Department of Agriculture October 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Rural Utilities Services (RUS), a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of up to $5 million in competitive grants to eligible entities to fund a new pilot program. This pilot program, called the Technical Assistance and Training for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions (TAT/RWTS) Grant Pilot Program, was authorized by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, for the study and design of innovative treatment solutions of regional wastewater systems for historically impoverished communities that have had difficulty installing traditional wastewater treatment systems due to soil conditions.

We are amending the regulations governing the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). These amendments establish a U.S. Newcastle Disease Clean program within the NPIP, create an NPIP subpart specific to game birds, revise testing requirements, and clarify existing provisions of the regulations. We are also amending the regulations concerning the payment of indemnity and compensation for low pathogenic avian influenza to reflect current policy and operational practices, and allowing NPIP voting delegates to represent multiple States during the Biennial Conferences. These changes were voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the NPIP's 2018 National Plan Conference.

AMS solicits comments on proposed amendments to the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order (Order). These amendments would require market agencies (e.g. commission merchant, auction market, livestock market) in the business of receiving lambs to collect and remit on behalf of the producer, feeder, or seedstock producer, the ``live-weight'' assessment on ovine animals sold and the ``price-per- head'' assessment owed by the first handler when lambs are sold through these channels. Market agencies would remit the full assessment to the American Lamb Board (Board) when ovine animals are sold. This proposed rule would also make technical amendments to the Order, correcting references to assessment rates that were inadvertently not updated during the previous amendment to the Order.

On July 14, 2020, Rural Development's Rural Business- Cooperative Service, Rural Housing Service, and Rural Utilities Service referred to as ``the Agency'' or ``Agency'' promulgated the OneRD Guaranteed Loan regulation. Following final implementation of this final rule, the Agency found that corrections due to error, omissions, or need for clarity were necessary. This technical correction makes amendments to address these necessary changes.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, a proposal to amend our regulations to remove the domestic pine shoot beetle (PSB) quarantine and to eliminate the restrictions that apply to the importation of PSB host material from Canada. We have determined through analysis that the regulatory program is ineffective in slowing the spread of the pest and reducing damage, which has also been found to be minimal. This action will provide flexibility to the States as they manage PSB. It will also allow Federal resources spent on this program to be allocated elsewhere, and it will remove PSB-related interstate movement and importation restrictions on PSB-regulated articles.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), 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 the currently approved information collection used to compile and generate the Federally Inspected Estimated Daily Slaughter Report. Upon approval of this information collection, AMS will request approval from the OMB to merge this collection, ``Plan for Estimating Daily Livestock Slaughter Under Federal Inspection'' (OMB 0581-0050), with the currently approved information collection titled ``Livestock, Poultry, and Grain Market News'' (OMB 0186-0033). Both collections are directed and authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627), and rely on voluntary cooperation with the livestock industry to collect and disseminate marketing information, utilizing the same information gathering tactics.