2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule adopts, with minor changes, an interim rule published in the Federal Register on November 12, 2019. The interim rule implemented changes to CSP that were necessitated by enactment of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) or that were required to implement administrative improvements and clarifications. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) received input from 110 commenters who provided 615 comments in response to the interim rule. This final rule makes permanent those changes appearing in the interim rule, responds to comments, and makes further adjustments in response to some of the comments received. In addition, the rule makes some minor technical corrections.

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directives (ADs) 2015-14- 07, 2016-07-10, and 2016-24-09. AD 2015-14-07 applied to certain The Boeing Company Model 787-8 airplanes. AD 2016-07-10 and AD 2016-24-09 applied to all The Boeing Company Model 787-8 and 787-9 airplanes. ADs 2015-14-07, 2016-07-10, and 2016-24-09 required actions related to certain flight control module (FCM) software. This AD requires installing flight control electronics (FCE) common block point 5 (CBP5) software, which terminates the requirements of the ADs superseded by this AD. This AD was prompted by certain deficiencies in the FCM software, including a report of an unannunciated dual symmetric inboard slat skew. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This document contains final regulations that provide guidance under section 274 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) regarding certain recent amendments made to that section. Specifically, the final regulations address the elimination of the deduction under section 274 for expenditures related to entertainment, amusement, or recreation activities, and provide guidance to determine whether an activity is of a type generally considered to be entertainment. The final regulations also address the limitation on the deduction of food and beverage expenses under section 274(k) and (n), including the applicability of the exceptions under section 274(e)(2), (3), (4), (7), (8), and (9). The final regulations affect taxpayers who pay or incur expenses for meals or entertainment.

The Department of Energy (``DOE'' or ``the Department'') proposes amending its procedures for providing public input on possible corrections to pre-publication drafts of energy conservation standard documents, as informed by a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding the implementation and scope of the existing procedures. This proposal seeks to modify certain aspects of these procedures and to clarify and reflect the Department's intent with regard to the procedures. In particular, the proposal would clarify that although DOE has elected to utilize a distinct error correction process to receive public input on certain pre-publication draft documents, this process does not in any way restrict, limit, diminish, or eliminate the Secretary's discretion to determine whether to establish or amend an energy conservation standard, or to determine the appropriate level at which to amend or establish any energy conservation standard.

This document announces that the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) will be conducting consultation meetings by webinar to obtain oral and written comments on the BIE National Policy Memorandum (NPM- EDUC-33), which is an interim policy, applicable to BIE-operated elementary and secondary schools and dormitories, on the nondiscrimination prohibitions based on disability found in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Department's implementing regulations. The Department will use comments received during consultation to inform its development of a final Section 504 policy for BIE-operated elementary and secondary schools and dormitories.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a regional haze progress report State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Utah on March 7, 2016. The revision addresses the requirements for states to submit periodic reports describing progress toward reasonable progress goals established for regional haze and a determination of adequacy of the State's regional haze SIP. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) proposes amending its procedural rules governing the conciliation process. The Commission believes that providing greater clarity to the conciliation process will enhance the effectiveness of the process and ensure that the Commission meets its statutory obligations.

The National Labor Relations Board (``NLRB'' or ``Board'') is correcting a notice of proposed rulemaking that appeared in the Federal Register on July 29, 2020. This notice of proposed rulemaking amends the Board's rules and regulations to eliminate the requirement that employers must, as part of the Board's voter list requirement, provide available personal email addresses and available home and personal cellular telephone numbers of all eligible voters. It also proposes an amendment providing for absentee mail ballots for employees who are on military leave.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is hereby approving an application from the State of Wyoming under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to implement an underground injection control (UIC) program for Class VI injection wells to protect underground sources of drinking water located within the state, except within Indian lands. EPA will continue to administer all well classes within Indian lands. Class VI wells are used for the underground injection of carbon dioxide into deep subsurface rock formations for long-term storage.

