Statutory Increase in Operations and Maintenance Grant Funding, 80460-80462 [2022-28334]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 250 / Friday, December 30, 2022 / Rules and Regulations
subscribers per Accounting Period,
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Subscriber(s) shall be treated as having
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calculating per-subscriber rates and
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as subscribers, Active Subscribers, or
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■
4. Revise subpart D to read as follows:
Subpart D—Promotional Offerings,
Free Trial Offerings and Certain
Purchased Content Locker Services
Sec.
385.30
385.31
§ 385.30
Scope.
Royalty rates.
Scope.
This subpart establishes rates and
terms of royalty payments for
Promotional Offerings, Free Trial
Offerings, and certain Purchased
Content Locker Services provided by
subscription and nonsubscription
digital music Service Providers in
accordance with the provisions of 17
U.S.C. 115.
§ 385.31
Royalty rates.
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(a) Promotional Offerings. For
Promotional Offerings of audio-only
Eligible Interactive Streams and Eligible
Limited Downloads of sound recordings
embodying musical works that the
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royalty-free to the Service Provider, the
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Offerings, the royalty rate is zero.
(c) Certain Purchased Content Locker
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Locker Service for which the Service
Provider receives no monetary
consideration, the royalty rate is zero.
David P. Shaw,
Chief Copyright Royalty Judge.
David R. Strickler,
Copyright Royalty Judge.
Steve Ruwe,
Copyright Royalty Judge.
Approved by:
Dr. Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2022–28316 Filed 12–29–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410–72–P
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 39
RIN 2900–AR71
Statutory Increase in Operations and
Maintenance Grant Funding
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Final rule.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations
that govern Federal grants to establish,
expand, improve, or operate and
maintain veterans’ cemeteries. This final
rule implements new statutory
amendments to increase the maximum
amount of grants to States and Tribal
Organizations to operate and maintain
veterans’ cemeteries as authorized by
section 2206 of the ‘‘Johnny Isakson and
David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care
and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020’’
(the Act). Effective on January 5, 2021,
the maximum amount of operation and
maintenance grants increased from $5
million to $10 million. This final rule
implements that statutory change.
Additionally, VA is revising the date by
which the list of approved preapplications is prioritized for fiscal year
funding from August 15 to October 1
each year.
DATES: This rule is effective December
30, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
George Eisenbach, Director of Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program, National
Cemetery Administration (41E),
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810
Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20420. Telephone: (202) 632–7369.
(This is not a toll-free telephone
number.)
SUMMARY:
This final
rule amends 38 CFR part 39 to conform
with statutory amendments made by
section 2206 of Public Law 116–315, the
‘‘Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D.
Veterans Health Care and Benefits
Improvement Act of 2020’’ (the Act).
The Act amended Section 2408(f)(2) of
title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.) to
increase the maximum amount of grants
VA could award for operating and
maintaining Veterans’ cemeteries from
$5 million to $10 million.
To implement this authority, VA is
revising regulatory text to replace ‘‘$5
million’’ with ‘‘$10 million’’ every place
it appears in 39 CFR 39.3 and 39.80.
Specifically, VA is revising the
information for Priority Group 4
operation and maintenance grants in
existing 38 CFR 39.3(c) to update the
reference to the maximum grant awards
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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to be made in any fiscal year from $5
million to $10 million. Similarly, we are
revising the grant award information in
§ 39.80(a)(2) and (b) to clarify that
operations and maintenance grants for
Priority Group 4 projects must not result
in a payment of more than $10 million.
In § 39.3(d), VA is replacing ‘‘By
August 15 of each year’’ with ‘‘By
October 1 of each year’’ to align the date
for finalizing the prioritization of
preapplications to the beginning of the
fiscal year in which the associated final
grant applications will be eligible for
award. The August 15 date is not
required by statute, but instead was a
self-imposed deadline for finalizing the
priority listing of preapplications when
the grant program was first established.
Since then, the number of
preapplications has grown, and VA
needs the additional time to conduct the
final prioritization. VA publishes this
date in regulation to ensure
transparency and awareness of the
process within the interested grant
community.
