The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (AMA) (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627), provides for the collection of fees to cover costs of various inspection, grading, certification, or auditing services covering many agricultural commodities and products. The AMA also provides for the recovery of costs incurred in providing laboratory services. The Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act (7 U.S.C. 471-476) and the U.S. Cotton Standards Act (7 U.S.C. 51-65) provide for classification of cotton and development of cotton standards materials necessary for cotton classification. The Cotton Futures Act (7 U.S.C. 15b) provides for futures certification services, and the Tobacco Inspection Act (7 U.S.C. 511-511s) provides for tobacco inspection and grading. Finally, the United States Warehouse Act (7 U.S.C. 241-256) provides for the licensing of public warehouse operators in the business of storing agricultural products and the examination of such federally licensed warehouses. These Acts also provide for the recovery of costs associated with these services.

On November 13, 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Department) published in the Federal Register a final rule that established standardized formulas for calculating the fees charged by AMS user-funded programs (79 FR 67313). On the basis of rates calculated using these formulas, AMS is to determine the fee rates necessary to sustain program services. Every year since then, the Department has published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the rates for its user-funded programs.

This notice announces the 2025/2026 fee rates for voluntary grading, inspection, certification, auditing, and laboratory services for a variety of agricultural commodities including meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy products, rice, and cotton and tobacco on a per-hour rate and, in some instances, the equivalent per-unit cost. The per-unit cost is provided to facilitate understanding of the costs associated with the service to the industries that historically used unit-cost basis for payment. Fee rates will be effective at the beginning of the fiscal year, crop year, or as required by specific laws.

Rates reflect direct and indirect costs of providing services. Direct costs include the cost of salaries, employee benefits, and, if applicable, travel and some operating costs. Indirect or overhead costs include the cost of Program and Agency activities supporting the services provided to the industry. The formula used to calculate these rates also includes operating reserve, which may add to or draw upon the existing operating reserves.

These services include the grading, inspection, or certification of quality factors in accordance with established U.S. Grade Standards or other specifications; audits or accreditation according to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards and/or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles; and other marketing claims. The quality grades serve as a basis for market prices and reflect the value of agricultural commodities to both producers and consumers. AMS' grading and certification, audit and accreditation, plant process and equipment verification, and laboratory approval services are voluntary tools paid for by the users on a fee-for-service basis. The agriculture industry can use these tools to promote and communicate the quality of agricultural commodities to consumers. Laboratory services are provided for analytic testing, including but not limited to chemical, microbiological, biomolecular, and physical analyses. AMS is required by statute to recover the costs associated with these services.

As required by the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act (7 U.S.C. 471-476), fees for the upcoming season must be announced by June 1 of year and consultations regarding the establishment of the fee for cotton classification are to be held with U.S. cotton industry representatives. Representatives of all segments of the cotton industry, including producers, ginners, bale storage facility operators, merchants, cooperatives, and textile manufacturers were informed of general fees prior to this publication.

AMS calculated the rate for services, per hour per program employee, using the following formulas (a per-unit base is included for programs that charge for services on a per-unit basis):

(1) Regular rate. The total AMS grading, inspection, certification, classification, audit, or laboratory service program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours for the previous year, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus the allowance for bad debt rate. If applicable, travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

(2) Overtime rate. The total AMS grading, inspection, certification, classification, audit, or laboratory service program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase and then multiplied by 1.5, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus an allowance for bad debt. If applicable, travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

(3) Holiday rate. The total AMS grading, inspection, certification, classification, audit, or laboratory service program personnel direct pay divided by direct hours, which is then multiplied by the next year's percentage of cost of living increase and then multiplied by 2, plus the benefits rate, plus the operating rate, plus an allowance for bad debt. If applicable, travel expenses may also be added to the cost of providing the service.

All rates are per-hour except when a per-unit cost is noted. The specific amounts in each rate calculation are available upon request from the specific AMS program.

The United States Warehouse Act (USWA) (7 U.S.C. 241-256) provides for the licensing of public warehouse operators in the business of storing agricultural products, examination of such federally licensed warehouses, and collection of fees to sustain the operation and administration of such efforts. Participation in USWA program is voluntary. Participants may choose to obtain licensing under USWA to meet State or other industry requirements. Warehouse examinations provided by AMS examine the financial status of the operation, the integrity of the commodities stored in licensed facilities, as well as the facilities themselves.

This notice announces new fees for licensing and examining warehouses storing export food aid commodities, grain, nuts, sweeteners, wool, cotton, cottonseed and dry beans. The new fees will be effective for fiscal year 2026 (FY 2026), which begins October 1, 2025. AMS is raising the license action fees, service license fees, inspection fees, and annual user fees charged to licensed warehouses over the current rates that have not been adjusted since 2019 (84 FR 37613). AMS finds it necessary to increase fees to meet projected costs for administering the USWA program.

Fees must cover all expenses for USWA administrative services including the maintenance of a sufficient operating reserve. Thus, rates for USWA services for the 2026 fiscal year and beyond demonstrate a remedial action to correct the budgetary shortfall for administration of the program. USWA requires that AMS operate in an environment suitable to affect the needs of the program and mitigate any funding risks.

