Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions-Fall 2020, 16847-16853 [2021-04348]
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REGULATORY INFORMATION
SERVICE CENTER
Introduction to the Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory
Actions—Fall 2020
AGENCY:
Regulatory Information Service
Center.
Introduction to the Regulatory
Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
ACTION:
Publication of the Unified
Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory
Actions and the Regulatory Plan
represent key components of the
regulatory planning mechanism
prescribed in Executive Order 12866,
‘‘Regulatory Planning and Review,’’
Executive Order 13771, ‘‘Reducing
Regulation and Controlling Regulatory
Costs,’’ January 30, 2017, and Executive
Order 13777, ‘‘Enforcing the Regulatory
Reform Agenda,’’ February 24, 2017.
The fall editions of the Unified Agenda
include the agency regulatory plans
required by E.O. 12866, which identify
regulatory priorities and provide
additional detail about the most
important significant regulatory actions
that agencies expect to take in the
coming year.
In addition, the Regulatory Flexibility
Act requires that agencies publish
semiannual ‘‘regulatory flexibility
agendas’’ describing regulatory actions
they are developing that will have
significant effects on small businesses
and other small entities (5 U.S.C. 602).
The Unified Agenda of Regulatory
and Deregulatory Actions (Unified
Agenda), published in the fall and
spring, helps agencies fulfill all of these
requirements. All federal regulatory
agencies have chosen to publish their
regulatory agendas as part of this
publication. The complete Unified
Agenda and Regulatory Plan can be
found online at https://www.reginfo.gov
and a reduced print version can be
found in the Federal Register.
Information regarding obtaining printed
copies can also be found on the
Reginfo.gov website (or below, VI. How
can users get copies of the Plan and the
Agenda?).
The fall 2020 Unified Agenda
publication appearing in the Federal
Register includes the Regulatory Plan
and agency regulatory flexibility
agendas, in accordance with the
publication requirements of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency
regulatory flexibility agendas contain
only those Agenda entries for rules that
are likely to have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities and entries that have been
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selected for periodic review under
section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act.
The complete fall 2020 Unified
Agenda contains the Regulatory Plans of
28 Federal agencies and 68 Federal
agency regulatory agendas.
ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information
Service Center (MVE), General Services
Administration, 1800 F Street NW,
2219F, Washington, DC 20405.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information about specific
regulatory actions, please refer to the
agency contact listed for each entry. To
provide comment on or to obtain further
information about this publication,
contact: Boris Arratia, Director,
Regulatory Information Service Center
(MR), General Services Administration,
1800 F Street NW, Room 2221D,
Washington, DC 20405, 703–795–0816.
You may also send comments to us by
email at: RISC@gsa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions
I. What are the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda?
II. Why are the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda published?
III. How are the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda organized?
IV. What information appears for each entry?
V. Abbreviations
VI. How can users get copies of the Plan and
the Agenda?
Introduction to the Fall 2020 Regulatory Plan
Agency Regulatory Plans
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban
Development
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of State
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
Department of Veterans Affairs
Other Executive Agencies
Architectural and Transportation Barriers
Compliance Board
Environmental Protection Agency
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
General Services Administration
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
National Archives and Records
Administration
National Science Foundation
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Office of Management and Budget
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of Personnel Management
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Small Business Administration
Social Security Administration
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal Trade Commission
National Indian Gaming Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering
Council
Agency Agendas
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of the Interior
Department of Labor
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
Other Executive Agencies
Committee for Purchase From People Who
Are Blind or Severely Disabled
Environmental Protection Agency
General Services Administration
Office of Management and Budget
Railroad Retirement Board
Small Business Administration
Joint Authority
Department of Defense/General Services
Administration/National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (Federal Acquisition
Regulation)
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Reserve System
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Securities and Exchange Commission
Surface Transportation Board
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering
Council
Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and
the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
I. What are the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda?
The Regulatory Plan serves as a
defining statement of the
Administration’s regulatory and
deregulatory policies and priorities. The
Plan is part of the fall edition of the
Unified Agenda. Each participating
agency’s regulatory plan contains: (1) A
narrative statement of the agency’s
regulatory and deregulatory priorities,
and, for the most part, (2) a description
of the most important significant
regulatory and deregulatory actions that
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the agency reasonably expects to issue
in proposed or final form during the
upcoming fiscal year. This edition
includes the regulatory plans of 30
agencies.
The Unified Agenda provides
information about regulations that the
Government is considering or
reviewing. The Unified Agenda has
appeared in the Federal Register twice
each year since 1983 and has been
available online since 1995. The
complete Unified Agenda is available to
the public at https://www.reginfo.gov.
The online Unified Agenda offers
flexible search tools and access to the
historic Unified Agenda database to
1995. The complete online edition of
the Unified Agenda includes regulatory
agendas from 65 Federal agencies.
Agencies of the United States Congress
are not included.
The fall 2020 Unified Agenda
publication appearing in the Federal
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan
and agency regulatory flexibility
agendas, in accordance with the
publication requirements of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency
regulatory flexibility agendas contain
only those Agenda entries for rules that
are likely to have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities and entries that have been
selected for periodic review under
section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act. Printed entries display only the
fields required by the Regulatory
Flexibility Act. Complete agenda
information for those entries appears, in
a uniform format, in the online Unified
Agenda at https://www.reginfo.gov.
The following agencies have no
entries for inclusion in the printed
regulatory flexibility agenda. An asterisk
(*) indicates agencies that appear in The
Regulatory Plan. The regulatory agendas
of these agencies are available to the
public at https://reginfo.gov.
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Cabinet Departments
Department of Justice *
Department of Housing and Urban
Development *
Department of State *
Other Executive Agencies
Agency for International Development
American Battle Monuments
Commission
Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board *
Commission on Civil Rights
Corporation for National and
Community Service
Council on Environmental Quality
Court Services and Offender
Supervision Agency for the District of
Columbia
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Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission *
Federal Mediation Conciliation Service
Institute of Museum and Library
Services
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration *
National Archives and Records
Administration *
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Mediation Board
National Science Foundation*
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Personnel Management *
Office of the United States Trade
Representative
Peace Corps
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation *
Presidio Trust
Social Security Administration *
U.S. Agency for Global Media
Independent Agencies
Council of the Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency
Farm Credit Administration
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review
Commission
Federal Trade Commission *
National Credit Union Administration
National Indian Gaming Commission *
National Labor Relations Board
National Transportation Safety Board
Postal Regulatory Commission
The Regulatory Information Service
Center compiles the Unified Agenda for
the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of
Management and Budget. OIRA is
responsible for overseeing the Federal
Government’s regulatory, paperwork,
and information resource management
activities, including implementation of
Executive Order 12866 (incorporated in
Executive Order 13563). The Center also
provides information about Federal
regulatory activity to the President and
his Executive Office, the Congress,
agency officials, and the public.
