November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is proposing to revise the Residual Interest Deadline in Commission Rule 1.22. The amendment would remove the December 31, 2018 termination date for the phased-in compliance schedule for futures commission merchants (``FCMs'') and provide assurance that the Residual Interest Deadline would only be revised through a separate Commission rulemaking.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its medical regulations by making technical corrections to conform to the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 (Act of 1996). Currently VA regulations read that veterans receive only VA hospital care to treat medical conditions of eligible veterans. We are amending our regulation to clarify that VA provides hospital care and medical services to eligible veterans.

On September 11, 2014, the Federal Election Commission received a Petition for Rulemaking from Level the Playing Field. The petition asks the Commission to amend its regulation on candidate debates to revise the criteria governing the inclusion of candidates in presidential and vice presidential candidate debates. The Commission seeks comments on this petition.

The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning a Proposed Rulemaking on Analytical Principles Used in Periodic Reporting (Proposal Eleven). This document informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps.

The Coast Guard announces an additional two-year delay of the effective date of its 2013 interim rule, which updates and revises tables that list liquid hazardous materials, liquefied gases, and compressed gases that have been approved by the Coast Guard and the International Maritime Organization for maritime transportation in bulk. These tables also indicate how the pollution potential of each substance has been categorized. The Coast Guard received comments to our 2013 interim rule regarding technical errors in the revised tables and is working to correct those errors. The additional delay will allow the Coast Guard to complete its work to correct technical errors and solicit additional comments in a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, prior to finalizing the rule. This rulemaking promotes the Coast Guard's maritime safety and stewardship missions.

This document notifies the public as required by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that the EPA Administrator has forwarded to the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) a draft regulatory document concerning the certification of pesticide applicators rule revisions. The draft regulatory document is not available to the public until after it has been signed and made available by EPA.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2012-14-11 for Arrow Falcon Exporters, Inc. (AFE), Rotorcraft Development Corporation (RDC), and San Joaquin Helicopters (SJH) Model OH-58A, OH- 58A+, and OH-58C helicopters. AD 2012-14-11 required inspecting the main rotor mast (mast) for a crack. This new AD expands the mast inspection area, changes the inspection to a repetitive inspection, and removes the reporting requirement. The actions in this AD are intended to prevent failure of the mast and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.

The Board is adopting a final rule (Regulation XX) to implement section 622 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (amending the Bank Holding Company Act to add a new section 14). Section 622 establishes a financial sector concentration limit that generally prohibits a financial company from merging or consolidating with, or acquiring, another company if the resulting company's liabilities upon consummation would exceed 10 percent of the aggregate liabilities of all financial companies. In addition, the final rule establishes reporting requirements for financial companies that do not otherwise report consolidated financial information to the Board or other appropriate Federal banking agency to implement section 14 of the Bank Holding Company Act.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved on an emergency basis, for a period of six months, the information collection associated with the Commission's Second Report and Order that adopted rules requiring Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers and other providers of interconnected text messaging applications (collectively, ``covered text providers'') to provide text-to-911 service. This document is consistent with the Second Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of those rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing this notice in support of the proposed rule, ``Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units,'' published on June 18, 2014 and the supplemental proposal, ``Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines: Existing Stationary Sources in Indian Country and U.S. Territories; Multi-jurisdictional Partnerships,'' issued on October 28, 2014, to provide further discussion of potential approaches for translating the emission rate- based carbon dioxide (CO2) goals that the EPA has proposed for each affected jurisdiction to an equivalent mass-based metric.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), in accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), are amending the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (List) by adding 20 species of corals: Boulder star coral (Orbicella franksi), lobed star coral (Orbicella annularis), mountainous star coral (Orbicella faveolata), pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus), rough cactus coral (Mycetophyllia ferox), Acropora globiceps, Acropora jacquelineae, Acropora lokani, Acropora pharaonis, Acropora retusa, Acropora rudis, Acropora speciosa, Acropora tenella, Anacropora spinosa, Euphyllia paradivisa, Isopora crateriformis, Montipora australiensis, Pavona diffluens, Porites napopora, and Seriatopora aculeata. These amendments are based on previously published determinations by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, which has jurisdiction for these species.

NASA is revising the NASA Grant & Cooperative Agreement Handbook to clarify that NASA does not pay profit or fee on Federal Financial Assistance awards, i.e. grants and cooperative agreements, to non-profit organizations. This rule makes changes to NASA regulations to reflect that revision.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all the Boeing Company Model 707 airplanes, and Model 720 and 720B series airplanes. This proposed AD is intended to complete certain mandated programs intended to support the airplane reaching its limit of validity (LOV) of the engineering data that support the established structural maintenance program. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections for cracking of the inboard and outboard midspar fittings of the nacelle struts and of the torque bulkhead, midspar chords, drag fitting, and front spar support, and doing applicable related investigative and corrective actions; replacing the midspar fittings; and doing other specified actions. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking in the midspar fittings of the inboard and outboard nacelle struts, which could result in the loss of the structural integrity of the midspar fitting. This condition could cause an unsafe separation of the engine and consequent wing fire.

