June 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Board is amending Regulation D (Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions) regarding the payment of interest on certain balances maintained at Federal Reserve Banks by or on behalf of eligible institutions. Specifically, the amendments permit interest payments on certain balances to be based on a daily rate rather than on a maintenance period average rate. The amendments should help to enhance the role of such rates of interest in moving the Federal funds rate into the target range established by the FOMC, particularly on occasions when changes in those rates do not coincide with the beginning of a maintenance period.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Morrison Bridge, mile 12.8, and the Hawthorne Bridge, mile 13.1, both crossing the Willamette River at Portland, OR. The deviation is necessary to accommodate Portland's Red, White, and Blues Run/Walk event. The deviation allows the bridges to remain in the closed-to-navigation position from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on July 5, 2015 to allow for the safe movement of event participants across the bridges.

This action proposes to establish Class E airspace at Tomah, WI. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) at Bloyer Field Airport. The FAA is proposing this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations within the National Airspace System (NAS).

The Commission is issuing a set of final rules addressing changes and corrections to the Mail Classification Schedule (MCS). The final rules establish procedures for material changes in services offered in connection with products and corrections to product descriptions. Relative to the proposed rules, all changes are minor and non-substantive.

This action proposes to establish Class E Airspace at Poplarville, MS, to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) serving Poplarville-Pearl River County Airport. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

The Coast Guard is changing the operating schedule that governs the Amtrak Bridge, mile 0.0, at Niantic, Connecticut. The bridge owner, National Railroad Passenger Company (Amtrak), submitted a request to remove the special drawbridge operation regulation because the bridge now opens on signal at all times. It is expected that this change to the regulations will create efficiency in drawbridge operations while continuing to meet the reasonable needs of navigation.

The Coast Guard is establishing a special local regulation on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Bucksport, South Carolina during the Grand National Drag Boat Races, a series of high-speed boat races. The event will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2015 and Sunday, June 21, 2015. Approximately 30 high-speed race boats are anticipated to participate in the races. This special local regulation is necessary to provide for the safety of life and property on navigable waters of the United States during the event. This special local regulation will temporarily restrict vessel traffic in a portion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Persons and vessels that are not participating in the races will be prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the regulated area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Charleston or a designated representative.

The Coast Guard is temporarily changing the enforcement date of the special local regulation for the recurring OPA Atlantic City Grand Prix boat race, held in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, adjacent to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The change of enforcement date for the special local regulation is necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the event. This action will restrict vessel traffic in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the event, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on June 20, 2015 and June 21, 2015.

This document corrects the designation of a paragraph in Item 6 of Part I to Form 1-A in a final rule published in the Federal Register of April 20, 2015, regarding the Amendments for Small and Additional Issues Exemptions under the Securities Act (Regulation A).

NMFS is implementing management measures for the 2015 summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass recreational fisheries. The implementing regulations for these fisheries require NMFS to publish recreational measures for each fishing year. The intent of these measures is to constrain recreational catch to established limits and prevent overfishing of the summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass resources.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the US Route 50 Bridge across the Isle of Wight (Sinepuxent) Bay, mile 0.5, at Ocean City, MD. The deviation is necessary to facilitate the Annual July 4th Fireworks show. This deviation allows the bridge to remain closed to navigation to accommodate heavy volumes of vehicular traffic following the fireworks show.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Fokker Services B.V. Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report of two cases of heavy (hard to move) aileron control caused by aileron cables stuck in a clump of ice in the wheel bay. This AD requires installing drain tubes on the center wing rear spar. We are issuing this AD to prevent accumulated water near or on the aileron control cables, which could freeze and result in reduced control of the airplane.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Pratt & Whitney Division (PW) PW6122A and PW6124A turbofan engines. This AD requires initial and repetitive borescope inspections (BSIs) of the high-pressure compressor (HPC) 7th stage integrally bladed (IB) rotor aft integral arm for cracks until replacement of the HPC 7th stage IB rotor using non-silver-plated nuts. This AD was prompted by reports of crack finds in the HPC 7th stage IB rotor. We are issuing this AD to prevent HPC 7th stage IB rotor fractures, which could lead to uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.

EPA issued a notice in the Federal Register of May 29, 2015, concerning EPA's Proposal to Mitigate Exposure to Bees from Acutely Toxic Pesticide Products. This document extends the comment period for 30 days, from June 29, 2015 to July 29, 2015. Multiple stakeholders requested that EPA extend the comment period due to the complexity and importance of this issue. EPA is granting the extension.

This document contains temporary regulations relating to multiemployer pension plans that are projected to have insufficient funds, at some point in the future, to pay the full benefits to which individuals will be entitled under the plans (referred to as plans in ``critical and declining status''). The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (``MPRA'') amended the Internal Revenue Code to incorporate suspension of benefits provisions that permit these multiemployer plans to reduce pension benefits payable to participants and beneficiaries if certain conditions are satisfied. MPRA requires the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Secretary of Labor, to approve or deny applications by these plans to reduce benefits. As required by MPRA, these temporary regulations, together with proposed regulations being published at the same time, provide guidance implementing these statutory provisions. These temporary regulations affect active, retired, and deferred vested participants and beneficiaries of multiemployer plans that are in critical and declining status as well as employers contributing to, and sponsors and administrators of, those plans. The text of these temporary regulations also serves, in part, as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-102648-15) set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.

