2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to allow States the option of issuing a commercial learner's permit (CLP) with an expiration date of up to one year from the date of initial issuance. The CLP must be valid for no more than one year from the initial date of issuance without requiring the CLP holder to retake the general and endorsement knowledge tests. CLPs issued for a period of less than one year may be renewed provided the CLP is not valid for more than one year from the date of initial issuance. This rule does not require a State to revise its current CLP issuance practices, unless it chooses to do so. This rule is a deregulatory action as defined by Executive Order (E.O.) 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs.''

The Secretary of the Treasury (the ``Secretary''), as Chairperson of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (``FSOC''), after consultation with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the ``FDIC''), is issuing a determination regarding requests for exemption from certain requirements of the rule implementing the qualified financial contracts (``QFC'') recordkeeping requirements of Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the ``Dodd-Frank Act'' or the ``Act'').

The Coast Guard proposes to amend the anchorage regulations for the Sabine Pass Channel, Sabine Pass, TX anchorage ground for the navigational safety of vessels entering and exiting a new liquefied natural gas terminal mooring basin being constructed on the eastern waterfront of the Sabine Pass Channel. This proposed rulemaking would reduce the overall size of the existing anchorage. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

The Coast Guard is extending the effective period of the temporary regulated navigation areas and safety zone for the navigable waters of the Hudson River, NY, surrounding the Tappan Zee Bridge. This rule will extend the effective period of the existing temporary interim rule for an additional year, now ending on December 31, 2019. This rule will continue to prohibit all persons and vessel traffic from the safety zone and enforce speed and wake restrictions for the Eastern and Western regulated navigation areas as cited in this rule unless exceptions are authorized by the First District Commander or a designated representative. These regulated navigation areas and safety zone continue to be necessary to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards during the removal of the existing Tappan Zee Bridge and construction of a new bridge.

NMFS is adjusting the Swordfish General Commercial permit retention limits for the Northwest Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. Caribbean regions for January through June of the 2019 fishing year, unless otherwise later noticed. The Swordfish General Commercial permit retention limits in each of these regions are increased from the regulatory default limits (either two or three fish) to six swordfish per vessel per trip. The Swordfish General Commercial permit retention limit in the Florida Swordfish Management Area will remain unchanged at the default limit of zero swordfish per vessel per trip, as discussed in more detail below. These adjustments apply to Swordfish General Commercial permitted vessels and to Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial endorsement when on a non-for-hire trip. This action is based upon consideration of the applicable inseason regional retention limit adjustment criteria.

The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) amends its minimum internal control standards for Class II gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to correct an erroneous deletion of the key control standards and to make other minor edits and additions for clarity.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve revised rules submitted by the State of Illinois as State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions. The submitted rules update Illinois ambient air quality rules to update definitions and requirements for handling monitoring data influenced by exceptional events, implementation rules for the 2012 primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and designated reference and equivalent methods for multiple NAAQS. In addition, the submitted rules amend the Illinois Administrative Code (IAC) by updating the definition of volatile organic compounds (VOC).

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of tolfenpyrad in or on multiple commodities which are identified and discussed later in this document. Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Commission is updating the competitive product list. This action reflects a publication policy adopted by Commission order. The referenced policy assumes periodic updates. The updates are identified in the body of this document. The competitive product list, which is re-published in its entirety, include these updates.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. (Piper) Model PA-28-140, PA-28-150, PA-28- 151, PA-28-160, PA-28-161, PA-28-180, PA-28-181, PA-28-235, PA-28R-180, PA-28R-200, PA-28R-201, PA-28R-201T, PA-28RT-201, PA-28RT-201T, PA-32- 260, and PA-32-300 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a report of a fatigue crack found in a visually inaccessible area of the lower main wing spar cap. This proposed AD would require calculating the factored service hours for each main wing spar to determine when an inspection is required, inspecting the lower main wing spar bolt holes for cracks, and replacing any cracked main wing spar. We are proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is proposing a rule on the process for validation and approval of credit score models by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the Enterprises. FHFA requests public comment on all aspects of this proposed rule.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 that modifies the limitations on awarding single-source task or delivery order contracts exceeding $112 million.

DoD is amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018. One section imposes additional prohibitions with regard to acquisition of certain foreign commercial satellite services, such as cybersecurity risk and source of satellites and launch vehicles used to provide the foreign commercial satellite services, and expands the definition of ``covered foreign country'' to include Russia. Another section prohibits purchase of items from a Communist Chinese military company that meet the definition of goods and services controlled as munitions items when moved to the Commerce Control List of the Export Administration Regulations of the Department of Commerce.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to change the entity to which contractors submit Summary Subcontract Reports in the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS) and to change the entity that acknowledges receipt of, or rejects, the reports in eSRS.

