May 28, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document announces two meetings of the negotiated rulemaking committee that was established pursuant to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2008. The primary purpose of the committee is to discuss and negotiate a proposed rule that would change the regulations for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program and the Title VI Loan Guarantee program.

This final rule revises the November 25, 2008 final rule entitled, ``Medicaid Programs; Premiums and Cost Sharing (73 FR

EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the District of Columbia State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions establish general and transportation conformity regulations for the District of Columbia. EPA is approving these revisions in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

This regulation establishes tolerances for combined residues of prothioconazole and prothioconazole-desthio, calculated as parent in or on grain, cereal, group 15 (except sweet corn, sorghum, and rice), and grain, cereal, forage, fodder and straw, group 16 (except sweet corn, sorghum, and rice) and sweet corn. Bayer CropScience requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The EPA is approving a proposed revision to the New York State Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone concerning the control of volatile organic compounds. The proposed SIP revision consists of amendments to Title 6 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations Part 235, ``Consumer Products'' and Part 239, ``Portable Fuel Container Spillage Control.'' The intended effect of this action is to approve control strategies, required by the Clean Air Act, which will result in emission reductions that will help achieve attainment of the national ambient air quality standards for ozone.

This action proposes to remove Class E surface airspace at Orcas Island Airport, Eastsound, WA. Controlled airspace already exists in the Eastsound, WA, area to accommodate the safety and management of aircraft operations at Orcas Island Airport.

Section 1205 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) amended the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) by adding a new section 10C(a) that requires the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to establish housing goals with respect to the Federal Home Loan Banks' (Banks) purchase of mortgages, if any. Section 10C(b) provides that the Banks' housing goals are to be consistent with the housing goals established by FHFA for the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (collectively, the Enterprises) under sections 1331 through 1334 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (Safety and Soundness Act), as amended by HERA, taking into consideration the unique mission and ownership structure of the Banks. Section 10C(c) further provides that, to facilitate an orderly transition, the Director shall establish interim target housing goals for the Banks for a transition period extending through 2010. Section 10C(d) also extends the monitoring and enforcement requirements of section 1336 of the Safety and Soundness Act to the Banks in the same manner and to the same extent as those requirements apply to the Enterprises.

The Coast Guard is establishing a permanent special local regulation on Great South Bay, NY between Gilbert Park, Brightwaters, NY and Fire Island Lighthouse Dock, Fire Island, NY due to the annual Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim. This special local regulation is necessary to protect swimmers, safety vessels and the boating public on the navigable waters of Great South Bay, NY. Entry into this zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Long Island Sound, New Haven, CT.

FMCSA amends its regulations by establishing direct final rulemaking procedures for use on routine or noncontroversial rules. Under these procedures, FMCSA will make regulatory changes that will become effective a specified number of days after the date of publication in the Federal Register, unless FMCSA receives written adverse comment(s) or written notice of intent to submit adverse comment(s) by the date specified in the direct final rule. These new procedures will expedite the promulgation of routine or noncontroversial rules by reducing the time and resources necessary to develop, review, clear, and publish separate proposed and final rules. FMCSA will not use the direct final rule procedures for complex or controversial issues.

Section 1218 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) requires the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to permit the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) until July 30, 2010, to use Affordable Housing Program (AHP) homeownership set-aside funds to refinance low- or moderate-income households' mortgage loans. On August 4, 2009, FHFA adopted an interim final rule that amended its AHP regulation to authorize the Banks to provide AHP direct subsidies through their members under their homeownership set-aside programs to assist low- or moderate-income households who qualify for refinancing assistance under eligible federal, state and local targeted refinancing programs, including the Hope for Homeowners Program and the Administration's Making Home Affordable Refinancing Program. The interim final rule also enhanced the ability of the Banks to respond to the mortgage crisis by providing greater flexibility to accelerate their future annual statutory AHP contributions for use in their AHP homeownership set- aside programs in the current year, and by permitting the Banks to adopt multiple housing needs under their Second District Priority scoring criterion under the AHP competitive application program.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is publishing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to implement provisions of the Energy Conservation and Production Act, as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, that require DOE to establish revised performance standards for the construction of new Federal buildings and major renovations of Federal buildings. This

This interim rule establishes the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. This interim rule provides technical and financial assistance in the form of loans and grants to qualified Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs) to support microentrepreneurs in the development and ongoing success of rural microenterprises.