November 22, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In June 2017, the NCUA Board (Board) published a notice and request for comment on proposed changes to its Overhead Transfer Rate (OTR) methodology and sought industry comments on the proposed changes.\1\ This Final Notice discusses the comments received and provides the Board's response to the comments. This Final Notice also sets forth the new OTR methodology the Board has chosen to adopt after consideration of the public comments received.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning the purchase price allocations in deemed and actual asset acquisitions.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act that the Michigan Advisory Committee (Committee) will hold a meeting on Monday, December 4, 2017, at 3 p.m. EST for the purpose discussing civil rights concerns in the state.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the Agency, or we) is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled ``Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food: What You Need to Know About the FDA RegulationSmall Entity Compliance Guide.'' The small entity compliance guide (SECG) is intended to help small entities comply with the final rule entitled ``Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food.''

NMFS is transferring 25.6 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) quota from the Harpoon category to the General category for the remainder of the 2017 fishing year, to account for overharvests of the September and October through November subquotas, and utilize the unused portion of the adjusted Harpoon category quota. This action results in an adjusted General category subquota of 12.7 mt for the December subquota period. It is intended to preserve the opportunity for General category fishermen to participate in the December General category fishery, which reopens on December 1, 2017, and is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing commercially for BFT.

NMFS issues this proposed rule to implement Amendment 16 of the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The purpose of this proposed rule is to amend the CPS regulations to allow for very small amounts of directed, non-live bait fishing on CPS finfish to occur when a fishery is otherwise closed to directed fishing. Currently, when directed fishing closures are enacted, a small sector of the CPS fishery that is not part of the primary commercial directed fishery has been precluded from fishing and/or harvesting even minor amounts because this activity does not fall under the existing exemptions during closures for incidental harvest or for harvesting CPS to be sold as live bait. NMFS is proposing changes to the CPS regulations to allow this sector to continue directed fishing after other directed fisheries are closed, unless otherwise specified or if an applicable annual catch limit (ACL) is anticipated to be exceeded. As a further restriction, to ensure this minor directed fishing provision is not exploited to make large aggregate harvests, minor directed fishing would not be allowed to exceed landings of 1 metric ton (mt) per day per vessel or person or one fishing trip per day by any vessel.

The Board has amended its definition of a quorum of the Board in the Board's Rules of Organization. The amendment is designed to facilitate the Board's ability to continue to function efficiently during periods of substantial vacancies on the Board. The amendment does not alter the number of Board members required to constitute a quorum in normal operating environments. The amendment also addresses Board member recusals and disqualifications. In addition, the Board has provided a modified definition of a quorum during exigent circumstances. In connection with this modification, the Board is amending its Rules Regarding Delegation of Authority, published elsewhere in this Federal Register, to authorize the Chair (or Vice Chair, if the Chair is unavailable) to determine when an emergency situation exists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expanded the boundaries of Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (now renamed Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary or GFNMS) and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS) to an area north and west of their previous boundaries with a final rule published on March 12, 2015. The final rule entered into effect on June 9, 2015. At that time, NOAA postponed, with regard to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) activities, the effectiveness of the discharge requirements for six months in the regulations for both sanctuaries in the newly added areas. Since then, NOAA published four documents to extend the postponement of the discharge requirements to provide adequate time for completion of an environmental assessment, and subsequent rulemaking regarding USCG activities, as appropriate. The current extension would end on December 9, 2017. This document, published concurrently with a proposed rule to address discharges by the USCG and an environmental assessment, will extend the postponement of the discharge requirements for USCG activities in the expansion areas of GFNMS and CBNMS for one year beyond the end of the current extension to provide adequate time for completion, if appropriate, of a final environmental assessment and final rule. This extension will end on December 9, 2018, or 30 days after publication of a final rule, whichever comes first.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for various aircraft equipped with a BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG (formerly BRP- Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG; Bombardier-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG; Bombardier- Rotax GmbH) 912 A series engine. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as defective valve push-rod assemblies manufactured from June 8, 2016, through October 2, 2017. We are issuing this proposed AD to require actions to address the unsafe condition on these products.