March 2, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 7, 2010, NHTSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to amend the agency's Federal motor vehicle safety standard on rearview mirrors to improve the ability of a driver of a vehicle to detect pedestrians in the area immediately behind the vehicle and thereby minimize the likelihood of the vehicle striking a pedestrian while the vehicle is moving backward. NHTSA is announcing two separate public events relating to this proposal. The first event, a public technical workshop, will be held on March 11, 2011, to discuss technical issues relevant to the test procedure described in the proposed rule. The second event, a public hearing, will be held on March 23, 2011 to provide an opportunity for the public to present oral testimony regarding the proposal. The dates, times, locations, and framework for these public events are announced in this notice. In order to facilitate the submission of written comments in connection with these two events, the comment period for the proposed rule will be reopened for a period of 45 days. In a separate document appearing in today's edition of the Federal Register, the agency is correcting various minor errors regarding metric conversions, section cross references and other matters.

This final rule makes inseason adjustments to commercial and recreational fishery management measures for several groundfish species taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. These actions, which are authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), are intended to allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

The Coast Guard will enforce the Navy Pier Southeast Safety Zone in Chicago Harbor on the evening of March 12, 2011. This action is necessary and intended to ensure safety of life on the navigable waters of the United States immediately prior to, during, and immediately after fireworks events. This rule will establish restrictions upon, and control movement of, vessels in a specified area immediately prior to, during, and immediately after fireworks events. During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the safety zone without the permission of the Captain of the Port, Sector Lake Michigan.

This document affirms as final a proposed rule that amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical regulations to authorize VA to provide hospital and outpatient care to a veteran in a program that provides temporary housing upon release from incarceration in a prison or jail. The final rule permits VA to work with these veterans while they are in these programs with the goal of continuing to work with them after their release, which will assist in preventing homelessness in this population of veterans.

In this document, the Commission proposes the removal of the narrowband comparably efficient interconnection (CEI) and open network architecture (ONA) reporting requirements that currently apply to the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) due to a lack of continuing relevance and utility. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking continues the Commission's examination of its data practices through the Data Innovation Initiative, including identification of data collections that can be eliminated without reducing the effectiveness of the Commission's decision-making process.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the North Branch of the Chicago River near Chicago, Illinois. This zone is intended to restrict vessels from a portion of the North Branch of the Chicago River due to soil sampling in this area. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect the surrounding public and vessels from the hazards associated with the soil sampling efforts.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for 24 hours. This action is necessary to fully use the A season allowance of the 2011 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or Department) will hold a public meeting to discuss and receive comments on the following issues: The equipment classes DOE plans to analyze for the purpose of considering the amendment of energy conservation standards for distribution transformers; the analytical framework, models, and tools DOE is using to evaluate standards for this type of equipment; the results of preliminary analyses performed by DOE for this equipment; and potential energy conservation standard levels derived from these analyses that DOE could consider for this equipment. DOE also encourages interested parties to submit written comments on these subjects. To inform stakeholders and facilitate the public meeting and comment process, DOE has prepared an agenda, a preliminary technical support document (TSD), and briefing materials, which are available at: https://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/comm ercial/ distribution_transformers.html.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confirming the effective date of March 30, 2011, for the final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of November 15, 2010 (75 FR 69586). The direct final rule amends the regulations regarding new animal drugs for minor use and minor species (MUMS) to update language and clarify the intent of the regulations consistent with the preambles to the proposed and final rules. This document confirms the effective date of the direct final rule.

We propose to amend our Tax Refund Offset (TRO) and Administrative Offset regulations. We are conforming our regulations to those of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for the following reasons: (1) Treasury removed the 10-year limitation to collect delinquent debts owed the United States by reducing eligible Federal payments, and (2) more States are participating in reciprocal agreements with Treasury to offset State payments, including tax refunds to reduce or extinguish a federally owed debt. The potential exists to increase collection of Federal debts for two reasons: (1) We are authorized to collect debts indefinitely by offsetting eligible Federal payments through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP), and (2) States that have reciprocal agreements with Treasury are authorized to offset payments to reduce or extinguish debts owed to the Federal agencies.

In accordance with Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' HUD is reviewing its existing regulations to evaluate their continued effectiveness in addressing circumstances for which the regulations were promulgated. As part of this review, HUD invites public comments to assist in the development of a plan for periodically analyzing existing significant regulations to determine whether they should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed. HUD also seeks comment to identify specific current regulations that may be outdated, ineffective, or excessively burdensome. The purpose of this regulatory review is to make the Department's regulations more effective and less burdensome in achieving HUD's mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities, and quality affordable homes for all.

This regulation establishes the exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of Potassium hypochlorite. Enviro Tech Chemical Services, Inc. submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting that Potassium hypochlorite in end-use products be eligible for the exemption from the requirement of a tolerance.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement section 815 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Section 815 addresses the preservation of tooling for major defense acquisition programs.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to increase the use of fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts, with particular attention to share lines and ceiling prices.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to update and clarify the requirements for multiyear contracting. No statutory changes are incorporated in this proposed rule.

This document adopts as a final rule without change the proposed rule to amend the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations governing the physical environment of State Home facilities. The final rule will require State Home facilities that receive a per diem for providing nursing home care to eligible veterans to meet certain provisions of the 2009 edition of the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 101, Life Safety Code. The change is designed to assure that State Home facilities meet current industry- wide standards regarding life safety and fire safety.

The Board is publishing for public comment a proposed rule that would amend Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to implement certain amendments to the Truth in Lending Act made by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Regulation Z currently requires creditors to establish escrow accounts for higher-priced mortgage loans secured by a first lien on a dwelling. The proposal would implement statutory changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act that lengthen the time for which a mandatory escrow account established for a higher-priced mortgage loan must be maintained. In addition, the proposal would implement the Act's disclosure requirements regarding escrow accounts. The proposal also would exempt certain loans from the statute's escrow requirement. The primary exemption would apply to mortgage loans extended by creditors that operate predominantly in rural or underserved areas, originate a limited number of mortgage loans, and do not maintain escrow accounts for any mortgage loans they service.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of difenoconazole in or on mango and wax jambu. Syngenta Crop Protection, Incorporated requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. That AD currently requires repetitively inspecting the interior and the exterior of the main tubular spar of the rudder assembly for corrosion, taking necessary corrective action if corrosion is found, and applying corrosion protection. This AD retains the requirements of the previous AD and changes the compliance time for certain products listed above. This AD was prompted by our determination that the compliance time specified for Models G-164, G- 164A, and G-164B airplanes does not adequately address the unsafe condition. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct corrosion in the rudder main tubular spar, which could result in failure of the rudder main spar tube. This failure could lead to loss of directional control.