November 29, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 3.2% in the royalty rates satellite carriers pay for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act. The COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from October 2022 to October 2023.

This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to management measures in commercial and recreational groundfish fisheries for the 2024 fishing year. This action is intended to allow commercial and recreational fishing vessels to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

The FDIC is adopting a final rule to implement a special assessment to recover the loss to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF or Fund) arising from the protection of uninsured depositors following the closures of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, CA, and Signature Bank, New York, NY. The FDIC will collect the $16.3 billion special assessment at a quarterly rate of 3.36 basis points, multiplied by an insured depository institution's (IDI) estimated uninsured deposits, reported for the quarter that ended December 31, 2022, adjusted to exclude the first $5 billion in estimated uninsured deposits from the IDI, or for IDIs that are part of a holding company with one or more subsidiary IDIs, at the banking organization level. The FDIC will collect the special assessment over eight quarterly assessment periods, although the collection period may change due to updates to the estimated loss pursuant to the systemic risk determination or if assessments collected change due to corrective amendments to the amount of uninsured deposits reported for the December 31, 2022, reporting period.

The Board and the Bureau (collectively, the Agencies) are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations and commentary for the Agencies' regulations that implement the Consumer Leasing Act (CLA). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amended the CLA by requiring that the dollar threshold for exempt consumer leases be adjusted annually by the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Under regulations adopted by the Agencies, if there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Agencies will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. Additionally, in years following a year in which the exemption threshold was not adjusted because the CPI-W decreased, the threshold is calculated by applying the annual percentage change in the CPI-W to the dollar amount that would have resulted, after rounding, if the decreases and any subsequent increases in the CPI-W had been taken into account. Based on the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W as of June 1, 2023, the exemption threshold will increase from $66,400 to $69,500 effective January 1, 2024. Because the Dodd-Frank Act also requires similar adjustments in the Truth in Lending Act's threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions, the Agencies are making similar amendments to each of their respective regulations implementing the Truth in Lending Act elsewhere in the Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.

The OCC, the Board, and the Bureau are finalizing amendments to the official interpretations for their regulations that implement section 129H of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). Section 129H of TILA establishes special appraisal requirements for ``higher-risk mortgages,'' termed ``higher-priced mortgage loans'' or ``HPMLs'' in the agencies' regulations. The OCC, the Board, the Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) (collectively, the Agencies) jointly issued final rules implementing these requirements, effective January 18, 2014. The Agencies' rules exempted, among other loan types, transactions of $25,000 or less, and required that this loan amount be adjusted annually based on any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the OCC, the Board, and the Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. Additionally, in years following a year in which the exemption threshold was not adjusted because the CPI-W decreased, the threshold is calculated by applying the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W to the dollar amount that would have resulted, after rounding, if the decreases and any subsequent increases in the CPI-W had been taken into account. Based on the CPI-W in effect as of June 1, 2023, the exemption threshold will increase from $31,000 to $32,400, effective January 1, 2024.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from Thailand are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

We are advising the public that we added Bolivia to the list of regions that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers to be affected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This action follows our imposition of HPAI-related restrictions on the importation of avian commodities originating from or transiting Bolivia as a result of the confirmation of HPAI in that country.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 published a document in the Federal Register on November 2, 2023, soliciting comment on the preliminary designation of stormwater discharges from certain commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) sites in two watersheds in Los Angeles County, California for regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. The November 2, 2023 notice of availability contained an incorrect email address for submitting comments which is corrected below and the review and comment period is extended to provide a 60-day public comment period. All other information in the November 2, 2023 notice of availability is correct.

The Board of Governors (Board) is publishing a final rule that applies an inflation adjustment to the threshold for total consolidated assets in Regulation I. Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) stockholders that have total consolidated assets above the threshold receive a different dividend rate on their Reserve Bank stock than stockholders with total consolidated assets at or below the threshold. The Federal Reserve Act requires that the Board annually adjust the total consolidated asset threshold to reflect the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index, published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Based on the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index as of September 28, 2023, the total consolidated asset threshold will be $12,517,000,000 through December 31, 2024.

On September 19, 2023, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) (collectively, the ``agencies'') published in the Federal Register a proposal to require certain large depository institution holding companies, U.S. intermediate holding companies of foreign banking organizations, and insured depository institutions, to issue and maintain outstanding a minimum amount of long-term debt. The agencies have determined that an extension of the comment period until January 16, 2024, is appropriate.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public during the review and approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30-day comment period for this notice has closed.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) has determined the regulatory review period for Azstarys and is publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of an application to the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.

This rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2024. This table is needed to compute the value of early retirement benefits and, thus, the total value of benefits under a plan.

Applicant seeks an order declaring that it has ceased to be an investment company. Applicant currently has 49 beneficial owners, is not presently making a public offering of securities and does not propose to make any public offering of securities. Applicant will continue to operate as a private investment fund in reliance on Section 3(c)(1) of the Act. Filing Date: The application was filed on October 30, 2023. Applicant's Address: 8310 South Valley Highway, Englewood, Colorado 80112.

We are advising the public that we have added Singapore to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) list maintained on the APHIS website of regions considered to be affected with African swine fever (ASF). We have taken this action because of the confirmation of ASF in Singapore.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from Malaysia are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Department of the Treasury will submit 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, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on this request.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc., Model BD-100-1A10 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a design review of the avionic architecture of the pitch trim indication and alerting system that revealed software errors could generate misleading pitch trim indication to the crew, leading to incorrect horizontal stabilizer positioning at takeoff. This AD requires revising the Emergency Procedures and Normal Procedures of the existing airplane flight manual (AFM) to ensure the horizontal stabilizer is correctly configured prior to takeoff. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) has determined the regulatory review period for Empaveli and is publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of applications to the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) has determined the regulatory review period for Olinvyk and is publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of applications to the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.