May 28, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) proposes to modify two regulations pertaining to the determination of benefit and specificity in countervailing duty proceedings. These modifications, if adopted, would clarify how Commerce determines the existence of a benefit resulting from a subsidy in the form of currency undervaluation, and clarify that companies in the traded goods sector of an economy can constitute a group of enterprises for purposes of determining whether a subsidy is specific.

Through this document, HUD solicits comment on the continuation of a demonstration designed to test the new method of assessing the physical condition of housing assisted by HUD vouchers (voucher-assisted housing). The original announcement of the Demonstration was published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2016. In the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the act appropriating funds for HUD in Fiscal Year (FY 2016), Congress directed HUD to implement a single inspection protocol for public housing and voucher units. The continuation of this demonstration is necessary to meet that requirement. The demonstration commenced the process for implementing that single inspection protocol.

The Postal Service announces the issuance of the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM[supreg]) dated March 4, 2019, and its incorporation by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations.

NMFS proposes to implement annual catch limits and management measures for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine (hereafter, Pacific sardine), for the fishing year from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020. The proposed action would prohibit most directed commercial fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. Pacific sardine harvest would be allowed only in the live bait fishery, minor directed fisheries, as incidental catch in other fisheries, or as authorized under exempted fishing permits. The incidental harvest of Pacific sardine would be limited to 20 percent by weight of all fish per trip when caught with other stocks managed under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan or up to 2 metric tons when caught with non-Coastal Pelagic Species stocks. The proposed annual catch limit for the 2019-2020 Pacific sardine fishing year is 4,514 metric tons. This proposed rule is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast.

NHTSA is seeking public comment on the near- and long-term challenges of testing and verifying compliance with existing crash avoidance (100-series) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs) for Automated Driving System-Dedicated Vehicles (ADS-DVs) that lack traditional manual controls necessary for a human driver to maneuver the vehicle and other features intended to facilitate operation of a vehicle by a human driver, but that are otherwise traditional vehicles with typical seating configurations. This document seeks comments on the suitability of various approaches that could be used to address compliance verification challenges that exist for crash avoidance standards that either require a manual control; or specify the use of manual controls in a compliance test procedure. NHTSA's long-term goal is to use what the agency learns from this ANPRM, as well as the agency's other research efforts, to develop a proposal to amend the crash avoidance FMVSSs in ways that address these and other compliance challenges with a continued focus on safety. This ANPRM builds on NHTSA's efforts to identify and address regulatory barriers to ADS technologies, including the request for comments (RFC) on this topic in January 2018. NHTSA intends to issue two additional documents to remove barriers in the crashworthiness FMVSSs (200-series standards) and address issues in the FMVSSs pertaining to telltales, indicators, and warnings in ADS-DVs.

NMFS is prohibiting fishing with large-mesh drift gillnet (DGN) gear (=14 inches mesh) off the coast of southern California east of 120[deg] W meridian from June 1, 2019, through August 31, 2019. This prohibition is based on the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries' (AA's) determination that El Ni[ntilde]o conditions are occurring off the coast of southern California. This action protects Endangered Species Act-listed loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), specifically the endangered North Pacific Ocean Distinct Population Segment.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a revision to its Enforcement Policy (the Policy). The NRC is revising Section 4.1, ``Considerations in Determining Enforcement Actions Involving Individuals,'' of the Policy to indicate that the NRC typically will not consider Fitness-for-Duty (FFD) Drug and Alcohol (D&A) related violations for enforcement unless the licensee's FFD program has apparent deficiencies.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone between mile marker (MM) 99.5 and MM 100.5 Above Head of Passes, Lower Mississippi River, New Orleans, LA. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of life on these navigable waters near New Orleans, LA, during a fireworks display on June 20, 2019. This rule prohibits persons and vessels from entering the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port New Orleans or a designated representative.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving changes to the Georgia State Implementation Plan (SIP) to revise Georgia's rules regarding emissions standards and open burning. EPA is approving portions of the SIP revision submitted by the State of Georgia, through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD) on April 11, 2003. This action is being taken pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reopening the public comment period on the proposed rule ``Air Plan Approval; ID: Infrastructure Requirements for the 2015 Ozone Standard'' published April 9, 2019. Whenever a new or revised National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) is promulgated, the Clean Air Act requires each State to submit a plan for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the standard, commonly referred to as infrastructure requirements. The EPA proposes to approve the Idaho State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted on September 27, 2018, as meeting infrastructure requirements for the 2015 ozone NAAQS. Due to an administrative error, documents relevant to the proposed action were left out of the docket during the initial comment period from April 9, 2019 to May 9, 2019. Thus, the EPA is providing an additional 30 days for public comment on the proposed action.

This action modifies the Hawaiian Islands Class E airspace extending upward from 1,200 feet and 5,500 feet above the surface of the earth by removing that portion that extends beyond the Territorial Sea. This action supports the operation of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) under standard instrument approach and departure procedures in the Hawaiian Islands, for the safety and management of aircraft within the National Airspace System.

This document sets forth final regulations relating to certified professional employer organizations (CPEOs). The Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014, required the IRS to establish a voluntary certification program for professional employer organizations. These final regulations set forth the requirements a person must satisfy in order to become and remain a CPEO and the federal employment tax liabilities and other obligations of persons certified by the IRS as CPEOs. These final regulations will affect persons who apply to be treated as CPEOs and who are certified by the IRS as meeting the applicable requirements. In certain instances, the final regulations will also affect the federal employment tax liabilities and other obligations of customers of the CPEO.

As part of its regulatory review of the Contact Lens Rule (``Rule''), the Commission is proposing modifications to its prior proposal to amend the Rule to require that prescribers obtain a signed acknowledgment after releasing a contact lens prescription and maintain each such acknowledgment for a period of not less than three years. The Commission is further proposing to amend the Rule to: Permit prescribers to comply with automatic prescription release via electronic delivery in certain circumstances; specify a time-period for prescribers to respond to requests for prescriptions; clarify and institute additional requirements for automated telephone verification messages; more precisely delineate what constitutes unlawful alteration of a prescription; and require that sellers accept patient prescription presentation. The Commission seeks comment on these proposals. The Commission is not adopting any final amendments to the Rule at this time and continues to consider comments and information submitted in response to its Request for Comment of September 2015, its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of December 2016, and its Notice Announcing Public Workshop and Request for Comment of December 2017.