Office of the Secretary – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule removes DoD's regulation concerning the Defense Commissary Agency Privacy Act Program. On April 11, 2019, the Department of Defense published a revised DoD-level Privacy Program rule, which implements the Privacy Act and establishes an agency-wide privacy program that serves as the single Privacy Program rule for the Department. That revised Privacy Program rule also includes all DoD component exemption rules. Therefore, this part is now unnecessary and should be removed from the CFR.

The DoD is publishing this notice to announce that the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the National Security Education Board will take place.

Defense Human Resources Activity is publishing this Civilian Personnel Per Diem Bulletin Number 314. Bulletin Number 314 lists current per diem rates prescribed for reimbursement of subsistence expenses while on official Government travel to Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 lodging rate review for Alaska resulted in lodging rate changes in certain locations.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employment and Training Administration (ETA)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.

This final rule removes the DoD's regulation that prohibits members of the armed forces from being members of a ``military labor organization,'' which is an organization that engages or attempts to engage in negotiations or bargaining on behalf of service members concerning the terms or conditions of military service. The rule restates statute or otherwise contains internal DoD processes wholly contained within DoD internal guidance. Therefore, this part can be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requesting comments and suggestions on the most innovative technologies and practices that can be readily deployed across U.S. agriculture to meet USDA's goal of increasing agricultural production by 40 percent to meet the needs of the global population in 2050 while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half. This effort is a part of USDA's Agriculture Innovation Agenda (AIA), USDA's commitment to the continued success of American farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers in the face of current and future challenges. Note: Technologies and practices that have potential to address these AIA goals, but that need substantial development or research before deployment, were captured in the recent USDA request for written stakeholder input published in the Federal Register on April 1, 2020, and open for comment until August 1st, 2020.

This regulatory action removes this part from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), as information contained within this rule is an overview of policy and statute that provides guidance and direction to members of the DoD and not members of the public. Therefore, this rule can be removed from the CFR.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department) announces a public meeting of the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (ACPAC) on September 24, 2020. Three topics will be discussed at that meeting(1) the report of the National In-Flight Sexual Misconduct Task Force (Task Force), an ACPAC subcommittee; (2) transparency of airline ancillary service fees; and (3) involuntary changes to travel itineraries.

The DoD is publishing this notice to announce the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Uniform Formulary Beneficiary Advisory Panel will take place.

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (ASD(HA)) issues this interim final rule (IFR) with comment to temporarily modify the TRICARE regulation by: Waiving the three-day prior hospital qualifying stay requirement for coverage of skilled nursing facility (SNF) care; adding coverage for treatment use of investigational drugs under expanded access authorized by the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); temporarily waiving certain provisions for acute care hospitals that will permit authorization of temporary hospital facilities and freestanding ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) providing inpatient and outpatient hospital services; and, consistent with similar changes under the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), revising diagnosis related group (DRG) reimbursement by temporarily reimbursing DRGs at a 20 percent higher rate for COVID-19 patients and temporarily waiving certain requirements for long term care hospitals (LTCHs). Finally, this IFR will also adopt Medicare's New Technology Add-On Payments (NTAPs) adjustment to DRGs for new medical services and technologies and adopt Medicare's Hospital Value Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employment and Training Administration (ETA)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.

The DoD has submitted to OMB for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Defense University announces a proposed public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The DoD is publishing this notice to announce that it is establishing the charter for the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (``the Committee'').

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of an arms sales notification.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing a final rule for the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended (the 1985 Farm Bill). USDA published an interim rule, with request for comments, on December 7, 2018, to clarify how USDA delineates, determines, and certifies wetlands located on subject land in a manner sufficient for making determinations of ineligibility for certain USDA program benefits. USDA received comments from 65 commenters who provided 354 comments in response to the interim rule. Additionally, one of the 65 comments was submitted by an organization that submitted a spreadsheet of 15,094 substantively identical comments. This rule makes permanent many of the changes made in the interim rule, responds to comments received, and makes further adjustments in response to some of the comments received.

The Department of Defense has submitted to OMB for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The DoD is publishing this notice to announce that the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the U.S. Strategic Command Strategic Advisory Group will take place.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of an arms sales notification.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of an arms sales notification.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of an arms sales notification.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employment and Training Administration (ETA)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.

Findings of research misconduct have been made against Anil K. Jaiswal, Ph.D. (Respondent), former professor, Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland at Baltimore, School of Medicine (UMB). Dr. Jaiswal engaged in research misconduct in research supported by U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) funds, specifically National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants R01 CA062483 and R01 CA081057; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIH, grants R01 ES007943, R01 ES012265, and R01 ES021483; and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), NIH, grant R01 GM047466. The administrative actions, including debarment for a period of three (3) years, were implemented beginning on July 21, 2020, and are detailed below.

This final rule is the first of a sequence of six rules in this issue of the Federal Register, which were published as Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) on November 7, 2016. The six rules collectively establish for DoD grants and cooperative agreements an updated interim implementation of Governmentwide guidance on administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for Federal awards. This final rule removes outdated portions of the DoD Grant and Agreement Regulations (DoDGARs) and replaces it with a new DoDGARs part containing revised implementation of the guidance, and establishes seven subchapters within DoD's chapter of the Grants and Agreements title of the Code of Federal Regulations.