2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On March 1, 2021, the Office of Personnel Management issued an interim final rule to amend regulations to allow for additional options to collect wage data during Federal Wage System full-scale and wage change surveys, namely, by personal visit, telephone, mail, or electronic means. This change is based on a majority recommendation of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee and was initiated by a Department of Defense request for greater flexibility to obtain accurate and timely prevailing wage data in local labor markets during and after the national emergency caused by the COVID-19 health crisis. This document adopts the interim rule as final without change.

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject projects and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.

The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing for the Commission's consideration concerning a negotiated service agreement. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps.

The Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development (RD) is seeking applications for the Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD) priority, as reauthorized by Section 6401of the Agriculture Improvement Act, 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) with modifications, for projects that support multi-jurisdictional and multi-sectoral strategic community investment plans. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, the Agency will implement SECD by reserving loan and or grant funds from the appropriations of the programs covered by this funding priority. This notice describes the requirements by which the Agency will consider projects eligible for the covered programs' reserved appropriated funds and the information needed to submit an application.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is proposing a revision of a currently approved collection.

NOAA announces the appointment of members who will serve on the NOAA Performance Review Board (PRB). The NOAA PRB is responsible for reviewing performance appraisals and ratings of Senior Executive Service (SES), Senior Level (SL), and Scientific and Professional (ST) members and making written recommendations to the appointing authority on retention and compensation matters, including performance-based pay adjustments, awarding of bonuses, and reviewing recommendations for potential Presidential Rank Award nominees. The appointment of members to the NOAA PRB will be for a period of 2 years.

The Advisory Board will meet November 8-9, 2021, via teleconference, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on each day. Submission of comments, requests to speak, and materials for the record: You must submit comments, materials, and requests to speak at the Advisory Board meeting by November 1, 2021, identified by the Advisory Board name and the meeting date of November 8-9, 2021, by any of the following methods: Electronically: Send to: EnergyAdvisoryBoard@dol.gov (specify in the email subject line, for example ``Request to Speak: Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health''). Mail, express delivery, hand delivery, messenger, or courier service: Submit one copy to the following address: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health, Room S-3522, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20210. Instructions: Your submissions must include the Agency name (OWCP), the committee name (the Advisory Board), and the meeting date (November 8-9, 2021). Due to security-related procedures, receipt of submissions by regular mail may experience significant delays. For additional information about submissions, see the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice. OWCP will make available publicly, without change, any comments, requests to speak, and speaker presentations, including any personal information that you provide. Therefore, OWCP cautions interested parties against submitting personal information such as Social Security numbers and birthdates.

This final rule adjusts the number of member seats apportioned to each district represented on the Florida Tomato Committee (Committee). The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is taking this action due to a 2020 amendment to the marketing order for tomatoes grown in Florida, which reduced the size of the Committee from 12 members to 10, but did not also reduce the number of member seats per district. This action changes the number of members in each of the two districts from six members and their alternates to five members and their alternates, to resolve the regulatory conflict.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment upon this proposed extension of a currently approved collection of information. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the information collection notice is published in the Federal Register to obtain comments regarding the nature of the information collection, the categories of respondents, the estimated burden (i.e., the time, effort, and resources used by the respondents to respond), the estimated cost to the respondent, and the actual information collection instruments.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comments.

This document announces the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) grant of a petition for a decision that a model year (MY) 2019 Schuler Spezialfahrzeuge GmbH trailer that was not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) is eligible for importation into the United States because it is capable of being readily altered to conform with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is requesting an extension to continue use of an existing information collection: The National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States (NAC) Recommendations and State Self-Assessment Survey (0970-0560). No changes are proposed.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is proposing to continue use of a coronavirus (COVID- 19) screening tool for unaccompanied children (UC) program staff and visitors at ORR care provider facilities.

The FAA, in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS), has initiated development of a combined Air Tour Management Plan (ATMP) for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, and Point Reyes National Seashore (collectively referred to as the Parks) pursuant to the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 (the Act) and its implementing regulations. The Act requires that in developing an ATMP for a national park or tribal lands, the FAA and the NPS must hold at least one public meeting with interested parties. In addition, the Act requires that the ATMPs be published in the Federal Register for notice and comment and that copies be made available to the public. This notice announces the public availability of the proposed ATMP for comment and the public meeting for the Parks. The purpose of this meeting is to review the proposed ATMP and further ATMP development with the public. In accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the FAA and the NPS are also seeking public comment on the potential of the proposed ATMP to cause adverse effects to historic properties.

NMFS is implementing a catch limit of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) for all Atlantic mackerel permit holders for the remainder of the 2021 fishing year. This action is intended to reduce potential Atlantic mackerel overfishing based on new 2021 assessment findings.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is requesting a 3-year extension of the form ACF-118A: Child Care and Development Fund for Tribes (OMB #0970-0198, expiration 06/30/2022) for FFY 2023-2025. There are changes requested to the form to improve formatting, and clarify and streamline questions. ACF is also requesting public comment on revising the thresholds used to determine tribes with small, medium, and large allocations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of New Mexico to meet the Emissions Inventory (EI), and Emissions Statement (ES) requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) for the Sunland Park ozone nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). EPA is proposing to approve this action pursuant to section 110 and part D of the CAA and EPA's regulations.

In this document, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that focuses on putting an end to two methods used by bad actors to take control of consumers' cell phone accounts and wreak havoc on people's financial and digital lives without ever gaining physical control of a consumer's phone. In the first type of scam, known as ``subscriber identity module swapping'' or ``SIM swapping,'' a bad actor convinces a victim's wireless carrier to transfer the victim's service from the victim's cell phone to a cell phone in the bad actor's possession. In the second method, known as ``port-out fraud,'' the bad actor, posing as the victim, opens an account with a carrier other than the victim's current carrier. The bad actor then arranges for the victim's phone number to be transferred to (or ``ported out'') to the account with the new carrier controlled by the bad actor. This NPRM takes aim at these scams by proposing to amend the Federal Communications Commission's (Commission) Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) and local number portability (LNP) rules to require carriers to adopt secure methods of authenticating a customer before redirecting a customer's phone number to a new device or carrier. The NPRM also proposes to require providers to immediately notify customers whenever a SIM change or port request is made on customers' accounts, and seeks comment on other ways to protect consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is proposing to amend Form N-PX under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``Investment Company Act'') to enhance the information mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (``ETFs''), and certain other funds currently report annually about their proxy votes and to make that information easier to analyze. The Commission also is proposing rule and form amendments under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') that would require an institutional investment manager subject to the Exchange Act to report annually on Form N-PX how it voted proxies relating to executive compensation matters, as required by the Exchange Act. The proposed reporting requirements for institutional investment managers, if adopted, would complete implementation of those requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'').