August 31, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321-4370h); the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508); Department of the Navy (DoN) Procedures for Implementing NEPA (32 CFR Part 775); and Marine Corps NEPA directives (Marine Corps Order P5090.2A), the DoN, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Bureau of Reclamation, has prepared and filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) that evaluates the potential environmental consequences that may result from renewing the withdrawal of approximately 228,465 acres of public land for continued use as part of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range (CMAGR) in Imperial and Riverside counties, California. With the filing of the Draft LEIS, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is initiating a 90-day public comment period and has scheduled four public meetings to receive oral and written comments on the Draft LEIS. Federal, state, and local agencies; Native American tribes; and interested parties are encouraged to provide comments in person at any of the public meetings, or in writing anytime during the public comment period. This notice announces the dates and locations of the public meetings and provides supplementary information about the environmental planning effort. These public meetings also meet the requirement set forth in Section 806 of the California Desert Protection Act for the Secretary of the Navy to hold a public hearing in the State of California to receive public comments on the Draft LEIS.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. Section 102 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989 (HUD Reform Act) requires the Department to ensure greater accountability and integrity in the provision of assistance administered by the Department. One feature of the statute requires certain disclosures by applicants seeking assistance from HUD, assistance from states and units of local government, and other assistance to be used with respect to the activities to be carried out with the assistance. The disclosure includes the financial interests of persons in the activities, and the sources of funds to be made available for the activities, and the proposed uses of the funds. Each applicant that submits an application for assistance, within the jurisdiction of HUD, to a state or to a unit of general local government for a specific project or activity must disclose this information whenever the dollar threshold is met. This information must be kept updated during the application review process and while the assistance is being provided.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated July 21, 1996.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of nitric acid (CAS Reg. No. 7697-37-2) when used as an inert ingredient in antimicrobial pesticide formulations applied to food-contact surfaces in public eating places, dairy processing equipment, and food-processing equipment and utensils at a maximum level in the end-use concentration of 1,000 parts per million (ppm). Ecolab Inc. submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting establishment of an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of nitric acid.

This rule prescribes the hunting seasons, hours, areas, and daily bag and possession limits of mourning, white-winged, and white- tipped doves; band-tailed pigeons; rails; moorhens and gallinules; woodcock; common snipe; sandhill cranes; sea ducks; early (September) waterfowl seasons; migratory game birds in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; youth waterfowl day; and some extended falconry seasons. Taking of migratory birds is prohibited unless specifically provided for by annual regulations. This rule permits taking of designated species during the 2012-13 season.

The De Soto Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Waynesboro, Mississippi. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with the title II of the Act. The meeting is open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to review and recommend projects authorized under title II of the Act.

The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Resource Advisory Committee will meet via teleconference. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 112-141) (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with the Title II of the Act. The meeting is open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to review and recommend projects authorized under Title II of the Act.

We are revising the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. Some of the changes implement certain statutory provisions contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as the Affordable Care Act) and other legislation. These changes will be applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012, unless otherwise specified in this final rule. We also are updating the rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals excluded from the IPPS that are paid on a reasonable cost basis subject to these limits. The updated rate-of-increase limits will be effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2012. We are updating the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) and implementing certain statutory changes made by the Affordable Care Act. Generally, these changes will be applicable to discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012, unless otherwise specified in this final rule. In addition, we are implementing changes relating to determining a hospital's full-time equivalent (FTE) resident cap for the purpose of graduate medical education (GME) and indirect medical education (IME) payments. We are establishing new requirements or revised requirements for quality reporting by specific providers (acute care hospitals, PPS- exempt cancer hospitals, LTCHs, and inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs)) that are participating in Medicare. We also are establishing new administrative, data completeness, and extraordinary circumstance waivers or extension requests requirements, as well as a reconsideration process, for quality reporting by ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) that are participating in Medicare. We are establishing requirements for the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.