Department of Agriculture 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Butte County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Oroville, California. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with the Title II of the Act. RAC information, including the meeting summary/minutes can be found at the following website: https://cloudapps-usda-gov.secure.force.com/ FSSRS/RAC_Page?id=001t0000002JcwRAAS .

The Fresno and Madera Counties Resource Advisory Committees (RAC) will meet in Clovis, California. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with Title II of the Act. Additional RAC information, including the meeting agenda and the meeting summary/minutes can be found at the following website: https:// www.fs.usda.gov/main/sierra/workingtogether/advisorycommittee s.

The Wenatchee-Okanogan Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Wenatchee, Washington. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with Title II of the Act. RAC information, including the meeting summary/minutes can be found at the following website: https:// www.fs.usda.gov/main/okawen/workingtogether/advisorycommittee s.

This proposed rule would implement a recommendation from the Florida Tomato Committee (Committee) to change the handling regulations under the Marketing Order regulating the handling of tomatoes grown in Florida. This action would remove the standard weight requirements for tomato containers under the handling regulations.

We are reopening the comment period for our notice that made available a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and preliminary pest risk assessment (PRA) regarding the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk associated with the proposed environmental release of genetically engineered Citrus tristeza virus. We have updated the EIS and PRA in light of recently published scientific research regarding the vectoring of Citrus tristeza virus, and are making the updated EIS and PRA available for public review and comment. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments on these revised documents.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) published a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and solicitation of applications in the Federal Register on Friday, December 14, 2018, announcing its general policy and application procedures for funding under the broadband pilot program (ReConnect) established pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 which provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas. Since the publication of the FOA, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 (2019 Appropriations Act) became law on February 15, 2019. The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of changes made to the ReConnect Program, specifically the updated service area eligibility policies, pursuant to the 2019 Appropriations Act, and other program updates.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to remove lists of foreign countries eligible to export meat, poultry, and egg products to the United States from its regulations and, instead, utilize lists posted on FSIS' website. A reference to the web address would be included in FSIS' regulations. This change would allow FSIS to more efficiently provide the public with more accurate and up-to-date information. The criteria FSIS uses to evaluate whether a foreign country is eligible to export meat, poultry, or egg products would remain in the regulations and would not change. FSIS would continue to provide an opportunity for public comment when proposing to list new countries as eligible to export these products to the United States.

We are advising the public that proposed changes to the National Poultry Improvement Plan Program Standards are available for review and comment.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is modifying a notification of referendum order published in the February 21, 2019 issue of the Federal Register. This document amends the dates of the voting period for the referendum. This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible first handlers and importers of mangos to determine whether they favor the inclusion of frozen mangos as a covered commodity under the Mango Promotion, Research and Information Order (Order).

This Notice announces that the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (Agency) is accepting fiscal year (FY) 2019 applications for the Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) program. Enactment of a continuing resolution or an appropriations act may affect the availability or level of funding for the program. The Agency will publish the program funding level on the Rural Development website. The purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance to improve the economic condition of rural areas through cooperative development. Eligible applicants include a non-profit corporation or an institution of higher education.

This proposed rule seeks to amend the regulatory standards by which the U.S. Department of Agriculture evaluates State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) agency requests to waive the time limit and to end the unlimited carryover of able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) percentage exemptions. The proposed rule would encourage broader application of the statutory ABAWD work requirement, consistent with the Administration's focus on fostering self- sufficiency. The original comment period for this proposed rule ended on April 2, 2019. FNS seeks to reopen the comment period on April 8, 2019, for a period of 3 days ending April 10, 2019.

This Notice announces that the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (Agency) is accepting fiscal year (FY) 2019 applications for the Socially-Disadvantaged Groups Grant (SDGG) program. Enactment of a continuing resolution or an appropriations act may affect the availability or level of funding for this program. The Agency will publish the program funding level on the SDGG website located at http:/ /www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/socially-disadvantaged-gro ups-grant. Expenses incurred in developing applications are the responsibility of the applicant. The purpose of this program is to provide technical assistance to Socially-Disadvantaged Groups in rural areas. Eligible applicants include Cooperatives, Groups of Cooperatives, and Cooperative Development Centers. This program supports Rural Development's (RD) mission of improving the quality of life for rural Americans and commitment to directing resources to those who most need them.

This final rule amends Marketing Order No. 956, which regulates the handling of sweet onions grown in the Walla Walla Valley of Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon. The three amendments, which were proposed by the Walla Walla Sweet Onion Marketing Committee (Committee), were approved by producers in a referendum. This action also updates the term of office and staggered term limits for producers and handlers.

