January 31, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is proposing to establish a safety zone for navigable waters within Tanapag Harbor, Saipan. This safety zone will encompass the designated swim course for the Escape from Managaha swim event in the waters of Tanapag Harbor, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. This action is necessary to protect all persons and vessels participating in this marine event from potential safety hazards associated with vessel traffic in the area. Race participants, chase boats, and organizers of the event will be exempt from the safety zone. Entry of persons or vessels into the safety zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port (COTP) Guam. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

This proposed rule would adopt a modification to the requirements for the use of the Telecommunication Standard Implementation Guide, Version D, Release 0 (Version D.0), August 2007, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs by requiring covered entities to use the Quantity Prescribed (460-ET) field for retail pharmacy transactions for Schedule II drugs. The modification would enable covered entities to clearly distinguish whether a prescription is a ``partial fill,'' where less than the full amount prescribed is dispensed, or a refill, in the HIPAA retail pharmacy transactions. We believe this modification is important to ensure information is available to help prevent impermissible refills of Schedule II drugs, which would help to address the public health concerns associated with prescription drug abuse in the United States.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is amending its rule that specifies the time period for which adjusted civil penalty amounts would be applied to conduct within its jurisdiction and is also adjusting specific civil penalty amounts in that rule to account for inflation. On June 14, 2016, the Bureau issued an interim final rule (IFR) to implement the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and further amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). On October 12, 2018, the Bureau sought notice and comment on a proposed amendment to the IFR to specify that the adjusted civil penalties only apply to assessments whose associated violations occurred on, or after, November 2, 2015 (the date the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act amendments were signed into law). This rule finalizes the IFR and proposed amendment; it also adjusts for inflation the maximum amount of each civil penalty within the Bureau's jurisdiction.

This final rule removes the Department of Defense (DoD) regulation concerning compensation of certain former operatives incarcerated by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The content of this part is obsolete as the claim period expired and the Vietnam Commandos Compensation Commission was disbanded. Therefore, this part is unnecessary, and can be removed.

The Coast Guard is extending the duration of a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of the Neches River extending 500- feet on either side of the Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge that crosses the Neches River in Beaumont, TX. The safety zone is necessary to protect the bridge as well as persons and property on or near the bridge from potential damage from passing vessels until missing and/or damaged fendering systems are repaired or replaced. Entry of certain vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur or a designated representative.

This final rule removes Department of the Navy regulations governing Certification and Exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972. The certification and exemption of certain naval vessels which cannot comply fully with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, is governed by statute and executive order which direct that notice of certification of alternate compliance be published in the Federal Register. The content of this part imposes no burden on the public, and the rule is not required. Notice will continue to be provided the public through the publication of notice documents in the Federal Register. Therefore, this rule can be removed from the CFR.

The Commission is adopting a final rule concerning the minimum amount that the Postal Service's competitive products as a whole are required to contribute to institutional costs annually. The rule as adopted uses a formula-based approach to annually calculate competitive products' appropriate share of institutional costs. For additional information, Order No. 4963 can be accessed electronically through the Commission's website at https://www.prc.gov.

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 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend the licensing, inspection, special project, and annual fees charged to its applicants and licensees. These proposed amendments are necessary to implement the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, as amended (OBRA-90), which requires the NRC to recover approximately 90 percent of its annual budget through fees less certain amounts excluded from this fee-recovery requirement. President Trump signed the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019 on September 21, 2018. That Act appropriated approximately $911.0 million to the NRC, which is a decrease of approximately $11.0 million from FY 2018. Based on that total budget authority, the NRC is proposing to collect $781.9 million in fees in FY 2019.

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.