The activities included in the Agenda
are, in general, those that will have a
regulatory action within the next 12
months. Agencies may choose to
include activities that will have a longer
timeframe than 12 months. Agency
agendas also show actions or reviews
completed or withdrawn since the last
Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866
does not require agencies to include
regulations concerning military or
foreign affairs functions or regulations
related to agency organization,
management, or personnel matters.
Agencies prepared entries for this
publication to give the public notice of
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their plans to review, propose, and issue
regulations. They have tried to predict
their activities over the next 12 months
as accurately as possible, but dates and
schedules are subject to change.
Agencies may withdraw some of the
regulations now under development,
and they may issue or propose other
regulations not included in their
agendas. Agency actions in the
rulemaking process may occur before or
after the dates they have listed. The
Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda do
not create a legal obligation on agencies
to adhere to schedules in this
publication or to confine their
regulatory activities to those regulations
that appear within it.
II. Why are the Regulatory Plan and the
Unified Agenda published?
The Regulatory Plan and the Unified
Agenda helps agencies comply with
their obligations under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act and various Executive
orders and other statutes.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act
requires agencies to identify those rules
that may have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Agencies meet
that requirement by including the
information in their submissions for the
Unified Agenda. Agencies may also
indicate those regulations that they are
reviewing as part of their periodic
review of existing rules under the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
610). Executive Order 13272, ‘‘Proper
Consideration of Small Entities in
Agency Rulemaking,’’ signed August 13,
2002 (67 FR 53461), provides additional
guidance on compliance with the Act.
Executive Order 12866
Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory
Planning and Review,’’ September 30,
1993 (58 FR 51735), requires covered
agencies to prepare an agenda of all
regulations under development or
review. The Order also requires that
certain agencies prepare annually a
regulatory plan of their ‘‘most important
significant regulatory actions,’’ which
appears as part of the fall Unified
Agenda. Executive Order 13497, signed
January 30, 2009 (74 FR 6113), revoked
the amendments to Executive Order
12866 that were contained in Executive
Order 13258 and Executive Order
13422.
Executive Order 13771
Executive Order 13771, ‘‘Reducing
Regulation and Controlling Regulatory
Costs,’’ January 30, 2017 (82 FR 9339)
requires each agency to identify for
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elimination two prior regulations for
every one new regulation issued, and
the cost of planned regulations be
prudently managed and controlled
through a budgeting process.
Executive Order 13777
Executive Order 13777, ‘‘Enforcing
the Regulatory Reform Agenda,’’
February 24, 2017 (82 FR 12285)
requires each agency to designate an
agency official as its Regulatory Reform
Officer (RRO). Each RRO shall oversee
the implementation of regulatory reform
initiatives and policies to ensure that
agencies effectively carry out regulatory
reforms, consistent with applicable law.
The Executive Order also directs that
each agency designate a regulatory
Reform Task Force.
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Executive Order 13563
Executive Order 13563, ‘‘Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review,’’
January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3821)
supplements and reaffirms the
principles, structures, and definitions
governing contemporary regulatory
review that were established in
Executive Order 12866, which includes
the general principles of regulation and
public participation, and orders
integration and innovation in
coordination across agencies; flexible
approaches where relevant, feasible, and
consistent with regulatory approaches;
scientific integrity in any scientific or
technological information and processes
used to support the agencies’ regulatory
actions; and retrospective analysis of
existing regulations.
Executive Order 13132
Executive Order 13132, ‘‘Federalism,’’
August 4, 1999 (64 FR 43255), directs
agencies to have an accountable process
to ensure meaningful and timely input
by State and local officials in the
development of regulatory policies that
have ‘‘federalism implications’’ as
defined in the Order. Under the Order,
an agency that is proposing a regulation
with federalism implications, which
either preempt State law or impose nonstatutory unfunded substantial direct
compliance costs on State and local
governments, must consult with State
and local officials early in the process
of developing the regulation. In
addition, the agency must provide to the
Director of the Office of Management
and Budget a federalism summary
impact statement for such a regulation,
which consists of a description of the
extent of the agency’s prior consultation
with State and local officials, a
summary of their concerns and the
agency’s position supporting the need to
issue the regulation, and a statement of
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the extent to which those concerns have
been met. As part of this effort, agencies
include in their submissions for the
Unified Agenda information on whether
their regulatory actions may have an
effect on the various levels of
government and whether those actions
have federalism implications.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4, title II) requires
agencies to prepare written assessments
of the costs and benefits of significant
regulatory actions ‘‘that may result in
the expenditure by State, local, and
tribal governments, in the aggregate, or
by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or
more in any 1 year.’’ The requirement
does not apply to independent
regulatory agencies, nor does it apply to
certain subject areas excluded by
section 4 of the Act. Affected agencies
identify in the Unified Agenda those
regulatory actions they believe are
subject to title II of the Act.
Executive Order 13211
Executive Order 13211, ‘‘Actions
Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use,’’ May 18, 2001 (66
FR 28355), directs agencies to provide,
to the extent possible, information
regarding the adverse effects that agency
actions may have on the supply,
distribution, and use of energy. Under
the Order, the agency must prepare and
submit a Statement of Energy Effects to
the Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Office of Management and Budget, for
‘‘those matters identified as significant
energy actions.’’ As part of this effort,
agencies may optionally include in their
submissions for the Unified Agenda
information on whether they have
prepared or plan to prepare a Statement
of Energy Effects for their regulatory
actions.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act
The Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L. 104–
121, title II) established a procedure for
congressional review of rules (5 U.S.C.
801 et seq.), which defers, unless
exempted, the effective date of a
‘‘major’’ rule for at least 60 days from
the publication of the final rule in the
Federal Register. The Act specifies that
a rule is ‘‘major’’ if it has resulted, or is
likely to result, in an annual effect on
the economy of $100 million or more or
meets other criteria specified in that
Act. The Act provides that the
Administrator of OIRA will make the
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final determination as to whether a rule
is major.
III. How are the Regulatory Plan and
the Unified Agenda organized?
The Regulatory Plan appears in part II
in a daily edition of the Federal
Register. The Plan is a single document
beginning with an introduction,
followed by a table of contents, followed
by each agency’s section of the Plan.