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 over a three year period. This collection is a revision of a currently approved three year collection. This notice announces the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's (CNPP) intention to request the Office of Management and Budget's approval of the information collection processes and instruments to be used during consumer research while testing nutrition education messages and products developed for the general public. The purpose of performing consumer research is to identify consumers' understanding of potential nutrition education messages and obtain their reaction to prototypes of nutrition education products, including internet based tools. The information collected will be used to refine messages and improve the usefulness of products as well as aid consumer understanding of Dietary Guidelines-grounded messages and related materials.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS, or the Agency) proposes to make changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations pertaining to the eligibility of certain SNAP retail food stores. These proposed changes are in response to the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2017 and 2018, which prohibited the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing two retailer stocking provisions (the ``Breadth of Stock'' provision and the ``Definition of `Variety' '' provision) of the 2016 final rule titled, ``Enhancing Retailer Standards in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)'', until such a time as regulatory modifications to the definition of ``variety'' are made that would increase the number of food items that count as acceptable staple food varieties for purposes of SNAP retailer eligibility. Using existing authority in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, the Agency proposes to modify the definition of the term ``variety'' as it pertains to the stocking requirements for SNAP authorized retail food stores. These proposed changes would provide retailers with more flexibility in meeting the enhanced stocking requirements of the 2016 final rule which were mandated by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill), and align SNAP regulations with the requirements expressed in the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2017 and 2018. This proposed rule does not modify any other provisions or components of the 2016 final rule, ``Enhancing Retailer Standards in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).''

We are proposing to establish standards to allow us to recognize compartments for animal disease status, consistent with World Organization for Animal Health international standards. Under this proposed rule, when a foreign government submits a request for recognition of a compartment, we would conduct a disease risk assessment based on a list of eight factors that closely parallel those we use when conducting regionalization evaluations, and we would provide for public notice of and comment on the risk assessment. We would also add provisions for imposing import restrictions and/or prohibitions when a compartment we have recognized as disease-free experiences an outbreak and for lifting those sanctions once the outbreak has been controlled. These proposed standards would provide a tool that may be used to preserve international trade when regionalization is not feasible.

On March 11, 2019, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a revision to the Class I skim milk price formula for milk pooled under the Federal milk marketing order (FMMO) as required by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. This document explains the May 1, 2019, effective date and makes two clarifying corrections to the final regulations.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to renew the approved information collection regarding business registration requirements. The approval for this information collection will expire on August 31, 2019. FSIS is making no changes to the approved collection.

This Notice announces that the Rural Housing Service (Agency) is accepting Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 applications for the Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training (TAT) Grant program. The Agency will publish the amount of funding received in the final appropriations act on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/ notices-solicitation-applications-nosas. Awards will be made from available funding on or before September 15, 2019.

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 a currently approved collection. In 2016, an Interim Final Rule titled ``Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Requirement for National Directory of New Hires Employment Verification and Annual Program Activity Reporting,'' was published in the Federal Register. This rule codified section 4013 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, requiring State agencies to access employment data through the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) at the time of certification, including recertification, to determine eligibility status and correct benefit amount for SNAP applicants. The rule also amended regulations to increase the frequency of the requirement for State agency submission of the Program Activity Statement from an annual requirement based on the State fiscal year to a quarterly requirement. The burden hours for the increase in submission frequency for the Program Activity Statement, form FNS-366B, have been merged into the Food Programs Reporting System (FPRS) information collection, OMB# 0584-0594 (expiration 9/30/2019). Therefore, this notice seeks to renew the burden hours associated with the National Directory of New Hires portion of this information collection only and removes burden hours and references for the Program Activity Statement, form FNS-366B.

We are announcing a partial withdrawal of a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on December 16, 2015, that, if finalized, would have consolidated the regulations governing bovine tuberculosis and those governing brucellosis. Specifically, we are withdrawing those portions of the proposed rule that would have affected the provisions governing our domestic brucellosis and tuberculosis programs. We are taking this action after considering the comments we received following the publication of the proposed rule.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an extension of a currently approved information collection, ``National Sheep Industry Improvement Center'' (OMB 0581-0263).

This notice is to invite applications for grants to provide Technical Assistance for Rural Transportation (RT) systems under the Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) to provide Technical Assistance for RT systems and for RT systems to Federally Recognized Native American Tribes' (FRNAT) (collectively ``Programs'') and the terms provided in such funding. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded from funds appropriated for the RBDG program. The Agency will publish the amount of funding on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices-solicitation-applica tions- nosas. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk.