March 25, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Government Contracting and Business Development (GC/BD) is tasked with implementing several provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA). On Monday, March 7, 2011, SBA announced a series of public meetings on its implementation of these provisions. The dates, times and locations, as well as registration information, are set forth below. SBA is providing this supplementary information on the government contracting provisions of the SBJA to provide background and focus input.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the B season allowance of the 2011 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 620 in the GOA.

We are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania regulatory program (the ``Pennsylvania program'') under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). In response to correspondence related to implementation of the approved Pennsylvania program, Pennsylvania has submitted regulatory changes for approval to render its program no less effective than the Federal regulations as they relate to effluent limitations for post- mining discharges that are amenable to passive treatment technology. This document gives the times and locations that the Pennsylvania program and this submittal are available for your inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written comments, and the procedures that we will follow for the public hearing, if one is requested.

EPA is finalizing approval of revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions were proposed in the Federal Register on November 5, 2010 and concern oxides of nitrogen (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulfur (SO2) and particulate matter emissions from boilers, steam generators and process heaters greater than 5.0 MMbtu/hour. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

On November 24, 2008, FEMA published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that contained an erroneous table. This notice provides corrections to that table, to be used in lieu of the information published at 73 FR 70944. The table provided here represents the flooding sources, location of referenced elevations, effective and modified elevations, and communities affected for White County, Arkansas, and Incorporated Areas. Specifically, it addresses the following flooding sources: Deener Creek, Gum Creek Flooding Effects, Little Red River, Overflow Creek Tributary, Red Cut Slough, Red Cut Slough Tributary, Red Cut Slough Tributary 2, and Red Cut Slough Tributary A.

The Coast Guard proposes to change the drawbridge operation regulations governing the operation of the Arthur Kill (AK) Railroad Bridge at mile 11.6, across Arthur Kill between Staten Island, New York and Elizabeth, New Jersey. This proposed rule would provide relief to the bridge owner from crewing their bridge by allowing the bridge to be operated from a remote location while continuing to meet the present and future needs of navigation.

Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission approves regional Reliability Standard of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) IRO-006-WECC-1 (Qualified Transfer Path Unscheduled Flow Relief) and six associated new definitions submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. This Reliability Standard is intended to mitigate transmission overloads due to unscheduled flow on a transfer path designated by WECC as being qualified for unscheduled flow mitigation.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'') amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') by adding a subsection entitled, ``Due Diligence for the Delivery of Dividends, Interest, and Other Valuable Property Rights.'' The amendment directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17, ``Transfer Agents' Obligation to Search for Lost Securityholders'' to: extend to brokers and dealers the requirement of Rule 17Ad-17 to search for lost securityholders; add to Rule 17Ad-17 a requirement that ``paying agents'' notify ``missing security holders'' in writing that the paying agent has sent the missing security holder a check that has not yet been negotiated; add to Rule 17Ad-17 an exclusion for paying agents from the notification requirements when the value of the not yet negotiated check is less than $25; and add to Rule 17Ad-17 a provision clarifying that the written notification requirements shall have no effect on State escheatment laws. The amendment also requires the Commission to ``adopt such rules, regulations, and orders necessary to implement this subsection no later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection.'' The Commission is publishing for comment proposed amendments to Rule 17Ad-17 to implement the statutory requirements.

This rule establishes, amends, suspends, or revokes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.

The Board of Governors (Board) is proposing amendments to facilitate the banking industry's ongoing transition to fully- electronic interbank check collection and return, including proposed amendments to condition a depositary bank's right of expeditious return on the depositary bank agreeing to accept returned checks electronically either directly or indirectly from the paying bank. The Board also is proposing amendments to the funds availability schedule provisions to reflect the fact that there are no longer any nonlocal checks. The Board proposes to revise the model forms that banks may use in disclosing their funds-availability policies to their customers and to update the preemption determinations. Finally, the Board is requesting comment on whether it should consider future changes to the regulation to improve the check collection system, such as decreasing the time afforded to a paying bank to decide whether to pay a check in order to reduce the risk to a depositary bank of having to make funds available for withdrawal before learning whether a deposited check has been returned unpaid.