Following the Plan in the Federal
Register, as separate parts, are the
regulatory flexibility agendas for each
agency whose agenda includes entries
for rules which are likely to have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities or
rules that have been selected for
periodic review under section 610 of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Each printed
agenda appears as a separate part. The
sections of the Plan and the parts of the
Unified Agenda are organized
alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet
departments; other executive agencies;
the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a
joint authority (Agenda only); and
independent regulatory agencies.
Agencies may in turn be divided into
subagencies. Each printed agency
agenda has a table of contents listing the
agency’s printed entries that follow.
Each agency’s part of the Agenda
contains a preamble providing
information specific to that agency.
Each printed agency agenda has a table
of contents listing the agency’s printed
entries that follow.
Each agency’s section of the Plan
contains a narrative statement of
regulatory priorities and, for most
agencies, a description of the agency’s
most important significant regulatory
and deregulatory actions. Each agency’s
part of the Agenda contains a preamble
providing information specific to that
agency plus descriptions of the agency’s
regulatory and deregulatory actions.
The online, complete Unified Agenda
contains the preambles of all
participating agencies. Unlike the
printed edition, the online Agenda has
no fixed ordering. In the online Agenda,
users can select the particular agencies’
agendas they want to see. Users have
broad flexibility to specify the
characteristics of the entries of interest
to them by choosing the desired
responses to individual data fields. To
see a listing of all of an agency’s entries,
a user can select the agency without
specifying any particular characteristics
of entries.
Each entry in the Agenda is associated
with one of five rulemaking stages. The
rulemaking stages are:
1. Prerule Stage—actions agencies
will undertake to determine whether or
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how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions
occur prior to a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include
Advance Notices of Proposed
Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of
existing regulations.
2. Proposed Rule Stage—actions for
which agencies plan to publish a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step
in their rulemaking process or for which
the closing date of the NPRM Comment
Period is the next step.
3. Final Rule Stage—actions for which
agencies plan to publish a final rule or
an interim final rule or to take other
final action as the next step.
4. Long-Term Actions—items under
development but for which the agency
does not expect to have a regulatory
action within the 12 months after
publication of this edition of the Unified
Agenda. Some of the entries in this
section may contain abbreviated
information.
5. Completed Actions—actions or
reviews the agency has completed or
withdrawn since publishing its last
agenda. This section also includes items
the agency began and completed
between issues of the Agenda.
Long-Term Actions are rulemakings
reported during the publication cycle
that are outside of the required 12month reporting period for which the
Agenda was intended. Completed
Actions in the publication cycle are
rulemakings that are ending their
lifecycle either by Withdrawal or
completion of the rulemaking process.
Therefore, the Long-Term and
Completed RINs do not represent the
ongoing, forward-looking nature
intended for reporting developing
rulemakings in the Agenda pursuant to
Executive Order 12866, section 4(b) and
4(c). To further differentiate these two
stages of rulemaking in the Unified
Agenda from active rulemakings, LongTerm and Completed Actions are
reported separately from active
rulemakings, which can be any of the
first three stages of rulemaking listed
above. A separate search function is
provided on https://reginfo.gov to search
for Completed and Long-Term Actions
apart from each other and active RINs.
A bullet (•) preceding the title of an
entry indicates that the entry is
appearing in the Unified Agenda for the
first time.
In the printed edition, all entries are
numbered sequentially from the
beginning to the end of the publication.
The sequence number preceding the
title of each entry identifies the location
of the entry in this edition. The
sequence number is used as the
reference in the printed table of
contents. Sequence numbers are not
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used in the online Unified Agenda
because the unique Regulation Identifier
Number (RIN) is able to provide this
cross-reference capability.
Editions of the Unified Agenda prior
to fall 2007 contained several indexes,
which identified entries with various
characteristics. These included
regulatory actions for which agencies
believe that the Regulatory Flexibility
Act may require a Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis, actions selected for periodic
review under section 610(c) of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act, and actions
that may have federalism implications
as defined in Executive Order 13132 or
other effects on levels of government.
These indexes are no longer compiled,
because users of the online Unified
Agenda have the flexibility to search for
entries with any combination of desired
characteristics. The online edition
retains the Unified Agenda’s subject
index based on the Federal Register
Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In
addition, online users have the option of
searching Agenda text fields for words
or phrases.
IV. What information appears for each
entry?
All entries in the online Unified
Agenda contain uniform data elements
including, at a minimum, the following
information:
Title of the Regulation—a brief
description of the subject of the
regulation. In the printed edition, the
notation ‘‘Section 610 Review’’
following the title indicates that the
agency has selected the rule for its
periodic review of existing rules under
the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
610(c)). Some agencies have indicated
completions of section 610 reviews or
rulemaking actions resulting from
completed section 610 reviews. In the
online edition, these notations appear in
a separate field.
Priority—an indication of the
significance of the regulation. Agencies
assign each entry to one of the following
five categories of significance.
(1) Economically Significant
As defined in Executive Order 12866,
a rulemaking action that will have an
annual effect on the economy of $100
million or more or will adversely affect
in a material way the economy, a sector
of the economy, productivity,
competition, jobs, the environment,
public health or safety, or State, local,
or tribal governments or communities.
The definition of an ‘‘economically
significant’’ rule is similar but not
identical to the definition of a ‘‘major’’
rule under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104–
121). (See below.)
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(2) Other Significant
A rulemaking that is not
Economically Significant but is
considered Significant by the agency.
This category includes rules that the
agency anticipates will be reviewed
under Executive Order 12866 or rules
that are a priority of the agency head.
These rules may or may not be included
in the agency’s regulatory plan.
(3) Substantive, Nonsignificant
A rulemaking that has substantive
impacts, but is neither Significant, nor
Routine and Frequent, nor
Informational/Administrative/Other.
(4) Routine and Frequent
A rulemaking that is a specific case of
a multiple recurring application of a
regulatory program in the Code of
Federal Regulations and that does not
alter the body of the regulation.
(5) Informational/Administrative/Other
A rulemaking that is primarily
informational or pertains to agency
matters not central to accomplishing the
agency’s regulatory mandate but that the
agency places in the Unified Agenda to
inform the public of the activity.
Major—whether the rule is ‘‘major’’
under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104–121)
because it has resulted or is likely to
result in an annual effect on the
economy of $100 million or more or
meets other criteria specified in that
Act. The Act provides that the
Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs will
make the final determination as to
whether a rule is major.
Unfunded Mandates—whether the
rule is covered by section 202 of the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(Pub. L. 104–4). The Act requires that,
before issuing an NPRM likely to result
in a mandate that may result in
expenditures by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector of more than $100 million
in 1 year, agencies, other than
independent regulatory agencies, shall
prepare a written statement containing
an assessment of the anticipated costs
and benefits of the Federal mandate.
