July 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the requirement of Section 3506 (c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides opportunity for public comment on new or revised data collections, the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will publish periodic summaries of proposed data collections. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information has practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection of the information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden related to the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Title and purpose of information collection: Application for Employee Annuity Under the Railroad Retirement Ac; OMB 3220-0002. Section 2a of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) provides for payments of age and service, disability, and supplemental annuities to qualified employees. An annuity cannot be paid until the employee stops working for a railroad employer. In addition, the age and service employee must relinquish any rights held to such jobs. A disabled employee does not need to relinquish employee rights until attaining Full Retirement Age, or if earlier, when their spouse is awarded a spouse annuity. Benefits become payable after the employee meets certain other requirements, which depend on the type of annuity payable. The requirements for obtaining the annuities are prescribed in 20 CFR 216 and 220. To collect the information needed to help determine an applicant's entitlement to, and the amount of, an employee retirement annuity the RRB uses Forms AA-1, Application for Employee Annuity; AA-1d, Application for Determination of Employee Disability; G-204, Verification of Workers Compensation/Public Disability Benefit Information, and electronic Forms AA-1cert, Application Summary and Certification, and AA-1sum, Application Summary. The AA-1 application process obtains information from an applicant about their marital history, work history, military service, benefits from other governmental agencies, railroad pensions and Medicare entitlement for either an age and service or disability annuity. An RRB representative interviews the applicant either at a field office, an itinerant point, or by telephone. During the interview, the RRB representative enters the information obtained into an on-line information system. Upon completion of the interview, the on-line information system generates Form AA-1cert, Application Summary and Certification, or Form AA-1sum, Application Summary, a summary of the information that was provided for the applicant to review and approve. Form AA-1cert documents approval using the traditional pen and ink ``wet'' signature, and Form AA-1sum documents approval using the alternative signature method called Attestation. When the RRB representative is unable to contact the applicant in person or by telephone, for example, the applicant lives in another country, a manual version of Form AA-1 is used. Form AA-1d, Application for Determination of Employee's Disability, is completed by an employee who is filing for a disability annuity under the RRA, or a disability freeze under the Social Security Act, for early Medicare based on a disability. Form G-204, Verification of Worker's Compensation/Public Disability Benefit Information, is used to obtain and verify information concerning a worker's compensation or a public disability benefit that is or will be paid by a public agency to a disabled railroad employee. The RRB recently received short-term approval of a Request for Emergency Clearance from the Office of Management and Budget for this information collection. In response to that request the RRB received comments from 3 railroad labor organizations commenting on the RRB's action. The comments centered on the collection of information associated with the following issues: The relinquishment of seniority rights; The reporting of volunteer and social/recreational activities as part of the adjudication of an application for disability; Whether an applicant had filed or expected to file a lawsuit or claim against a person or company for a personal injury that resulted in the payment of sickness benefits by the RRB; and The use of facilitators who assist disability applicants in the completion of their applications. RRB staff thoroughly evaluated the comments received and responded to the railroad labor organizations. In response to those comments, the RRB proposes the following changes to Forms AA-1 and AA-1d: deletion of Item 35a-d from Form AA-1, regarding the relinquishment of seniority rights; the relocation of current Items 52-53 from Form AA-1d to proposed Items 48a-b on Form AA-1, regarding whether an applicant had filed or expected to file a lawsuit or claim against a person or company for a personal injury that resulted in the payment of sickness benefits by the RRB, as the potential for uncollected sickness benefits can apply to both a disability applicant as well as an applicant qualified for an age and service annuity. Comparable revisions to electronic equivalent forms (AA-1cert and AA-1sum) are also being proposed. The RRB proposes no changes to Form G-204. One response is requested of each respondent. Completion of the forms is required to obtain/retain a benefit.

The Department of the Interior (Interior) is hosting a listening session and tribal consultation sessions with Indian Tribes, appropriate Indian organizations, and individual Indians on the implementation of Title III of the Indian Trust Asset Reform Act recently passed by Congress. Topics to be addressed in these sessions include the establishment of an Under Secretary for Indian Affairs, the transition of certain functions of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) to other entities within Interior, the identification of options for a single entity to conduct appraisals and valuations of Indian trust property, and draft minimum qualifications for individuals to prepare appraisals and valuations of Indian trust property.

This document announces the Agency's receipt of several initial filings of pesticide petitions requesting the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.

The New England Fishery Management Council has submitted to NMFS Amendment 19 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan which proposes to incorporate a specifications process into the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan and to change the start of the fishing year from March 1 to April 1. The ability to develop specifications to set annual or biennial allocations would allow for a more timely process for setting annual allocations than currently possible with framework adjustments. By adjusting the start of the scallop fishing year from March 1 to April 1, NMFS would be able to implement simple specification actions at the start of the fishing year on a more consistent basis. NMFS requests public comments on whether NMFS should approve this amendment and the draft Environmental Assessment incorporated in the amendment.

