Department of Agriculture June 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (the Secretary) announces the establishment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 (October 1, 2018-September 30, 2019) in-quota aggregate quantity of raw cane sugar at 1,117,195 metric tons raw value (MTRV), and the establishment of the FY 2019 in-quota aggregate quantity of certain sugars, syrups, and molasses (also referred to as refined sugar) at 192,000 MTRV.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking comments from the public regarding the United States (U.S.) Standards for Canola under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA). To ensure that standards and official grading practices remain relevant, AMS invites interested parties to comment on whether the current canola standards and grading practices need to be changed.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the Foreign Agricultural Service to request a revision of a currently approved information collection for the Agriculture Wool Apparel Manufacturers Trust Fund.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new collection for the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study-II (SNMCS-II). The purpose of SNMCS-II is to provide a comprehensive picture of school food service operations and the nutritional quality, cost, and acceptability of meals served in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).

The Rural Housing Service (RHS) announces the timeframe to submit pre-applications for Section 514 Farm Labor Housing (FLH) loans and Section 516 FLH grants for the construction of new off-farm FLH units and related facilities for domestic farm laborers and for the purchase and substantial rehabilitation of non-FLH property. The intended purpose of the loans and grants are to increase the number of available housing units for domestic farm laborers. This Notice describes the method used to distribute funds, the application process, and submission requirements. The Agency will publish the amount of funding received from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-141, March 23, 2018) on its website at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices- solicitation-applications-nosas. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk. Pursuant to section 759 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-141, March 23, 2018), the Agency will set aside 10 percent of the FLH funds for project proposals in persistent poverty counties. The Agency will also assign additional points to pre- applications for projects based in or serving census tracts with poverty rates equal to or greater than 20 percent over the last 30 years. This emphasis will support Rural Development's mission of improving the quality of life for rural Americans and commitment to directing resources to those who most need them.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing a meeting of the Plant Variety Protection Board (Board). The meeting is being held to discuss a variety of topics including, but not limited to, work and outreach plans, subcommittee activities, and program activities. The meeting is open to the public. This notice sets forth the schedule and location for the meeting.

We are proposing to amend the Phytophthora ramorum regulations to remove regulated areas for P. ramorum from the regulations, as well as all regulatory requirements specific to such areas. We are proposing to amend the regulations by revising the inspection and sampling requirements for certain nurseries that are in areas quarantined for P. ramorum and that ship regulated nursery stock interstate. We are proposing to change the nature of the inspection and sampling requirements to have them take into consideration additional potential sources of P. ramorum inoculum at the nurseries. Finally, we are proposing to establish conditions under which we would regulate nurseries located outside of the quarantined areas for P. ramorum, if sources of P. ramorum inoculum are detected at those nurseries and the nurseries ship certain articles interstate. These changes would provide regulatory relief to nurseries in areas that are regulated for P. ramorum, while also ensuring that nurseries that may pose a risk of disseminating P. ramorum through the interstate movement of regulated nursery stock are subject to measures that address this risk.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS), an Agency within Rural Development, announces that it is soliciting competitive applications under its Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) program. This action is taken to comply with Agency regulations which requires the Agency to announce the opening and closing dates for receipt of pre-applications for HPG funds from eligible applicants. The Agency has published the amount of funding received in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Pub. L. 115-141, March 23, 2018) on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices- solicitation-applications-nosas. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk.

This rule implements a recommendation from the California Olive Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate established for the 2018 fiscal period for olives grown in California. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

This supplemental notice solicits public comments on a greater sage-grouse land management proposed action that could warrant land management plan amendments. Land management plans for National Forests and Grasslands in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming were amended in September 2015 to incorporate conservation measures to support the continued existence of the greater sage-grouse. Since the plans were amended in 2015, scoping on specific issues was requested in a Notice of Intent (NOI) published in the Federal Register on November 21, 2017 (82 FR 55346). This supplemental NOI continues the scoping effort by seeking comments about a proposed action to make further amendments to the plans. This supplemental NOI also identifies the planning rule provisions likely to be directly related, and so applicable, to proposed plan amendments.

James Melonas, the Forest Supervisor for the Santa Fe National Forest, Southwest Region, signed the final Record of Decision (ROD) for the amendment to the Santa Fe National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan Amendment). The final ROD documents the rationale for approving the Forest Plan Amendment and is consistent with the Reviewing Officer's response to objections and instructions.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announces its Revolving Fund Program (RFP) application window and funds availability for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The Agency will make available $1,000,000 in grant funds to qualified private, non-profit organizations to establish a lending program for eligible entities. The Agency encourages applications that will support recommendations made in the Rural Prosperity Task Force report to help improve life in rural America. www.usda.gov/ruralprosperity. Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Key strategies include:

