April 14, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) is publishing this interim final rule to update the regulatory requirements used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to test and approve air-purifying particulate respirators for use in the ongoing public health emergency. With this rulemaking, parallel performance standards are added to existing regulatory requirements for PAPRs to allow for the approval of respirators in a new class, PAPR100, that may be better suited to the needs of workers in the healthcare and public safety sectors currently experiencing a shortage of air-purifying particulate respirators due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This rulemaking also consolidates the technical standards for all types of air-purifying particulate respirators into one subpart, and standards pertaining to obsolete respirators designed for dust, fume, and mist; pesticide; and paint spray are removed from the regulation entirely. This rulemaking will have no substantive impact on the continued certification testing and approval by the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of existing PAPR class HE (high-efficiency series) respirators or non-powered air-purifying particulate respirators, including N95 filtering facepiece respirators, currently in demand by healthcare workers and emergency responders. NIOSH expects that the addition of PAPR100 devices to the marketplace will help to relieve the current high demand for possibly hundreds of thousands of additional particulate filtering facepiece respirators needed specifically for healthcare and emergency medical response settings.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on its draft Design Review Guide (DRG): Instrumentation and Controls for Non-Light-Water Reactor (non-LWR) Reviews. This DRG provides guidance for the NRC staff to use in reviewing the Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) portions of applications for advanced non-LWRs within the bounds of existing regulations. The guidance supports NRC's Non-LWR Vision and Strategy, Implementation Action Plan Strategy 3, which involves developing: (1) Guidance for flexible regulatory review processes for non-LWRs within the bounds of existing regulations; and (2) a new non-LWR regulatory framework that is risk-informed and performance-based, and that features NRC staff's review efforts commensurate with the demonstrated safety performance of non-LWR technologies.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda for a partially closed meeting of the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee (CINTAC).

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on the renewal of an information collection request, Combined Federal Campaign Retiree/ Annuitant Pledge Form OMB Control No. 3206-0271, which include OPM Form 1654-B. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as amended by the Clinger-Cohen Act, OPM is soliciting comments for this collection. The Office of Personnel Management is particularly interested in comments that: 1. Evaluate whether the continued collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; 2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; 3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

The National Endowment for the Humanities will hold one meeting of the Humanities Panel, a federal advisory committee, during May 2020. The purpose of the meeting is for panel review, discussion, evaluation, and recommendation of applications for financial assistance under the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act that the Idaho Advisory Committee (Committee) will hold a series of meetings via teleconference on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 and Tuesday, June 23, 2020 both at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The purpose of the meeting is for the Committee to discuss their project on Native American Voting Rights and planning upcoming community forums.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry (GFI) #259 entitled ``Stability Testing of New Veterinary Drug Substances and Medicinal Products in Climatic Zones III and IV'' (VICH GL58). This guidance has been developed for veterinary use by the International Cooperation on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VICH). This VICH guidance document is an annex to the VICH parent stability guidance, GFI #73 (VICH GL3(R)), ``Stability Testing of New Veterinary Drug Substances and Medicinal Products (Revision),'' and provides guidance regarding the stability data package for a new veterinary drug substance and medicinal product to be included in a registration or application submitted within the regions in climatic zones III and IV.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) is extending the comment period for the request for information (RFI) entitled ``Request for Information on Vaping Products Associated with Lung Injuries'' that appeared in the Federal Register of February 18, 2020. In the RFI, FDA opened a docket to obtain data and information related to the use of vaping products that are associated with recent lung injuries. The Agency is taking this action in response to requests for an extension to allow interested persons additional time to submit comments.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Thales AVS France SAS (Thales) Global Positioning System/ Satellite Based Augmentation System (GPS/SBAS) receivers installed on airplanes and helicopters. This AD was prompted by reports that Thales GPS/SBAS receivers provided, under certain conditions, erroneous outputs on aircraft positions. This AD requires the installation of a software update to the aircraft navigation database and insertion of a change to the applicable airplane flight manual (AFM). The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review and approval of the information collection listed below.

Federal law makes certain procedural benefits available to States in federal habeas corpus review of capital cases, where the Attorney General certifies that the State has established a postconviction capital counsel mechanism satisfying the chapter's requirements. The Attorney General certifies in this notice that Arizona has such a mechanism, which was established on May 19, 1998.

In this document, the Commission seeks comment on modernizing its methodology for determining whether a television broadcast station is ``significantly viewed'' in a community outside of its local television market and therefore may be treated as a local station in that community, permitted under the Commission's rules to be carried by cable systems and satellite operators. An examination into whether the existing methodology has become outdated or overly burdensome, particularly for smaller entities, is warranted given changes in the marketplace in the nearly fifty years since its adoption.