Agencies and Commissions March 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The interim rule aligned the FAR with the revised Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board standards ``Cost Accounting Standard for composition and measurement of pension cost,'' and ``Accounting for the cost of deferred compensation.''

DoD, GSA, and NASA have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to incorporate increased thresholds for application of the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and the Free Trade Agreements, as determined by the United States Trade Representative.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 1347 of the ``Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.'' Section 1347 clarifies the contracting officer's ability to use discretion when determining whether an acquisition will be restricted to small businesses participating in the 8(a), HUBZone, or service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) programs. There is no order of priority among small businesses in the 8(a) Business Development Program, the HUBZone Program, or the SDVOSB Program.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 811 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This FAR change encourages agencies to maximize the effective use of competition by making certain that the proper Justification and Approval (J&A) is obtained prior to award of 8(a) sole-source contracts over $20 million, as required by section 811.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 864 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. This law aligns with the Presidential Memorandum on Government Contracting, issued on March 4, 2009, which directed agencies to save $40 billion in contracting annually by Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 and to reduce the use of high-risk contracts. This rule provides regulatory guidance on the proper use and management of other than firm-fixed-price contracts (e.g., cost-reimbursement, time-and-material, and labor-hour).

In accordance with Section 763 of Title VII (``Title VII'') of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (``Dodd-Frank Act''), Section 805 of Title VIII (``Title VIII'') of the Dodd-Frank Act, and Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''), the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'' or ``Commission'') is proposing rules regarding registration of clearing agencies and standards for the operation and governance of clearing agencies. The proposed rules are designed to enhance the regulatory framework for the supervision of clearing agencies.

This final rule amends Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation for valuation dates in April 2011 and interest assumptions under the asset allocation regulation for valuation dates in the second quarter of 2011. Interest assumptions are also published on PBGC's Web site (https:// www.pbgc.gov).

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or ``Commission'') announces the fourth meeting of the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) on phthalates and phthalate substitutes. The Commission appointed this CHAP to study the effects on children's health of all phthalates and phthalate alternatives as used in children's toys and child care articles, pursuant to section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) (Pub. L. 110- 314).

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by KSQA, LLC, permittee of station KSQA(TV), channel 12, Topeka, Kansas, requesting the substitution of channel 22 for channel 12 at Topeka.

The FTC announces that it will hold a public workshop on April 28, 2011, to address consumer protection issues that have arisen as debt collectors avail themselves of advances in technology. The workshop will explore developments in technology that debt collectors use to gather, store, and manage information about consumers; to comply with the law; to communicate with consumers; and to receive payment. The workshop will provide an opportunity for government regulators, industry members, technologists, consumer advocates, and researchers, to discuss the costs and benefits of these technologies for debt collectors and consumers. It will also address whether and how collectors may use such technologies consistent with applicable laws, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Section 5 of the FTC Act, what consumer protection concerns arise from use of these technologies, and what actions, if any, the Commission and other policymakers should take to respond to those concerns. This notice poses a series of questions on which the Commission seeks comment. The event is open to the public, and there is no fee for attendance. For admittance to the workshop, all attendees will be required to show a valid form of government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license. Additional information about the workshop will be posted on the FTC's Web site at: https:// www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/debtcollectiontech/index.shtml. Date and Location: The workshop will be held on April 28, 2011, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Federal Trade Commission's Satellite Building Conference Center, located at 601 New Jersey Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. Workshop Agenda: Additional information, including an agenda and panelist biographies, will be posted on the FTC's Web site at https:// www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/debtcollectiontech/index.shtml. Public Comments: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments electronically or in paper form, by following the instructions in the Instructions For Filing Comments part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Comments filed in electronic form should be submitted by using the following Web link: https:// ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/debtcollecttechworkshop, and following the instructions on the Web-based form. Comments in paper form should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex F), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, in the manner detailed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. To be considered in preparation for the workshop, comments must be received by Thursday, April 7, 2011. However, comments will be accepted through Friday, May 27, 2011. Requests to Participate as Workshop Panelists: FTC staff will identify and invite individuals with relevant expertise to participate as panelists. In addition, the FTC staff may invite other persons to participate as panelists who submit requests in response to this Federal Register notice. Requests to participate as panelists in the workshop must be received on or before 5 p.m. EST, Tuesday, March 22, 2011. Persons filing requests to participate as panelists will be notified whether they have been selected on or before Wednesday, March 31, 2011. For further instructions, please see the ``Requests to Participate as Workshop Panelists'' section under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below.

This is an amendment of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) declaration for the State of Arizona, dated 02/07/2011. Incident: Rainfall, Flooding and Flash Flooding. Incident Period: 10/03/2010 through 10/06/2010. Effective Date: 03/09/2011. EIDL Loan Application Deadline Date: 11/07/2011.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has granted a request from Rangers Baseball Express, LLC, for an exemption from the bond/ escrow requirement of section 4204(a)(1)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, with respect to the Major League Baseball Players Pension Plan. A notice of the request for exemption from the requirement was published on December 28, 2010. The effect of this notice is to advise the public of the decision on the exemption request.

The Postal Service is proposing to adopt revised rules for proceedings relative to false representation and lottery orders. The primary purpose of this exercise is to update and align the rules with current practices.

On January 15, 2010, the Board and the Commission published final rules to implement the risk-based pricing provisions in section 311 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The final rules generally require a creditor to provide a risk-based pricing notice to a consumer when the creditor uses a consumer report to grant or extend credit to the consumer on material terms that are materially less favorable than the most favorable terms available to a substantial proportion of consumers from or through that creditor. The Board and the Commission propose to amend their respective risk-based pricing rules to require disclosure of credit scores and information relating to credit scores in risk-based pricing notices if a credit score of the consumer is used in setting the material terms of credit. These proposed amendments reflect the new requirements in section 615(h) of the FCRA that were added by section 1100F of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

This is an amendment of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of New York (FEMA1957DR), dated 02/18/2011. Incident: Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm. Incident Period: 12/26/2010 through 12/27/2010. Effective Date: 03/07/2011. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 04/19/2011. Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan Application Deadline Date: 11/16/2011.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined to reverse the initial determination on remand (``RID'') of the presiding administrative law judge (``ALJ'') and has terminated the investigation with a finding of no violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 because the asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,372,392 (``the `392 patent'') are invalid for obviousness.

As part of its implementation of Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' the Small Business Administration (SBA) is seeking comments and information from interested parties to assist the agency in reviewing its existing regulations to determine whether they should be streamlined, expanded, or withdrawn. The primary objectives of this review are to make SBA's regulatory program more cost effective and less burdensome on participants in the Agency's programs while continuing to promote economic growth, innovation, and job creation. SBA seeks public input on the design of a plan to use for periodic retrospective review of its regulations and an initial list of the rules to be reviewed under the plan.

Jurisdictional separations is the process by which incumbent local exchange carriers (incumbent LECs) apportion regulated costs between the intrastate and interstate jurisdictions. In this document, the Commission seeks comment on extending the current freeze of part 36 category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors used in jurisdictional separations. Extending the freeze would allow the Commission to provide stability for, and avoid imposing undue burdens on, carriers that must comply with the Commission's separations rules while the Commission considers issues relating to comprehensive reform of the jurisdictional separations process.