Surface Transportation Board – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) is adopting a final rule to define ``on time'' and specify the formula for calculating ``on-time performance'' for purposes of Section 213 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. The Board will use these regulations only for the purpose of determining whether the ``less than 80 percent'' threshold that Congress set for bringing an on-time performance complaint has been met. In light of comments received on the Board's notice of proposed rulemaking issued on December 28, 2015, the proposed rule has been modified to deem a train's arrival at, or departure from, a given station ``on time'' if it occurs no later than 15 minutes after its scheduled time and to adopt an ``all-stations'' calculation of ``on-time performance.''

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) proposes regulations to implement passenger rail-related dispute resolution provisions of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015.

The Board updates for 2016 the fees that the public must pay to file certain cases and pleadings with the Board. In this update, the following results are obtained: 18 fees increased by $50 or less, 15 fees increased by $100 to $199, 23 fees increased by $200 to $300, 19 fees increased by more than $300, and the remaining 58 fees will be maintained at their current level.

On June 28, 2016, SunTx Capital III Management Corp. (SunTx III), SunTx Capital Partners III GP, LP (SunTx GP), SunTx TBL Logistics Management Holdings, LP (SunTx Holdings), and TBL Logistics Management, LLC (TBL Logistics), along with TBL Group, Inc. (TBL Group) and the motor carriers of passengers it controls, GBJ, Inc. (GBJ) and Echo Tours and Charters L.P. (Echo) (collectively, Applicants) filed an application under 49 U.S.C. 14303 to acquire control of TBL Group, GBJ, and Echo. Concurrently with their application, the parties also filed a request for interim approval under 49 U.S.C. 14303(i). In a decision served on July 28, 2016 in related Docket No. MCF 21070 TA, interim approval was granted, effective on the service date of that decision. The Board is tentatively approving and authorizing the transaction, and if no opposing comments are timely filed, this notice will be the final Board action. Persons wishing to oppose the application must follow the rules at 49 CFR 1182.5 and 1182.8.

On June 21, 2016, Silverado Stages, Inc. (Silverado) filed an application under 49 U.S.C. 14303 seeking approval for its acquisition and control of the stock of Michelangelo Leasing, Inc. (Michelangelo) and Ryan's Express Transportation Services, Inc. (Ryan), a corporation wholly owned and controlled by Michelangelo. In its application, Silverado also requests retroactive approval of its acquisition of control of five subsidiaries and retroactive approval of Michelangelo's acquisition of control of Ryan. The Board is tentatively approving and authorizing the transaction before it, but is not granting retroactive approval of Silverado or Michelangelo's previous acquisitions. If no opposing comments are timely filed, this notice will be the final Board action. Persons wishing to oppose the application must follow the rules at 49 CFR 1182.5 and 1182.8.

On July 11, 2013, the Board issued a notice of proposed size standards for purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, along with a request for public comment. This decision discusses the comment received in response to the proposed size standards and adopts the proposed standard as the final statement of agency policy concerning the definition of ``small business.''

Pursuant to section 11 of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015, the Surface Transportation Board (Board or STB) is instituting a proceeding through this Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to assess procedures that are available to parties in litigation before courts to expedite such litigation, and the potential application of any such procedures to rate cases before the Board. The Board also intends to assess additional ways to move stand-alone cost (SAC) rate cases in particular more expeditiously.

The Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Publication of the Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions represents a key component of the regulatory planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735) and incorporated by reference in the President's Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' issued on January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3821). The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish semiannual regulatory agendas in the Federal Register describing regulatory actions they are developing that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). In the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) agencies report regulatory actions upcoming in the next year. Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735), and Office of Management and Budget memoranda implementing section 4 of that Order establish minimum standards for agencies' agendas, including specific types of information for each entry. The Unified Agenda helps agencies fulfill these requirements. All Federal regulatory agencies have chosen to publish their regulatory agendas as part of the Unified Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda for spring 2016, which contains the regulatory agendas for 57 Federal agencies, is available to the public at https://reginfo.gov. The spring 2016 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal Register consists of agency regulatory flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.