NASA is issuing a final rule to amend the NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement (NFS) to remove the sections governing ``Use of Government property for commercial work'' from NFS as this only affects the internal Agency administrative procedures and has no cost or administrative impact on contractors or prospective contractors.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final with no changes, a proposed rule amending its regulations on disclosure of certain records. Recent changes in law, to include the VA MISSION Act of 2018, now authorize VA to disclose certain protected records to non- VA entities for purposes of providing health care or performing other health care-related activities or functions to include recovering or collecting reasonable charges for care furnished.

This document contains final regulations that provide guidance regarding the base erosion and anti-abuse tax imposed on certain large corporate taxpayers with respect to certain payments made to foreign related parties. The final regulations affect corporations with substantial gross receipts that make payments to foreign related parties.

Revisions to certain of the Federal Communications Commission's pole attachment rules were published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2018. However, that document incorrectly listed a cross-reference in one section of the Commission's rules, and this document corrects those final regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing updates to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to codify its findings that nine areas in four states attained the revoked 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (herein referred to as the 1997 ozone NAAQS) by the applicable attainment dates. The parallel direct final rule is published in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this issue of the Federal Register because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial action. If no significant adverse comments are received on the direct final rule, then no further action will be taken on this proposal and the direct final rule will become effective as provided in that action.

We are adopting amendments to the definition of ``accredited investor'' in our rules to add new categories of qualifying natural persons and entities and to make certain other modifications to the existing definition. The amendments are intended to update and improve the definition to identify more effectively investors that have sufficient knowledge and expertise to participate in investment opportunities that do not have the rigorous disclosure and procedural requirements, and related investor protections, provided by registration under the Securities Act of 1933. We are also adopting amendments to the ``qualified institutional buyer'' definition in Rule 144A under the Securities Act to expand the list of entities that are eligible to qualify as qualified institutional buyers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will convene a meeting remotely via web conference to implement the Voluntary Agreement for the Manufacture and Distribution of Critical Healthcare Resources Necessary to Respond to a Pandemic. A portion of the meeting will be open to the public.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a new information collection. The collection involves survey responses from U.S. operator (Part 121 and Part 135) employees who lead departments responsible for Operations and Standards, Training, and Safety to understand how industry has addressed recommendations from SAFO 17007 and to inform future guidance on manual flight skill proficiency in future en-route and terminal environments. This information collection is necessary, as no other information sources have been identified that would provide the required information. Operator policies and procedures are not publicly shared; therefore, this is the only reliable method to gather anonymous information from a representative industry sample.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the amendment of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) License SNM-2506 for the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (PI ISFSI) located in Goodhue County, Minnesota. The NRC has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for this proposed license amendment in accordance with its regulations. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The NRC also is conducting a safety evaluation of the proposed license renewal.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department), is amending certain DHS regulations governing the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. Specifically, DHS is: Revising the regulatory definition of and standards for a ``specialty occupation'' to better align with the statutory definition of the term; adding definitions for ``worksite'' and ``third-party worksite''; revising the definition of ``United States employer''; clarifying how U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will determine whether there is an ``employer-employee relationship'' between the petitioner and the beneficiary; requiring corroborating evidence of work in a specialty occupation; limiting the validity period for third-party placement petitions to a maximum of 1 year; providing a written explanation when the petition is approved with an earlier validity period end date than requested; amending the general itinerary provision to clarify it does not apply to H-1B petitions; and codifying USCIS' H-1B site visit authority, including the potential consequences of refusing a site visit. The primary purpose of these changes is to better ensure that each H-1B nonimmigrant worker (H-1B worker) will be working for a qualified employer in a job that meets the statutory definition of a ``specialty occupation.'' These changes are urgently necessary to strengthen the integrity of the H-1B program during the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 public health emergency to more effectively ensure that the employment of H-1B workers will not have an adverse impact on the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. In addition, in strengthening the integrity of the H-1B program, these changes will aid the program in functioning more effectively and efficiently.