August 10, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 21, 2016, the Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) published in the Federal Register a technical amendment to regulations that govern reporting requirements for noncommercial educational webcasters that pay no more than the minimum fee for their use of sound recordings under the applicable statutory licenses. Subsequently, interested parties petitioned the Judges to amend the regulations further to effect the Judges' stated intent. The Judges' hereby publish the proposed amendment and request comments to the proposed rule.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a document in the Federal Register on May 24, 2011, amending its regulations to establish a restricted area in the Menominee River at the Marinette Marine Corporation Shipyard in Marinette, Wisconsin. The Corps published correcting amendments in the Federal Register on April 4, 2012, which corrected latitude and longitude coordinates and also revised administrative and enforcement responsibilities. The Corps is proposing to further amend these regulations to expand the existing restricted area to provide additional area of protection during the construction and launching of Littoral Combat Ships. The proposed expansion would result in temporary encroachment within the Menominee River Federal Navigation Channel. The regulations are necessary to provide adequate protection of U.S. Navy combat vessels, their materials, equipment to be installed therein, and crew, while located at the Marinette Marine Corporation Shipyard.

In accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, the Department of Transportation is issuing an interim final rule to adjust for inflation the maximum civil penalty amounts for violations of certain aviation economic statutes and the rules and orders issued pursuant to these statutes.

The FTC is extending the deadline for filing public comments on its recent notice seeking comment on proposed revisions to the Guide Concerning Fuel Economy Advertising for New Automobiles (``Fuel Economy Guide'' or ``Guide'').

This document contains final regulations relating to the imposition of certain user fees on tax return preparers. The final regulations supersede and adopt the text of temporary regulations that reduced the user fee to apply for or renew a preparer tax identification number (PTIN) from $50 to $33. The final regulations affect individuals who apply for or renew a PTIN. The Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 authorizes the charging of user fees.

The Department of the Army is amending the Army Privacy Program Regulation. Specifically, Army is adding exemption rules for Army system of records ``A0600-20 SAMR, Soldiers Equal Opportunity Investigative Files''. This rule provides policies and procedures for the Army's implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. This direct final rule makes changes to the Department of the Army's Privacy Program rule. These changes will allow the Department to exempt records from certain portions of the Privacy Act. This will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Department of Defense's (DoD's) program by preserving the exempt status of the records when the purposes underlying the exemption are valid and necessary to protect the contents of the records.

Through this supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (Supplemental NPR), the Surface Transportation Board (Board) is revising its proposal to eliminate the ``make-whole adjustment'' that is currently applied as part of our general purpose costing system, the Uniform Railroad Costing System (URCS). The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) in this proceeding, issued on February 4, 2013, explained that when disaggregating data and calculating system-average unit costs in Phase II, URCS does not fully take into account the economies of scale realized from larger shipment sizes, necessitating an adjustment in Phase III. This subsequent adjustment in Phase III, referred to as the make-whole adjustment, produces a step function and does not appropriately reflect operating costs and economies of scale. To better address this problem and related issues, the Board is now proposing to modify certain inputs into Phase II of URCS and to modify certain cost calculations in Phase III of URCS in order to eliminate the make-whole adjustment. The Board is also proposing certain other related changes to URCS, including proposals for locomotive unit-miles (LUM) and train miles allocations, which would result in more appropriate rail movement costs.

This action modifies Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at Hutchinson Municipal Airport-Butler Field, Hutchinson, MN; Jackson Municipal Airport, Jackson, MN; Pipestone Municipal Airport, Pipestone, MN; Richard B. Helgeson Airport, Two Harbors, MN; and Waseca Municipal Airport, Waseca, MN. Decommissioning of the non-directional radio beacon (NDB), cancellation of NDB approaches, and implementation of area navigation (RNAV) procedures have made this action necessary for the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the above airports. This action also updates the geographic coordinates at Hutchinson Municipal-Butler Field, Jackson Municipal Airport, Pipestone Municipal Airport, and Richard B. Helgeson Airport, to coincide with the FAA's aeronautical database.

The Department of the Treasury is issuing a revised interim rule implementing the Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program), administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). This revised interim rule reflects the CDFI Fund's programmatic decision to create two subcategories within the Distressed Community Financing Activities category of Qualified Activities in order to differentiate between: Consumer Loans and Commercial Loans and Investments. This revised interim rule includes revisions necessary to implement this modification to the Distressed Community Financing Activities category, as well as to make certain technical corrections and other updates to the current rule.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2011-10-01 for all Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 7X airplanes. AD 2011-10-01 required repetitive functional tests of the ram air turbine (RAT) heater, and repair if necessary. This new AD requires revision of the maintenance or inspection program to incorporate new maintenance requirements and airworthiness limitations. This AD was prompted by the need for new and more restrictive maintenance requirements and airworthiness limitations for airplane structures and systems. We are issuing this AD to prevent reduced structural integrity and reduced control of these airplanes due to the failure of system components.

We are superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2007-21-14 R1 for all Airbus Model A310 series airplanes. AD 2007-21-14 R1 required revising the Airworthiness Limitations Section of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness to incorporate new limitations for fuel tank systems. This new AD requires revising the maintenance program or inspection program to incorporate revised fuel maintenance and inspection tasks. This AD was prompted by the issuance of more restrictive maintenance requirements and/or airworthiness limitations by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to prevent the potential of ignition sources inside fuel tanks, which, in combination with flammable fuel vapors caused by latent failures, alterations, repairs, or maintenance actions, could result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.