Agencies and Commissions December 28, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing its final Revision 1 to NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition,'' Section 13.5.1.1, Revision 1 on ``Administrative ProceduresGeneral'' (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML112730402). The NRC staff issues revisions to SRP sections to facilitate timely implementation of the current staff guidance and to facilitate reviews to amendments to licenses for operating reactors or for activities associated with review of applications for early site permits and combined licenses for the Office of New Reactors. The NRC staff will also incorporate Revision 1 of SRP Section 13.5.1.1 into the next revisions of the Regulatory Guide 1.206, ``Combined License Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (LWR Edition),'' and related guidance documents. Disposition: On February 9, 2011, the NRC staff issued the proposed Revision 1 on SRP Section 13.5.1.1 on ``Administrative Procedures General,'' ADAMS Accession No. ML110100193. There were no comments received on the proposed revision. Therefore, the guidance is issued as final without changes to the proposed notification as above.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 established the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and gave the Comptroller General responsibility for appointing its members. For appointments to MedPAC that will be effective May 1, 2012, I am announcing the following: Letters of nomination should be submitted between January 1 and March 8, 2011, to ensure adequate opportunity for review and consideration of nominees prior to the appointment of new members.

This is an amendment of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of New Mexico (FEMA-4047-DR), dated 11/23/2011. Incident: Flooding. Incident Period: 08/19/2011 through 08/24/2011.

We are adopting amendments to our rules to implement Section 1503 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 1503(a) of the Act requires issuers that are operators, or that have a subsidiary that is an operator, of a coal or other mine to disclose in their periodic reports filed with the Commission information regarding specified health and safety violations, orders and citations, related assessments and legal actions, and mining- related fatalities. Section 1503(b) of the Act mandates the filing of a Form 8-K disclosing the receipt of certain orders and notices from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

NCUA proposes to eliminate the Regulatory Flexibility Program (RegFlex) to provide regulatory relief to Federal credit unions. NCUA also proposes to remove or amend related rules to ease compliance burden while retaining certain safety and soundness standards. Those rules pertain to eligible obligations, charitable contributions, nonmember deposits, fixed assets, investments, and member business loans.

In a rule published November 29, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) comprehensively reformed and modernized the universal service and intercarrier compensation systems to ensure that robust, affordable voice and broadband service, both fixed and mobile, are available to Americans throughout the nation. The Commission adopted fiscally responsible, accountable, incentive-based policies to transition these outdated systems to the Connect America Fund, ensuring fairness for consumers and addressing the communications infrastructure challenges of today and tomorrow. The Commission uses measured but firm glide paths to provide industry with certainty and sufficient time to adapt to a changed regulatory landscape, and establish a framework to distribute universal service funding in the most efficient and technologically neutral manner possible, through market-based mechanisms such as competitive bidding. This document provides additional information to the final rule document published on November 29, 2011.