Agencies and Commissions August 22, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Royalty Judges are announcing the commencement of the proceeding to determine the distribution of the digital audio recording technology royalty fees in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Musical Works Funds. The Judges are also announcing the date by which a party who wishes to participate in this proceeding must file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee.

The NRC staff has issued Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2008- 18, Information on Requests for Extending Use of Expiring Transportation Packages. The RIS is intended to provide information to licensees and certificate holders who may request NRC consideration on a case-by-case basis for limited domestic use of transportation packages beyond the October 1, 2008, expiration date. The RIS does not impose any additional regulatory requirements on NRC licensees.

In this document, the Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (Bureau) grants the application of CSDVRS, LLC (CSDVRS) for certification as a VRS provider eligible for compensation from the Interstate TRS Fund (Fund). The Commission concludes that CSDVRS has demonstrated sufficiently that its provision of VRS will meet or exceed all operational, technical, and functional TRS standards set forth in the Commission's rules; that it makes available adequate procedures and remedies for ensuring compliance with applicable Commission rules; and that to the extent CSDVRS's service differs from the mandatory minimum standards, the service does not violate the rules.

The Commission requests comments on a channel substitution proposed by Pappas Arizona License, LLC (``Pappas''), the permittee of KWST-DT, DTV channel 16, Yuma, Arizona. Pappas requests the substitution of DTV channel 13 for channel 16 at Yuma.

NARA is giving public notice that the agency has submitted to OMB for approval the information collection described in this notice. The public is invited to comment on the proposed information collection pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission will hold a public hearing as part of its regular business meeting beginning at 1 p.m. on September 11, 2008, in Lewisburg, Pa. At the public hearing, the Commission will consider: (1) Approval of certain water resources projects; (2) enforcement actions for six projects; and (3) a request for extension of an emergency certificate issued on July 24, 2008. Details concerning the matters to be addressed at the public hearing and business meeting are contained in the Supplementary Information section of this notice.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it is submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the new information collection described below. The collection is related to a mandate under section 7 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Conforming Amendments Act of 2005 (``Reform Act'') (Pub. L. 109-173), which calls for the FDIC to conduct ongoing surveys ``on efforts by insured depository institutions to bring those individuals and families who have rarely, if ever, held a checking account, a savings account or other type of transaction or check cashing account at an insured depository institution (hereafter in this section referred to as the `unbanked') into the conventional finance system.'' Section 7 further instructs the FDIC to consider several factors in its conduct of the surveys, including: (1) ``What cultural, language and identification issues as well as transaction costs appear to most prevent `unbanked' individuals from establishing conventional accounts''; and (2) ``What is a fair estimate of the size and worth of the `unbanked' market in the United States.'' To satisfy the Congressional mandate, the FDIC intends to conduct two complementary surveys. One is a survey of FDIC-insured depository institutions on their efforts to serve underbanked, as well as unbanked, populations (underbanked populations include individuals who have an account with an insured depository but also rely on non-bank alternative financial service providers for transaction services or high-cost credit products). The FDIC has already obtained OMB approval for this survey and the survey effort is currently in process. The other is a survey of U.S. households to estimate the size and worth of the unbanked and underbanked markets and to identify the factors that inhibit their participation in the mainstream banking system. The household survey would be conducted for the FDIC by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as a supplement to its monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) in January 2009. This notice addresses the household survey.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish notice of permit applications received to conduct activities regulated under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act at Title 45 Part 670 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This is the required notice of permit applications received.

The Commission has established formal dockets to consider a formal request to add a new product to the competitive product list for prices not of general applicability and incorporates a notice of execution of two related contracts. The Commission's action will provide for public input and for a review to determine consistency with applicable statutory requirements.