November 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'' or ``SEC'') is adopting amendments to Regulation National Market System (``Regulation NMS'') under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') to require additional disclosures by broker-dealers to customers regarding the handling of their orders. The Commission is adding a new disclosure requirement which requires a broker-dealer, upon request of its customer, to provide specific disclosures related to the routing and execution of the customer's NMS stock orders submitted on a not held basis for the prior six months, subject to two de minimis exceptions. The Commission also is amending the current order routing disclosures that broker-dealers must make publicly available on a quarterly basis to pertain to NMS stock orders submitted on a held basis, and the Commission is making targeted enhancements to these public disclosures. In connection with these new requirements, the Commission is amending Regulation NMS to include certain newly defined and redefined terms that are used in the amendments. The Commission also is amending Regulation NMS to require that the public order execution report be kept publicly available for a period of three years. Finally, the Commission is adopting conforming amendments and updating cross-references as a result of the rule amendments being adopted in this rule.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) Railroad Bridge (BNSF Bridge 37.0) across the Snohomish River, mile 3.5 near Everett, WA. The deviation is necessary to accommodate scheduled replacement of bridge ties across the swing span replacement. The deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed-to-navigation position.

This proposed rule invites comments on a recommendation made by the California Olive Committee (Committee) to establish procedures to conduct meetings and voting using electronic means of communication.

We are revising Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2013-21-05 for Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH (now Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH) (Airbus Helicopters) Model EC135 P1, P2, P2+, T1, T2, and T2+ helicopters. AD 2013-21-05 required an initial and repetitive inspections of certain bearings and modifying the floor and a rod. Since we issued AD 2013-21-05, we have determined that modifying the floor and rod removes the unsafe condition. This AD retains the requirements of AD 2013-21-05 but removes the repetitive inspections. The actions of this AD are intended to prevent an unsafe condition on these products.

This rulemaking revises the exemption for the manufacture of recreational vehicles to clarify which recreational vehicles qualify for an exemption from HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards and Manufactured Home Procedural and Enforcement regulations. HUD is adopting a recommendation of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) but expanding the definition of recreational vehicle and modifying it to require certification with the updated ANSI standard, A119.5-15.

NMFS proposes changes to the regulations that address disclosure of financial interests by, and voting recusal of, council members appointed by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to the regional fishery management councils established under the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The regulatory changes are needed to provide guidance to ensure consistency and transparency in the calculation of a Council member's financial interests; determine whether a close causal link exists between a Council decision and a benefit to a Council member's financial interest; and establish regional procedures for preparing and issuing recusal determinations. This proposed rule is intended to improve regulations implementing the statutory requirements governing disclosure of financial interests and voting recusal at section 302(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on a portion of the Delaware River in Camden, NJ. This action is necessary to protect the surrounding public and vessels on these navigable waters adjacent to the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, Camden, NJ, during a fireworks display on November 14, 2018. This regulation prohibits persons and vessels from entering, transiting, or remaining within the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Delaware Bay or a designated representative.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of azoxystrobin in or on beet, sugar, roots and vegetable, root, except sugar beet, subgroup 1B. Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

NMFS has determined that a reopening of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category fishery is warranted. This action is intended to provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it, while maintaining an equitable distribution of fishing opportunities across time periods; help achieve optimum yield in the BFT fishery; and optimize the ability of all permit categories to harvest their full BFT quota allocations. This action applies to Atlantic tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/ Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT.

This document extends the period for submitting written comments on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled ``Expanding Employment, Training, and Apprenticeship Opportunities for 16- and 17-Year-Olds in Health Care Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.'' The comment period now ends on December 11, 2018. The Department of Labor (Department) is taking this action to provide interested parties additional time to submit comments in response to a request for extension, as some supporting documents for the proposal may not have been originally fully visible in the docket.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of shortraker rockfish in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the 2018 total allowable catch of shortraker rockfish in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA will be reached.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for the navigable waters within a 50 yard radius from the center point of The Gut Bridge in South Bristol, ME between Rutherford Island and Bristol Neck. The safety zone is necessary to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards created during bedrock removal operations. When enforced, this regulation prohibits entry of vessels or persons into the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Northern New England or a designated representative.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) separately published, in today's Federal Register, notice of a new system of records, entitled Security and Suitability Files. This rulemaking proposed to remove two systems of records listed in our exemptions, but which do not exist, and will replace them with a new exemption for this specified system of records from specific provisions of the Privacy Act, under 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(5).

The Coast Guard is removing the temporary safety zone for navigable waters of the Columbia River between river mile 142 and 143 in vicinity of Cascade Locks, Oregon. The safety zone was necessary to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards created by salvage operations of the tug DIANE. The safety zone is no longer needed and the Coast Guard is removing the regulation.

