2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard proposes to change the operating schedule that governs the draws of the Union Pacific Railroad bridge, mile 227.0, and the Midsouth Railroad bridge, mile 228.2, across the Red River at Shreveport, LA. This proposed rule would allow the drawbridges to permanently remain in the closed-to-navigation position, no longer opening for vessel traffic. While there is vessel traffic on the waterway, no one has requested that either drawbridge open since 2007. Union Pacific Railroad and Midsouth Railroad, the bridge owners, requested to update the operating schedule accordingly.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) and South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (South Atlantic Council) have submitted the Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment includes amendments to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (Reef Fish FMP) and the Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region (CMP FMP). If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment would revise reporting requirements for owners and operators of federally permitted charter vessels and headboats (for-hire vessels). The Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment would require an owner or operator of a for-hire vessel with a Federal charter vessel/headboat permit for Gulf Reef Fish or Gulf CMP to submit an electronic fishing report for each fishing trip using NMFS-approved hardware and software, before offloading fish from the vessel. The Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment would also require these owners or operators to notify NMFS prior to departing on any trip. The purpose of the Gulf For-hire Reporting Amendment is to increase and improve fisheries information collected from owners and operators of vessels with a Federal charter vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef fish or Gulf CMP species. The information is expected to improve recreational fisheries management of the for-hire component in the Gulf.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish a temporary safety zone on the waters of the Beaufort River in Beaufort, SC. The safety zone is needed to ensure safety of life on navigable waters of the United States during the Beaufort Water Festival Air Show. This proposed regulation will prohibit persons and vessels from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the regulated area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Charleston (COTP) or a designated representative. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

On May 21, 2018, OSHA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) titled ``Cranes and Derricks in Construction: Operator Qualification.'' The period for submitting public comments is being extended by 15 days to allow parties affected by the rule additional time to review the proposed rule and collect information and data necessary for comment.

This rule implements a recommendation from the California Olive Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate established for the 2018 fiscal period for olives grown in California. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services proposes a requirement under the Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities (TA&D) program. The Assistant Secretary may use this requirement for a competition in fiscal year (FY) 2018 and later years.

The Coast Guard will enforce fourteen safety zones for fireworks displays in the Sector Long Island Sound area of responsibility on the date and time listed in the table below. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waterways during the events. During the enforcement periods, no person or vessel may enter the safety zones without permission of the Captain of the Port (COTP) Sector Long Island Sound or designated representative.

NMFS is correcting a proposed rule that published on June 6, 2018, that would limit access to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Trawl Limited Access Sector (TLAS) yellowfin sole directed fishery by vessels that deliver their catch of yellowfin sole to motherships for processing. Two paragraphs in the preamble and two tables in the proposed regulatory text contained errors.

The Coast Guard will enforce certain safety zones located in federal regulations for recurring marine events. This action is necessary and intended for the safety of life and property on navigable waters during these events. During each enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the respective safety zone without the permission of the Captain of the Port Buffalo.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for navigable waters within a 420-foot radius of the launch site located at the Oswego Harbor, Lake Ontario, Oswego, NY. This safety zone is intended to restrict vessels from portions of Lake Ontario during the City of Oswego Community fireworks display. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect mariners and vessels from the navigational hazards associated with a fireworks display. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Buffalo.

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) proposes to amend its rules to revise the method by which the statutory three percent limitation on administrative costs (referred to throughout this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) as the ``three percent administrative cost cap'') is applied under the Direct Component, Comprehensive Plan Component, and Spill Impact Component under the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act or Act). This proposed amendment will help ensure that the Gulf Coast states and localities have the necessary funding to efficiently and effectively oversee and manage projects and programs for ecological and economic restoration of the Gulf Coast Region while ensuring compliance with the statutory three percent administrative cost cap. It does not change the definition of ``administrative costs'' or the indirect cost reimbursement calculation on an individual federal grant using the negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (NICRA) or de minimis rate.

This action streamlines and improves commercial space transportation regulations' general rulemaking and petition procedures to better reflect current practice; reorganizes the regulations for clarity and flow; and allows petitioners to file their petitions to the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation electronically. Further, it expands the option to satisfy commercial space transportation requirements by demonstrating an equivalent level of safety to the regulatory requirements. These changes are necessary to ensure that the regulations regarding petitions are clear and current, and that the commercial space launch industry is more easily able to request approvals of safe alternative means of regulatory compliance.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) proposes to amend the current regulation for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) on the subject of Single Close Combination Construction to Permanent Loans. The Agency proposes to amend the regulation to provide increased flexibility in loan terms that affect the costs of interim construction financing and the viability of combination construction to permanent loans on the secondary market in a manner which will enable more lenders to make these combination construction to permanent loans to SFHGLP borrowers. Specifically, the Agency proposes to: Allow and define a maximum interest rate for interim construction financing that is different than the underlying rate; allow for the escrow or reserve of regularly scheduled principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI) payments; and remove the requirement for loan modification or re-amortization once construction is complete.

