Compliance Regulations and Guidance Affecting your Industry

Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, This Act may be cited as the ‘Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010’. This Act states any person or State agency that delivers or sells electric energy at retail, including non-regulated utilities and utilities are subject to State regulation and Federal power marketing administrations. Also, it states any person or State agency that transports, distributes, or sells natural gas at retail, including non-regulated utilities and utilities are subject to State regulation.

Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’’. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a federal statute in the United States and was signed by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. The aim of the legislation is to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end "too big to fail", to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes.

This proposed rule would revise the Medicare conditions of participation for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) to ensure the visitation rights of all patients. Medicare- and Medicaid-participating hospitals and CAHs would be required to have written policies and procedures regarding the visitation rights of patients, including those setting forth any clinically necessary or reasonable restriction or limitation that the hospital or CAH may need to place on such rights as well as the reasons for the clinical restriction or limitation.

DATES: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on August 27, 2010.
 

Section 904(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA or the Act) (21 U.S.C. 387d(e)), as amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) (Public Law 111-31) requires FDA to establish a list of harmful and potentially harmful constituents, including smoke constituents, to health in each tobacco product by brand and by quantity in each brand and subbrand (the HPHC list). This guidance document discusses the meaning of “harmful and potentially harmful constituent” in the context of implementing the HPHC list requirement.

This guidance provides information in response to questions related to the use of “light,” “mild,” “low,” or similar descriptors in the label, labeling, or advertising of tobacco products, as provided in section 911(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act), as amended by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Public Law 111-31).

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a voluntary program for prescription drug coverage under the Medicare Program, to modernize the Medicare Program, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction to individuals for amounts contributed to health savings security accounts and health savings accounts, to provide for the disposition of unused health benefits in cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements, and for other purposes.

This document is the CMS Legislative Summary for the H.R. 1, The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, P.L. 108-173, enacted December 8, 2003.

Passed by the United States Congress in 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a United States law regulating the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. The Act does not part chemicals into categories of "toxic" and "non-toxic". Rather it prohibits the manufacture or importation of chemicals that are not on the TSCA Inventory.

Under 19 U.S.C. §1484, the importer is responsible for using reasonable care to enter, classify and value imported merchandise, and provide any other information necessary to enable Customs to properly assess duties, collect accurate statistics and determine whether any other applicable legal requirements, if any, have been met. 
 

Based on the Commission’s experience to date and a two-year study, released April 15, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes in this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to lift the price cap for all transmission customers reassigning transmission capacity beyond October 1, 2010. The reforms proposed in this order are intended to facilitate the development of a market for capacity reassignments as a competitive alternative to primary capacity.

DATES: Comments are due.

 

In recent years, the environment surrounding Japan's financial and capital markets has been changing drastically. In order to respond to these changing situations, the bills to develop the legislative framework for financial instruments and exchange were approved in the ordinary Diet session in June 2006.

The mission of certified public accountants, as professionals on auditing and accounting, shall be to ensure matters such as the fair business activities of such entities as companies and the protection of investors and creditors by securing the reliability of financial documents and any other information concerning finance from an independent standpoint, thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy.

This Act shall provide for accruals and assignments, etc. of Electronically Recorded Monetary Claims, as well as the necessary matters regarding the business and supervision, etc. of Electronic Monetary Claim Recording Institutions that conduct the electronic recording pertaining to said Monetary Claims.

The purpose of this Act is, inter alia, by developing systems for disclosure of corporate affairs and other related matters, providing for necessary matters relating to persons who engage in Financial Instruments Business and securing appropriate operation of Financial Instruments Exchanges, to ensure fairness in, inter alia, issuance of the Securities and transactions of Financial Instruments, etc. and to facilitate the smooth distribution of Securities, as well as to aim at fair price formation of Financial Instruments, etc. through the full utilization of functions of the capital market, thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy and protection of investors.

The purpose of this Act is, in view of the public nature of the business of banks and for the purpose of maintaining its credibility, securing the protection of Depositors, etc. and facilitating smooth functioning of financial services, to ensure sound and appropriate operations of the business of banks, thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy.