Legal Authority—the section(s) of the
United States Code (U.S.C.) or Public
Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order
(E.O.) that authorize(s) the regulatory
action. Agencies may provide popular
name references to laws in addition to
these citations.
CFR Citation—the section(s) of the
Code of Federal Regulations that will be
affected by the action.
Legal Deadline—whether the action is
subject to a statutory or judicial
deadline, the date of that deadline, and
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whether the deadline pertains to an
NPRM, a Final Action, or some other
action.
Abstract—a brief description of the
problem the regulation will address; the
need for a Federal solution; to the extent
available, alternatives that the agency is
considering to address the problem; and
potential costs and benefits of the
action.
Timetable—the dates and citations (if
available) for all past steps and a
projected date for at least the next step
for the regulatory action. A date
displayed in the form 12/00/19 means
the agency is predicting the month and
year the action will take place but not
the day it will occur. In some instances,
agencies may indicate what the next
action will be, but the date of that action
is ‘‘To Be Determined.’’ ‘‘Next Action
Undetermined’’ indicates the agency
does not know what action it will take
next.
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Required—whether an analysis is
required by the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) because the
rulemaking action is likely to have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities as
defined by the Act.
Small Entities Affected—the types of
small entities (businesses, governmental
jurisdictions, or organizations) on which
the rulemaking action is likely to have
an impact as defined by the Regulatory
Flexibility Act. Some agencies have
chosen to indicate likely effects on
small entities even though they believe
that a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
will not be required.
Government Levels Affected—whether
the action is expected to affect levels of
government and, if so, whether the
governments are State, local, tribal, or
Federal.
International Impacts—whether the
regulation is expected to have
international trade and investment
effects, or otherwise may be of interest
to the Nation’s international trading
partners.
Federalism—whether the action has
‘‘federalism implications’’ as defined in
Executive Order 13132. This term refers
to actions ‘‘that have substantial direct
effects on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and
the States, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government.’’
Independent regulatory agencies are not
required to supply this information.
Included in the Regulatory Plan—
whether the rulemaking was included in
the agency’s current regulatory plan
published in fall 2017.
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Agency Contact—the name and phone
number of at least one person in the
agency who is knowledgeable about the
rulemaking action. The agency may also
provide the title, address, fax number,
email address, and TDD for each agency
contact.
Some agencies have provided the
following optional information:
RIN Information URL—the internet
address of a site that provides more
information about the entry.
Public Comment URL—the internet
address of a site that will accept public
comments on the entry. Alternatively,
timely public comments may be
submitted at the Governmentwide erulemaking site, https://
www.regulations.gov.
Additional Information—any
information an agency wishes to include
that does not have a specific
corresponding data element.
Compliance Cost to the Public—the
estimated gross compliance cost of the
action.
Affected Sectors—the industrial
sectors that the action may most affect,
either directly or indirectly. Affected
sectors are identified by North
American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) codes.
Energy Effects—an indication of
whether the agency has prepared or
plans to prepare a Statement of Energy
Effects for the action, as required by
Executive Order 13211 ‘‘Actions
Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use,’’ signed May 18,
2001 (66 FR 28355).
Related RINs—one or more past or
current RIN(s) associated with activity
related to this action, such as merged
RINs, split RINs, new activity for
previously completed RINs, or duplicate
RINs.
Statement of Need—a description of
the need for the regulatory action.
Summary of the Legal Basis—a
description of the legal basis for the
action, including whether any aspect of
the action is required by statute or court
order.
Alternatives—a description of the
alternatives the agency has considered
or will consider as required by section
4(c)(1)(B) of Executive Order 12866.
Anticipated Costs and Benefits—a
description of preliminary estimates of
the anticipated costs and benefits of the
action.
Risks—a description of the magnitude
of the risk the action addresses, the
amount by which the agency expects the
action to reduce this risk, and the
relation of the risk and this risk
reduction effort to other risks and risk
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reduction efforts within the agency’s
jurisdiction.
V. Abbreviations
The following abbreviations appear
throughout this publication:
ANPRM—An Advance Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking is a preliminary
notice, published in the Federal
Register, announcing that an agency is
considering a regulatory action. An
agency may issue an ANPRM before it
develops a detailed proposed rule. An
ANPRM describes the general area that
may be subject to regulation and usually
asks for public comment on the issues
and options being discussed. An
ANPRM is issued only when an agency
believes it needs to gather more
information before proceeding to a
notice of proposed rulemaking.
CFR—The Code of Federal
Regulations is an annual codification of
the general and permanent regulations
published in the Federal Register by the
agencies of the Federal Government.
The Code is divided into 50 titles, each
title covering a broad area subject to
Federal regulation. The CFR is keyed to
and kept up to date by the daily issues
of the Federal Register.
E.O.—An Executive order is a
directive from the President to
Executive agencies, issued under
constitutional or statutory authority.
Executive orders are published in the
Federal Register and in title 3 of the
Code of Federal Regulations.
FR—The Federal Register is a daily
Federal Government publication that
provides a uniform system for
publishing Presidential documents, all
proposed and final regulations, notices
of meetings, and other official
documents issued by Federal agencies.
FY—The Federal fiscal year runs from
October 1 to September 30.
• NPRM—A Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking is the document an agency
issues and publishes in the Federal
Register that describes and solicits
public comments on a proposed
regulatory action. Under the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.
553), an NPRM must include, at a
minimum: A statement of the time,
place, and nature of the public
rulemaking proceeding;
• A reference to the legal authority
under which the rule is proposed; and
Either the terms or substance of the
proposed rule or a description of the
subjects and issues involved.
PL (or Pub. L.)—A public law is a law
passed by Congress and signed by the
President or enacted over his veto. It has
general applicability, unlike a private
law that applies only to those persons
or entities specifically designated.
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Public laws are numbered in sequence
throughout the 2-year life of each
Congress; for example, Public Law 112–
4 is the fourth public law of the 112th
Congress.
RFA—A Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis is a description and analysis of
the impact of a rule on small entities,
including small businesses, small
governmental jurisdictions, and certain
small not-for-profit organizations. The
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601
et seq.) requires each agency to prepare
an initial RFA for public comment when
it is required to publish an NPRM and
to make available a final RFA when the
final rule is published, unless the
agency head certifies that the rule
would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
RIN—The Regulation Identifier
Number is assigned by the Regulatory
Information Service Center to identify
each regulatory action listed in the
Regulatory Plan and the Unified
Agenda, as directed by Executive Order
12866 (section 4(b)). Additionally, OMB
has asked agencies to include RINs in
the headings of their Rule and Proposed
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Rule documents when publishing them
in the Federal Register, to make it easier
for the public and agency officials to
track the publication history of
regulatory actions throughout their
development.