Preapplications are accepted and
evaluated on a rolling basis; however,
only those preapplications that were
received on or before July 1 of the
current fiscal year are eligible for
consideration in the prioritization
process for the upcoming/next fiscal
year. The preapplication process serves
as a means to determine whether the
proposed project conforms to statutory
and regulatory requirements. If the
preapplication is conforming, VA
notifies the State or Tribal Organization
that the preapplication has been found
to meet the requirements, and the
proposed project is included in the
prioritization.
This change from August 15 to
October 1 for finalizing the
prioritization list expands VA’s
timeframe for conducting the
prioritization of preapplications by
approximately 45 calendar days. This
does not affect a grant applicant’s ability
or opportunity to submit a final grant
application for the fiscal year in which
it is eligible for award and does not
affect timeframes for awarding grants.
Applicants may begin preparing final
grant applications at any time and may
submit the final application at any time.
The October 1 date is merely the
announcement of the priority of
proposed projects based on
preapplications and reflects the order in
which those projects will be awarded
and funded. Additionally, publishing
this date in regulation is primarily
informational for grant applicants and is
not related to any subsequent deadlines
that would affect applicants. VA works
with grant applicants throughout the
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 250 / Friday, December 30, 2022 / Rules and Regulations
final application process to award grants
based on priority and available funding
in accordance with 38 CFR part 39.
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Administrative Procedure Act
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
finds that there is good cause under the
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to
publish this rule without prior
opportunity for public comment and
dispense with the 30-day delay for the
effective date of a rule under 5 U.S.C.
553(d)(3). Pursuant to section 553(b)(B)
of the Administrative Procedure Act,
general notice and opportunity for
public comment are not required with
respect to a rulemaking when an
‘‘agency for good cause finds (and
incorporates the finding and a brief
statement of reasons therefor in the
rules issued) that notice and public
procedure thereon are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public
interest.’’ Pursuant to section 553(d)(3),
an agency may ‘‘for good cause found’’
dispense with the 30-day delay in the
effective date of a rule. Because the
increased grant amount is authorized by
law and effective immediately, the
Secretary finds that it is unnecessary to
delay issuance of this rule for the
purpose of soliciting prior public
comment or to delay the rule’s effective
date. By statute, Congress has imposed
a cap on the amount that VA expends
for operation and maintenance grants,
and VA regulations provide that VA will
award operations and maintenance
grants up to, but not exceeding, that cap.
VA is not changing its policy of
awarding operation and maintenance
grants up to the statutory cap, but
merely updating the regulation to reflect
the statutory cap now in effect. See
Hadson Gas Sys. v. FERC, 75 F.3d 680,
684 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (finding that the act
of amending regulatory language to
reflect statutory changes does not
require an agency to engage in notice
and comment with respect to
unchanged aspects of the regulatory
scheme).
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
direct agencies to assess the costs and
benefits of available regulatory
alternatives and, when regulation is
necessary, to select regulatory
approaches that maximize net benefits
(including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety
effects, and other advantages;
distributive impacts; and equity).
Executive Order 13563 (Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review)
emphasizes the importance of
quantifying both costs and benefits,
reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and
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Jkt 259001
promoting flexibility. The Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs has
determined that this rule is not a
significant regulatory action under
Executive Order 12866.
The Regulatory Impact Analysis
associated with this rulemaking can be
found as a supporting document at
www.regulations.gov.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5
U.S.C. 601–612, is not applicable to this
rulemaking because notice of proposed
rulemaking is not required. 5 U.S.C.
601(2), 603(a), 604(a).
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 1532, that
agencies prepare an assessment of
anticipated costs and benefits before
issuing any rule that may result in the
expenditure by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more
(adjusted annually for inflation) in any
one year. This final rule will have no
such effect on State, local, and tribal
governments, or on the private sector.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This final rule contains no provisions
constituting a collection of information
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–3521).
Assistance Listing
The Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance program number and title for
this final rule is 64.203, Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program.