This document corrects technical and typographical errors in the proposed rule that appeared in the May 7, 2018 issue of the Federal Register titled ``Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Proposed Policy Changes and Fiscal Year 2019 Rates; Proposed Quality Reporting Requirements for Specific Providers; Proposed Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs (Promoting Interoperability Programs) Requirements for Eligible Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, and Eligible Professionals; Medicare Cost Reporting Requirements; and Physician Certification and Recertification of Claims''.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to take the following four actions regarding the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP): approve Tennessee's November 22, 2017, SIP submittal seeking to change reliance from the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) for certain regional haze requirements; convert EPA's limited approval/limited disapproval of Tennessee's regional haze plan to a full approval; remove EPA's Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Tennessee which replaced reliance on CAIR with reliance on CSAPR to address the deficiencies identified in the limited disapproval of Tennessee's regional haze plan; and convert the conditional approvals of the visibility prong of Tennessee's infrastructure SIP submittals for the 2012 Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), 2010 Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and 2010 Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to full approvals.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve changes to the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP) to revise New Source Review (NSR) regulations. Specifically, EPA is proposing to approve the portions of a SIP revision submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), on May 28, 2009, that modify the definitions of ``baseline actual emissions.'' This action is being proposed pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc., Model BD-100-1A10 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report indicating that certain lanyards for the passenger oxygen masks located in the airplane's entry area are too long. This AD requires replacement of certain oxygen mask lanyards with shorter lanyards. We are issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A318 series; Model A319 series; Model A320 series; and Model A321-111, -112, -131, -211, -212, -213, -231, and -232 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of multiple angle of attack (AoA) probe blockages. This proposed AD would require all elevator aileron computer (ELAC) units to be upgraded with new software, or replaced with upgraded units. We are proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, a number of federal departments and agencies revised to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (often referred to as the ``Common Rule''), which each department and agency adopted into regulations in its part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same changes in a final rule published on September 18, 2017. The revised Common Rule was scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of the same date. By an interim final rule issued on January 17, 2018 and published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2018, federal departments and agencies delayed the effective date and the general compliance date for the revised Common Rule for a 6-month period, until July 19, 2018. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an interim final rule adopting the same regulatory changes on January 26, 2018. The revised Common Rule, including technical amendments made by the January 22, 2018 interim final rule, is referred to here as the ``2018 Requirements.'' On April 20, 2018, the federal departments and agencies listed here published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing and seeking comments as to whether the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements should be delayed for an additional 6-month period. The NPRM also proposed and sought comments on whether to allow regulated entities to implement certain burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements in specified circumstances during such continued delay period. Through this final rule, we are adopting the proposals described in the April 20, 2018 NPRM. This rule delays the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for an additional 6-month period, until January 21, 2019. As a result of this delay, regulated entities will be required, with an exception, to continue to comply with the requirements of the pre-2018 version of the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the ``pre-2018 Requirements'') until January 21, 2019. The one exception to this general rule is that institutions will be permitted (but not required) to implement, for certain research, three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements during the delay period (July 19, 2018, through January 20, 2019). Those three provisions are: The revised definition of ``research,'' which deems certain activities not to be research covered by the Common Rule; the elimination of the requirement for annual continuing review with respect to certain categories of research; and the elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards (IRBs) review grant applications or other funding proposals related to the research. Institutions taking advantage of the three-burden reducing provisions must comply with all other pre-2018 Requirements during the delay period. The three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements can only be implemented during the delay period with respect to studies initiated prior to January 21, 2019 that will transition to compliance with the revised Common Rule. Any study that implements these three burden-reducing provisions during the delay period must, beginning on January 21, 2019, comply with all of the 2018 Requirements for the balance of the study's duration.

NMFS announces that the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area is closed to Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota scallop vessels for the remainder of the 2018 fishing year. No vessel issued a Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota permit may fish for, possess, or land scallops from the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area. Regulations require this action once it is projected that 100 percent of trips allocated to the Limited Access General Category Individual Fishing Quota scallop vessels for the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area will be taken.

We are amending the regulations governing the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) by updating and clarifying several provisions, including those concerning NPIP participation, voting requirements, testing procedures, and standards. The changes in this final rule were voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the Plan's 2016 National Plan Conference.

NMFS issues this temporary rule to extend the expiration date of interim measures to reduce overfishing of golden tilefish in Federal waters of the South Atlantic implemented by a temporary rule published by NMFS on January 2, 2018. This temporary rule extends the reduced total annual catch limit (ACL), commercial and recreational sector ACLs, and quotas for the hook-and-line and longline components of the commercial sector for an additional 186 days. The purpose of this temporary rule extension is to reduce overfishing of golden tilefish while the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) develops management measures to end overfishing of golden tilefish on a permanent basis.

NASA is making technical amendments to the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to provide needed editorial changes.

The Coast Guard will amend its safety zone regulations for annual events in the Captain of the Port Duluth Zone. This final rule would update the locations for seven safety zones, add three new safety zones, increase the safety zone radius of six existing fireworks events, and modify the format of the regulation to list the annual events and corresponding safety zones in table form. These amendments will protect spectators, participants, and vessels from the hazards associated with annual marine events and improve the clarity and readability of the regulation.