Seq. No.—The sequence number
identifies the location of an entry in the
printed edition of the Regulatory Plan
and the Unified Agenda. Note that a
specific regulatory action will have the
same RIN throughout its development
but will generally have different
sequence numbers if it appears in
different printed editions of the Unified
Agenda. Sequence numbers are not used
in the online Unified Agenda.
U.S.C.—The United States Code is a
consolidation and codification of all
general and permanent laws of the
United States. The U.S.C. is divided into
50 titles, each title covering a broad area
of Federal law.
VI. How can users get copies of the Plan
and the Agenda?
Copies of the Federal Register issue
containing the printed edition of The
Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda
(agency regulatory flexibility agendas)
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16853
are available from the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government
Publishing Office, P.O. Box 371954,
Pittsburgh, PA 15250–7954. Telephone:
(202) 512–1800 or 1–866–512–1800
(toll-free).
Copies of individual agency materials
may be available directly from the
agency or may be found on the agency’s
website. Please contact the particular
agency for further information.
All editions of The Regulatory Plan
and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
since fall 1995 are available in
electronic form at https://reginfo.gov,
along with flexible search tools.
The Government Publishing Office’s
GPO FDsys website contains copies of
the Agendas and Regulatory Plans that
have been printed in the Federal
Register. These documents are available
at https://www.fdsys.gov.
Dated: December 3, 2020.
Boris Arratia,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2021–04348 Filed 3–30–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820–27–P
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 31, 2021)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 16848-16853]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04348]
[[Page 16847]]
Vol. 86
Wednesday,
No. 60
March 31, 2021
Part II
Regulatory Information Service Center
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Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions--Fall 2020
Federal Register / Vol. 86 , No. 60 / Wednesday, March 31, 2021 / UA:
Reg Flex Agenda
[[Page 16848]]
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REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER
Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions--Fall 2020
AGENCY: Regulatory Information Service Center.
ACTION: Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Publication of the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions and the Regulatory Plan represent key components
of the regulatory planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order
12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' Executive Order 13771,
``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,'' January 30,
2017, and Executive Order 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform
Agenda,'' February 24, 2017. The fall editions of the Unified Agenda
include the agency regulatory plans required by E.O. 12866, which
identify regulatory priorities and provide additional detail about the
most important significant regulatory actions that agencies expect to
take in the coming year.
In addition, the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies
publish semiannual ``regulatory flexibility agendas'' describing
regulatory actions they are developing that will have significant
effects on small businesses and other small entities (5 U.S.C. 602).
The Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified
Agenda), published in the fall and spring, helps agencies fulfill all
of these requirements. All federal regulatory agencies have chosen to
publish their regulatory agendas as part of this publication. The
complete Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan can be found online at
https://www.reginfo.gov and a reduced print version can be found in the
Federal Register. Information regarding obtaining printed copies can
also be found on the Reginfo.gov website (or below, VI. How can users
get copies of the Plan and the Agenda?).
The fall 2020 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal
Register includes the Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory flexibility
agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas
contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
The complete fall 2020 Unified Agenda contains the Regulatory Plans
of 28 Federal agencies and 68 Federal agency regulatory agendas.
ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information Service Center (MVE), General
Services Administration, 1800 F Street NW, 2219F, Washington, DC 20405.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about specific
regulatory actions, please refer to the agency contact listed for each
entry. To provide comment on or to obtain further information about
this publication, contact: Boris Arratia, Director, Regulatory
Information Service Center (MR), General Services Administration, 1800
F Street NW, Room 2221D, Washington, DC 20405, 703-795-0816. You may
also send comments to us by email at: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
I. What are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?
II. Why are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda published?
III. How are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda organized?
IV. What information appears for each entry?
V. Abbreviations
VI. How can users get copies of the Plan and the Agenda?
Introduction to the Fall 2020 Regulatory Plan
Agency Regulatory Plans
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of State
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
Department of Veterans Affairs
Other Executive Agencies
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
Environmental Protection Agency
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
General Services Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
National Science Foundation
Office of Management and Budget
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of Personnel Management
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Small Business Administration
Social Security Administration
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal Trade Commission
National Indian Gaming Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council
Agency Agendas
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of the Interior
Department of Labor
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury
Other Executive Agencies
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled
Environmental Protection Agency
General Services Administration
Office of Management and Budget
Railroad Retirement Board
Small Business Administration
Joint Authority
Department of Defense/General Services Administration/National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (Federal Acquisition
Regulation)
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Reserve System
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Securities and Exchange Commission
Surface Transportation Board
Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council
Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
I. What are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?
The Regulatory Plan serves as a defining statement of the
Administration's regulatory and deregulatory policies and priorities.
The Plan is part of the fall edition of the Unified Agenda. Each
participating agency's regulatory plan contains: (1) A narrative
statement of the agency's regulatory and deregulatory priorities, and,
for the most part, (2) a description of the most important significant
regulatory and deregulatory actions that
[[Page 16849]]
the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form during
the upcoming fiscal year. This edition includes the regulatory plans of
30 agencies.
The Unified Agenda provides information about regulations that the
Government is considering or reviewing. The Unified Agenda has appeared
in the Federal Register twice each year since 1983 and has been
available online since 1995. The complete Unified Agenda is available
to the public at https://www.reginfo.gov. The online Unified Agenda
offers flexible search tools and access to the historic Unified Agenda
database to 1995. The complete online edition of the Unified Agenda
includes regulatory agendas from 65 Federal agencies. Agencies of the
United States Congress are not included.
The fall 2020 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory
flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas
contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Printed entries display only the
fields required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Complete agenda
information for those entries appears, in a uniform format, in the
online Unified Agenda at https://www.reginfo.gov.
The following agencies have no entries for inclusion in the printed
regulatory flexibility agenda. An asterisk (*) indicates agencies that
appear in The Regulatory Plan. The regulatory agendas of these agencies
are available to the public at https://reginfo.gov.
