January 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS proposes to implement management measures described in Framework Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plans for Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. Thomas and St. John (collectively, the island-based FMPs). If implemented, this proposed rule would modify annual catch limits (ACLs) for spiny lobster in the U.S. Caribbean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and St. Thomas and St. John. The purpose of this proposed rule is to update management reference points for spiny lobster, consistent with the best scientific information available to prevent overfishing and achieve optimum yield (OY).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing to prohibit covered financial institutions from charging fees, such as nonsufficient funds fees, when consumers initiate payment transactions that are instantaneously declined. Charging such fees would constitute an abusive practice under the Consumer Financial Protection Act's prohibition on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) publishes this action to update and make final an interim final rule that amended its regulations pertaining to the procedures and rules related to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with appropriate references to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which went into effect on July 1, 2020. Article 10.12 of the USMCA, like NAFTA Article 1904, provides a dispute settlement mechanism for purposes of reviewing antidumping and countervailing duty determinations issued by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Commerce is amending its regulations to replace references to Article 1904 of NAFTA with references to Article 10.12 of the USMCA; to update outdated cross-references to Commerce's antidumping and countervailing duty regulations; update outdated notice, filing, service, and protective order procedures; and adopt other minor corrections and updates.

This document corrects technical errors in the final rule that appeared in the November 13, 2023 Federal Register titled ``Medicare Program; Calendar Year (CY) 2024 Home Health (HH) Prospective Payment System Rate Update; HH Quality Reporting Program Requirements; HH Value-Based Purchasing Expanded Model Requirements; Home Intravenous Immune Globulin Items and Services; Hospice Informal Dispute Resolution and Special Focus Program Requirements, Certain Requirements for Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics and Orthotics Supplies; and Provider and Supplier Enrollment Requirements'' (referred to hereafter as the ``CY 2024 HH PPS final rule'').

FinCEN is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, that proposes prohibiting the opening or maintaining of a correspondent account in the United States for, or on behalf of, Al-Huda Bank, a foreign financial institution based in Iraq found to be of primary money laundering concern.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all helicopters with certain Pacific Scientific Company rotary buckle assemblies (buckles) installed. This AD was prompted by a report of a manufacturing defect in the screws used inside the buckle. This AD requires inspecting the buckle screws and, depending on the results, reidentifying the buckle, replacing the screws and reidentifying the buckle, or replacing the buckle. This AD also prohibits installing certain buckles. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

The Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to amend its regulations, which set forth the policies and procedures for resolving questions concerning eligibility for DOE access authorizations. The proposed revisions would: expand the scope of the current rule to include individuals applying for or in positions requiring eligibility to hold a sensitive position; update and add clarity, including by deleting obsolete references, throughout the rule for consistency with national policies and DOE practices; and update references to DOE officials and offices.

This regulation establishes exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of ortho-benzyl-para-chlorophenol, potassium 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenate, and sodium 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenate on food contact surfaces when applied/used in public eating places, dairy processing equipment, and/or food processing equipment and utensils. These tolerance exemptions are established on the Agency's own initiative under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), in order to implement the tolerance actions EPA identified during its review of these chemicals as part of the Agency's registration review program under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

In accordance with the Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002, we are proposing to amend and republish the list of select agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. This Act requires the biennial review and republication of the list of select agents and toxins and the revision of the list as necessary. This action would implement findings from the biennial review for the list. The biennial review was initiated within 2 years of the completion of the previous biennial review. In addition, we are proposing to add definitions for several terms; codify policies regarding the role of responsible officials and alternate responsible officials, conclusion of patient care, and annual internal inspections; and revise or clarify provisions related to validated inactivation procedures and viable select agent removal methods, recordkeeping, non-possession of select agents and toxins, electronic Federal Select Agent Programs, registration, Tier 1 enhancements, and exclusion of naturally infected animals. We are also proposing to add requirements for reporting discoveries of select agents and toxins, provisions regarding effluent decontamination system, biosafety provisions for facility verification requirements for registered biosafety level 3 and animal biosafety level 3 laboratories, a new requirement related to restricted experiments, and to correct editorial errors. These proposed changes would economically benefit producers, research and reference laboratories, and State and Federal oversight agencies, while also maintaining adequate program oversight of select agents and toxins.

