December 1, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the S168/Great Bridge bridge, which carries SR168 (Battlefield Boulevard South) over the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, mile 12.0, at Chesapeake, VA. The deviation is necessary to facilitate the Annual Chesapeake Rotary Christmas Parade. This deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed-to-navigation position.

This final rule cancels the Episode Payment Models (EPMs) and Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) Incentive Payment Model and rescinds the regulations governing these models. It also implements certain revisions to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, including: Giving certain hospitals selected for participation in the CJR model a one-time option to choose whether to continue their participation in the model; technical refinements and clarifications for certain payment, reconciliation and quality provisions; and a change to increase the pool of eligible clinicians that qualify as affiliated practitioners under the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (Advanced APM) track. An interim final rule with comment period is being issued in conjunction with this final rule in order to address the need for a policy to provide some flexibility in the determination of episode costs for providers located in areas impacted by extreme and uncontrollable circumstances.

Veterans Benefits Administrations, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of a currently approved collection, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on information needed to determine eligibility for replacement insurance.

Veterans Benefits Administrations, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of a currently approved collection, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on information needed from veterans to convert to a permanent plan of insurance.

Veteran's Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of a currently approved collection, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete the Hatheway & Patterson Superfund Site (Site) located in Mansfield and Foxborough, Massachusetts, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of Massachusetts, through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation, maintenance, monitoring, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public to take this opportunity to comment on a revision of a currently approved information collection. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice seeks comments concerning a list of hotels, motels, and similar places of public accommodations meeting minimum fire-safety requirements. The information collected is voluntary; if approved for listing, the lodging establishment may be used by Federal employees on government related travel and for Federal agency conferences. As the list is open to use by the public, non- government travelers may use the list to identify lodging meeting minimum life-safety criteria from fire.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) sponsored information collection request (ICR) revision titled, ``Consumer Expenditure Surveys: Quarterly Interview and Diary,'' 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.

Sections 3302(c)(2)(A) and 3302(d)(3) of the FUTA provide that employers in a State that has an outstanding balance of advances under Title XII of the Social Security Act at the beginning of January 1 of two or more consecutive years are subject to a reduction in credits otherwise available against the FUTA tax for the calendar year in which the most recent such January 1 occurs, if a balance of advances remains at the beginning of November 10 of that year. Further, section 3302(c)(2)(C) of FUTA provides for an additional credit reduction for a year if a State has outstanding advances on five or more consecutive January firsts and has a balance at the beginning of November 10 for such years. Section 3302(c)(2)(C) also provides for waiver of this additional credit reduction and substitution of the credit reduction provided in section 3302(c)(2)(B) if a state meets certain conditions. California and Virgin Islands were potentially liable for the additional credit reduction and applied for a waiver of the 2017 additional credit reduction under section 3302 (c)(2)(C) of FUTA. It has been determined that each one met all of the criteria of that section necessary to qualify for the waiver of the additional credit reduction. Further, the additional credit reduction of section 3302(c)(2)(B) is zero for California and Virgin Islands for 2017. Therefore, employers in California and Virgin Islands will have no additional credit reduction applied for calendar year 2017. As a result of having passed eight consecutive January 1's with an outstanding Title XII advances and not having repaid the balance as of November 10, 2017, both California and Virgin Islands are subject to a FUTA credit reduction of 2.1 percent.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is proposing a new information collection.

In this document, the Commission amends its Caller Identification (Caller ID) privacy rules to allow law enforcement and security personnel, as directed by law enforcement, to obtain quick access to blocked Caller ID information needed to identify and thwart threatening callers. The Commission exempts threatening calls from blocked numbers from its caller privacy rules. Studies and reports show a disturbing increase in threatening calls in recent years. Many threatening calls come from blocked numbers. It directs carries that upon report of such a threatening call by law enforcement on behalf of the threatened party, the carrier will provide any CPN of the calling party to law enforcement and, as directed by law enforcement, to security personnel for the called party for the purpose of identifying the party responsible for the threatening call. The Commission also amends its rules to allow non-public emergency services to obtain blocked Caller ID information associated with calls requesting assistance.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) is seeking nominations of qualified individuals to be considered for appointment as members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). The PACHA is a federal advisory committee within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Management support for the activities of this Council is the responsibility of the Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy in the OASH. The qualified individuals will be nominated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for consideration for appointment as members of the PACHA. Members of the Council, including the Chair, are appointed by the Secretary. Members are invited to serve on the Council for up to four- year terms. The Council was established to provide advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary regarding programs and policies intended to promote effective prevention and care of HIV infection and AIDS. The functions of the Council are solely advisory in nature.

