January 12, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FEMA is suspending one community because it repealed its floodplain management regulations under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). If documentation is received from the community before the effective suspension date, indicating it has amended its floodplain management regulations in compliance with the NFIP requirements, FEMA will withdraw the suspension by publication in the Federal Register on a subsequent date.

Modified Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) are finalized for the communities listed below. These modified BFEs will be used to calculate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and their contents.

NMFS published a proposed rule on November 2, 2011 (76 FR 67656) to implement management measures described in Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendment 32) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). During the comment period for that proposed rule, NMFS identified an inconsistency in the codified text of that rule regarding the accountability measures for recreational gag and red grouper that needs correction. This rule proposes to further revise the recreational accountability measures for gag and red grouper to correctly specify what will occur if the ACL is exceeded and the species is overfished. This proposed rule is intended to end overfishing of gag, allow the gag stock to rebuild, and co-manage gag and red grouper by implementing concurrent management measures.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending its regulations to make them consistent with the inflationary adjustments that are already codified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as they relate to the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program and the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. In addition, the SBA is amending its regulations pertaining to the WOSB Program protest procedures so that they are consistent with the protest procedures for SBA's other government contracting programs.

DoD, GSA, and NASA issued an interim rule on November 2, 2011, amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 1331 of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act). Section 1331 addresses set-asides of task- and delivery-orders under multiple-award contracts, partial set-asides under multiple-award contracts, and the reserving of one or more multiple-award contracts that are awarded using full and open competition. Within this same context, section 1331 also addresses the Federal Supply Schedules Program managed by GSA. DoD, GSA, and NASA are coordinating with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on the development of an SBA proposed rule that will provide greater detail regarding implementation of section 1331 authorities. The comment period is being extended to provide additional time for interested parties to review the FAR changes of FAR Case 2011- 024, Set-Asides for Small Business, to February 13, 2012.

In this action, we are proposing to approve South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 317, ``Clean Air Act Non- Attainment Fee,'' as a revision to SCAQMD's portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). Rule 317 is a local rule submitted to address section 185 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). We are proposing that Rule 317, an equivalent alternative program, is not less stringent than the program required by section 185, and, therefore, is approvable, consistent with the principles of section 172(e) of the Act. As part of this action, we are inviting public comment on whether it is appropriate for EPA to consider equivalent alternative programs, and, if so, whether Rule 317 would constitute an approvable equivalent alternative program. We are taking comments on these proposals and plan to follow with a final action.

The Social Security Act (Act) states that we may issue a Ticket to Work (Ticket) to disabled beneficiaries for participation in the Ticket to Work program (Ticket program). Under our current rules, however, we mail initial Ticket notices to all Ticket-eligible beneficiaries, regardless of whether they are likely to participate in the program, immediately after they begin receiving benefits. We are modifying our rules so that we may send a Ticket to eligible disabled beneficiaries. We will inform all newly eligible and current beneficiaries of the availability of the program via routine correspondence. In addition, we will conduct Ticket outreach to those disabled beneficiaries who are most likely to return to work. We will send a Ticket to any eligible disabled beneficiary upon request, regardless of whether we have identified the beneficiary through our outreach efforts. We expect this change will make the Ticket program more effective. This change does not affect Ticket eligibility requirements.

NMFS announces that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 20A to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 20A) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 20A proposes actions for the wreckfish individual transferable quota (ITQ) program, including actions to define and revert inactive wreckfish quota shares, redistribute reverted quota shares to remaining shareholders, establish a cap on the number of wreckfish quota shares a single entity may own, and establish an appeals process for redistribution of reverted wreckfish quota shares. The actions contained in Amendment 20A are intended to help achieve the optimum yield (OY) from the wreckfish commercial sector in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

This proposed rule would address a recommendation submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) on April 29, 2011. The recommendation pertains to the 2012 Sunset Review of the listing for nutrient vitamins and minerals on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List). As recommended by the NOSB, the proposed rule would continue the exemption (use) for nutrient vitamins and minerals for 5 years after the October 21, 2012 sunset date. In addition, the proposed rule would amend the annotation to correct an inaccurate cross reference to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations (FDA). The proposed amendment to the annotation would clarify what synthetic substances are allowed as nutrient vitamins and minerals in organic products labeled as ``organic'' or ``made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)).''

EPA is taking direct final action to approve the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) 2002 base year emissions inventory portion of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Georgia on October 27, 2009. The emissions inventory is part of the Rome, Georgia (hereafter referred to as ``the Rome Area'' or ``Area''), PM2.5 attainment demonstration that was submitted for the 1997 annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This action is being taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).