In this action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is concluding the reconsideration of an earlier action that the EPA published on January 15, 2009, titled ``Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR): Aggregation and Project Netting.'' The 2009 actionhereafter referred to as ``2009 NSR Aggregation Action''clarified implementation of the New Source Review (NSR) permitting program under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) with respect to treating related physical or operational changes as a single ``modification'' for the purpose of determining NSR applicability at a stationary source. On April 15, 2010, the EPA proposed to revoke the 2009 NSR Aggregation Action. After a review of the public comments received on that proposal, the EPA has now decided to not revoke the 2009 NSR Aggregation Action. The EPA is, therefore, retaining the interpretation set forth in the 2009 NSR Aggregation Action, while not adopting any changes to the relevant rule text. At the same time, the EPA is using this present action to clarify the implications of the 2009 NSR Aggregation Action for EPA-approved permitting programs. This action also lifts the administrative stay and announces the effective date of the 2009 NSR Aggregation Action.

This final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single- Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the regulation for valuation dates in December 2018. The interest assumptions are used for paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans covered by the pension insurance system administered by PBGC.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adopting a final rule amending the Democratic Republic of the Congo Sanctions Regulations to implement Executive Order 13671 of July 8, 2014 (``Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo''). This rule also incorporates other technical and conforming changes.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) is proposing to revise and expand its equal employment opportunity regulation to adopt recent changes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had made to its rules. The Board's proposed rule is intended to provide Board employees, applicants for employment, and others with the same substantive and procedural rights generally guaranteed to others under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Rehabilitation Act and thus to comply with the spirit of those laws. The Board's proposed rule also clarifies provisions related to Board employees' right to bring a claim before the Merit System Protection Board and the Federal Labor Relations Board.

These rules finalize, with changes based on public comments, interim final rules concerning religious exemptions and accommodations regarding coverage of certain preventive services issued in the Federal Register on October 13, 2017. These rules expand exemptions to protect religious beliefs for certain entities and individuals whose health plans are subject to a mandate of contraceptive coverage through guidance issued pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. These rules do not alter the discretion of the Health Resources and Services Administration, a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to maintain the guidelines requiring contraceptive coverage where no regulatorily recognized objection exists. These rules also leave in place an ``accommodation'' process as an optional process for certain exempt entities that wish to use it voluntarily. These rules do not alter multiple other federal programs that provide free or subsidized contraceptives for women at risk of unintended pregnancy.

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) from vessels using jig gear, trawl catcher vessels, and American Fisheries Act (AFA) catcher/processors to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 m) length overall (LOA) using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the 2018 TAC of Pacific cod to be harvested.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve portions of State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions provided by the State of North Carolina through the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (NCDAQ) in letters dated June 5, 2017, and August 22, 2017. The submissions revise several regulations concerning nitrogen oxides, emission control standards, monitoring, and reporting requirements. EPA is proposing to approve these provisions of the SIP revisions because these changes are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and federal regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing three actions related to the attainment date for 11 areas classified as ``Moderate'' for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). First, the agency is proposing to determine that two areas the Baltimore, Maryland, and Mariposa County, California, nonattainment areasattained the standard by the July 20, 2018, attainment date. Second, the agency is proposing to grant requests for a 1-year attainment date extension to two other areas: Denver-Boulder-Greeley- Ft. Collins-Loveland, Colorado, and Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Third, the agency is proposing to determine that seven areas failed to attain the standards by the attainment date: Chicago-Naperville, Illinois- Indiana-Wisconsin; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Greater Connecticut, Connecticut; Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, Texas; Nevada County (Western part), California; New York-North New Jersey-Long Island, Connecticut- New York-New Jersey; and San Diego County, California. The effect of failing to attain by the attainment date is that such areas will be reclassified by operation of law to ``Serious'' upon the effective date of the final reclassification notice. Consequently, the responsible state air agencies must submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions required to satisfy the statutory and regulatory requirements for Serious areas for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. The EPA is proposing deadlines for submittal of those SIP revisions and implementation of the related control requirements. This proposed action is necessary to fulfill the EPA's statutory obligation to determine whether ozone nonattainment areas attained the NAAQS by the attainment date, and, within 6 months of the attainment date, publish a notice in the Federal Register identifying each area that is determined as having failed to attain and identifying the reclassification.

This document contains proposed amendments to the regulations relating to hardship distributions from section 401(k) plans. The amendments reflect statutory changes affecting section 401(k) plans, including recent changes made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. These regulations would affect participants in, beneficiaries of, employers maintaining, and administrators of plans that contain cash or deferred arrangements or provide for employee or matching contributions.

GSA is amending the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to remove duplicative text already contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve revisions to the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of lead and sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the copper smelter at Hayden, AZ and SO2 from the copper smelter at Miami, AZ. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).