January 31, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule amends Department of Homeland Security (``DHS'' or ``the Department'') regulations governing petitions filed on behalf of H-1B beneficiaries who may be counted toward the 65,000 visa cap established under the Immigration and Nationality Act (``H-1B regular cap'') or beneficiaries with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions of higher education who are eligible for an exemption from the regular cap (``advanced degree exemption''). The amendments require petitioners seeking to file H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, to first electronically register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (``USCIS'') during a designated registration period, unless the registration requirement is temporarily suspended. USCIS is suspending the registration requirement for the fiscal year 2020 cap season to complete all requisite user testing of the new H-1B registration system and otherwise ensure the system and process are operable. This final rule also changes the process by which USCIS counts H-1B registrations (or petitions, for FY 2020 or any other year in which the registration requirement will be suspended), by first selecting registrations submitted on behalf of all beneficiaries, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will then select from the remaining registrations a sufficient number projected as needed to reach the advanced degree exemption. Changing the order in which USCIS counts these separate allocations will likely increase the number of beneficiaries with a master's or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to be selected for further processing under the H- 1B allocations. USCIS will proceed with implementing this change to the cap allocation selection process for the FY 2020 cap season (beginning on April 1, 2019), notwithstanding the delayed implementation of the H- 1B registration requirement.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to amend its regulations that govern VA health care. This rule would grant eligible veterans access to urgent care from qualifying non-VA entities or providers without prior approval from VA. This rulemaking would implement the mandates of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 and increase veterans' access to health care in the community.

The Secretary is amending the February 27, 2015, Declaration issued pursuant to the Public Health Service Act, amended December 9, 2015 and December 2, 2016, to update the term ``Ebola Virus Disease'' to ``Ebola disease'' (EBOD) throughout the declaration and to clarify the definition of EBOD. The amendment also expands the Covered Countermeasures beyond the single therapeutic listed in prior declarations but limit coverage to Covered Countermeasures that are directly supported by the United States (U.S.) Federal Government, consistent with the terms of the Declaration, and is republishing the Declaration in its entirety as amended.

On October 18, 2018 the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published a notice in the Federal Register [83 FR 52834] announcing the availability of a Partnership Opportunity to Identify Products for Fentanyl Exposure in Personal Protective Equipment Information Database. Written comments were to be received by November 19, 2018. In response to requests from interested parties, NIOSH is announcing the reopening of the comment period.

The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service is publishing this notice to announce the following public hearings will take place.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (``Board'') is amending Regulation D (Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions) to revise the rate of interest paid on balances maintained to satisfy reserve balance requirements (``IORR'') and the rate of interest paid on excess balances (``IOER'') maintained at Federal Reserve Banks by or on behalf of eligible institutions. The final amendments specify that IORR is 2.40 percent and IOER is 2.40 percent, a 0.20 percentage point increase from their prior levels. The amendments are intended to enhance the role of such rates of interest in moving the Federal funds rate into the target range established by the Federal Open Market Committee (``FOMC'' or ``Committee'').

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are reopening the comment period on our October 7, 2014, proposed rule to list the West Coast distinct population segment (DPS) of fisher (Pekania pennanti) as a threatened species. We are reopening the comment period for 30 days to give all interested parties further opportunity to comment on the proposed rule. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted as they are already incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in the final rule.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is amending Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to add a section establishing a maximum allowable charge for disclosures by a consumer reporting agency to a consumer pursuant to FCRA section 609. The Bureau is also amending Regulation V to add an appendix setting forth the statutory requirements for determining the maximum allowable charge; announcing the maximum charge for 2019; and preserving a list of historical maximum allowable charges. Historically, the Bureau has published these FCRA annual adjustments as a notice. The Bureau is now codifying those notices and adding a provision to Regulation V to track the FCRA's provisions concerning the annual maximum allowable charge.

The OCC, the Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the agencies) are inviting comment on a proposed rule that would increase the major assets prohibition thresholds for management interlocks in the agencies' rules implementing the Depository Institution Management Interlocks Act (DIMIA). The DIMIA major assets prohibition prohibits a management official of a depository organization with total assets exceeding $2.5 billion (or any affiliate of such an organization) from serving at the same time as a management official of an unaffiliated depository organization with total assets exceeding $1.5 billion (or any affiliate of such an organization). DIMIA provides that the agencies may adjust, by regulation, the major assets prohibition thresholds in order to allow for inflation or market changes. The agencies propose to raise the major assets prohibition thresholds to $10 billion to account for changes in the United States banking market since the current thresholds were established in 1996. The agencies also propose three alternative approaches for increasing the thresholds based on market changes or inflation. Increasing the major assets prohibition thresholds would relieve certain depository organizations below the adjusted thresholds from having to ask the agencies for an exemption from the major assets prohibition. The agencies do not expect the proposal to materially increase anticompetitive risk.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposes to create a new, optional, unified license to include both space stations and earth stations operating in a geostationary- satellite orbit, fixed-satellite service satellite network; and to repeal or modify unnecessarily burdensome rules governing satellite services, such as annual reporting requirements.