Agencies and Commissions February 20, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NARA published a document in the Federal Register on February 12, 2019, notifying the public that we have submitted to OMB a request to renew the information collections 3095-0037 (forms relating to civilian service records) and 3095-0060 (volunteer service application), and soliciting comments on them. The document contained incorrect numbers of respondents and annual hours for 3095-0037.

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) hereby announces that the charter of the Disability Advisory Committee (hereinafter Committee) has been renewed pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collections. Comments are requested concerning: 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; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 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; and ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

In this Declaratory Ruling, the Commission finds that two forms of wireless messagingShort Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)are information services, not telecommunications services under the Communications Act (the Act), and that they are not commercial mobile services nor their functional equivalent. In so doing, the Commission denies petitions filed by Twilio and Public Knowledge asking that the Commission subject text messaging services to common carrier regulation under Title II of the Act. This document concludes that classifying SMS and MMS wireless messaging services as information services will enable wireless providers to continue their efforts to protect American consumers from unwanted text messages and is therefore in the public interest.

The SBA is issuing this notice to announce the location, date, time and agenda for the next meeting of the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development (Task Force). The meeting is open to the public.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the ``Commission'') is publishing this notice pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the ``2015 Act''). This Act requires all agencies to annually adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties that can be imposed under the statutes administered by the agency and publish the adjusted amounts in the Federal Register. This notice sets forth the annual inflation adjustment of the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties (``CMPs'') administered by the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Exchange Act''), the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and certain penalties under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These amounts are effective beginning on January 15, 2019, and will apply to all penalties imposed after that date for violations of the aforementioned statutes that occurred after November 2, 2015.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) are amending their regulations regarding loans in areas having special flood hazards to implement the private flood insurance provisions of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act). Specifically, the final rule requires regulated lending institutions to accept policies that meet the statutory definition of ``private flood insurance'' in the Biggert-Waters Act; and permits regulated lending institutions to exercise their discretion to accept flood insurance policies issued by private insurers and plans providing flood coverage issued by mutual aid societies that do not meet the statutory definition of ``private flood insurance,'' subject to certain restrictions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing this final rule to adopt as its own portions of the regulations of the Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board) pertaining to the capital requirements for the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks). The final rule carries over most of the existing Finance Board regulations without material change, but substantively revises the credit risk component of the risk-based capital requirement, as well as the limitations on extensions of unsecured credit. The principal revisions to those provisions remove requirements that the Banks calculate credit risk capital charges and unsecured credit limits based on ratings issued by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO), and instead require that the Banks use their own internal rating methodology. The final rule also revises the percentages used in the tables to calculate the credit risk capital charges for advances and non-mortgage assets. FHFA retains the percentages used in the existing table to calculate the capital charges for mortgage-related assets, but revises the approach to identify the appropriate percentage within the table. FHFA also has revised the table numbers in the final rule to align with the Federal Register's new formatting standards, which were revised after publication of the proposed rule.