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) proposes to amend the current regulation for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP) on the subject of Single Close Combination Construction to Permanent Loans. The Agency proposes to amend the regulation to provide increased flexibility in loan terms that affect the costs of interim construction financing and the viability of combination construction to permanent loans on the secondary market in a manner which will enable more lenders to make these combination construction to permanent loans to SFHGLP borrowers. Specifically, the Agency proposes to: Allow and define a maximum interest rate for interim construction financing that is different than the underlying rate; allow for the escrow or reserve of regularly scheduled principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI) payments; and remove the requirement for loan modification or re-amortization once construction is complete.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, a number of federal departments and agencies revised to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (often referred to as the ``Common Rule''), which each department and agency adopted into regulations in its part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same changes in a final rule published on September 18, 2017. The revised Common Rule was scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of the same date. By an interim final rule issued on January 17, 2018 and published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2018, federal departments and agencies delayed the effective date and the general compliance date for the revised Common Rule for a 6-month period, until July 19, 2018. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an interim final rule adopting the same regulatory changes on January 26, 2018. The revised Common Rule, including technical amendments made by the January 22, 2018 interim final rule, is referred to here as the ``2018 Requirements.'' On April 20, 2018, the federal departments and agencies listed here published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing and seeking comments as to whether the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements should be delayed for an additional 6-month period. The NPRM also proposed and sought comments on whether to allow regulated entities to implement certain burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements in specified circumstances during such continued delay period. Through this final rule, we are adopting the proposals described in the April 20, 2018 NPRM. This rule delays the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for an additional 6-month period, until January 21, 2019. As a result of this delay, regulated entities will be required, with an exception, to continue to comply with the requirements of the pre-2018 version of the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the ``pre-2018 Requirements'') until January 21, 2019. The one exception to this general rule is that institutions will be permitted (but not required) to implement, for certain research, three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements during the delay period (July 19, 2018, through January 20, 2019). Those three provisions are: The revised definition of ``research,'' which deems certain activities not to be research covered by the Common Rule; the elimination of the requirement for annual continuing review with respect to certain categories of research; and the elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards (IRBs) review grant applications or other funding proposals related to the research. Institutions taking advantage of the three-burden reducing provisions must comply with all other pre-2018 Requirements during the delay period. The three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements can only be implemented during the delay period with respect to studies initiated prior to January 21, 2019 that will transition to compliance with the revised Common Rule. Any study that implements these three burden-reducing provisions during the delay period must, beginning on January 21, 2019, comply with all of the 2018 Requirements for the balance of the study's duration.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implementing regulations, this notice announces the Economic Research Service's (ERS) intention to request renewal of approval for an annual information collection on supplemental food security questions in the Current Population Survey (CPS), commencing with the December 2019 survey. These data will be used: to monitor household-level food security and food insecurity in the United States; to assess food security and changes in food security for population subgroups; to assess the need for, and performance of, domestic food assistance programs; to improve the measurement of food security; and to provide information to aid in public policy decision making.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the extension with minor revision of a currently approved information collection, Grazing Permit Administration Forms.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation into the continental United States of fresh avocado fruit from continental Ecuador. As a condition of entry, fresh avocado fruit from continental Ecuador would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include production site registration, field sanitation, packinghouse procedures designed to exclude the quarantine pests, and procedures for packing, storing, and shipping the avocado fruit. The fruit would also have to be imported in commercial consignments, with each consignment identified throughout its movement from place of production to port of entry in the continental United States. The systems approach for all fresh avocado fruit from continental Ecuador, except Hass avocados, would also have to include production site pest control measures. Consignments would have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador certifying that the fruit was produced in accordance with the systems approach. This proposed rule would allow for the importation of fresh avocados from continental Ecuador into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

This rule changes the assessment rate computation under the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) regulations regarding a national research and promotion program (program) for U.S. peanuts. This rule changes the basis for assessment under the regulations from value to volume (per ton). Two rates of assessment are established instead of using the formula currently specified in the regulations. This rule also updates the definition for ``fiscal year'' specified in the regulations to reflect current practices.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of the currently approved collection for the Child Nutrition Program Operations Study-II (CN-OPS II) [OMB Control Number 0584-0607]. The purpose of the revision is to update the survey instruments for school year (SY) 2018-19 to include topics of current interest and collect timely data to inform Child Nutrition Programs (CNP) operations.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the inspection, certification and standards requirements for fresh fruits, vegetables and other products and processed fruits and vegetables, processed products and certain other processed food products by adding an option to allow for electronic submissions of inspection applications. The interim rule also eliminated outdated terminology that referenced submission of inspection applications by telegraph.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as amended), the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) invites comments on this information collection for which RUS intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing revisions to its current regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The revisions in this notice are modeled, in part, after the template published by the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy and will streamline USDA's FOIA processing procedures, include current cost figures to be used in calculating fees but, most importantly, incorporate changes brought about by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and the OPEN Government Act of 2007.