Agencies and Commissions April 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On January 15, 2009, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) published a final rule implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This technical rulemaking will delete the FOIA rules promulgated by the FHFA's predecessor agencies, the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) and Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). It also will remove now obsolete references in the FHFA rule to the FHFB and OFHEO.

This is an amendment of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of Minnesota (FEMA-1830-DR), dated 04/09/2009.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve a renewal of a currently approved information collection requirement regarding transfer order-surplus personal property and continuation sheet.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the Postal Service to prescribe regulations for the safe transportation of hazardous materials in the mail, and to prescribe regulations for the conduct of proceedings to determine the implementation of civil penalties, clean- up costs and damages for violations of these hazardous materials regulations. Accordingly, the Postal Service is adopting new rules of practice for its Office of the Judicial Officer.

Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality Final Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through 1508), and the United States Section, International Boundary and Water Commission's (USIBWC) Operational Procedures for Implementing Section 102 of NEPA, published in the Federal Register September 2, 1981 (46 FR 44083); the USIBWC hereby gives notice of availability of the Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft FONSI for Flood Control Improvements to the Arroyo Colorado Floodway, which is part of the interior floodways in the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice advises interested persons that the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age (``Diversity Committee'') will hold a meeting on May 7th, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission, Room TW-C305, 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554. This will be the first meeting of the Diversity Committee under its renewed charter and new membership.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) is adopting revisions to the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) Filer Manual to reflect updates to the EDGAR system. The revisions were made primarily to improve the Form D filing process. The revisions to the Filer Manual reflect changes within Volume I entitled EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume I: ``General Information,'' Version 6 (March 2009) and Volume II entitled EDGAR Filer Manual, Volume II: ``EDGAR Filing,'' Version 11 (March 2009). The updated manual will be incorporated by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations.

This is a notice of an Administrative declaration of a disaster for the State of Mississippi dated 04/16/2009.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces a meeting of the Heliophysics 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is adopting technical amendments to various rules, forms and schedules under the Securities Act of 1933 (``Securities Act'') and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''). The Commission also is making certain technical changes to the Codification of Financial Reporting Policies (``CFRP''). These revisions are necessary to conform those rules, forms, schedules and the CFRP to two recently issued Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (``SFAS'') issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (``FASB''). SFAS 141 (revised 2007), Business Combinations, and SFAS 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statementsan amendment of ARB No. 51 (collectively ``Statements'') were both issued in December 2007. The technical amendments include revision of certain rules in Regulation S- X, certain items in Regulation S-K, certain sections in the CFRP and various forms and schedules prescribed under the Securities Act and Exchange Act.

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, 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.

Pursuant to Section 811 of Subtitle B of Title VIII of The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (``EISA''),\1\ the Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'') is issuing a Revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (``RNPRM''). The revised proposed Rule in this RNPRM would prohibit any person, directly or indirectly, in connection with the purchase or sale of crude oil, gasoline, or petroleum distillates at wholesale, from knowingly engaging in any act, practice, or course of businessincluding the making of any untrue statement of material factthat operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, or intentionally failing to state a material fact that under the circumstances renders a statement made by such person misleading, provided that such omission distorts or tends to distort market conditions for any such product. Violations of the revised proposed Rule, if such Rule is adopted, would require proof by a preponderance of the evidence. Anyone violating an FTC rule promulgated under Section 811 of EISA, such as this revised proposed Rule would be if adopted, may face civil penalties of up to $1 million per violation per day, in addition to any relief available to the Commission under the Federal Trade Commission Act (``FTC Act'').\2\ The Commission invites written comments on issues raised by the revised proposed Rule and seeks answers to the specific questions set forth in Section IV.I. of this RNPRM.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation published in the Federal Register of April 15, 2009, a final rule informing the public of the interest rates and assumptions to be used under certain Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regulations. This document corrects an inadvertent error in that final rule.