Congressional Review Act
Pursuant to the Congressional Review
Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs
designated this rule as not a major rule,
as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
Affairs amends 38 CFR part 39 as set
forth below:
PART 39—AID FOR THE
ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, AND
IMPROVEMENT, OR OPERATION AND
MAINTENANCE, OF VETERANS
CEMETERIES.
1. The authority citation for Part 39
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101, 501, 2408, 2411,
3765.
Subpart A—General Provisions
2. Amend § 39.3 by revising
paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as follows:
■
§ 39.3
*
*
*
*
(c) Grants for projects within Priority
Group 4 will be awarded in any fiscal
year only after grants for all project
applications under Priority Groups 1, 2,
and 3 that are ready for funding have
been awarded. Within Priority Group 4,
projects will be ranked in priority order
based upon VA’s determination of the
relative importance of proposed
improvements and the degree to which
proposed Operation and Maintenance
Projects achieve NCA national shrine
standards of appearance. No more than
$10 million in any fiscal year will be
awarded for Operation and Maintenance
Projects under Priority Group 4.
(d) By October 1 of each year, VA will
make a list prioritizing all
preapplications that were received on or
before July 1 of that year and that were
approved under § 39.31 or § 39.81,
ranking them in their order of priority
within the applicable Priority Group for
funding during the fiscal year.
Preapplications from previous years will
be re-prioritized each year and do not
need to be resubmitted.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
3. Amend § 39.80 by revising
paragraphs (a)(2) and (b) to read as
follows:
■
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on December 22, 2022, and
authorized the undersigned to sign and
submit the document to the Office of the
Federal Register for publication
electronically as an official document of
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
§ 39.80
For the reasons stated in the
preamble, the Department of Veterans
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Priority list.
*
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 39
Cemeteries, Grant Programs—
veterans, Veterans.
Jeffrey M. Martin,
Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy
& Management, Office of General Counsel,
Department of Veterans Affairs.
80461
General requirements for a grant.
(a) * * *
(2) Its project must be ranked
sufficiently high within Priority Group
4 as defined in § 39.3 for the applicable
fiscal year so that funds are available for
the project, and a grant for the project
must not result in payment of more than
the $10 million total amount
permissible for all Operation and
Maintenance Projects in any fiscal year;
*
*
*
*
*
(b) VA may approve under § 39.85 any
Operation and Maintenance Project
grant application up to the amount of
the grant requested once the
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80462
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 250 / Friday, December 30, 2022 / Rules and Regulations
requirements under paragraph (a) of this
section have been satisfied, provided
that sufficient funds are available, and
that total amount of grants awarded
during any fiscal year for Operation and
Maintenance Projects does not exceed
$10 million. In determining whether
sufficient funds are available, VA shall
consider the project’s ranking in Priority
Group 4; the total amount of funds
available for cemetery grant awards in
Priority Group 4 during the applicable
fiscal year; and the prospects of higherranking projects being ready for the
award of a grant before the end of the
applicable fiscal year.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
[FR Doc. 2022–28334 Filed 12–29–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320–01–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
Table of Contents
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R09–OAR–2022–0107; FRL–9426–02–
R9]
Air Plan Approval; Arizona; Maricopa
County; Power Plants
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is taking final action to
approve a revision to the Maricopa
County Air Quality Department’s
(MCAQD or County) portion of the
Arizona State Implementation Plan
(SIP). The revision addresses Arizona’s
reasonably available control technology
(RACT) SIP obligations for the PhoenixMesa ozone nonattainment area that is
classified as Moderate nonattainment
for the 2008 ozone national ambient air
quality standards (NAAQS). We are
approving a local rule that regulates
emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX)
and particulate matter (PM) from power
plants under the Clean Air Act (CAA or
the Act).
DATES: This rule is effective January 30,
2023.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a
docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPA–R09–OAR–2022–0107. All
documents in the docket are listed on
the https://www.regulations.gov
website. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly
available, e.g., Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, is not placed on
the internet and will be publicly
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SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:40 Dec 29, 2022
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available only in hard copy form.
