May 3, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard will enforce a special local regulation for the Fort Lauderdale Air Show from May 4 through 5, 2019, to provide for the safety of life on navigable waterways during this event. During the enforcement periods, the operator of any vessel in the regulated area must comply with directions from the Patrol Commander or any Official Patrol displaying a Coast Guard ensign.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is issuing this final rule to adjust its civil monetary penalties (CMP) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the National Fishing Enhancement Act to account for inflation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to redesignate the Terre Haute area from nonattainment to attainment for the 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) standard. The area consists of Fayette and Harrison Townships in Vigo County, Indiana. EPA is also proposing to approve Indiana's maintenance plan for this area.

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, includes these updates.

The Coast Guard is amending and updating its safety zones regulations for annual events that take place in the Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley area. This action is necessary to update the current list of recurring safety zones with revisions, additional events, and removal of events that no longer take place in Sector Ohio Valley. This regulation restricts vessel traffic from the safety zones during the events unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Sector Ohio Valley or a designated representative.

This action proposes an amendment to special conditions for the Airbus A380 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. This design feature is associated with the complex systems and the configuration of the airplane, including its full-length double deck. For these design features, the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards regarding stairways between decks. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards. By issuance of this amendment to the special condition, the FAA is correcting an error that appeared in the Federal Register on August 28, 2006, for Special Conditions No. 25-326-SC, Docket No. NM314. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These proposed special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

The Coast Guard is proposing to establish a temporary moving safety zone in the Baker Range portion of the Delaware River. This action is necessary to provide for safety of life and navigation on this portion of the Delaware River during submarine power cable laying operations. This proposed rulemaking would prohibit persons and vessels from entering or transiting through the safety zone without authorization of the Captain of the Port Delaware Bay or a designated representative. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

This rule establishes, amends, suspends, or removes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from organic liquid loading. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

We are proposing to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems for FY 2020 and to implement certain recent legislation. We also are proposing to make changes relating to Medicare graduate medical education (GME) for teaching hospitals and payments to critical access hospital (CAHs). In addition, we are proposing to provide the market basket update that would apply to the rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals excluded from the IPPS that are paid on a reasonable cost basis, subject to these limits for FY 2020. We are proposing to update the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) for FY 2020. In this proposed rule, we are including proposals to address wage index disparities between high and low wage index hospitals; to provide for an alternative IPPS new technology add-on payment pathway for certain transformative new devices; and to revise the calculation of the IPPS new technology add-on payment. In addition, we are requesting public comments on the substantial clinical improvement criterion used for evaluating applications for both the IPPS new technology add-on payment and the OPPS transitional pass- through payment for devices, and we discuss potential revisions that we are considering adopting as final policies related to the substantial clinical improvement criterion for applications received beginning in FY 2020 for IPPS (that is, for FY 2021 and later new technology add-on payments) and beginning in CY 2020 for the OPPS. We are proposing to establish new requirements or revise existing requirements for quality reporting by specific Medicare providers (acute care hospitals, PPS-exempt cancer hospitals, and LTCHs). We also are proposing to establish new requirements and revise existing requirements for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare and Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Programs. We are proposing to update policies for the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, and the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program.