EPA is proposing to approve the requests of Ohio and Indiana to redesignate the Ohio and Indiana portions of the Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN 8-hour ozone nonattainment area, ‘‘the Cincinnati-Hamilton area,’’ to attainment for that standard, because these requests meet the statutory requirements for redesignation under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) submitted these requests on December 14, 2009, and January 21, 2010, respectively. (EPA will address the Kentucky portion of the Cincinnati- Hamilton area in a separate rulemaking action.)

These proposed approvals involve several related actions. EPA is proposing to determine that the Cincinnati-Hamilton area has attained the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The Cincinnati-Hamilton area includes Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Warren Counties in Ohio, Lawrenceburg Township in Dearborn County, Indiana, and Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties in Kentucky. This determination is based on three years of complete, quality-assured ambient air quality monitoring data for the 2007– 2009 ozone seasons that demonstrate that the 8-hour ozone NAAQS has been attained in the area. EPA is also proposing to approve, as revisions to the Ohio and Indiana State Implementation Plans (SIPs), the States’ plans for maintaining the 8-hour ozone NAAQS through 2020 in the area. EPA is proposing to approve the 2002 base year emissions inventory submitted by IDEM on June 13, 2007, as meeting the base year emissions inventory requirement of the CAA for the Indiana portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton area.

EPA is proposing to approve the 2005 base year emissions inventory submitted by Ohio EPA as part of its redesignation request as meeting the base year emissions inventory requirements of the CAA for the Ohio portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton area. Finally, EPA finds adequate and is proposing to approve the States’ 2015 and 2020 Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets (MVEBs) for the Ohio and Indiana portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton area.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 29, 2010.

 

EPA is issuing a direct final rule to amend the diesel sulfur regulations to allow refiners, importers, distributors, and retailers of highway diesel fuel the option to use an alternative affirmative defense if the Agency finds highway diesel fuel samples above the specified sulfur standard at retail facilities. This alternative defense consists of a comprehensive program of quality assurance sampling and testing that would cover all participating companies that produce and/or distribute highway diesel fuel if certain other conditions are met. The sampling and testing program would be carried out by an independent surveyor. The program would be conducted pursuant to a survey plan approved by EPA that is designed to achieve the same objectives as the current regulatory quality assurance requirement. This rule also amends the gasoline benzene regulations to allow disqualified small refiners the same opportunity to generate gasoline benzene credits as that afforded to nonsmall refiners.

DATES: This rule is effective on July 12, 2010 without further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by June 10, 2010.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II is publishing a direct final Notice of Deletion of the Asbestos Dump Superfund Site (Site), located in Long Hill Township and Harding Township, New Jersey, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct final deletion is being published by EPA with the concurrence of the State of New Jersey, through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), because EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation, maintenance, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

DATES: This direct final deletion is effective July 12, 2010 unless EPA receives adverse comments by June 10, 2010.

 

EPA is approving revisions to the Ohio SIP; the State has submitted revisions to rules Chapter 3745–15, ‘‘General Provisions,’’ of the OAC. These rules include OAC rule 3745–15–01 and OAC rule 3745–15–05. This rule is a direct final rule.

FAA and DOT propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

The heating capability of several [angle of attack] AOA transducer heating elements removed from in-service aircraft has been found to be below the minimum requirement. Also, it was discovered that a large number of AOA transducers repaired in an approved maintenance facility FAA and DOT are not calibrated accurately.

Inaccurate calibration of the AOA transducer and/or degraded AOA transducer heating elements can result in early or late activation of the stall warning, stick shaker and stick pusher by the Stall Protection Computer (SPC).

Inaccurate calibration of the AOA transducers and/or degraded AOA transducer heating elements could result in an ineffective response to an aerodynamic stall and reduced controllability of the airplane. The proposed AD would require actions that are intended to address the unsafe condition described in the MCAI.

DATES: FAA and DOT must receive comments on this proposed AD by June 24, 2010.