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to create a new group registration option for certain types of literary works. To qualify for this option, each work must contain at least 100 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual, and that individual must be named as the copyright claimant for each work. The works must all be published online within a three-calendar-month period. If these requirements have been met, the applicant may submit up to 50 works with one application and one filing fee. The applicant must complete the online application designated for a ``literary work'' and upload a digital copy of each work. The Office will examine each work to determine if it contains a sufficient amount of creative authorship, and if the Office registers the claim, the registration will cover each work as a separate work of authorship. The Office invites comment on this proposal.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is amending the regulations pertaining to the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels. The amendments correct errors that were made in labeling examples, restore incorrect deletions, correct the edition of a reference cited in the rule, and correct cross-references to other regulations. This action is ministerial or editorial in nature.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance regarding the tax on base erosion payments of taxpayers with substantial gross receipts and reporting requirements thereunder. The proposed regulations would affect corporations with substantial gross receipts that make payments to foreign related parties. The proposed regulations under section 6038A would affect any reporting corporations within the meaning of section 6038A or 6038C.

This rule establishes the new national mandatory bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard (NBFDS or Standard). The new Standard requires food manufacturers, importers, and other entities that label foods for retail sale to disclose information about BE food and BE food ingredients. This rule is intended to provide a mandatory uniform national standard for disclosure of information to consumers about the BE status of foods. Establishment and implementation of the new Standard is required by an amendment to the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946.

This action finalizes the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) determination that the existing Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Update for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) (CSAPR Update) fully addresses certain states' obligations under the good neighbor provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) regarding interstate pollution transport for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. The CSAPR Update, published on October 26, 2016, promulgated Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) for 22 states in the eastern U.S. In the final CSAPR Update, based on information available at that time, the EPA could not conclude that the rule fully addressed these CAA section obligations for 21 of the 22 CSAPR Update states. As a result, the EPA has an outstanding obligation to fully address the requirements of this Clean Air Act provision for these states. Based on information and analysis that became available after the CSAPR Update was finalized, this action finalizes a determination that the existing CSAPR Update fully addresses the CAA's good neighbor provision for the 2008 ozone NAAQS for all remaining CSAPR Update states. Specifically, EPA is finalizing a determination that 2023 is an appropriate future analytic year to evaluate remaining good neighbor obligations and that, for the purposes of addressing good neighbor obligations, there will be no remaining nonattainment or maintenance receptors with respect to the 2008 ozone NAAQS in the eastern U.S. in that year. Therefore, with the CSAPR Update fully implemented, these remaining CSAPR Update states are not expected to contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance of, any other state with regard to the 2008 ozone NAAQS. In accord with this finding, the EPA has no outstanding, unfulfilled obligation to establish additional requirements for emission sources in these states to further reduce transported ozone pollution under the good neighbor provision for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. As a result of this finding, this action finalizes minor revisions to the existing CSAPR Update regulations to reflect that the CSAPR Update FIPs fully address this CAA provision. This determination applies to states currently subject to CSAPR Update FIPs as well as any states for which EPA has approved replacement of CSAPR Update FIPs with CSAPR Update state implementation plans (SIPs).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is amending its golden parachute payments regulation to better align it with areas of FHFA's supervisory concern and reduce administrative and compliance burdens. This final rule amends a requirement that FHFA review and consent before a regulated entity or the Office of Finance (OF) enters certain agreements to make, or makes, certain payments that are contingent on the termination of an affiliated party, if the regulated entity or the OF is in a troubled condition, in conservatorship or receivership, or insolvent. FHFA's experience implementing the regulation indicated that it required review of some agreements and payments where there was little risk of excess or abuse, and thus that it was too broad. As amended, the rule will reduce the number of agreements and payments that are subject to FHFA prior review by focusing on those agreements and payments where there is greater risk of an excessive or abusive payment (in general, payments to and agreements with executive officers, broad-based plans covering large numbers of employees (such as severance plans), and payments made to non-executive-officer employees who may have engaged in certain types of wrongdoing). In addition, the rule as amended clarifies the inquiry into possible employee wrongdoing that a regulated entity is required to undertake prior to entering into an agreement to make or making a golden parachute payment. Amendments also revise and clarify other rule procedures, definitions, and exemptions.

The United States Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, is streamlining its securities regulations by removing regulations that are no longer necessary because they do not have any current or future applicability.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by correcting two entries on the Commerce Control List (CCL) that control Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiving equipment. It was brought to BIS' attention that it did not implement controls over items that no longer warrant control under the United States Munitions List (USML) in a previous published rule. This rule corrects that error. BIS estimates that there will be 12 license applications submitted to BIS annually as a result of this rule.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2019-01. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the internet at https://www.regulations.gov.

This final rule removes from the Code of Federal Regulations a section of the final rule published on May 17, 2016, entitled, ``Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.'' This action responds to a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that vacated the incentive section of the GINA rule effective January 1, 2019.

The Coast Guard is modifying the operating schedule that governs the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF) Bridge 38.3 across Ebey Slough, mile 1.5, at Marysville, WA. The modified schedule removes the bridge operator at the subject drawbridge, and will change from on-demand opening to a four hour advance notice for opening.