November 18, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Consultation advises the public that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is conducting a comprehensive review of all regulations promulgated to implement the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq. The Commission is taking a fresh look at its rules in order to determine whether amendments are necessary to more effectively implement IGRA's policies of protecting Indian gaming as a means of generating Tribal revenue, ensuring that gaming is conducted fairly and honestly by both the operator and players, and ensuring that Tribes are the primary beneficiaries of gaming operations. The Commission's challenge is to adapt its rules to ensure that they promote these values into the future. This review is also being prepared in order to submit the NIGC's Semi-Annual Regulatory Review to the Federal Register in April 2011 as required by Executive Order 12866 entitled ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. In compliance with Executive Order 13,175 entitled ``Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments,'' the NIGC will hold eight consultations during January and February 2011. This Notice of Inquiry invites comments and information that will assist the NIGC in understanding the need for revising any or all of the regulations outlined below. The consultations and public comments requested in this Notice are intended to assist the NIGC with completion of the review and in establishing priorities. Following completion of the consultation and written comment period, the NIGC will review all comments received and create a comprehensive regulatory review agenda schedule. The public comment period ends February 12, 2011. The regulatory review agenda will be released in April 2011 and will include a summary explaining why the NIGC agreed or disagreed with the comments received and why the regulatory review agenda took its final form.

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or the Board) is proposing to amend its open meeting regulations at 5 CFR 1206.7 to ensure consistency with the Government in Sunshine Act.

This notice announces the intention of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed information collection project: ``Evaluation of the National Guideline Clearinghouse\TM\.'' In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520, AHRQ invites the public to comment on this proposed information collection. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on September 17th, 2010 and allowed 60 days for public comment. No comments were received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

The Coast Guard is establishing a special load line regime for certain unmanned dry-cargo river barges to be exempted from the normal Great Lakes load line assignment while operating on Lake Michigan. Depending on the route, eligible barges may obtain a limited domestic service load line assignment or be conditionally exempted from any load line assignment at all. This special load line regime allows river barges operating under safe conditions to directly transport non- hazardous cargoes originating at inland river ports as far as Milwaukee and Muskegon, resulting in significant cost savings.

This document contains a proposed regulation that, on adoption, would implement the annual funding notice requirement in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) and the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA). As amended, section 101(f) of ERISA generally requires the administrators of all defined benefit plans, not just multiemployer defined benefit plans, to furnish an annual funding notice to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), participants, beneficiaries, and certain other persons. A funding notice must include, among other information, the plan's funding target attainment percentage or funded percentage, as applicable, over a period of time, as well as other information relevant to the plan's funded status. This document also contains proposed conforming amendments to other regulations under ERISA, such as the summary annual report regulation, which became necessary when the PPA amended section 101(f) of ERISA. The proposed regulation would affect plan administrators and participants and beneficiaries of defined benefit pension plans, as well as labor organizations representing participants and beneficiaries and contributing employers of multiemployer plans.

This document announces the availability of the Final Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2010-2013 (Priority Plan) in Docket No. NHTSA-2009-0108. This Priority Plan is an update to the Final Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan 2009-2011 (October 2009 Plan) that was announced in the November 9, 2009, version of the Federal Register (74 FR 57623).