Cabinet Departments
Department of Justice *
Department of Housing and Urban Development *
Department of State *
Other Executive Agencies
Agency for International Development
American Battle Monuments Commission
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board *
Commission on Civil Rights
Corporation for National and Community Service
Council on Environmental Quality
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of
Columbia
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission *
Federal Mediation Conciliation Service
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Aeronautics and Space Administration *
National Archives and Records Administration *
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Mediation Board
National Science Foundation*
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Personnel Management *
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Peace Corps
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation *
Presidio Trust
Social Security Administration *
U.S. Agency for Global Media
Independent Agencies
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
Farm Credit Administration
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Federal Trade Commission *
National Credit Union Administration
National Indian Gaming Commission *
National Labor Relations Board
National Transportation Safety Board
Postal Regulatory Commission
The Regulatory Information Service Center compiles the Unified
Agenda for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA),
part of the Office of Management and Budget. OIRA is responsible for
overseeing the Federal Government's regulatory, paperwork, and
information resource management activities, including implementation of
Executive Order 12866 (incorporated in Executive Order 13563). The
Center also provides information about Federal regulatory activity to
the President and his Executive Office, the Congress, agency officials,
and the public.
The activities included in the Agenda are, in general, those that
will have a regulatory action within the next 12 months. Agencies may
choose to include activities that will have a longer timeframe than 12
months. Agency agendas also show actions or reviews completed or
withdrawn since the last Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866 does not
require agencies to include regulations concerning military or foreign
affairs functions or regulations related to agency organization,
management, or personnel matters.
Agencies prepared entries for this publication to give the public
notice of their plans to review, propose, and issue regulations. They
have tried to predict their activities over the next 12 months as
accurately as possible, but dates and schedules are subject to change.
Agencies may withdraw some of the regulations now under development,
and they may issue or propose other regulations not included in their
agendas. Agency actions in the rulemaking process may occur before or
after the dates they have listed. The Regulatory Plan and Unified
Agenda do not create a legal obligation on agencies to adhere to
schedules in this publication or to confine their regulatory activities
to those regulations that appear within it.
II. Why are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda published?
The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda helps agencies comply
with their obligations under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and various
Executive orders and other statutes.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to identify those
rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Agencies meet that requirement
by including the information in their submissions for the Unified
Agenda. Agencies may also indicate those regulations that they are
reviewing as part of their periodic review of existing rules under the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610). Executive Order 13272,
``Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency Rulemaking,'' signed
August 13, 2002 (67 FR 53461), provides additional guidance on
compliance with the Act.
Executive Order 12866
Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,''
September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735), requires covered agencies to prepare
an agenda of all regulations under development or review. The Order
also requires that certain agencies prepare annually a regulatory plan
of their ``most important significant regulatory actions,'' which
appears as part of the fall Unified Agenda. Executive Order 13497,
signed January 30, 2009 (74 FR 6113), revoked the amendments to
Executive Order 12866 that were contained in Executive Order 13258 and
Executive Order 13422.
Executive Order 13771
Executive Order 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling
Regulatory Costs,'' January 30, 2017 (82 FR 9339) requires each agency
to identify for
[[Page 16850]]
elimination two prior regulations for every one new regulation issued,
and the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled
through a budgeting process.
Executive Order 13777
Executive Order 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,''
February 24, 2017 (82 FR 12285) requires each agency to designate an
agency official as its Regulatory Reform Officer (RRO). Each RRO shall
oversee the implementation of regulatory reform initiatives and
policies to ensure that agencies effectively carry out regulatory
reforms, consistent with applicable law. The Executive Order also
directs that each agency designate a regulatory Reform Task Force.
Executive Order 13563
Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory
Review,'' January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3821) supplements and reaffirms the
principles, structures, and definitions governing contemporary
regulatory review that were established in Executive Order 12866, which
includes the general principles of regulation and public participation,
and orders integration and innovation in coordination across agencies;
flexible approaches where relevant, feasible, and consistent with
regulatory approaches; scientific integrity in any scientific or
technological information and processes used to support the agencies'
regulatory actions; and retrospective analysis of existing regulations.
Executive Order 13132
Executive Order 13132, ``Federalism,'' August 4, 1999 (64 FR
43255), directs agencies to have an accountable process to ensure
meaningful and timely input by State and local officials in the
development of regulatory policies that have ``federalism
implications'' as defined in the Order. Under the Order, an agency that
is proposing a regulation with federalism implications, which either
preempt State law or impose non-statutory unfunded substantial direct
compliance costs on State and local governments, must consult with
State and local officials early in the process of developing the
regulation. In addition, the agency must provide to the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget a federalism summary impact statement
for such a regulation, which consists of a description of the extent of
the agency's prior consultation with State and local officials, a
summary of their concerns and the agency's position supporting the need
to issue the regulation, and a statement of the extent to which those
concerns have been met. As part of this effort, agencies include in
their submissions for the Unified Agenda information on whether their
regulatory actions may have an effect on the various levels of
government and whether those actions have federalism implications.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4, title II)
requires agencies to prepare written assessments of the costs and
benefits of significant regulatory actions ``that may result in the
expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or more in any 1 year.'' The
requirement does not apply to independent regulatory agencies, nor does
it apply to certain subject areas excluded by section 4 of the Act.
Affected agencies identify in the Unified Agenda those regulatory
actions they believe are subject to title II of the Act.
Executive Order 13211
Executive Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' May 18,
2001 (66 FR 28355), directs agencies to provide, to the extent
possible, information regarding the adverse effects that agency actions
may have on the supply, distribution, and use of energy. Under the
Order, the agency must prepare and submit a Statement of Energy Effects
to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, for ``those matters
identified as significant energy actions.'' As part of this effort,
agencies may optionally include in their submissions for the Unified
Agenda information on whether they have prepared or plan to prepare a
Statement of Energy Effects for their regulatory actions.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L.
104-121, title II) established a procedure for congressional review of
rules (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), which defers, unless exempted, the
effective date of a ``major'' rule for at least 60 days from the
publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The Act
specifies that a rule is ``major'' if it has resulted, or is likely to
result, in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or
meets other criteria specified in that Act. The Act provides that the
Administrator of OIRA will make the final determination as to whether a
rule is major.
III. How are the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda organized?
The Regulatory Plan appears in part II in a daily edition of the
Federal Register. The Plan is a single document beginning with an
introduction, followed by a table of contents, followed by each
agency's section of the Plan. Following the Plan in the Federal
Register, as separate parts, are the regulatory flexibility agendas for
each agency whose agenda includes entries for rules which are likely to
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities or rules that have been selected for periodic review under
section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Each printed agenda
appears as a separate part. The sections of the Plan and the parts of
the Unified Agenda are organized alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet
departments; other executive agencies; the Federal Acquisition
Regulation, a joint authority (Agenda only); and independent regulatory
agencies. Agencies may in turn be divided into subagencies. Each
printed agency agenda has a table of contents listing the agency's
printed entries that follow. Each agency's part of the Agenda contains
a preamble providing information specific to that agency. Each printed
agency agenda has a table of contents listing the agency's printed
entries that follow.
