December 6, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim final rule amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations to allow VA to enter into contracts or provider agreements with State homes for the nursing home care of certain disabled veterans. This rulemaking is required to implement a change in law that revises how VA will pay for care provided to these veterans and authorizes VA to use provider agreements to pay for such care. The change made by this law applies to all care provided to these veterans in State homes on and after February 2, 2013.

OSHA is initiating a regulatory review of its existing safety and health standards in response to the President's Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review'' (76 FR 38210). The Agency conducted similar regulatory reviews of its existing standards previously as ``standards improvement projects.'' OSHA is issuing this request for information to initiate another of these regulatory reviews, and naming this review the Standards Improvement ProjectPhase IV (SIP-IV). The purpose of SIP-IV is to improve and streamline OSHA standards by removing or revising requirements that are confusing or outdated, or that duplicate, or are inconsistent with, other standards. The purpose of the regulatory review is to reduce regulatory burden while maintaining or enhancing employees' safety and health. SIP-IV will focus primarily on OSHA's construction standards. The purpose of this notice is to invite the public, including employers, employees, and employee representatives involved in the construction industry, to submit recommendations for revisions to existing construction standards, including the rationale for these recommendations. OSHA will review this information to determine the need for, and the content of, any subsequent SIP-IV rulemaking.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing this notice to inform establishments producing not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) ground or otherwise comminuted chicken and turkey products that they must reassess their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans for these products to take into account several recent Salmonella outbreaks associated with consumption of comminuted NRTE turkey products. No sooner than 90 days following publication of this notice, Agency inspection program personnel (IPP) will begin verifying that establishments that manufacture comminuted NRTE turkey or chicken product, as a final or intermediary product for further processing as NRTE product, have reassessed their HACCP plans for these products. This notice also describes how FSIS will determine whether the association of NRTE meat or poultry product with an outbreak would make subsequently-produced like product adulterated. In addition, FSIS is expanding its Salmonella Verification Sampling Program for Raw Meat and Poultry product to include all forms of non- breaded, non-battered comminuted NRTE poultry product that are not destined under company control programs for further processing into RTE products in official establishments. Finally, this notice announces that FSIS will apply its Category 1 performance measure based on current performance standards for ground chicken and turkey product to comminuted poultry to mark the level of process control that all establishments producing such products should maintain. No sooner than 90 days after publication of this notice, the Agency will begin sampling to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in comminuted poultry and will use the results from this sampling to develop performance standards for these products. For reasons discussed later, FSIS has not tested NRTE comminuted poultry products, other than ground chicken and ground turkey, for Salmonella. In addition, FSIS is likely to develop Campylobacter standards for these products following validation of an analytic method. FSIS invites comments on this notice.

The Department of Defense (DoD) published a proposed rule concerning the reduction of the use of social security numbers (SSN) in the Department on March 3, 2010 (75 FR 9548). The Department published the proposed rule because it intended to apply the SSN reduction policies and procedures to entities that contract with the Department. However, it has been determined that the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) or another contract vehicle is a more appropriate way to apply these policies and procedures to these entities; therefore, a final rule in title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations will not be published. DoD will publish internal guidance in an Instruction that will not contain language regarding contract companies since that guidance will be provided as noted above in a DFARS rule or other contract vehicle. This notice is being published to address the public comments received concerning the proposed rule.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) is amending its certifications and exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), to reflect that the Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General (DAJAG) (Admiralty and Maritime Law) has determined that USS CHANCELLORSVILLE (CG 62) is a vessel of the Navy which, due to its special construction and purpose, cannot fully comply with certain provisions of the 72 COLREGS without interfering with its special function as a naval ship. The intended effect of this rule is to warn mariners in waters where 72 COLREGS apply.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Harry S. Truman Railroad Drawbridge across the Missouri River, mile 359.4, at Kansas City, Missouri. The deviation is necessary to allow the replacement of 64 counterweight cables that facilitate movement of the lift span. This deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed position while the counterweight cables are replaced.

