November 21, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this document, the Commission announces that certain rules adopted in the Service Rules for the 698-806 MHz Band proceeding, to the extent they contained information collection requirements that required approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), were approved, October 28, 2011.

GSA is amending the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) to establish policy for the transportation of the immediate family, household goods, personal effects, and one privately owned vehicle of a covered employee whose death occurred as a result of personal injury sustained while in the performance of the employee's duty as defined by the agency.

This action extends the comment period for a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) on the accessibility of Web sites and automated kiosks that was published in the Federal Register on September 26, 2011. The Department of Transportation is extending the closing date for interested persons to submit comments on this rulemaking by 45 days from November 25, 2011, to January 9, 2012. This extension is a result of requests from a number of parties for additional time to respond to the SNPRM. The Air Transport Association, the International Air Transport Association, the Air Carrier Association of America, the Regional Airline Association, and the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines all asked to extend the comment period on the proposal by 120 days in order to allow interested parties to fully evaluate the proposed rule, answer the numerous questions in the preamble, and develop constructive comments for the Department's consideration. The Interactive Travel Services Association requested an extension of at least 60 days to gather the information necessary to provide an in-depth, comprehensive response to the SNPRM. An individual with a disability has also asked for an extension, citing difficulties in using the online comment form on the www.regulations.gov Web site. The Department acknowledges that more time to provide comments may be warranted given the complex nature of the issues and the need to resolve problems encountered by some individuals to date in submitting comments. Nonetheless, we are not persuaded that an additional 120 or even 60 days are needed to respond. In addition to extending the comment period, this action responds to questions posed by the Associations about certain aspects of the SNPRM.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its regulation and internal policy documents concerning the billing methodology for non-VA providers of home health services and hospice care. The proposed rulemaking would include home health services and hospice care under the VA regulation governing payment for other non-VA health care providers. Because the newly applicable methodology cannot supersede rates for which VA has specifically contracted, this rulemaking will only affect providers who do not have existing negotiated contracts with VA. The proposed rule would also rescind internal guidance documents that could be interpreted as conflicting with the proposed rule.

This document notifies the public that the Administrator of EPA has forwarded to the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) a draft final rule as required by section 25(a) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the Placer County Air Pollution Control District (PCAPCD) and Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from coatings and strippers used on wood products, wood paneling, and miscellaneous metal parts and products. We are approving these local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

EPA is updating the materials that are incorporated by reference (IBR) into the Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP). The regulations affected by this update have been previously submitted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) and approved by EPA. This update affects the SIP materials that are available for public inspection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center located at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and the EPA Regional Office.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement to update policies on the submission of payment requests and receiving reports in electronic format.

The NTSB's regulations on Employee Responsibilities and Conduct, located at 49 CFR part 805 (part 805), have been superseded by regulations of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issued pursuant to the provisions of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, and codified at 5 CFR parts 2634 and 2635. Accordingly, the NTSB is rescinding part 805 in its entirety.

This document contains temporary regulations regarding the determination of the basis of stock or securities in a reorganization where no stock or securities of the issuing corporation is issued and distributed in the transaction. These temporary regulations clarify that, in certain reorganizations where no stock or securities of the issuing corporation is issued and distributed in the transaction, the ability to designate the share of stock of the issuing corporation to which the basis, if any, of the stock or securities surrendered will attach applies only to a shareholder that owns actual shares in the issuing corporation. These temporary regulations affect corporations engaging in such transactions and their shareholders. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register.

This final rule amends the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), and allows agencies to establish internal policy and procedures for storage of a privately owned vehicle (POV) when an employee is assigned a temporary change of station (TCS) in support of a contingency operation.

This action finalizes the residual risk and technology review conducted for two industrial source categories regulated by separate national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants. The two national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants are: National Emissions Standards for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair (Surface Coating) and National Emissions Standards for Wood Furniture Manufacturing Operations. This action also finalizes revisions to the regulatory provisions related to emissions during periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction.