Agencies and Commissions August 2, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this document, the Commission reminds telecommunications equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers of their obligation to designate an agent for service of informal and formal complaints received by the Commission.

The General Services Administration's (GSA's) annual per diem review has resulted in lodging and meal allowance changes for locations within the continental United States (CONUS) to provide for the reimbursement of Federal employees' expenses covered by per diem. Per Diem Bulletin 07-1 updates the maximum per diem amounts in existing per diem localities. The standard CONUS lodging rate of $60 is unchanged. The CONUS per diem rates prescribed in Bulletin 07-1 may be found at https://www.gsa.gov/perdiem. GSA based the lodging per diem rates on the average daily rate that the lodging industry reports. The use of such data in the per diem rate setting process enhances the Government's ability to obtain policy compliant lodging where it is needed. In addition to the annual lodging study, GSA identified 26 new or redefined non-standard areas (NSA's). In order to base its per diem recommendations for those areas on accurate meal cost data, GSA commissioned an out of cycle meal survey in each of the 26 areas. For a complete listing of pertinent information that must be submitted through a Federal executive agency for GSA to restudy a location if a CONUS or standard CONUS per diem rate is insufficient to meet necessary expenses, please review numbers 4 and 5 of our per diem Frequently Asked Questions at (www.gsa.gov/perdiemfaqs).

The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection(s), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a valid control number. Comments are requested concerning (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

On July 7, 2006, the Commission published proposed Acceptable Practices for section 5(d)(15) of the Commodity Exchange Act (``Act'').\1\ Comments on the proposal were originally due by August 7, 2006. Now, at the request of interested parties, the Commission is extending the comment period to September 7, 2006.

The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Revision; 2. The title of the information collection: Policy Statement on Cooperation with States at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and Other Production or Utilization Facilities; 3. The form number if applicable: N/A; 4. How often the collection is required: On occasion, when a State wishes to observe NRC inspections or perform inspections for NRC; 5. Who will be required or asked to report: Those States interested in observing or performing inspections; 6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 154 (50 nuclear facility + 104 materials security licensees); 7. The estimated number of annual respondents: 66 (50 nuclear facility + 16 materials security licensees); 8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 1,540 hours (10 hours per response); 9. An indication of whether Section 3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 applies: N/A; 10. Abstract: States wishing to enter into an agreement with NRC to observe or participate in NRC inspections at nuclear power facilities or conduct materials security inspections against NRC Orders are requested to provide certain information to the NRC to ensure close cooperation and consistency with the NRC inspection program, as specified by the Commission's Policy of Cooperation with States at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and Other Nuclear Production or Utilization Facilities and Section 274i of the atomic Energy Act, as amended. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/ public-involve/doc-comment/ omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by September 1, 2006. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date.

In accordance with the requirement of Section 3506 (c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides opportunity for public comment on new or revised data collections, the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will publish periodic summaries of proposed data collections. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information has practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection of the information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden related to the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Title and purpose of information collection: Vocational Report; OMB 3220-0141. Section 2 of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) provides for payment of disability annuities to qualified employees and widow(ers). The establishment of permanent disability for work in the applicants ``regular occupation'' or for work in any regular employment is prescribed in 20 CFR 220.12 and 220.13 respectively. The RRB utilizes Form G-251, Vocational Report, to obtain an applicant's work history. This information is used by the RRB to determine the effect of a disability on an applicant's ability to work. Form G-251 is designed for use with the RRB's disability benefit application forms and is provided to all applicants for employee disability annuities and to those applicants for a widow(er)'s disability annuity who indicate that they have been employed at some time. Completion is required to obtain or retain a benefit. One response is requested of each respondent. The RRB proposes no changes to Form G- 251. The completion time for Form G-251 is estimated at between 30 and 40 minutes per response. The RRB estimates that approximately 6,000 Form G-251's are completed annually. Additional Information or Comments: To request more information or to obtain a copy of the information collection justification, forms, and/or supporting material, please call the RRB Clearance Officer at (312) 751-3363 or send an e-mail request to Charles.Mierzwa@RRB.GOV. Comments regarding the information collection should be addressed to Ronald J. Hodapp, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092 or send an e-mail to Ronald.Hodapp@RRB.GOV. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) takes steps necessary to protect the federal universal service program and promote stability in the market for prepaid calling cards. In particular, the Commission will treat certain prepaid calling card service providers as telecommunications service providers. As such, these providers must pay intrastate access charges for interexchange calls that originate and terminate in the same state and interstate access charges on interexchange calls that originate and terminate in different states. They also must contribute to the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) based on their interstate revenues, subject to the limitations set forth below. The Commission also addresses a petition for interim relief filed by AT&T and adopts interim rules to facilitate compliance with the universal service and access charge rules. Specifically, on an interim and prospective basis, the Commission requires all prepaid calling card providers to comply with certain reporting and certification requirements.

The Federal Communications Commission proposes application processing and service rules for the 17/24 GHz Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS). The Commission proposes and/or seeks comment on a number of issues, including: licensing procedures, posting of performance bonds, milestone schedules, limits on pending applications, annual reporting, license terms, replacement satellites, access to the U.S. market from non-U.S. satellites; public interest obligations, copyright and broadcast carriage, equal employment opportunity, geographic service coverage, and emergency alert system participation; use of internationally allocated spectrum by receiving stations located outside the United States; orbital spacing and antenna performance standards; technical requirements for intra-service sharing; other technical requirements, such as reverse band operations, tracking, telemetry, and command operations, polarization, and full frequency re- use requirements; and technical requirements for inter-service sharing in the 17 and 24 GHz bands.

This notice publishes revised living-cost indexes relating to the ``2002 Nonforeign Area Cost-of-Living Allowance Survey Report: Caribbean and Washington, DC, Areas;'' the ``2003 Nonforeign Area Cost- of-Living Allowance Survey Report: Alaska and Washington, DC, Areas;'' and the ``2004 Nonforeign Area Cost-of-Living Allowance Survey Report: Pacific and Washington, DC, Areas.'' The Federal Government uses the results of these surveys to set cost-of-living allowance (COLA) rates for General Schedule, U.S. Postal Service, and certain other Federal employees in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Office of Personnel Management revised the COLA area living-cost indexes based on additional rental data analyses undertaken after the publication of these reports in response to comments we received.