This document contains an interim final rule prescribing the application process and notice requirements for partitions of eligible multiemployer plans under title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). The interim final rule is published pursuant to section 122 of MPRA in order to carry out the provisions of section 4233 of ERISA. PBGC is soliciting public comments on the interim final regulation.

This NPRM proposes to update Head Start program performance standards, last revised in 1998, to meet Congress's requirements and improve the quality of Head Start. In the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, Congress instructed the Office of Head Start to update its performance standards by regulation and ``ensure that any such revisions in the standards [do] not result in the elimination of or any reduction in quality, scope, or types of health, educational, parental involvement, nutritional, social, or other services.'' The proposed performance standards incorporate extensive consultation with experts and findings from scientific research, reflect best practices, lessons from program input and innovation, integrate recommendations from the Secretary's Advisory Committee Final Report on Head Start Research and Evaluation, and reflect this Administration's deep commitment to improving the school readiness of young children. The proposed program performance standards will improve the quality of services, reduce bureaucratic burden on programs, and improve regulatory clarity and transparency. They provide a clear road map for current and prospective grantees to provide high quality Head Start services and to strengthen the outcomes of the children and families they serve.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is affirming, with changes and a request for comment, the interim final rule ``Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Meat and Poultry Products,'' which was published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2003. FSIS is making minor changes to the regulatory provisions in response to comments that the Agency received, on the basis of experience in implementing the provisions, and because the way FSIS obtains establishment profile information electronically has changed. FSIS is clarifying in the regulations that establishments may not release into commerce product that has been in contact with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)-contaminated surfaces without reprocessing the product. In addition, FSIS is removing the requirement for establishments to report production volume and related information to FSIS because the Agency now routinely collects this information through its Public Health Information System (PHIS).

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the 12,897-square mile (8,254,151-acre) ``Loess Hills District'' viticultural area in western Iowa and northwestern Missouri. The proposed viticultural area is not located within, nor does it contain, any other established viticultural area. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on this proposed addition to its regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency EPA proposes to modify the use restrictions of the Galveston, TX Dredged Material Site, Freeport Harbor, TX, New Work (45 Foot Project), Freeport Harbor, TX, Maintenance (45 Foot Project), Matagorda Ship Channel, TX, Corpus Christi Ship Channel, TX, Port Mansfield, TX, Brazos Island Harbor, TX and Brazos Island Harbor (42-Foot Project), TX Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Sites (ODMDSs) located in the Gulf of Mexico offshore of Galveston, Freeport, Matagorda, Corpus Christi, Port Mansfield and Brownsville, Texas, respectively. These sites are EPA designated ocean dumping sites for the disposal of suitable dredged material. This proposed action is being taken because there are current restrictions in place with language that prevent disposal of suitable dredged material from locations other than the federal channels. The United States Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District has requested EPA amend the restrictions to allow disposal of suitable dredged material from the vicinity of federal navigation channels to alleviate pressure on the capacity of their upland dredged material placement areas, when necessary.

FMCSA amends its Hazardous Materials Safety Permits rules to update the current incorporation by reference of the ``North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria and Level VI Inspection Procedures and Out-of-Service Criteria for Commercial Highway Vehicles Transporting Transuranics and Highway Route Controlled Quantities of Radioactive Materials as defined in 49 CFR part 173.403.'' Currently the rules reference the April 1, 2014, edition of the out-of-service criteria and, through this final rule, FMCSA incorporates the April 1, 2015, edition.

This action decreases the possession and landing limit for Gulf of Maine cod to zero for Northeast multispecies common pool vessels for the remainder of the 2015 fishing year. NMFS is taking this action because the common pool has caught 44.5 percent of its Trimester 1 Total Allowable Catch Gulf of Maine cod quota in the first month of the trimester. This action is intended to prevent the overharvest of the common pool's fishing year 2015 allocation of Gulf of Maine cod and prevent the closure of the Gulf of Maine to all common pool vessels before the end of the Trimester.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Chambers Creek Railway Bridge across Chambers Creek, mile 0.0, at Steilacoom, Washington. The deviation is necessary to minimize the effects of train noise on the 2015 U.S. Golf Association Championship held at Chambers Bay Golf Course. This deviation allows the bridge to open only upon 1 hour notice from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 14, 2015 and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day from June 15, 2015 to June 22, 2015. At all other times the bridge will open on signal in accordance with its normal operating regulation.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace at El Paso, TX. The closure of West Texas Airport has made this action necessary for continued safety and management within the National Airspace System. Additionally, the geographic coordinates for El Paso International Airport and Biggs Army Airfield (AAF) would be adjusted.