Agencies and Commissions December 1, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This is an amendment of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Puerto Rico (FEMA-4017-DR), dated 08/ 27/2011. Incident: Hurricane Irene. Incident Period: 08/21/2011 through 08/24/2011. Effective Date: 11/18/2011. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 12/02/2011. EIDL Loan Application Deadline Date: 05/28/2012.

SBA is reopening the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2011 at 76 FR 61626. In that rule SBA proposed to amend its regulations to implement provisions of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Jobs Act) pertaining to small business subcontracting. SBA proposed to amend its program regulations to provide for a ``covered contract'' (a contract for which a small business subcontracting plan is required, currently valued above $1.5 million for construction and $650,000 for all other contracts), a prime contractor must notify the contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor does not utilize a subcontractor used in preparing its bid or proposal during contract performance. SBA also proposed to amend its regulations to require a prime contractor to notify a contracting officer in writing whenever the prime contractor reduces payments to a subcontractor or when payments to a subcontractor are 90 days or more past due. In addition, SBA proposed to clarify that the contracting officer is responsible for monitoring and evaluating small business subcontracting plan performance. SBA also proposed to clarify which subcontracts must be included in subcontracting data reporting, which subcontracts should be excluded, and the way subcontracting data is reported. SBA also proposed to make other changes to update its subcontracting regulations, including changing subcontracting plan thresholds and referencing the electronic subcontracting reporting system (eSRS). Some of the SBA's proposed changes would require the contracting officer to review subcontracting plan reports within 60 days of the report ending date. Finally, SBA also proposed to address how subcontracting plan requirements and credit towards subcontracting goals can be implemented in connection with Multi-agency, Federal Supply Schedule, Multiple Award Schedule and Government-wide Acquisition indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, (IDIQ) contracts. SBA is reopening the comment period in response to the significant level of interest generated by the proposed rule among small businesses. Given the scope of the proposed rule and the nature of the issues raised by the comments received to date, SBA believes that affected businesses need more time to review the proposal and prepare their comments.

On November 8, 2011 (76 FR 69292) the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published in the Federal Register a request for public comment on Draft License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR- ISG-2011-01, ``Aging Management of Stainless Steel Structures and Components in Treated Borated Water.'' This LR-ISG revises the guidance in the Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (SRP-LR) and Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report for the aging management of stainless steel structures and components exposed to treated borated water. In response to a request from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the NRC is extending the public comment period until December 17, 2011.

The Postal Service will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) 201.3.14, to provide new standards for folded self-mailers (FSM) and unenveloped mailpieces that are mailed at automation or machinable prices. To avoid confusion with revised standards for FSM mailpieces having loose enclosures, the Postal Service renames mailpieces that are designed to carry discs, and expands the standards that apply to tabs to include folded self-mailers.

This rule amends Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2012. This table is needed in order to compute the value of early retirement benefits and, thus, the total value of benefits under a plan.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (``COLA'') of 3.5% in the royalty rates paid by satellite carriers under the satellite carrier compulsory license of the Copyright Act. The COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from October 2010 to October 2011.

The Commission hereby gives notice that it has instituted reviews pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675(c)) (the Act) to determine whether revocation of the antidumping duty orders on stainless steel bar from Brazil, India, Japan, and Spain would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury. Pursuant to section 751(c)(2) of the Act, interested parties are requested to respond to this notice by submitting the information specified below to the Commission; \1\ to be assured of consideration, the deadline for responses is January 3, 2012. Comments on the adequacy of responses may be filed with the Commission by February 10, 2012. For further information concerning the conduct of these reviews and rules of general application, consult the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, part 201, subparts A through E (19 CFR part 201), and part 207, subparts A, D, E, and F (19 CFR part 207), as most recently amended at 76 FR 61937 (October 6, 2011).

In this document, Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding continuing efforts to increase flexibility in the use of microwave services licensed under our rules.

In this document, a Petition for Reconsideration (Petition) has been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking proceeding concerning a rule that requires facilities-based providers of commercial mobile data services to offer data roaming arrangements to other such providers on commercially reasonable terms and conditions, subject to certain limitations, thereby advancing the Commission's goal of ensuring that all Americans have access to competitive broadband mobile data services.

The Federal Maritime Commission is correcting information contained in a table in a rule published in the Federal Register of Friday, July 31, 2009 (74 FR 38114). The rule adjusts for inflation the maximum amount of each statutory civil penalty subject to Federal Maritime Commission jurisdiction, in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.