December 11, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has submitted a public information collection request (ICR) entitled Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

NMFS issues this notice to decrease the fee rate to 3.5 percent for the Pacific Coast Groundfish fee-share fishery to repay the $28,428,718.88 Groundfish sub-loan of the $35,662,471 reduction loan that financed the Pacific Coast Groundfish fishing capacity reduction program.

This Notice announces that the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (Agency) is accepting applications for the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. Approximately $37 million is currently available. The Agency may also utilize any funding that become available after publishing this notice. The Agency will publish the program funding level on the Rural Development website (https://www.rd.usda.gov/ programs-services/value-added-producer-grants). Section VII also announces solicitation of non-Federal independent grant reviewers to evaluate and score applications submitted under this Notice.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

This action provides participants in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program with the 2020 fee percentages and MS pricing needed to calculate the required payments for the cost recovery fees due in 2020. For calendar year 2020, NMFS announces the following fee percentages by sector specific program: 3.00 percent for the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program; 0.29 percent for the MS Co-op Program; and 0.08 percent for the Catcher/Processor Co-op (CP) Program. For 2020, the MS pricing to be used as a proxy by the CP Co-op Program is: $0.08/lb for Pacific whiting.

PHMSA is publishing this notice as a general informational announcement concerning the issuance of a special permit. The special permit authorizes the grantee to transport Methane, refrigerated liquid (i.e., liquefied natural gas or LNG) by rail tank car. The special permit and documents supporting the special permit decision have been added to PHMSA's LNG by Rail Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Docket (Docket No. PHMSA-2018-0025) for consideration by the public because the subject matter of the special permit overlaps with the subject matter of PHMSA's rulemaking proposing to authorize the transport of LNG in rail tank cars. PHMSA reviewed comments to the draft environmental assessment (Docket No. PHMSA-2019-0100) published for public review on June 6, 2019. These comments informed PHMSA's decision making in issuing the special permit and will also help to inform PHMSA's deliberations with respect to a potential LNG by rail final rule. PHMSA will consider any additional comments on the operational controls included in the special permit that are filed to the LNG rulemaking docket to aid the agency in determining what, if any, operational controls may be appropriate for inclusion in a potential final rule.

The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is publishing this second round notice to request comment regarding its intent to submit modified versions of the 12 OGE model certificates and model documents for qualified trusts to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The information collection is published in the Federal Register to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. Comments are encouraged and must be submitted (no later than February 10, 2020) to be assured of consideration.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). The information collection is published in the Federal Register to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. Comments are encouraged and must be submitted (no later than February 10, 2020) to be assured of consideration.

This action extends the prohibition against certain flight operations in the territory and airspace of Somalia at altitudes below Flight Level (FL) 260 by all: U.S. air carriers; U.S. commercial operators; persons exercising the privileges of an airman certificate issued by the FAA, except when such persons are operating U.S.- registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and operators of U.S.- registered civil aircraft, except when the operator of such aircraft is a foreign air carrier. The FAA is taking this action because it has determined there continues to be an unacceptable risk to U.S. civil aviation operating in the territory and airspace of Somalia at altitudes below FL260 from terrorist and militant activity. The FAA also republishes, with minor revisions, the approval process and exemption information for this flight prohibition Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) and makes minor editorial changes to this SFAR to clarify prohibited and permitted operations, consistent with other recently published flight prohibition SFARs.

The Commission proposes revised rules modifying the system for regulating rates and classes for market dominant products. The revised rules incorporate feedback from comments received from the Commission's prior proposed rulemaking. The rule revisions replace some rules in their entirety, move others, and change existing rules as necessary.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) proposes amending its rule covering official time for representatives who are employees of the federal government. The Commission seeks to clarify that its rule concerning official time does not apply to representatives who serve in an official capacity in a labor organization that is the exclusive representative of employees in an appropriate unit. The Commission is doing this because it believes that the relevant labor relations statute articulates the best policy for determining if someone receives official time when they act for a labor organization and the Commission does not want its regulations to undermine this approach.

In response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, and the United States Attorney General's October 7, 2017 Memorandum on Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty pursuant to Executive Order No. 13798, the Department of Education (Department) proposes revising the current regulations regarding the eligibility of faith-based entities to participate in the Federal Student Aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), and the eligibility of students to obtain certain benefits under those programs. The Secretary is also proposing to simplify the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program requirements to minimize the number of TEACH Grants that are converted to Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and to update, strengthen, and clarify other areas of the TEACH Grant Program regulations.