NMFS issues regulations under authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFC Implementation Act) to revise the 2014 limit on fishing effort by U.S. purse seine vessels in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (U.S. EEZ) and on the high seas between the latitudes of 20[deg] N. and 20[deg] S. in the area of application of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention). The total limit for 2014 is revised from 2,588 fishing days to 1,828 fishing days. This action is necessary for the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure (CMM) adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Commission) and to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention, to which it is a Contracting Party.

In this document, the Commission issued in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by WPXS, Inc. (``WPXS''), the licensee of WPXS(TV), channel 21, Mount Vernon, Illinois, requesting the substitution of channel 11 for channel 21 at Mount Vernon. WPXS filed comments reaffirming its interest in the proposed channel substitution and states that it will apply for the channel if allotted, and promptly construct if authorized. Substituting channel 11 for channel 21 will further the Commission's goal of clearing UHF spectrum for new uses and allow WPXS to provide improved service to viewers, which serves the public interest.

This document notifies the public of the Federal Aviation Administration's policy regarding enforcement of the pilot pairing requirement in the ``Part 121 Pilot Age Limit'' final rule. Currently, while the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards allow a person between the age of 60 and 65 to serve as pilot in command (PIC) of an airplane with two or more pilots, in international commercial air transport operations, the PIC must be paired with a pilot younger than 60 years of age. Parts 61 and 121 of title 14, of the Code of Federal Regulations contain similar limitations. However, a recent amendment to the ICAO standards would remove this pilot pairing requirement. Instead, all pilots serving on airplanes in international commercial air transport operations with more than one pilot may serve beyond 60 years of age (until age 65) without being paired with a pilot under 60 years of age. This ICAO amendment triggers the sunset of the statutory authority that provides the basis for the crew pairing limitations in title 14.

The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to amend the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) regulation to expand eligibility to apply for coverage under the Program. Under the proposed regulation, the definition of ``qualified relative'' is expanded to cover all individuals who are domestic partners (both same-sex and opposite-sex) of Federal and U.S. Postal Service employees, annuitants, members of the uniformed services, and retired members of the uniformed services. In addition, the proposed regulation provides that adult children of domestic partners will be considered one of the types of individuals comprising the statutory term ``qualified relative'' who may apply for FLTCIP coverage.

This document corrects a misspelling in the regulatory language of our final rulemaking published in the Federal Register on Friday, October 10, 2014, titled Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Genitourinary Disorders.

This document contains final regulations that provide guidance on the recovery of overpayments of arbitrage rebate on tax-exempt bonds and other tax-advantaged bonds. These final regulations provide the deadline for filing a claim for an arbitrage rebate overpayment and certain other rules. These final regulations affect issuers of tax- exempt and tax-advantaged bonds.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 76-06-09 for certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. Model PA-31P airplanes. AD 76-06-09 required repetitive inspection of certain exhaust system parts with replacement of parts mating with the turbocharger, as necessary, and allowed installation of a certain tailpipe v-band coupling as terminating action. This new AD requires the use of new service information and expands the scope of the inspections of the turbocharger exhaust system. This AD was prompted by reports of exhaust system failures, new service information, and the tailpipe v-band coupling used for terminating action is obsolete. We are issuing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products.

We are reopening the public comment period on a proposed amendment to the West Virginia permanent regulatory program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). The proposed amendment consists of a Special Reclamation Tax Credit Rule that was submitted to OSMRE on August 7, 2014. The purpose of this document is to provide the public 15 additional days to comment on the proposed amendment.

DoD is making technical amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to provide needed editorial changes.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), issue a final rule to designate critical habitat for three species of rockfish listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA): the threatened yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) Distinct Population Segment (DPS), the threatened canary rockfish (S. pinniger) DPS, and the endangered bocaccio (S. paucispinus) DPS (listed rockfish) pursuant to section 4 of the ESA. The specific areas in the final designation include 590.4 square miles (1529 square km) of nearshore habitat for canary rockfish and bocaccio, and 414.1 square miles (1072.5 square km) of deepwater habitat for yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and bocaccio. This final designation represents a reduction of approximately 15.2 percent (180.3 sq mi, 467 sq km) for canary rockfish and bocaccio, and a reduction of approximately 28 percent (160 sq mi, 416.2 sq km) for yelloweye rockfish, compared to our proposed critical habitat rule on August 6, 2013 (78 FR 47635). We exclude some particular areas from designation because the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of inclusion and exclusion of those areas will not result in the extinction of the species. No areas were excluded based on economic impacts. This final rule responds to and incorporates public comments received on the proposed rule and supporting documents, as well as peer reviewer comments received on our draft biological report.

This major final rule with comment period addresses changes to the physician fee schedule, and other Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services, as well as changes in the statute. See the Table of Contents for a listing of the specific issues addressed in this rule.

This document contains final regulations regarding the determination of the basis of stock or securities in certain reorganizations where no stock or securities of the issuing corporation is issued and distributed in the transaction. These final regulations clarify that only a shareholder that owns actual shares in the issuing corporation in such a reorganization can designate the actual share of stock of the issuing corporation to which the basis, if any, of the stock or securities surrendered will attach. These regulations affect corporations engaging in such transactions and their shareholders.