Publicly available docket materials are
available through https://
www.regulations.gov, or please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section for
additional availability information. If
you need assistance in a language other
than English or if you are a person with
disabilities who needs a reasonable
accommodation at no cost to you, please
contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kevin Gong, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA
94105. By phone: (415) 972–3073 or by
email at gong.kevin@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’
and ‘‘our’’ refer to the EPA.
I. Proposed Action and Interim Final
Determination
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action and Interim Final
Determination
On February 8, 2022 (87 FR 7069), the
EPA proposed to approve MCAQD Rule
322 ‘‘Power Plant Operations,’’ as
amended on June 23, 2021, and
submitted by the Arizona Department of
Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to the
EPA on June 30, 2021.1 The MCAQD
regulates a portion of the Phoenix-Mesa
ozone nonattainment area that is
classified as Moderate for the 2008 8hour ozone national ambient air quality
standard (40 CFR 81.303). Maricopa
County’s ‘‘Analysis of Reasonably
Available Control Technology For The
2008 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient
Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) State
Implementation Plan (RACT SIP),’’
adopted December 5, 2016, submitted
June 22, 2017 (the ‘‘2016 RACT SIP’’),
found that there were major sources of
NOX within the Maricopa County
portion of the Phoenix-Mesa ozone
nonattainment area subject to Rule 322.
Accordingly, this rule must establish
RACT levels of control for applicable
major sources of NOX.
Rule 322 regulates emissions from
electricity steam generating units,
cogeneration steam units, and turbines.
It also includes related recordkeeping,
1 In our February 8, 2022 proposed rule, we
inadvertently cited the submittal date for this
submittal as June 24, 2021, which was the date that
the letters from the County and State transmitting
these materials were signed. The date that these
materials were received in the EPA’s SPeCS for SIPs
system was June 30, 2021.
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reporting, and monitoring requirements.
The version of Rule 322 that we are
acting on in this rule (i.e., the version
adopted on June 23, 2021, and
submitted to the EPA on June 30, 2021)
corrects several deficiencies in a
previous version of Rule 322 that was
adopted by MCAQD on November 2,
2016, and submitted to the EPA on June
22, 2017, and that resulted in the EPA’s
disapproval published in the Federal
Register in February 2020.2 The EPA
has determined that this revised version
of Rule 322 corrects the deficiencies in
the 2017 submitted version related to
flawed cost effectiveness analyses and
the lack of enforceable operational
restrictions in the rule itself and,
further, that it meets the EPA’s criteria
for RACT for this source category.
We proposed to approve Rule 322
because we determined that it complies
with the relevant CAA requirements in
CAA sections 110, 182(b)(2), 182(f), and
193. Our proposed action contains more
information on Rule 322 and our
evaluation of the SIP revision. On the
same day, we also made an interim final
determination (87 FR 7042) that the
submittal from the ADEQ corrected SIP
deficiencies from a previous submittal,
allowing us to defer the imposition of
sanctions resulting from our disapproval
of a previously submitted version of
Rule 322 (85 FR 43692, July 20, 2020).
II. Public Comments and EPA
Responses
The EPA’s proposed action provided
a 30-day public comment period. During
this period, we received five comments.
Four of these comments were from
members of the public and were
generally supportive of our proposed
action or were not germane. The fifth
comment was submitted by Air Law for
All, Ltd. on behalf of the Center for
Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club
(the commenter from here on referred to
as ‘‘ALFA’’ or ‘‘the commenter’’).
Low Use Exemptions and RACT
ALFA asserts that Rule 322’s annual
operational limits cannot be used to
exempt units from RACT for short-term
ozone standards, that Rule 322’s limits
on operation are used to ‘‘artificially
inflate the annualized cost-effectiveness
of NOX controls to justify not installing
RACT-level technology,’’ and that Rule
322 uses a long-term annual average to
circumvent the installation of overall
RACT level controls.
We do not agree with the commenter’s
assertions. As discussed further below,
2 See EPA Region IX, ‘‘Technical Support
Document for Maricopa County Air Quality
Department Rule 322, Power Plant Operations,’’
January 2022; 87 FR 7070 (February 8, 2020).
