, the fees are not retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. Any provider or supplier that has a revisit survey conducted on or after the date of publication will be assessed a revisit user fee and will be notified of the assessment upon data system reconciliation which can occur following the closing of the fiscal year. The fees will be available to CMS until expended. The revisit user fee is included in the President's proposed FY 2008 budget. We note through the publication of this final rule that if authority for the revisit user fee is continued, we will use the current fee schedule in this rule for the assessment of such fees until such time as a new fee schedule notice is proposed and published in final form.

On March 7, 2007, notice was published on page 10289 of the Federal Register (volume 72, number 44) of determinations made by the Department of State pertaining to the exhibit, ``The World of 1607.'' The referenced notice is corrected as to additional objects to be included in the exhibition. Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), Executive Order 12047 of March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority No. 234 of October 1, 1999, Delegation of Authority No. 236 of October 19, 1999, as amended, and Delegation of Authority No. 257 of April 15, 2003 [68 FR 19875], I hereby determine that the objects to be included in the exhibition ``The World of 1607'', imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural significance. The objects are imported pursuant to loan agreements with the foreign owners or custodians. I also determine that the exhibition or display of the exhibit objects at the Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, Virginia, from on or about October 5, 2007, until on or about January 25, 2008, and at possible additional exhibitions or venues yet to be determined, is in the national interest. Public Notice of these Determinations is ordered to be published in the Federal Register.

The IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of Management invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.