Agencies and Commissions February 20, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is increasing the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) rate received by certain white- collar Federal and U.S. Postal Service employees in Puerto Rico. The increase is the result of interim adjustments OPM calculated based on relative Consumer Price Index differences between Puerto Rico and the Washington, DC, area. This increase raises the COLA rate for Puerto Rico from 13 percent to 14 percent.

The FTC plans to conduct a consumer study to evaluate alternatives to the current disclosures required for most consumer lamp (i.e., light bulb) products. The Commission is examining the effectiveness of current light bulb package labeling as directed by Congress. Before conducting this study, the FTC is seeking public comments on the proposed study pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'').

The Committee is proposing to add to the Procurement List a product to be furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have other severe disabilities. Comments Must Be Received on or Before: 3/22/2009.

This document corrects a rule that appeared in the Federal Register on October 24, 2008 (73 FR 63546), that amends the regulations for the protection of Safeguards Information (SGI) to protect SGI from inadvertent release and unauthorized disclosure which might compromise the security of nuclear facilities and materials. This document is necessary to correct an erroneous amendatory instruction which resulted in duplicate paragraph designations.

This document announces the Postal Service's filing of a notice of price changes for certain competitive (shipping) products and invites public comment. In general, the price changes under consideration are for products that were not included in a more comprehensive set of changes implemented in January 2009. The reason for their exclusion is that the associated price changes are calculated, for the most part, with reference to certain market dominant products, and the timetable for implementation of pricing for these products is May of each year. Thus, deferral allows this relationship to be maintained. Changes for the competitive products identified in the Postal Service's notice are scheduled to occur on May 11, 2009, which coincides with anticipated changes for market dominant products.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The Board of Governors (Board) is amending the routing number guide to next-day availability checks and local checks in Regulation CC to delete the reference to the Baltimore branch office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and to reassign the Federal Reserve routing symbols currently listed under that office to the head office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. These amendments reflect the restructuring of check-processing operations within the Federal Reserve System.