This action revises the FAA's requirements for an application to operate in Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) airspace and eliminates the burden and expense of developing, processing, and approving RVSM maintenance programs. As a result of this revision, an applicant to operate in RVSM airspace will no longer be required to develop and submit an RVSM maintenance program solely for the purpose of obtaining an RVSM authorization. Because of other, independent FAA airworthiness regulations, all aircraft operators remain required to maintain RVSM equipment in an airworthy condition.

The Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) will submit the following Information Collection Request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the established review procedures of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are issuing a final rule to comply with a court order that vacated the final rule listing the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This final rule amends our regulations by removing the lesser prairie- chicken from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and by removing the rule issued under section 4(d) of the Act for the lesser prairie-chicken.

Notice is hereby given of the following determinations: Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), E.O. 12047 of March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority No. 234 of October 1, 1999, Delegation of Authority No. 236-3 of August 28, 2000 (and, as appropriate, Delegation of Authority No. 257 of April 15, 2003), I hereby determine that the objects to be included in the exhibition ``Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural significance. The objects are imported pursuant to loan agreements with the foreign owners or custodians. I also determine that the exhibition or display of the exhibit objects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, New York, from on or about October 6, 2016, until on or about January 16, 2017, and at possible additional exhibitions or venues yet to be determined, is in the national interest. I have ordered that Public Notice of these Determinations be published in the Federal Register.

The Department of State is seeking Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the information collection described below. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are requesting comments on this collection from all interested individuals and organizations. The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

On June 30, 2016, C4GT, LLC, as owner and operator of a new baseload electric generating powerplant, submitted a coal capability self-certification to the Department of Energy (DOE) pursuant to the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 (FUA), as amended, and DOE regulations. FUA and regulations thereunder require DOE to publish a notice of filing of self-certification in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is revising the Agency for International Development Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR) clause to conform to the current requirements of the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 and provide up-to-date submission instructions to the Maritime Administration (MARAD).

This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNOPR) proposes to establish test procedures for certain categories of general service lamps (GSLs) to support the ongoing energy conservation standards rulemaking. Specifically, this rulemaking proposes new test procedures for determining the initial lumen output, input power, lamp efficacy, power factor, and standby mode power of GSLs that are not integrated light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), or general service incandescent lamps (GSILs). This SNOPR revises the previous proposed test procedures for GSLs by referencing Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) LM-79-08 for the testing of non- integrated LED lamps. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is also proposing to clarify references to the existing lamp test methods and sampling plans for determining the represented values of integrated LED lamps, CFLs, and GSILs.

With this notice, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks public comment on the proposed content and scope of the Joint U.S.- Canadian Electric Grid Strategy as indicated by the draft outline presented here. DOE seeks public comment including the following: (1) Suggestions for how best to describe the cyber and physical risks to electric grid systems, as well as ways to address and mitigate those risks; (2) suggestions for ensuring that the outlined strategic goals and objectives are at the appropriate level for a joint U.S.-Canadian strategy; (3) suggestions for actions under the proposed joint strategy that Federal departments and agencies should take to make the grid more secure and resilient; (4) suggestions for new ways to secure the future grid across North America, as outlined in the final section; and (5) suggestions for timelines to use when considering future planning and investment opportunities. Supplementary background information, additional details, and instructions for submitting comments can be found below.

This document corrects a typographical error in the ADDRESSES section to a proposed rule published on June 23, 2016.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness, announces a proposed public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The FHWA, on behalf of Caltrans, is issuing this notice to announce actions taken by Caltrans that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, New River Bike Path [Federal Aid Number HPLUL-5168(015)] in the City of Calexico, in the County of Imperial, State of California. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) sponsored information collection request (ICR) revision titled, ``Claim for Reimbursement-Assisted Reemployment,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for use in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Public comments on the ICR are invited.

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 300u and 42 U.S.C. 237a (Sec. 3509 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), notice is given that the Office on Women's Health (OWH) is soliciting proposals from entities and organizations for the opportunity to sustain the implementation of the Know The Facts First public health awareness and education campaign.

In compliance with section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Secretary (OS), Department of Health and Human Services, has submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR is for renewal of the approved information collection assigned OMB control number 0937-0025, scheduled to expire on November 30, 2016. Comments submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public on this ICR during the review and approval period.

This is a notice in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i) that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (``NIST''), U.S. Department of Commerce, is contemplating the grant of an exclusive license in the United States of America, its territories, possessions and commonwealths, to NIST's interest in the invention embodied in U.S. Patent Application No. 15/188,211, titled ``Acousto-Microwave System for Determining Mass or Leak of Gas in a Vessel and Process for Same,'' (NIST Docket No. 15-010US1) to Western Energy Support & Technology, Inc. The grant of the license would be for leak rate testing and gas flow standards fields of uses.