E:\FR\FM\30DER1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 250 (Friday, December 30, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 80460-80462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28334]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 39
RIN 2900-AR71
Statutory Increase in Operations and Maintenance Grant Funding
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its
regulations that govern Federal grants to establish, expand, improve,
or operate and maintain veterans' cemeteries. This final rule
implements new statutory amendments to increase the maximum amount of
grants to States and Tribal Organizations to operate and maintain
veterans' cemeteries as authorized by section 2206 of the ``Johnny
Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits
Improvement Act of 2020'' (the Act). Effective on January 5, 2021, the
maximum amount of operation and maintenance grants increased from $5
million to $10 million. This final rule implements that statutory
change. Additionally, VA is revising the date by which the list of
approved pre-applications is prioritized for fiscal year funding from
August 15 to October 1 each year.
DATES: This rule is effective December 30, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Eisenbach, Director of Veterans
Cemetery Grants Program, National Cemetery Administration (41E),
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20420. Telephone: (202) 632-7369. (This is not a toll-free telephone
number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule amends 38 CFR part 39 to
conform with statutory amendments made by section 2206 of Public Law
116-315, the ``Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health
Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020'' (the Act). The Act amended
Section 2408(f)(2) of title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.) to increase
the maximum amount of grants VA could award for operating and
maintaining Veterans' cemeteries from $5 million to $10 million.
To implement this authority, VA is revising regulatory text to
replace ``$5 million'' with ``$10 million'' every place it appears in
39 CFR 39.3 and 39.80. Specifically, VA is revising the information for
Priority Group 4 operation and maintenance grants in existing 38 CFR
39.3(c) to update the reference to the maximum grant awards to be made
in any fiscal year from $5 million to $10 million. Similarly, we are
revising the grant award information in Sec. 39.80(a)(2) and (b) to
clarify that operations and maintenance grants for Priority Group 4
projects must not result in a payment of more than $10 million.
In Sec. 39.3(d), VA is replacing ``By August 15 of each year''
with ``By October 1 of each year'' to align the date for finalizing the
prioritization of preapplications to the beginning of the fiscal year
in which the associated final grant applications will be eligible for
award. The August 15 date is not required by statute, but instead was a
self-imposed deadline for finalizing the priority listing of
preapplications when the grant program was first established. Since
then, the number of preapplications has grown, and VA needs the
additional time to conduct the final prioritization. VA publishes this
date in regulation to ensure transparency and awareness of the process
within the interested grant community.
Preapplications are accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis;
however, only those preapplications that were received on or before
July 1 of the current fiscal year are eligible for consideration in the
prioritization process for the upcoming/next fiscal year. The
preapplication process serves as a means to determine whether the
proposed project conforms to statutory and regulatory requirements. If
the preapplication is conforming, VA notifies the State or Tribal
Organization that the preapplication has been found to meet the
requirements, and the proposed project is included in the
prioritization.
This change from August 15 to October 1 for finalizing the
prioritization list expands VA's timeframe for conducting the
prioritization of preapplications by approximately 45 calendar days.
This does not affect a grant applicant's ability or opportunity to
submit a final grant application for the fiscal year in which it is
eligible for award and does not affect timeframes for awarding grants.
Applicants may begin preparing final grant applications at any time and
may submit the final application at any time. The October 1 date is
merely the announcement of the priority of proposed projects based on
preapplications and reflects the order in which those projects will be
awarded and funded. Additionally, publishing this date in regulation is
primarily informational for grant applicants and is not related to any
subsequent deadlines that would affect applicants. VA works with grant
applicants throughout the
[[Page 80461]]
final application process to award grants based on priority and
available funding in accordance with 38 CFR part 39.