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations governing the criteria for making salary determinations based on salary history to advance pay equity in the General Schedule, prevailing rate, Administrative Appeals Judge, Administrative Law Judge, Senior Executive Service, and senior-level and scientific or professional pay systems. For individuals receiving their first appointment as a civilian employee of the Federal Government (or a reappointment after a break in service) in one of these pay systems, agencies will not be able to set pay based on a job candidate's non- Federal salary or pay history, which could vary between equally qualified candidates, or based on a competing job offer. Agencies will also be required to have policies regarding setting pay based on a previous Federal salary for employees who have previous civilian service in the Federal Government.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to find that California has failed to submit state implementation plan (SIP) elements required under the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act'') to implement the 2012 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (``2012 PM2.5 NAAQS'') in the Los Angeles-South Coast Air Basin (``South Coast''). California was required to submit a SIP that meets the Serious area plan requirements for a reasonable further progress demonstration, quantitative milestones, an attainment demonstration, and contingency measures for the 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS by December 31, 2023. The State submitted the required SIP elements, but subsequently withdrew its submission. If the EPA has not affirmatively found that the State has submitted a complete SIP to correct these deficiencies within 18 months of this finding, the offset sanctions will apply in the area. If within six additional months the EPA has still not affirmatively determined that the State has submitted a complete SIP to correct the deficiencies, the highway funding sanction will apply in the area. No later than two years after the EPA makes this finding, if the State has not submitted and the EPA has not approved each of the required SIP elements, the EPA must promulgate a Federal implementation plan (FIP) to address the remaining requirements.

This action announces the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of alternative testing methods for use in measuring the levels of contaminants in drinking water to determine compliance with national primary drinking water regulations. The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes EPA to approve the use of alternative testing methods through publication in the Federal Register. EPA is using this streamlined authority to make 93 additional methods available for analyzing drinking water samples. This expedited approach provides public water systems, laboratories, and primacy agencies with more timely access to new measurement techniques and greater flexibility in the selection of analytical methods, thereby reducing monitoring costs while maintaining public health protection.

These special conditions are issued for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (Gulfstream) Model GVIII-G700 and GVIII-G800 series airplanes. These airplanes will have a novel or unusual design feature when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport-category airplanes. This design feature is an electronic flight-control system, the functions of which are dependent upon the electrical power-generation and distribution systems, whereby the loss of all electrical power may be catastrophic to the airplane. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) issued a final rule that amended our conservators and receiver regulations for Farm Credit System (FCS) banks, associations, service corporations, and the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation (Funding Corporation).

The Coast Guard is amending the temporary safety zone for the M/V GENIUS STAR XI navigable waters from 1 nautical mile radius to a \1/2\ nautical mile radius. The safety zone is needed to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards created by a fire onboard the M/V GENIUS STAR XI. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port, Western Alaska (COTP).

In accordance with the Commission's regulations, the Commission, by its designee, the Executive Director, issues this annual update to the fee schedule in the appendix to the part, which lists per-acre rental fees by county (or other geographic area) for use of government lands by hydropower licensees.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) received a petition requesting an amendment to its rule on button cell or coin battery packaging to allow for a smaller ``Keep out of Reach'' icon on the principal display panel for packages of button cell or coin batteries (Petition). The Commission invites written comments concerning this Petition.

NMFS closes the General category fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) for the remainder of the January through March time period. The General category may only retain, possess, or land large medium and giant (i.e., measuring 73 inches (185 centimeters (cm)) curved fork length or greater) when open. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and highly migratory species (HMS) Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. On June 1, 2024, the fishery will reopen automatically.

The Executive order of January 19, 2021, ``Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities,'' directs the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to propose regulations requiring U.S. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers of IaaS products to verify the identity of their foreign customers, along with procedures for the Secretary to grant exemptions; and authorize special measures to deter foreign malicious cyber actors' use of U.S. IaaS products. The Executive order of October 30, 2023, ``Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,'' further directs the Secretary to propose regulations that require providers of certain IaaS products to submit a report to the Secretary when a foreign person transacts with that provider or reseller to train a large Artificial Intelligence (AI) model with potential capabilities that could be used in malicious cyber-enabled activity. The Department of Commerce (Department) issues this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit comment on proposed regulations to implement those Executive orders.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes to implement certain decisions regarding the 24.25-27.5 GHz band made in the World Radiocommunication Conference held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2019 (WRC- 19). Specifically, the Commission proposes to align part 30 of the Commission's rules for mobile operations with the Resolution 750 limits on unwanted emissions into the passive 23.6-24.0 GHz band that were adopted at WRC-19. These proposed rule changes would help to facilitate the protection of passive sensors used for weather forecasting and scientific research in the 23.6 GHz-24.0 GHz band, while continuing to promote flexible commercial use of the 24.25-24.45 GHz and 24.75-25.25 GHz bands (collectively, 24 GHz band). The Commission also seeks comment on alternatives to the proposals it makes, and on other related issues.

Petition for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's proceeding Aryeh B. Fishman, on behalf of Edison Electric Institute.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is correcting a rule that appeared in the Federal Register on January 19, 2024. This correction fixes an error in an instruction.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 m) LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI.

This rule establishes, amends, suspends, or removes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPS) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure procedures (ODPs) for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.