November 5, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 17 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to or greater than the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

FMCSA announces that it has received an application from B.R. Kreider & Son, Inc., (Kreider) for an exemption from the requirement that drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) must be released from work within 12 consecutive hours in order to take advantage of the exception to the record of duty status (RODS) rule for short-haul operations. Drivers qualifying for the short-haul exception are subject to the hours of service limits but are not required to maintain a RODS during the duty day. Kreider asks that its drivers be allowed to operate under the short-haul exception when their duty day exceeds 12 hours, and states that the same level of safety would be achieved with the exemption in place as would be achieved without the exemption.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is correcting the docket identification number and Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) for a Proposed Rule that was published in the Federal Register (FR) on October 17, 2014, to amend the NRC's regulations to add SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc.'s accelerator-driven subcritical operating assemblies, as described in the application assigned docket number 50- 608, to the definition of utilization facility.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) hereby announces its intention to award grants and contracts to provide economical and effective delivery of high quality civil legal services to eligible low-income clients, beginning January 1, 2015.

This notice sets forth the agenda for the November 20-22, 2014 Quarterly Meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board (hereafter referred to as Governing Board). This notice provides information to members of the public who may be interested in attending the meeting or providing written comments on the meeting. The notice of this meeting is required under Section 10(a)2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating an effort to determine whether to amend the current energy conservation standards for residential central air conditioner and heat pump products. According to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act's 6-year review requirement (42 U.S.C. 6295(m)(1)), DOE must publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to propose new standards for residential central air conditioner and heat pump products or a notice of determination that the existing standards do not need to be amended by June 6, 2017. This RFI seeks to solicit information from the public to help DOE determine whether amended standards for residential central air conditioner and heat pump products would result in a significant amount of additional energy savings and whether those standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the selection of public transportation resilience projects in response to Hurricane Sandy under the Emergency Relief Program. These projects are funded under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, which made approximately $10.9 billion available for public transportation systems impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. This amount was subsequently reduced to $10.2 billion by sequestration and intergovernmental transfers of funds to other bureaus and offices within DOT. On December 26, 2013, FTA published a Federal Register Notice (78 FR 78486) announcing the availability of approximately $3 billion for projects that will reduce the risk of damage from future disasters in the areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy. FTA has allocated the maximum amount available for resilience projects: $3.592 billion. Resilience projects awarded in this notice are subject to the recently issued Final Rule for the Emergency Relief Program, which was published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2014 (79 FR 60349). FTA has published additional guidance on policies and procedures for competitive resilience funding in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) at www.fta.dot.gov/emergencyrelief. Recipients are responsible for monitoring this Web site for additional guidance.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received one permit application request to modify an existing research and enhancement permit. The proposed research is intended to increase knowledge of species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to help guide management, conservation, and recovery efforts. The application may be viewed online at: https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov/preview/ preview_open_for_comment.cfm.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), NESHAP for Engine Test Cells/ Stands (Renewal) (EPA ICR No. 2066.06, OMB Control No. 2060-0483), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq). This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through January 31, 2015. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register (79 FR 30117) on May 27, 2014 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An Agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) announces the award of a single-source expansion supplement award in the amount of $120,000 to Child Trends, Inc., in Bethesda, MD, to support activities that will provide research-based information to improve understanding of how to promote the economic and social well-being of underserved and under- represented populations.

EPA is supplementing the public meeting notice provided in the Federal Register on September 16, 2014, which announced a 4-day meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) scheduled for December 2-5, 2014, to consider and review scientific uncertainties associated with Integrated Endocrine Activity and Exposure-based Prioritization and Screening. Specifically, EPA is announcing the change of the assigned Designated Federal Official (DFO) for this meeting from Alva Daniels to Fred Jenkins, and that the meeting materials that have been provided to the FIFRA SAP members and are now available in the docket for this meeting.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations governing the rates and terms for the digital performances of sound recordings by noncommercial educational webcasters and for the making of ephemeral recordings necessary for the facilitation of such transmissions for the period commencing January 1, 2016, and ending on December 31, 2020.

NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection notice is published to obtain comments from the public. Federally insured credit unions with more than $50 million in assets are required to have a written interest rate risk (IRR) policy and an effective IRR management program as a condition for insurance of accounts. The information collection is currently authorized under OMB Control Number 3133-0184, which expires on February 28, 2015. The information collection allows NCUA to determine whether a credit union's financial condition and policies regarding interest rate risk are both safe and sound and meet the requirements for insurance of accounts.

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 Form 3491, Consumer Cooperative Exemption Application.