Administrative Procedure Act
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs finds that there is good cause
under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to publish this rule without
prior opportunity for public comment and dispense with the 30-day delay
for the effective date of a rule under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). Pursuant to
section 553(b)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act, general notice
and opportunity for public comment are not required with respect to a
rulemaking when an ``agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the
finding and a brief statement of reasons therefor in the rules issued)
that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.'' Pursuant to section
553(d)(3), an agency may ``for good cause found'' dispense with the 30-
day delay in the effective date of a rule. Because the increased grant
amount is authorized by law and effective immediately, the Secretary
finds that it is unnecessary to delay issuance of this rule for the
purpose of soliciting prior public comment or to delay the rule's
effective date. By statute, Congress has imposed a cap on the amount
that VA expends for operation and maintenance grants, and VA
regulations provide that VA will award operations and maintenance
grants up to, but not exceeding, that cap. VA is not changing its
policy of awarding operation and maintenance grants up to the statutory
cap, but merely updating the regulation to reflect the statutory cap
now in effect. See Hadson Gas Sys. v. FERC, 75 F.3d 680, 684 (D.C. Cir.
1996) (finding that the act of amending regulatory language to reflect
statutory changes does not require an agency to engage in notice and
comment with respect to unchanged aspects of the regulatory scheme).
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess the
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, when
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public
health and safety effects, and other advantages; distributive impacts;
and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory
Review) emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has determined that
this rule is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order
12866.
The Regulatory Impact Analysis associated with this rulemaking can
be found as a supporting document at www.regulations.gov.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, is not applicable
to this rulemaking because notice of proposed rulemaking is not
required. 5 U.S.C. 601(2), 603(a), 604(a).
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C.
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by
State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for
inflation) in any one year. This final rule will have no such effect on
State, local, and tribal governments, or on the private sector.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This final rule contains no provisions constituting a collection of
information under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-
3521).
Assistance Listing
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program number and title
for this final rule is 64.203, Veterans Cemetery Grants Program.
Congressional Review Act
Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.),
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this rule
as not a major rule, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 39
Cemeteries, Grant Programs--veterans, Veterans.
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on December 22, 2022, and authorized the undersigned to sign
and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Jeffrey M. Martin,
Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans
Affairs amends 38 CFR part 39 as set forth below:
PART 39--AID FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, AND IMPROVEMENT, OR
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, OF VETERANS CEMETERIES.
0
1. The authority citation for Part 39 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 101, 501, 2408, 2411, 3765.
Subpart A--General Provisions
0
2. Amend Sec. 39.3 by revising paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 39.3 Priority list.
* * * * *
(c) Grants for projects within Priority Group 4 will be awarded in
any fiscal year only after grants for all project applications under
Priority Groups 1, 2, and 3 that are ready for funding have been
awarded. Within Priority Group 4, projects will be ranked in priority
order based upon VA's determination of the relative importance of
proposed improvements and the degree to which proposed Operation and
Maintenance Projects achieve NCA national shrine standards of
appearance. No more than $10 million in any fiscal year will be awarded
for Operation and Maintenance Projects under Priority Group 4.
(d) By October 1 of each year, VA will make a list prioritizing all
preapplications that were received on or before July 1 of that year and
that were approved under Sec. 39.31 or Sec. 39.81, ranking them in
their order of priority within the applicable Priority Group for
funding during the fiscal year. Preapplications from previous years
will be re-prioritized each year and do not need to be resubmitted.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
0
3. Amend Sec. 39.80 by revising paragraphs (a)(2) and (b) to read as
follows:
Sec. 39.80 General requirements for a grant.
(a) * * *
(2) Its project must be ranked sufficiently high within Priority
Group 4 as defined in Sec. 39.3 for the applicable fiscal year so that
funds are available for the project, and a grant for the project must
not result in payment of more than the $10 million total amount
permissible for all Operation and Maintenance Projects in any fiscal
year;
* * * * *
(b) VA may approve under Sec. 39.85 any Operation and Maintenance
Project grant application up to the amount of the grant requested once
the
[[Page 80462]]
requirements under paragraph (a) of this section have been satisfied,
provided that sufficient funds are available, and that total amount of
grants awarded during any fiscal year for Operation and Maintenance
Projects does not exceed $10 million. In determining whether sufficient
funds are available, VA shall consider the project's ranking in
Priority Group 4; the total amount of funds available for cemetery
grant awards in Priority Group 4 during the applicable fiscal year; and
the prospects of higher-ranking projects being ready for the award of a
grant before the end of the applicable fiscal year.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 2408)
[FR Doc. 2022-28334 Filed 12-29-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P