January 12, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB or Bureau) is publishing this agenda as part of the Fall 2017 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The CFPB reasonably anticipates having the regulatory matters identified below under consideration during the period from November 1, 2017 to October 31, 2018. The next agenda will be published in spring 2018 and will update this agenda through fall 2018. Publication of this agenda is in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

We are publishing our fall 2017 regulatory agenda pursuant to Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' 58 FR 51735 (1993), with particular adherence to E.O. 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Costs,'' 82 FR 9339 (2017), E.O. 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,'' 82 FR 12285, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 to 612. The purpose of publishing this agenda is to give notice of regulatory activity being undertaken by GSA in order to provide the public an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes the semiannual regulatory agenda online (the e-Agenda) at https:// www.reginfo.gov and at www.regulations.gov to update the public. This document contains information about: Regulations in the semiannual regulatory agenda that are under development, completed, or canceled since the last agenda; and Reviews of regulations with small business impacts under Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

This notice is given pursuant to the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 (``Regulatory Planning and Review''), which require the publication by the Department of a semiannual agenda of regulations. E.O. 12866 also requires the publication by the Department of a regulatory plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The purpose of the agenda is to provide advance information about pending regulatory activities and encourage public participation in the regulatory process.

The internet has become the means for disseminating the entirety of the Department of Labor's semiannual regulatory agenda. However, the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires publication of a regulatory flexibility agenda in the Federal Register. This Federal Register Notice contains the regulatory flexibility agenda.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 and Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 require the semiannual issuance of an inventory of rulemaking actions under development throughout the Department, offering for public review summarized information about forthcoming regulatory actions.

In accordance with section 4(b) of Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' as amended, HUD is publishing its agenda of regulations already issued or that are expected to be issued during the next several months. The agenda also includes rules currently in effect that are under review and describes those regulations that may affect small entities, as required by section 602 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The purpose of publication of the agenda is to encourage more effective public participation in the regulatory process by providing the public with advance information about pending regulatory activities.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared and is making available its portion of the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda), including its Regulatory Plan (Plan), pursuant to Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

Publication of the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and the Regulatory Plan represent key components of the regulatory planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' Executive Order 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,'' January 30, 2017, and Executive Order 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,'' February 24, 2017. The fall editions of the Unified Agenda include the agency regulatory plans required by E.O. 12866, which identify regulatory priorities and provide additional detail about the most important significant regulatory actions that agencies expect to take in the coming year. In addition, the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish semiannual ``regulatory flexibility agendas'' describing regulatory actions they are developing that will have significant effects on small businesses and other small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). The Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda), published in the fall and spring, helps agencies fulfill all of these requirements. All federal regulatory agencies have chosen to publish their regulatory agendas as part of this publication. The complete Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan can be found online at https://www.reginfo.gov and a reduced print version can be found in the Federal Register. Information regarding obtaining printed copies can also be found on the Reginfo.gov website (or below, VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda?). The fall 2017 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal Register includes the Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The complete fall 2017 Unified Agenda contains the Regulatory Plans of 30 Federal agencies and 60 Federal agency regulatory agendas.

This agenda provides summary descriptions of the significant and not significant regulatory and deregulatory actions being developed in agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in conformance with Executive Orders (E.O.) 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' 13771 ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,'' 13777 ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,'' and 13563 ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.'' The agenda also describes regulations affecting small entities as required by section 602 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, Public Law 96-354. This agenda also identifies regulatory actions that are being reviewed in compliance with section 610(c) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. We invite public comment on those actions as well as any regulation consistent with E.O. 13563. USDA has attempted to list all regulations and regulatory reviews pending at the time of publication except for minor and routine or repetitive actions, but some may have been inadvertently missed. There is no legal significance to the omission of an item from this listing. Also, the dates shown for the steps of each action are estimated and are not commitments to act on or by the date shown. USDA's complete regulatory agenda is available online at www.reginfo.gov. Because publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory flexibility agendas required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 602), USDA's printed agenda entries include only: (1) Rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; and (2) Rules identified for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. For this edition of the USDA regulatory agenda, the most important regulatory and deregulatory actions are summarized in a Statement of Regulatory Priorities that is included in the Regulatory Plan, which appears in both the online regulatory agenda and in part II of the Federal Register that includes the abbreviated regulatory agenda.