May 29, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments tax treatment of salvage and reinsurance.

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning application of section 382 in short taxable years and with respect to controlled groups.

In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Acquisition and Property Management announces that it has submitted a request for renewal of approval of this information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and requests public comments on this submission.

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A). Currently the Bureau of the Public Debt within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning the Special Form of Request For Payment of United States Savings and Retirement Securities Where Use of a Detached Request is Authorized.

FMCSA announces its decision to grant RockTenn an exemption from the driver hours-of-service (HOS) provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). This limited exemption is for RockTenn's shipping department employees and occasional substitute commercial driver's license (CDL) holders who transport paper mill products short distances between its shipping and receiving locations on a public road. The exemption is restricted to a specific route. RockTenn requested an exemption from the HOS regulation that prohibits drivers from operating property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) after the 14th hour of coming on duty. This exemption will allow these individuals to occasionally work up to 16 consecutive hours and be allowed to return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty.

Due to an adverse comment, EPA is withdrawing the direct final rule, published on March 22, 2012, that approved revisions to the Puerto Rico Regulations for the Control of Atmospheric Pollution. Those revisions were submitted to EPA by the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board on July 13, 2011, and consist of amendments to Rules 102, 111, 115, 116 and Appendix A. Generally the revisions to the regulations involve administrative changes which improve the clarity of the rules contained in the Commonwealth's Implementation Plan and Operating Permits Program.

The EPA is making three separate and independent determinations. First, the EPA is determining that the Boston-Lawrence- Worcester (Eastern Massachusetts), MA-NH serious one-hour ozone nonattainment area met the applicable deadline of November 15, 2007, for attaining the one-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. This final determination is based upon complete, quality-assured, certified ambient air monitoring data that show the area attained the level of the now revoked one-hour ozone NAAQS for the 2005-2007 monitoring period. Second, EPA is determining that the Boston-Lawrence-Worcester (Eastern Massachusetts) moderate 1997 eight- hour ozone nonattainment area attained the 1997 eight-hour NAAQS for ozone by its applicable attainment date (June 15, 2010), based upon complete, quality-assured, certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2007-2009 monitoring period. Third, EPA is determining that the Boston-Lawrence-Worcester (Eastern Massachusetts) moderate 1997 eight- hour ozone nonattainment area has attained the 1997 eight-hour NAAQS for ozone, based upon complete, quality-assured, certified ambient air monitoring data for 2008-2010 monitoring period, and continuing through 2011. Under the provisions of EPA's ozone implementation rule, the requirements for this area to submit an attainment demonstration, a reasonable further progress plan, contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation Plans related to attainment of the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS shall be suspended for so long as the area continues to attain the 1997 ozone NAAQS.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is announcing the launch of the ``CMS Provider Screening Innovator Challenge.'' This Challenge is sponsored by CMS and is presented as part of the Partnership for Program Integrity Innovation program, and will be administered by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's (NASA) Federal Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. This Challenge addresses our goals of improving our abilities to streamline operations, screen providers, and reduce fraud and abuse. Specifically, the challenge is an innovation competition to develop a multi-State, multi-program provider screening software application which would be capable of risk scoring, credentialing validation, identity authentication, and sanction checks, while lowering burden on providers and reducing administrative and infrastructure expenses for States and Federal programs. More information pertaining to the Medicaid and CHIP programs can be found at www.medicaid.gov.