Each agency's section of the Plan contains a narrative statement of
regulatory priorities and, for most agencies, a description of the
agency's most important significant regulatory and deregulatory
actions. Each agency's part of the Agenda contains a preamble providing
information specific to that agency plus descriptions of the agency's
regulatory and deregulatory actions.
The online, complete Unified Agenda contains the preambles of all
participating agencies. Unlike the printed edition, the online Agenda
has no fixed ordering. In the online Agenda, users can select the
particular agencies' agendas they want to see. Users have broad
flexibility to specify the characteristics of the entries of interest
to them by choosing the desired responses to individual data fields. To
see a listing of all of an agency's entries, a user can select the
agency without specifying any particular characteristics of entries.
Each entry in the Agenda is associated with one of five rulemaking
stages. The rulemaking stages are:
1. Prerule Stage--actions agencies will undertake to determine
whether or
[[Page 16851]]
how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions occur prior to a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include Advance Notices of Proposed
Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of existing regulations.
2. Proposed Rule Stage--actions for which agencies plan to publish
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step in their rulemaking
process or for which the closing date of the NPRM Comment Period is the
next step.
3. Final Rule Stage--actions for which agencies plan to publish a
final rule or an interim final rule or to take other final action as
the next step.
4. Long-Term Actions--items under development but for which the
agency does not expect to have a regulatory action within the 12 months
after publication of this edition of the Unified Agenda. Some of the
entries in this section may contain abbreviated information.
5. Completed Actions--actions or reviews the agency has completed
or withdrawn since publishing its last agenda. This section also
includes items the agency began and completed between issues of the
Agenda.
Long-Term Actions are rulemakings reported during the publication
cycle that are outside of the required 12-month reporting period for
which the Agenda was intended. Completed Actions in the publication
cycle are rulemakings that are ending their lifecycle either by
Withdrawal or completion of the rulemaking process. Therefore, the
Long-Term and Completed RINs do not represent the ongoing, forward-
looking nature intended for reporting developing rulemakings in the
Agenda pursuant to Executive Order 12866, section 4(b) and 4(c). To
further differentiate these two stages of rulemaking in the Unified
Agenda from active rulemakings, Long-Term and Completed Actions are
reported separately from active rulemakings, which can be any of the
first three stages of rulemaking listed above. A separate search
function is provided on https://reginfo.gov to search for Completed and
Long-Term Actions apart from each other and active RINs.
A bullet () preceding the title of an entry indicates that
the entry is appearing in the Unified Agenda for the first time.
In the printed edition, all entries are numbered sequentially from
the beginning to the end of the publication. The sequence number
preceding the title of each entry identifies the location of the entry
in this edition. The sequence number is used as the reference in the
printed table of contents. Sequence numbers are not used in the online
Unified Agenda because the unique Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) is
able to provide this cross-reference capability.
Editions of the Unified Agenda prior to fall 2007 contained several
indexes, which identified entries with various characteristics. These
included regulatory actions for which agencies believe that the
Regulatory Flexibility Act may require a Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis, actions selected for periodic review under section 610(c) of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act, and actions that may have federalism
implications as defined in Executive Order 13132 or other effects on
levels of government. These indexes are no longer compiled, because
users of the online Unified Agenda have the flexibility to search for
entries with any combination of desired characteristics. The online
edition retains the Unified Agenda's subject index based on the Federal
Register Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In addition, online users have
the option of searching Agenda text fields for words or phrases.
IV. What information appears for each entry?
All entries in the online Unified Agenda contain uniform data
elements including, at a minimum, the following information:
Title of the Regulation--a brief description of the subject of the
regulation. In the printed edition, the notation ``Section 610 Review''
following the title indicates that the agency has selected the rule for
its periodic review of existing rules under the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 U.S.C. 610(c)). Some agencies have indicated completions of
section 610 reviews or rulemaking actions resulting from completed
section 610 reviews. In the online edition, these notations appear in a
separate field.
Priority--an indication of the significance of the regulation.
Agencies assign each entry to one of the following five categories of
significance.
(1) Economically Significant
As defined in Executive Order 12866, a rulemaking action that will
have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or will
adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public
health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or
communities. The definition of an ``economically significant'' rule is
similar but not identical to the definition of a ``major'' rule under 5
U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104-121). (See below.)
(2) Other Significant
A rulemaking that is not Economically Significant but is considered
Significant by the agency. This category includes rules that the agency
anticipates will be reviewed under Executive Order 12866 or rules that
are a priority of the agency head. These rules may or may not be
included in the agency's regulatory plan.
(3) Substantive, Nonsignificant
A rulemaking that has substantive impacts, but is neither
Significant, nor Routine and Frequent, nor Informational/
Administrative/Other.
(4) Routine and Frequent
A rulemaking that is a specific case of a multiple recurring
application of a regulatory program in the Code of Federal Regulations
and that does not alter the body of the regulation.
(5) Informational/Administrative/Other
A rulemaking that is primarily informational or pertains to agency
matters not central to accomplishing the agency's regulatory mandate
but that the agency places in the Unified Agenda to inform the public
of the activity.
Major--whether the rule is ``major'' under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L.
104-121) because it has resulted or is likely to result in an annual
effect on the economy of $100 million or more or meets other criteria
specified in that Act. The Act provides that the Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs will make the final
determination as to whether a rule is major.
Unfunded Mandates--whether the rule is covered by section 202 of
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). The Act
requires that, before issuing an NPRM likely to result in a mandate
that may result in expenditures by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector of more than
$100 million in 1 year, agencies, other than independent regulatory
agencies, shall prepare a written statement containing an assessment of
the anticipated costs and benefits of the Federal mandate.
Legal Authority--the section(s) of the United States Code (U.S.C.)
or Public Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order (E.O.) that authorize(s)
the regulatory action. Agencies may provide popular name references to
laws in addition to these citations.
CFR Citation--the section(s) of the Code of Federal Regulations
that will be affected by the action.
Legal Deadline--whether the action is subject to a statutory or
judicial deadline, the date of that deadline, and
[[Page 16852]]
whether the deadline pertains to an NPRM, a Final Action, or some other
action.
Abstract--a brief description of the problem the regulation will
address; the need for a Federal solution; to the extent available,
alternatives that the agency is considering to address the problem; and
potential costs and benefits of the action.
