March 4, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document announces further modifications to the January 31, 2020, decision of the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to direct all flights to the United States carrying persons who have recently traveled from, or were otherwise present within, the People's Republic of China (excluding the special autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau) to arrive at one of the United States airports where the United States Government is focusing public health resources. This document adds to the existing restrictions by directing all flights to the United States carrying persons who have recently traveled from, or were otherwise present within, the Islamic Republic of Iran to arrive at one of the United States airports where the United States Government is focusing public health resources. Nothing in this notification is intended to amend or modify the existing restrictions announced in the Federal Register on February 4, 2020 and February 7, 2020.

In this final rule, FRA is amending its regulations requiring commuter and intercity passenger rail (IPR) operations to develop and implement a system safety program (SSP) to improve the safety of their operations. The rule clarifies that each passenger rail operation has responsibility for ensuring compliance with the SSP final rule. FRA also adjusts the SSP rule's compliance dates to account for FRA's prior stay of the rule's effect and amends the rule to apply its information protections to the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C\3\RS) program included in a passenger rail operation's SSP. FRA is making conforming amendments to the Risk Reduction Program (RRP) final rule to ensure that the RRP and SSP rules have essentially identical consultation and information protection provisions.

In this document, as part of the Commission's effort to manage its dockets and reduce backlog and in an effort to avoid the need to address issues unnecessarily, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) seeks to determine parties' continuing interest in eight pending petitions for reconsideration of various aspects of the intercarrier compensation provisions of the USF/ICC Transformation Order. The Bureau therefore plans to dismiss each Petition listed below with prejudice unless a Petitioner files a notice in the relevant dockets within 45 days of the date of Federal Register publication of this Public Notice specifying that it objects to the dismissal of its Petition.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are approving amendments to the West Virginia regulatory program (the West Virginia program), under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act) that contains both West Virginia statutory and regulatory revisions. West Virginia initially submitted an amendment to revise its West Virginia Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act (WVSCMRA). Senate Bill 462 amends the West Virginia Code to conform to the State's requirements for informal conferences and decisions on surface coal mining permit applications with parallel provisions of Federal law. Committee Substitute for House Bill 2352 amends the West Virginia Code to provide tax incentives for coal mine operators who reclaim bond forfeiture sites. Subsequently, West Virginia submitted another amendment consisting of a Special Reclamation Tax Credit Rule to implement the proposed statutory revisions providing tax incentives to coal mine operators to reclaim bond forfeiture sites.

This final rule adjusts the level of the maximum daily civil monetary penalty contained in the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) regulations for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The civil penalty inflation adjustment, using a 1.01764 multiplier, accounts for one year of inflation spanning from October 2018 to October 2019.

The FDIC is amending its securitization safe harbor rule, which relates to the treatment of financial assets transferred in connection with a securitization transaction, in order to eliminate a requirement that the securitization documents require compliance with Regulation AB of the Securities and Exchange Commission in circumstances where Regulation AB by its terms would not apply to the issuance of obligations backed by such financial assets.