The Department through the Office of the Secretary's Office of Educational Technology (OET) created the #GoOpen Network in October of 2015, to support the use of openly licensed educational resources, by establishing a network of mentoring relationships with experienced districts and States providing support to those districts that were new to the use of open resources. To support this work, OET is seeking to select and partner with a nonprofit organization or a consortium of nonprofit organizations to further expand and enhance the network. Thus, this notice outlines the criteria to be used for selecting partner organizations; invites statements of interest from nonprofit organizations interested in partnering to build on and expand the #GoOpen network; and announces the date by which organizations must submit these statements of interest in order to be considered for selection. A call for statements of interest was first published in the blog post #GoOpen: More than a Hashtag on May 10, 2017. We are publishing a new request for statements of interest through this Federal Register notice in order to more widely publicize the call and reach a broader group of interested stakeholder organizations. Respondents to the previous call through the blog are encouraged to reapply by submitting a statement of interest in accordance with this notice; prior statements will not be considered.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) announces a forthcoming public advisory committee meeting of the Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee. The general function of the committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Agency on FDA's regulatory issues. The meeting will be open to the public. FDA is establishing a docket for public comment on this document.

This is an amendment of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the US Virgin Islands (FEMA-4340-DR), dated 09/20/ 2017. Incident: Hurricane Maria. Incident Period: 09/16/2017 through 09/22/2017.

On August 3, 2017, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip (PET Film) from Taiwan. The period of review (POR) is July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. We received no comments or requests for a hearing. Therefore, we have made no changes for the final results and continue to find that sales of subject merchandise by Nan Ya Plastics Corporation (Nan Ya) were made at less than normal value during the POR.

The Department of Commerce (Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on lightweight thermal paper (LWTP) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The period of review (POR) is November 1, 2015, through October 31, 2016. The review covers three exporters of subject merchandise: Shenzhen Formers Printing Co., Ltd. (Formers), Sailing International Limited (Sailing), and Suzhou Xiandai Paper Production Co (Xiandai). The Department preliminarily finds that Formers, Sailing, and Xiandai have not demonstrated eligibility for a separate rate in this segment of the proceeding, and therefore, for the preliminary results, we are treating Formers, Sailing, and Xiandai as part of the PRC-wide entity. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) has determined that METICORTEN (prednisone) tablets, 1 milligram (mg) and 5 mg, were not withdrawn from sale for reasons of safety or effectiveness. This determination means that FDA will not begin procedures to withdraw approval of abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) that refer to this drug product, and it will allow FDA to continue to approve ANDAs that refer to the product as long as they meet relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

The Maritime Administration (``MARAD'') is amending its regulations to implement amendments to the Maritime Security Act of 2003 by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (``NDAA 2013''), the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (``CAA 2016''), and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (``NDAA 2016''). The revisions to the regulations, among other things, make changes to vessel eligibility for participation in the Maritime Security Program (``MSP''), authorize the extension of current MSP Operating Agreements, amend the procedures for the award of new MSP Operating Agreements, extend the MSP through 2025, update the MSP Operating Agreement payments and schedule of payments, and eliminate the Maintenance and Repair Pilot Program.

The Maritime Administration (``MARAD'') is amending its regulations which implement new requirements regarding certain large fishing industry vessels set forth in the American Fisheries Act of 1998 (``AFA''), as amended by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (``CGAA'') and the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 (``CGMTA''). The revisions to the regulation adds two new exceptions to the restrictions on the eligibility of vessels over 165 feet in registered length to be documented with fishery endorsements, eliminates the 15-day application deadline for vessels whose fishery endorsements have become invalid, limits fishery endorsement eligibility for certain large fishing industry vessels, and eliminates certain exemptions for specific vessels that were deleted in the CGMTA. In addition, MARAD is revising its Large Vessel Certification form to incorporate these new requirements.