This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the Washington Cherry Marketing Committee (Committee) for the 2012-2013 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.40 to $0.18 per ton of sweet cherries handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of sweet cherries grown in designated counties in Washington. Assessments upon Washington sweet cherry handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period begins April 1 and ends March 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is amending its Red Flags Rule promulgated under Section 615 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to implement the Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010 (Clarification Act or Act). The interim final rule amends the definition of ``creditor'' in the original Red Flags Rule to make it consistent with the revised definition of that term in the Clarification Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'') is finalizing the update of the Outer Continental Shelf (``OCS'') Air Regulations proposed in the Federal Register on August 30, 2012. Requirements applying to OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries must be updated periodically to remain consistent with the requirements of the corresponding onshore area (``COA''), as mandated by the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (``the Act''). The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements for OCS sources for which the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (``Santa Barbara County APCD'' or ``District'') is the designated COA. The intended effect of approving the OCS requirements for the Santa Barbara County APCD is to regulate emissions from OCS sources in accordance with the requirements onshore.

We are revising an earlier proposed airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Cessna Aircraft Company (Cessna) Model 525 airplanes equipped with certain part number (P/N) air conditioning (A/C) compressor motors. That NPRM proposed to require inspection of the number of hours on the A/C compressor hour meter, inspection of the logbook, and replacement of the brushes on certain P/N A/C compressor motors or deactivation of the A/C system until replacement of the brushes and also require reporting of aircraft information related to the replacement of the brushes. That NPRM was prompted by reports of smoke and/or fire in the tailcone caused by brushes wearing beyond their limits on the A/C motor. This action revises that NPRM by providing correct steps for deactivation of the A/C compressor motor. We are proposing this supplemental NPRM to correct the unsafe condition on these products. Since these actions impose an additional burden over that proposed in the NPRM, we are reopening the comment period to allow the public the chance to comment on these proposed changes.

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is increasing the receipts based small business size standards for 15 industries and retaining the current receipts based size standards for five industries in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 51, Information. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, SBA evaluated all receipts based size standards for industries in NAICS Sector 51 to determine whether they should be retained or revised. SBA did not review the employee based standards for industries in NAICS Sector 51 in this rule, but will do so at a later date with other employee based size standards.

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is increasing the small business size standards for 37 industries and retaining the current size standards for the remaining seven industries in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Sector 56, Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, SBA has evaluated all receipts-based size standards for industries in NAICS Sector 56 to determine whether they should be retained or revised. SBA did not review the employee-based size standard for Environmental Remediation Services, an ``exception'' under NAICS 562910, Remediation Services, in NAICS Sector 56, but will do so at a later date with other employee-based size standards.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) are proposing amendments to the regulatory definitions of ``funds transfer'' and ``transmittal of funds'' under the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act. The proposed changes are intended to maintain the current scope of the definitions and are necessary in light of changes to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act that will result in certain currently covered transactions being excluded from Bank Secrecy Act requirements.

Currently, for any merchandise valued over $2,000, CBP requires importers to provide a surety bond, complete CBP form 7501, and pay a minimum of $25 in Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF). The final rule increases the limit, from $2,000 to $2,500, for which merchandise may qualify for an ``informal entry'', thereby eliminating the need for a surety bond, expediting the customs clearance process, and reducing the required MPF amount to $2 (assuming the entries are filed electronically). CBP is increasing the informal entry limit to mitigate the effects of inflation and in addition, to meet a commitment of the Beyond the Border Initiative between the United States and Canada, to increase and harmonize the value thresholds to $2,500 for expedited customs clearance from the current levels of $2,000 for the United States and $1,600 for Canada. This document also removes the language requiring formal entry for certain articles that were formerly subject to absolute quotas under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing because CBP no longer needs to require formal entries for these articles. This document also makes a technical conforming amendment to reflect a recent statutory amendment that increased the ad valorem Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) from 0.21 percent to 0.3464 percent. Finally, this document makes non- substantive editorial and nomenclature changes.