Agencies and Commissions May 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission is extending the comment period for a release proposing amendments to its net capital, customer protection, books and records, and notification rules for broker-dealers under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''), which was issued by the Commission on March 9, 2007 (Exchange Act Release No. 55431, 72 FR 12862 (Mar. 19, 2007)). The original comment period for Release No. 34-55431 is scheduled to end on May 18, 2007. The Commission is extending the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments on the proposed amendments described in Release No. 34-55431 for thirty-one days until Monday, June 18, 2007. This action will allow all interested persons additional time to analyze the issues and prepare their comments.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is establishing a new part 2200 in 2 CFR as the Corporation's policies and procedures for nonprocurement debarment and suspension. The new part 2200 adopts and supplements the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) guidance in 2 CFR part 180. The Corporation for National and Community Service is also removing 45 CFR part 2542, which contains the Corporation's implementation of the governmentwide common rule on nonprocurement debarment and suspension. 2 CFR part 2200 will serve the same purpose as the common rule in a simpler way. These changes constitute an administrative simplification that would make no substantive change in Corporation's policies or procedures for nonprocurement debarment and suspension.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on requirements relating to procedures for submitting requests for exemptive, no- action, and interpretative letters.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to issue a generic letter (GL) to address the issue of gas intrusion into the emergency core cooling, decay heat removal, and containment spray systems (hereinafter referred to as the ``subject systems''). Specifically, the NRC is issuing this GL for the following two purposes: (1) to request addressees to submit information demonstrating that the subject systems are in compliance with the current licensing and design bases, and applicable regulatory requirements, and that suitable design, operational, and testing control measures are in place for maintaining this compliance, and (2) to collect the requested information to determine if additional regulatory action is required. This Federal Register notice is available through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML0704001003.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to request clearance of this collection. In accordance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), we are providing opportunity for public comment on this action. After obtaining and considering public comment, NSF will prepare the submission requesting that OMB approve clearance of this collection for no longer than 3 years.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued for public comment draft supplements to Revision 9 of NUREG-1021, ``Operator Licensing Examination Standards for Power Reactors,'' and to Revision 2 of NUREG-1122 [and -1123] ``Knowledge and Abilities Catalog for Nuclear Power Plant Operators: Pressurized [Boiling] Water Reactors.'' These NUREGs provide policy and guidance for the development, administration, and grading of examinations used for licensing operators at nuclear power plants pursuant to the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR Part 55, ``Operators'' Licenses.'' NUREG-1021 also provides guidance for maintaining operators' licenses, and for the NRC to conduct requalification examinations, when necessary. The draft supplement to Revision 9 of NUREG-1021 includes a number of minor changes that are intended to: (1) Clarify licensed operator medical requirements, including the use of prescription medications; (2) clarify the use of surrogate operators during dynamic simulator scenarios; (3) clarify the selection process for generic knowledge and ability (K/A) statements; (4) qualify the NRC review of post- examination comments; (5) provide additional guidance for maintaining an active license (watchstander proficiency) and license reactivation; and (6) conform with proposed updates to NUREGs-1122 and -1123, which are concurrently available for public comment. The proposed changes are summarized in the Record of Proposed Changes, and identified by highlight/redline and strikeouts. The draft supplements to NUREGs-1122 and -1123 propose to reword and reorganize Section 2, ``Generic Knowledge and Abilities,'' and add a new K/A topic to Section 4, ``Emergency/Abnormal Plant Evolutions,'' to address generator voltage and electric grid disturbances. The proposed changes are summarized in the Record of Changes, and identified by highlight/redline and strikeouts. Availability: The draft supplements are available electronically via the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room (https://www.nrc.gov/ public-involve/doc-comment.html) and in the NRC's Public Document Room located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. If you do not have electronic access to NRC documents, single copies of the draft supplements are available upon request, by contacting David S. Muller by phone at (301) 415-1412 or by e-mail at dsm3@nrc.gov.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Earth Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). This Subcommittee reports to the Science Committee of the NAC. The Meeting will be held for the purpose of soliciting from the scientific community and other persons scientific and technical information relevant to program planning.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, and to allow 60 days for comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on requirements relating to information collected to assist the Commission in the prevention of misuse of customer information.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, as amended), notice is hereby given that the following meetings of Humanities Panels will be held at the Old Post Office, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20506.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations that govern organization and functions of NRC offices. This action is necessary to clarify emergency preparedness program responsibilities of the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. The current limiting reference of ``nuclear reactors'' will be replaced with the phrase ``nuclear facilities.''