May 24, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On May 9, 2011, FMCSA published a final rule titled ``Commercial Driver's License Testing and Commercial Learner's Permit Standards.'' Among other things, the rule revised the definition of ``tank vehicle.'' The change required additional drivers, primarily those transporting certain tanks temporarily attached to the commercial motor vehicle (CMV), to obtain a tank vehicle endorsement on their commercial driver's license (CDL). The Agency has since received numerous questions and requests for clarification. This notice responds to questions about the new definition and the compliance date for drivers to obtain the tank vehicle endorsement.

We are giving notice that the Secretary is soliciting nominations for membership for this Committee to serve for 2- to 3-year staggered terms.

NMFS publishes for public review and comment information regarding a permit application for transshipment of Atlantic herring by Canadian vessels, submitted under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD)/Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Taos Field Office located in northern New Mexico. The New Mexico State Director signed the ROD on May 24, 2012, which constitutes the final decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP effective immediately.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) adopts rules to help consumers prevent and detect the placement of unauthorized charges on their telephone bills, an unlawful and fraudulent practice commonly referred to as ``cramming.'' The rules amend the Commission's existing Truth-in-Billing (TiB) rules, build on existing industry efforts to prevent cramming, and apply to wireline telephone carriers. The fact that the number of complaints received by the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, and state agencies remains high and the widespread nature of cramming are strong evidence that current voluntary industry practices have been ineffective to prevent cramming and make clear the need for additional protection for consumers.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of the petition or its final disposition.

On March 15, 2011, BOEM (formerly the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement) published a notice in the Federal Register (76 FR 14040), entitled ``Call for Information and Nominations'' (the Call). Subsequently, on November 15, 2011, BOEM published a ``Call for Information and Nominations: Correction'' in the Federal Register (76 FR 70748) correcting the sale numbers that were identified in the Call. This document describes a revision to the description of the areas not available for leasing in the OCS. BOEM believes the previous descriptions of the areas excluded by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-432 December 20, 2006) could be confusing. Consequently, Section 4.A. items 1 and 2 of the original call are to be revised by deleting the following: 1. Blocks that were previously included within the Eastern GOM Planning Area and are within 100 miles of the Florida coast; and 2. Blocks east of the Military Mission line (86 degrees, 41 minutes west longitude) under an existing moratorium until 2022, as a result of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (December 20, 2006); and replacing them with: 1. Whole blocks and portions of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006. Section 4.A. items 3 and 4 are also renumbered to 2 and 3 respectively to reflect this change.

Under the provisions of Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on March 12, 2011, Volume 77 No. 44, pages 14531-14533 and allowed 60-days for public comment. One comment was received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment. The National Institutes of Health may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a current valid OMB control number. Proposed Collection: Title: Web-Based Assessment of the Clinical Studies Support Center (CSSC). Type of Information Collection Request: New. Need and Use of Information Collection: Over the past decade Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMBs), Observational Safety Monitoring Boards (OSMBs), and Protocol Review Committees (PRCs) have become an important quality standard in clinical trials and research involving human subjects. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) alone currently has approximately 60 active review Committees. These include DSMBs, OSMBs, and PRCs which are independent groups convened to review study protocols developed under NHLBI funded Clinical Trial Networks. These committees are composed of members with expertise in biostatistics, clinical trials, bioethics, and other specific scientific and research areas. The NHLBI is charged with ensuring the highest quality of each Institute-funded clinical research project and compliance with Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/National Institutes of Health (NIH)/NHLBI regulations regarding human subject protections and safety monitoring. To carry out this responsibility, the NHLBI program staff instituted a new methodology for supporting the administration of NHLBI-appointed Committees in 2009. The new methodology included the establishment of the Clinical Studies Support Center (CSSC) under the direction of Westat, Inc. The CSSC is a pilot program to support the operations of NHLBI's DSMBs, Observational OSMBs, and PRCs for the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources. Utilizing Executive Secretaries to support each NHLBI safety monitoring board, the CSSC is responsible for documenting standardized operating procedures related to the administration of monitoring committees and the support center in a CSSC Manual of Operations and Procedures (MOP); coordinating meeting space and logistics for in-person meetings, Web conferences, and teleconferences; managing distribution of adverse event notifications to DSMB chairs and members, new protocols, and proposed amendments; and providing Executive Secretaries who provide scientific and administrative support to document board recommendations related to the safety and efficacy of trial interventions and the quality and completeness of clinical research study data. To move forward with full knowledge of current Committee operations and to monitor the effect of newly established procedures, Westat is required, as part of this contract, to conduct an assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of NHLBI CSSC committee operations. As part of this assessment, the NHLBI requires feedback and advice regarding the support provided by the CSSC for monitoring board operations. To this end, a Web-based questionnaire will be administered to Chairs and members of monitoring boards to learn about their opinions about specific CSSC activities and their satisfaction with the performance of CSSC staff. Frequency of Response: Once. Affected Public: Individuals. Type of Respondents: Monitoring board members. The annual reporting burden is a follows: Estimated Number of Respondents: 90; Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1; Average Burden of Hours per Response: 0.33 and Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours Requested: 30.36. The annualized cost to respondents is estimated at: $ 3.036 (based on $100 per hour). There are no Capital Costs to report. There are no Operating or Maintenance Costs to report.

