November 30, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to revise its regulations governing employment in the excepted service. The proposed rules will clarify the existing policy on exemptions from excepted service selection procedures, and provide additional procedures for passing over a preference eligible veteran. The intended effect of these proposed changes is to strengthen the application of veterans' entitlements in the excepted service.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, we, the Agency) is amending the regulations for food additives permitted in feed and drinking water of animals to provide for the safe use of guanidinoacetic acid as a substance that spares arginine and serves as a precursor of creatine in broiler chicken and turkey feeds. This action is in response to a food additive petition filed by Alzchem AG.

The Board and the Bureau are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations and commentary for the agencies' regulations that implement the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended TILA by requiring that the dollar threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions be adjusted annually by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Board and Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. The final rule memorializes this as well as the agencies' calculation method for determining the adjustment in years following a year in which there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. Based on the CPI-W in effect as of June 1, 2016, the exemption threshold will remain at $54,600 through 2017. The Dodd-Frank Act also requires similar adjustments in the Consumer Leasing Act's threshold for exempt consumer leases. Accordingly, the Board and the Bureau are adopting similar amendments to the commentaries to each of their respective regulations implementing the Consumer Leasing Act elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.

The OCC, the Board, and the Bureau are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations for their regulations that implement section 129H of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). Section 129H of TILA establishes special appraisal requirements for ``higher-risk mortgages,'' termed ``higher-priced mortgage loans'' or ``HPMLs'' in the agencies' regulations. The OCC, the Board, the Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, the Agencies) issued joint final rules implementing these requirements, effective January 18, 2014. The Agencies' rules exempted, among other loan types, transactions of $25,000 or less, and required that this loan amount be adjusted annually based on any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the OCC, the Board and the Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. The final rule will memorialize this as well as the agencies' calculation method for determining the adjustment in years following a year in which there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W. Based on the CPI-W in effect as of June 1, 2016, the exemption threshold will remain at $25,500 through 2017.

The Department of Justice proposes to amend the regulations of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) governing the annual statutory limitation on cancellation of removal and suspension of deportation decisions. First, the rule proposes to eliminate certain procedures created in 1998 that were used to convert 8,000 conditional grants of suspension of deportation and cancellation of removal to outright grants before the end of fiscal year 1998. The need for such procedures ceased to exist after the end of fiscal year 1998. Second, the Department proposes to authorize immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) to issue final decisions denying applications, without restriction, regardless of whether the annual limitation has been reached. This proposed amendment would decrease the high volume of reserved decisions that results when the annual limitation is reached early in the fiscal year; reduce the associated delays caused by postponing the resolution of pending cases before EOIR; and provide an applicant with knowledge of a decision in the applicant's case on or around the date of the hearing held on the applicant's suspension or cancellation application.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce 90- day findings on three petitions to list or reclassify wildlife or plants under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that one petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted, and we are not initiating a status review in response to this petition. We refer to this as the ``not- substantial'' petition finding. We also find that two petitions present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this document, we announce that we plan to initiate a review of the status of these species to determine if the petitioned actions are warranted. To ensure that these status reviews are comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding these species. Based on the status reviews, we will issue 12- month findings on the petitions, which will address whether the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (``OSHRC'') is proposing revisions to its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (``FOIA''). These proposed revisions account for statutory amendments included in the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (``FOIA Improvement Act''), as well as the addition of procedures pertaining to confidential commercial information and preservation of records, clarifications of existing procedures, and updates to contact information.

The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing revisions and confidentiality determinations for the petroleum and natural gas systems source category of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. In particular, this action adds new monitoring methods for detecting leaks from oil and gas equipment in the petroleum and natural gas systems source category consistent with the fugitive emissions monitoring methods in the recently finalized new source performance standards for the oil and gas industry. This action also adds emission factors for leaking equipment to be used in conjunction with these monitoring methods to calculate and report greenhouse gas emissions resulting from equipment leaks. Finally, this action finalizes reporting requirements and confidentiality determinations for nine new or substantially revised data elements contained in these amendments.

This final rule implements provisions of the Affordable Care Act that expand access to health coverage through improvements in Medicaid and coordination between Medicaid, CHIP, and Exchanges. This rule finalizes most of the remaining provisions from the ``Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Programs, and Exchanges: Essential Health Benefits in Alternative Benefit Plans, Eligibility Notices, Fair Hearing and Appeal Processes for Medicaid and Exchange Eligibility Appeals and Other Provisions Related to Eligibility and Enrollment for Exchanges, Medicaid and CHIP, and Medicaid Premiums and Cost Sharing; Proposed Rule'' that we published in the January 22, 2013, Federal Register. This final rule continues our efforts to assist states in implementing Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, appeals, and enrollment changes required by the Affordable Care Act.