September 2, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains final regulations that reflect the holdings of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. , 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), Windsor v. United States, 570 U.S. , 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), and Revenue Ruling 2013-17 (2013-38 IRB 201), and that define terms in the Internal Revenue Code describing the marital status of taxpayers for federal tax purposes.

This final rule provides various changes and updates to the Department of State passport rules as a result of the passage of two laws: International Megan's Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders (IML); and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). The final rule incorporates statutory passport denial and revocation requirements for certain covered sex offenders under the IML, those persons with a seriously delinquent tax debt as defined by the FAST Act, and/or those persons who submit a passport application without a correct and valid Social Security number.

NOAA is soliciting nominations for members of the NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is the only Federal Advisory Committee with the responsibility to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator on long- and short-range strategies for research, education, and application of science to resource management and environmental assessment and prediction. The SAB consists of approximately fifteen members reflecting the full breadth of NOAA's areas of responsibility and assists NOAA in maintaining a complete and accurate understanding of scientific issues critical to the agency's missions. Composition and Points of View: The Board will consist of approximately fifteen members, including a Chair, designated by the Under Secretary in accordance with FACA requirements. Members will be appointed for three-year terms, renewable once, and serve at the discretion of the Under Secretary. If a member resigns before the end of his or her first term, the vacancy appointment shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term, and shall be renewable twice if the unexpired term is less than one year. Members will be appointed as special government employees (SGEs) and will be subject to the ethical standards applicable to SGEs. Members are reimbursed for actual and reasonable travel and per diem expenses incurred in performing such duties but will not be reimbursed for their time. As a Federal Advisory Committee, the Board's membership is required to be balanced in terms of viewpoints represented and the functions to be performed as well as the interests of geographic regions of the country and the diverse sectors of U.S. society. The SAB meets in person three times each year, exclusive of teleconferences or subcommittee, task force, and working group meetings. Board members must be willing to serve as liaisons to SAB working groups and/or participate in periodic reviews of the NOAA Cooperative Institutes and overarching reviews of NOAA's research enterprise. Nominations: Interested persons may nominate themselves or third parties. Applications: An application is required to be considered for Board membership, regardless of whether a person is nominated by a third party or self-nominated. The application package must include: (1) The nominee's full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information; (2) the nominee's area(s) of expertise; (3) a short description of his/her qualifications relative to the kinds of advice being solicited by NOAA in this Notice; and (4) a current resume (maximum length four [4] pages).

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Coastal Zone Management Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management (OCM) is announcing a forty-five day public comment period and will hold a public hearing for the purpose of receiving comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Management Plan (DEIS/DMP) prepared for the proposed designation of the He`eia National Estuarine Research Reserve in Hawai`i. The DMP addresses research, monitoring, education, and stewardship/cultural resource needs for the proposed reserve, and the DEIS analyzes alternatives to the proposed action along with their potential environmental impacts. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is a federal-state partnership administered by NOAA. The system protects more than 1.3 million acres of estuarine habitat for long-term research, monitoring, education and stewardship throughout the coastal United States. Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, each reserve is managed by a lead state agency or university, with input from local partners. NOAA provides funding and national programmatic guidance.

Foresthill Public Utility District (Foresthill) has submitted an application to the Tahoe National Forest (TNF) to amend their existing Special Use Permit (Permit) for Sugar Pine Dam and Reservoir (Sugar Pine Project) to increase water storage capacity of the reservoir and improve the stability of Foresthill's water supply by installing radial steel gates in the spillway of the dam. Installation of the radial gates would increase water storage capacity by 3,950 acre-feet (AF) up from 6,922 AF currently to 10,872 AF after installation; the maximum surface elevation of the reservoir would rise 20 vertical feet and inundate approximately 44 additional acres of NFS lands. The surface area of the reservoir would increase from 160 acres to approximately 204 acres if the project is implemented. Important NFS resources would be impacted by the project; popular reservoir recreation facilities would be inundated along with habitat for plants and wildlife, including habitat for Forest Service Sensitive Species.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'' or ``SEC'') intends to issue an order pursuant to section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the ``Advisers Act'') and rule 206(4)- 5 thereunder (the ``SEC Pay to Play Rule'') finding that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (``MSRB'') rule G-37 (the ``MSRB Pay to Play Rule'') imposes substantially equivalent or more stringent restrictions on municipal advisors than the SEC Pay to Play Rule imposes on investment advisers and is consistent with the objectives of the SEC Pay to Play Rule.

The Commission adopts this Report and Order to implement a historic consensus proposal for ensuring that people with hearing loss have full access to innovative handsets.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for use to assist the homeless.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including residential conventional cooking products. EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to determine whether more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. In this SNOPR, DOE proposes new and amended energy conservation standards for residential conventional cooking products, specifically conventional cooking tops and conventional ovens.