In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Proposed Collection: Title: Collection of Customer Service, Demographic, and Smoking/Tobacco Use Information from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (CIS) Clients (NCI). Type of Information Collection Request: Revision of currently approved collection 0925-0208 (expiration 08/30/2012). Need and Use of Information Collection: The National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service (CIS) provides the latest information on cancer, clinical trials, and tobacco cessation in English and Spanish. Clients are served by calling 1-800-4-CANCER for cancer information; 1-877-44U- QUIT for smoking cessations services; using the NCI's LiveHelp, a web- based chat service; using NCI's Contact Us page on www.cancer.gov; and using NCI's Facebook page. CIS currently conducts a brief survey of a sample of telephone and LiveHelp clients at the end of usual servicea survey that includes three customer service and twelve demographic questions (age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, household income, number in household, and five questions about health care/coverage). Characterizing clients and how they found out about the CIS is essential to customer service, program planning, and promotion. The NCI also conducts a survey of individuals using the CIS's smoking cessation servicesa survey that includes 20 smoking/tobacco use ``intake'' questions that serve as a needs assessment that addresses smoking history, previous quit attempts, and motivations to quit smoking. An additional question is used with callers who want to receive proactive call-back services. Responses to these questions enable Information Specialists to provide effective individualized counseling. The NCI's CIS also responds to cancer-related inquiries to its Facebook page and its Contact Us form on www.cancer.gov but does not collect customer service or demographic questions on these access channels. Frequency of Response: Once. Affected Public: Individuals or households. Type of Respondents: People with cancer; their relatives and friends; and general public, including smokers/tobacco users. Annualized estimates for numbers of respondents and respondent burden are presented in Table 1.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a previously approved Information collection concerning the GSA Mentor-Prot[eacute]g[eacute] Program, General Service Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM). A notice was published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 9659, on February 17, 2012. No comments were received. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary; whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

EPA is proposing approval of a revision to the Massachusetts State Implementation Plan (SIP) that addresses regional haze for the first planning period from 2008 through 2018. It was submitted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) on December 30, 2011. EPA is also proposing to approve, through parallel processing, a supplemental Regional Haze submittal, Proposed Revisions to Massachusetts Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (SIP), which was proposed by the MassDEP for public comment on February 17, 2012. These submittals address the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's rules that require States to prevent any future, and remedy any existing, manmade impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas (also referred to as the ``regional haze program''). States are required to assure reasonable progress toward the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas.

On April 30, 2012, the Department of State certified, pursuant to Section 609 of Public Law 101-162, that 13 nations have adopted programs to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles in their shrimp fisheries comparable to the program in effect in the United States. The Department also certified that the fishing environments in 26 other countries and one economy do not pose a threat of the incidental taking of sea turtles protected under Section 609.