Timetable--the dates and citations (if available) for all past
steps and a projected date for at least the next step for the
regulatory action. A date displayed in the form 12/00/19 means the
agency is predicting the month and year the action will take place but
not the day it will occur. In some instances, agencies may indicate
what the next action will be, but the date of that action is ``To Be
Determined.'' ``Next Action Undetermined'' indicates the agency does
not know what action it will take next.
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required--whether an analysis is
required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
because the rulemaking action is likely to have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities as defined by the Act.
Small Entities Affected--the types of small entities (businesses,
governmental jurisdictions, or organizations) on which the rulemaking
action is likely to have an impact as defined by the Regulatory
Flexibility Act. Some agencies have chosen to indicate likely effects
on small entities even though they believe that a Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis will not be required.
Government Levels Affected--whether the action is expected to
affect levels of government and, if so, whether the governments are
State, local, tribal, or Federal.
International Impacts--whether the regulation is expected to have
international trade and investment effects, or otherwise may be of
interest to the Nation's international trading partners.
Federalism--whether the action has ``federalism implications'' as
defined in Executive Order 13132. This term refers to actions ``that
have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.''
Independent regulatory agencies are not required to supply this
information.
Included in the Regulatory Plan--whether the rulemaking was
included in the agency's current regulatory plan published in fall
2017.
Agency Contact--the name and phone number of at least one person in
the agency who is knowledgeable about the rulemaking action. The agency
may also provide the title, address, fax number, email address, and TDD
for each agency contact.
Some agencies have provided the following optional information:
RIN Information URL--the internet address of a site that provides
more information about the entry.
Public Comment URL--the internet address of a site that will accept
public comments on the entry. Alternatively, timely public comments may
be submitted at the Governmentwide e-rulemaking site, https://www.regulations.gov.
Additional Information--any information an agency wishes to include
that does not have a specific corresponding data element.
Compliance Cost to the Public--the estimated gross compliance cost
of the action.
Affected Sectors--the industrial sectors that the action may most
affect, either directly or indirectly. Affected sectors are identified
by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
Energy Effects--an indication of whether the agency has prepared or
plans to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for the action, as
required by Executive Order 13211 ``Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' signed May
18, 2001 (66 FR 28355).
Related RINs--one or more past or current RIN(s) associated with
activity related to this action, such as merged RINs, split RINs, new
activity for previously completed RINs, or duplicate RINs.
Statement of Need--a description of the need for the regulatory
action.
Summary of the Legal Basis--a description of the legal basis for
the action, including whether any aspect of the action is required by
statute or court order.
Alternatives--a description of the alternatives the agency has
considered or will consider as required by section 4(c)(1)(B) of
Executive Order 12866.
Anticipated Costs and Benefits--a description of preliminary
estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits of the action.
Risks--a description of the magnitude of the risk the action
addresses, the amount by which the agency expects the action to reduce
this risk, and the relation of the risk and this risk reduction effort
to other risks and risk reduction efforts within the agency's
jurisdiction.
V. Abbreviations
The following abbreviations appear throughout this publication:
ANPRM--An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is a preliminary
notice, published in the Federal Register, announcing that an agency is
considering a regulatory action. An agency may issue an ANPRM before it
develops a detailed proposed rule. An ANPRM describes the general area
that may be subject to regulation and usually asks for public comment
on the issues and options being discussed. An ANPRM is issued only when
an agency believes it needs to gather more information before
proceeding to a notice of proposed rulemaking.
CFR--The Code of Federal Regulations is an annual codification of
the general and permanent regulations published in the Federal Register
by the agencies of the Federal Government. The Code is divided into 50
titles, each title covering a broad area subject to Federal regulation.
The CFR is keyed to and kept up to date by the daily issues of the
Federal Register.
E.O.--An Executive order is a directive from the President to
Executive agencies, issued under constitutional or statutory authority.
Executive orders are published in the Federal Register and in title 3
of the Code of Federal Regulations.
FR--The Federal Register is a daily Federal Government publication
that provides a uniform system for publishing Presidential documents,
all proposed and final regulations, notices of meetings, and other
official documents issued by Federal agencies.
FY--The Federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.
NPRM--A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is the document an
agency issues and publishes in the Federal Register that describes and
solicits public comments on a proposed regulatory action. Under the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), an NPRM must include, at a
minimum: A statement of the time, place, and nature of the public
rulemaking proceeding;
A reference to the legal authority under which the rule is
proposed; and Either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a
description of the subjects and issues involved.
PL (or Pub. L.)--A public law is a law passed by Congress and
signed by the President or enacted over his veto. It has general
applicability, unlike a private law that applies only to those persons
or entities specifically designated.
[[Page 16853]]
Public laws are numbered in sequence throughout the 2-year life of each
Congress; for example, Public Law 112-4 is the fourth public law of the
112th Congress.
RFA--A Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is a description and
analysis of the impact of a rule on small entities, including small
businesses, small governmental jurisdictions, and certain small not-
for-profit organizations. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601
et seq.) requires each agency to prepare an initial RFA for public
comment when it is required to publish an NPRM and to make available a
final RFA when the final rule is published, unless the agency head
certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
RIN--The Regulation Identifier Number is assigned by the Regulatory
Information Service Center to identify each regulatory action listed in
the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda, as directed by Executive
Order 12866 (section 4(b)). Additionally, OMB has asked agencies to
include RINs in the headings of their Rule and Proposed Rule documents
when publishing them in the Federal Register, to make it easier for the
public and agency officials to track the publication history of
regulatory actions throughout their development.
Seq. No.--The sequence number identifies the location of an entry
in the printed edition of the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda.
Note that a specific regulatory action will have the same RIN
throughout its development but will generally have different sequence
numbers if it appears in different printed editions of the Unified
Agenda. Sequence numbers are not used in the online Unified Agenda.
U.S.C.--The United States Code is a consolidation and codification
of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The U.S.C. is
divided into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area of Federal
law.
VI. How can users get copies of the Plan and the Agenda?
Copies of the Federal Register issue containing the printed edition
of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda (agency regulatory
flexibility agendas) are available from the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, P.O. Box 371954,
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Telephone: (202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800
(toll-free).
Copies of individual agency materials may be available directly
from the agency or may be found on the agency's website. Please contact
the particular agency for further information.
All editions of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions since fall 1995 are
available in electronic form at https://reginfo.gov, along with flexible
search tools.
The Government Publishing Office's GPO FDsys website contains
copies of the Agendas and Regulatory Plans that have been printed in
the Federal Register. These documents are available at https://www.fdsys.gov.
Dated: December 3, 2020.
Boris Arratia,
Director.
[FR Doc. 2021-04348 Filed 3-30-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-27-P
