April 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Justice ("Department") is amending Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") regulations to implement firearms-related definitions and requirements established by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act ("BSCA") and the NICS Denial Notification Act ("NDNA"). These statutes went into effect on June 25, 2022, and October 1, 2022, respectively. It is necessary to make conforming changes to ensure that ATF's regulations are current and consistent with the applicable statutes. For this reason, this direct final rule incorporates many of the BSCA and NDNA provisions that are applicable to ATF.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council will hold public meetings according to the details shown below. The committee is authorized under the National Trails System Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The purpose of the Council is to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Chief of the Forest Service, on matters relating to the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail as described in the Act.

The Health Resources and Services Administration administers section 340B of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, which is referred to as the "340B Drug Pricing Program" or the "340B Program." This final rule will apply to all drug manufacturers and covered entities that participate in the 340B Program. The final rule sets forth the requirements and procedures for the 340B Program's administrative dispute resolution (ADR) process. This final rule revises the 340B administrative dispute resolution process set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Mine Project proposed by Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge LLC (Ioneer) in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) 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 is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from India are not being, or are not likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is extending for 120 days the public comment period on the interim final rule, "Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal Programs", which published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2023. This action extends the public comment period from April 29, 2024, to August 27, 2024, to give the public additional time to prepare and submit comments.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) proposes modifications to the rules of practice for inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) that the Director and, by delegation, the PTAB will use in exercising discretion to institute IPRs and PGRs. The Office proposes these provisions in light of stakeholder feedback received in response to an October 2020 Request for Comments (RFC) and an April 2023 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The proposals enhance and build on existing precedent and guidance regarding the exercise of the Director's discretion pursuant to the America Invents Act (AIA) to determine whether to institute an IPR or PGR proceeding with regard to serial petitions, parallel petitions, and petitions implicating the same or substantially the same art or arguments previously presented to the Office. The proposed rules also provide a separate briefing process for discretionary institution arguments and align the procedures for termination of proceedings pre- and post- institution.

The Department of the Treasury will submit the following information collection requests 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 these requests.

The DoD is publishing this notice to announce that the following Federal Advisory Committee meetings of the DoDWC will take place.

The State Department will hold a public meeting at 2 p.m. 3:30 p.m. (ET) on WebEx with the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy's International Information and Communications Policy (CDP/ICP) division. The purpose of the meeting is to brief stakeholders on CDP/ ICP's past and upcoming international engagements. These include engagement at the United Nations, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Organization of American States Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum Telecommunications and Information Working Group, the Group of Seven (G7) Digital & Tech Working Group, the Group of Twenty (G20) Digital Economy Working Group, and other multilateral processes and bilateral digital and ICT dialogues.

The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) of the Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice (Notice) of receipt of an application (Application), filed by Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC and Sabine Pass Liquefaction Stage V, LLC (collectively, Sabine Pass Stage 5 or Sabine Pass) on March 1, 2024, and supplemented on March 21, 2024. Sabine Pass Stage 5 requests long-term, multi-contract authorization to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a volume equivalent to approximately 899.46 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per year (Bcf/yr) of natural gas from the proposed Sabine Pass Stage 5 Expansion Project (Trains 7-8) (Stage 5 Project) to be added to the existing Sabine Pass LNG Terminal (SPLNG Terminal) located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Sabine Pass Stage 5 filed the Application under the Natural Gas Act (NGA).

The Department of the Interior (Department) is adopting the United States Forest Service's (USFS) categorical exclusion for short- term mineral, energy, or geothermal investigations and the Department of the Navy's (DON) categorical exclusion for pre-lease upland exploration activities for oil, gas, or geothermal reserves, (e.g., geophysical surveys) pursuant to section 109 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to use for proposed Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval of geothermal exploration operations. This notice describes the limited categories of proposed actions for which the BLM intends to use the USFS and DON categorical exclusions and details the consultation between the respective agencies.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, Planning Division is notifying interested parties that it has withdrawn the Notice of Intent (NOI) to develop a Joint Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report for the Dredged Material Management Plan Feasibility Study. The original NOI to prepare a Joint EIS/EIR was published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2003. The proposed Dredged Material Management Plan Feasibility Study was converted into a Dredged Material Management Framework on August 24, 2009. A Final EIS/EIR was never completed.

The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) is issuing this Notice of Request (Notice) for public comment on the reporting information for the National Registry of Appraisal Management Companies (AMC Registry) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of proposed collection of information. In conjunction with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the ASC submitted to the OMB a request for review of approval of information collection listed below. The purpose of this Notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment from all interested individuals and organizations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission or Agency) is modifying a system of records, FCC/WCB-3, Affordable Connectivity Program, subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. This action is necessary to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the Federal Register notice of the existence and character of records maintained by the agency. The Affordable Connectivity Program ("ACP"), the successor to the Commission's Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, provides discounts for broadband internet access service ("BIAS") to qualifying households. A household may qualify for the ACP if an individual in the household has applied for and has been approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced price lunch program, receives assistance through the special supplemental nutritional program for women, infants, and children ("WIC"), receives a Pell Grant, qualifies for the Lifeline program, meets certain income requirements, or qualifies for a low-income program offered by internet service providers. The ACP is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Commission and, by delegation, of the Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB). This system of records contains information about individual ACP applicants and participants, providers' claims and certifying officers, and providers' enrollment representatives.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is publishing the names of one or more persons that have been placed on OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) based on OFAC's determination that one or more applicable legal criteria were satisfied. All property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of these persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an Order to Almonte Geo Service Group (Almonte), imposing a civil monetary penalty of $17,500. The NRC issued a Notice of Violation and Proposed Imposition of Civil Penalty on November 9, 2023, to Almonte. The violation involved the failure by Almonte to complete decommissioning no later than 24 hours following the initiation of decommissioning as required by NRC regulations. This order is effective on the date of issuance.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice announces that the Secretary's National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (NACMH or Council) has scheduled a public meeting. Information about NACMH and the agenda for this meeting can be found on the NACMH website at: https://www.hrsa.gov/advisory-committees/migrant- health.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, this notice announces that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs, will submit the collection of information abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The PRA submission describes the nature of the information collection and its expected cost and burden and it includes the actual data collection instrument.

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) announces opportunities for individuals to participate in its peer review process for competitive grant funding under the programs administered by OESE, OELA, OPE, and OSERS.