December 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a rule to redefine the geographic boundaries of the following appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas for pay-setting purposes: Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD; Richmond, VA; Roanoke, VA; and Washington, DC. The proposed rule would redefine the Shenandoah National Park portions of Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Page, and Rockingham Counties, VA, to the Washington, DC, wage area. This change is based on a recent consensus recommendation of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC).

On March 10, 2022, the Media Bureau, Video Division (Bureau) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC (Petitioner), the licensee of KRTV(TV) (Station), channel 7, Great Falls, Montana, requesting the substitution of channel 22 for channel 7 at Great Falls in the Table of Allotments. For the reasons set forth in the Report and Order referenced below, the Bureau amends FCC regulations to substitute channel 22 for channel 7 at Great Falls.

The Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The NCUA Board (Board) is seeking comment on a proposed rule that would amend the NCUA's rules regarding the purchase of loan participations and the purchase, sale, and pledge of eligible obligations and other loans (including notes of liquidating credit unions). The proposed rule is intended to clarify the NCUA's current regulations and provide additional flexibility for federally insured credit unions (FICUs) to make use of advanced technologies and opportunities offered by the financial technology (fintech) sector. The proposal would also make conforming amendments to the NCUA's rule regarding loans to members and lines of credit to members by adding new provisions about indirect lending arrangements and indirect leasing arrangements. Finally, the proposal would make other conforming changes and technical amendments in other sections of the NCUA's regulations. The Board does not view these conforming and technical changes as substantive.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites nominations of individuals qualified to serve as members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing an opportunity for the public to comment on CMS' intention to collect information from the public. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension or reinstatement of an existing collection of information, and to allow a second opportunity for public comment on the notice. Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including the necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of the agency's functions, the accuracy of the estimated burden, ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected, and the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) Ecosystem Committee will meet January 18, 2023 through January 19, 2023.

As a result of the determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) orders on circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe (CWP) from Oman, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, Commerce is publishing a notice of continuation of the AD orders.

The Internal Revenue Service, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The IRS is soliciting comments concerning qualified plug-in electric vehicle credit and Revenue Procedure 2022- 42.

This document amends U.S. Customs and Border Protection regulations to implement certain changes made by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, which amended the Craft Beverage Modernization Act provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Pursuant to these changes, the responsibility for administering refunds, reduced tax rates, and tax credits on imported alcohol is moving from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, effective January 1, 2023.

This document corrects technical and typographical errors that appeared in the final rule published in the Federal Register on November 3, 2022, entitled ``Medicare Program; Implementing Certain Provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 and other Revisions to Medicare Enrollment and Eligibility Rules.''

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.

Notice is hereby given that Cantata Bio, 100 Enterprise Way, Suite A10, Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (Responsible Party: Jordan Zhang), has applied in due form for a permit to import a specimen from a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) for scientific research.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) is amending the official commentary that interprets the requirements of the Bureau's Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure) to reflect the asset- size exemption threshold for banks, savings associations, and credit unions based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI- W). Based on the 8.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2022, the exemption threshold is adjusted to $54 million from $50 million. Therefore, banks, savings associations, and credit unions with assets of $54 million or less as of December 31, 2022, are exempt from collecting data in 2023.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) is amending the official commentary to its Regulation Z in order to make annual adjustments to the asset-size thresholds exempting certain creditors from the requirement to establish an escrow account for a higher-priced mortgage loan (HPML). These changes reflect updates to the exemption from the escrow requirement in the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) for creditors that, together with their affiliates that regularly extended covered transactions secured by first liens, had total assets of less than $2 billion (adjusted annually for inflation). They also reflect updates to the exemption the Bureau added, by implementing section 108 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA), for certain insured depository institutions and insured credit unions with assets of $10 billion or less (adjusted annually for inflation). These amendments are based on the annual percentage change in the average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Based on the 8.6 percent increase in the average of the CPI-W for the 12-month period ending in November 2022, the exemption threshold for creditors and their affiliates that regularly extended covered transactions secured by first liens is adjusted to $2.537 billion from $2.336 billion and the exemption threshold for certain insured depository institutions and insured credit unions with assets of $10 billion or less is adjusted to $11.374 billion from $10.473 billion.

The Secretary is amending the Declaration issued in the Federal Register of October 10, 2008, and as amended and republished January 1, 2016, pursuant to the Public Health Service Act, to extend the effective time period of the Republished Declaration, as amended.

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC-915 (Public Utility Market-Based Rate Authorization HoldersRecords Retention Requirements), will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. No Comments were received on the 60-day notice published on October 6, 2022.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the Department is proposing an extension without change of a currently approved information collection request (ICR).

The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Final Rule (Patient Safety Rule) authorizes AHRQ, on behalf of the Secretary of HHS, to list as a patient safety organization (PSO) an entity that attests that it meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for listing. A PSO can be ``delisted'' by the Secretary if it is found to no longer meet the requirements of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act) and Patient Safety Rule, when a PSO chooses to voluntarily relinquish its status as a PSO for any reason, or when a PSO's listing expires. AHRQ accepted a notification of proposed voluntary relinquishment from the Zephcare PSO, PSO number P0200, of its status as a PSO, and has delisted the PSO accordingly.