Department of Health and Human Services October 2, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) commitment to supporting working families and promoting the healthy development and well-being of children, ACF is seeking input from the public and interested stakeholders on strategies to improve access to high quality, affordable child care in the U.S. Child care is one of the biggest expenses a family faces and can be a barrier to work. The average cost of center-based infant child care in 28 states is more than college tuition. At the same time, child care settings are a place of learning and education for children from the time they are infants and toddlers through their school-age years. Access to high quality learning opportunities lays the foundation for children's development and, ultimately, their success in school and in life. Unfortunately, many families do not have access to the affordable, high quality child care their children need. This Request for Information seeks public comment on: Identifying emerging and innovative practices to improve access to high quality child care, as well as identifying regulatory and other policies that unnecessarily drive up the cost of care or limit parents' choice of different child care options; and identifying ways to improve funding of child care and other related early education programs to support quality and create a more streamlined, equitable, and sustainable financing framework for future generations. Information collected through this request may be used by ACF in the development of future rulemaking and technical assistance, formation of legislative proposals and research agendas, and/or strategic planning.

The Administration of Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) is requesting a three-year extension with minor changes of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Annual Report (OMB No.: 0970-0492, expiration 1/31/2020). This request will support the currently utilized CSBG Annual Report, comprised of Modules 1-4, and incorporates performance management.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a final guidance entitled ``Bacterial Risk Control Strategies for Blood Collection Establishments and Transfusion Services to Enhance the Safety and Availability of Platelets for Transfusion; Guidance for Industry.'' The guidance document provides blood collection establishments and transfusion services with recommendations to control the risk of bacterial contamination of room temperature stored platelets intended for transfusion. The recommendations in the guidance apply to all platelet products stored at room temperature in plasma or additive solutions, including platelets manufactured by automated methods (apheresis platelets), and Whole Blood derived (WBD) single and pooled (pre-storage and post-storage) platelets. Additionally, the guidance provides licensed blood establishments with recommendations on how to report implementation of manufacturing and labeling changes. The guidance announced in this notice finalizes the draft guidance of the same title dated December 2018.