The fees reflect direct and indirect costs of providing services. Direct costs include the cost of salaries, employee benefits, and, if applicable, travel and some operating costs. Indirect or overhead costs include the cost of AMS administrative activities supporting the services provided to the industry. Program costs also include maintaining an operating reserve and, depending on the balance in the reserve, may provide for adding to or drawing down the reserve to assure an appropriate balance is maintained.

Rates in this notice will be available at AMS' website, as required by 7 CFR 869.4. A schedule of fees may also be requested by contacting the Director, Warehouse and Commodity Management Division, Fair Trade Practices Program, AMS, USDA at the following updated address: 805 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mail Stop 9148, Kansas City, Missouri 64105.

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 15b; 7 U.S.C. 473a-b; 7 U.S.C. 55 and 61; 7 U.S.C. 51-65; 7 U.S.C. 471-476; 7 U.S.C. 511-511s; 7 U.S.C. 1621-1627 and 7 U.S.C. 241-256.

Commerce regulations provide that it will publish in the Federal Register a list of scope rulings on a quarterly basis. 1 Our most recent notification of scope rulings was published on February 24, 2025. 2 This current notice covers all scope rulings made by Enforcement and Compliance between January 1, 2025, and March 31, 2025.

Interested parties are invited to comment on the completeness of this list of completed scope inquiries and scope/circumvention inquiry combinations made during the period January 1, 2025, through March 31, 2025. Any comments should be submitted to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, via email to CommerceCLU@trade.gov.

This notice is published in accordance with 19 CFR 351.225(o).

The MMPA prohibits the “take” of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. ) direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and either regulations are proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed IHA is provided to the public for review.

Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock(s) for taking for subsistence uses (where relevant). Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other “means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact” on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses (referred to in shorthand as “mitigation”); and requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the takings. The definitions of all applicable MMPA statutory terms used above are included in the relevant sections below and can be found in section 3 of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1362) and NMFS regulations at 50 CFR 216.103.

On August 29, 2024, NMFS received a request from ME DOT for an IHA to take marine mammals incidental to construction activities in Johnson Bay in Lubec, Maine. Following NMFS' review of the application, ME DOT submitted a revised version on December 19, 2024. The application was deemed adequate and complete on December 20, 2024. ME DOT's request is for take of six species of marine mammals, by Level B harassment and by Level A harassment for 3 of those species. Neither ME DOT nor NMFS expect serious injury or mortality to result from this activity and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate.

The Maine Department of Transportation and the Town of Lubec are planning to construct a boat launch and breakwater structure that would extend into Johnson Bay from the northern coast of Lubec. The town was once one of Maine's most active commercial fishing ports, consisting of several large herring processing operations until the late 1970s. A collapse of the herring fishery led to the closure of those processing canneries; however, there is a rebound of the fishing industry in the area due to lobster fishing, shellfish harvesting, and growth of salmon farming. The project will address the lack of sheltered boat access and safe launch locations. The breakwater is expected to provide a sheltered area that mariners may launch behind and recover and moor their vessels during periods of inclement weather. This project is scheduled in order to provide a safer harbor for the mariners and townspeople of Lubec. This construction project includes installation of a falsework platform, a pile supported platform (PSP), and two floating docks. The falsework platform will be installed using impact and vibratory pile driving, while the PSP and floating docks will require DTH (down the hole) drilling. ME DOT is requesting authorization of take by Level B harassment for five marine mammal species over an estimated 234 days of pile driving/drilling activities.

A detailed description of the planned construction project is provided in the Federal Register notice for the proposed IHA (90 FR 11262, March 5, 2025). Since that time, no changes have been made to the planned activities. Therefore, a detailed description is not provided here. Please refer to that Federal Register notice for the description of the specific activity.

A notice of NMFS' proposal to issue an IHA to ME DOT was published in the Federal Register on March 5, 2025 (90 FR 11262). That notice described, in detail, ME DOT's activity, the marine mammal species that may be affected by the activity, and the anticipated effects on marine mammals. In that notice, we requested public input on the request for authorization described therein, our analyses, the proposed authorization, and any other aspect of the notice of proposed IHA, and requested that interested persons submit relevant information, suggestions, and comments. During the 30-day public comment period, NMFS did not receive any public comments.

NMFS has corrected a typographical error related to the source level values for 14-inch (35.56-centimeter) impact H piles. The proposed IHA specified source levels of 183 dB sound exposure level (SEL) and 170 dB root mean square (RMS) for this pile type. However, these levels were erroneously transposed, and the source levels have been corrected to 170 dB SEL and 183 dB RMS. The correction of these values results in updated estimated harassment isopleths and associated ensonified areas and, as a result, updated take numbers associated with impact driving of 14-inch piles. Please see the Estimated Take of Marine Mammals section for updated isopleth distances, areas, and take numbers.

Sections 3 and 4 of the application summarize available information regarding status and trends, distribution and habitat preferences, and behavior and life history of the potentially affected species. NMFS fully considered all of this information, and we refer the reader to these descriptions, instead of reprinting the information. Additional information regarding population trends and threats may be found in NMFS' Stock Assessment Reports (SARs; https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessments ) and more general information about these species ( e.g., physical and behavioral descriptions) may be found on NMFS' website ( https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species ).

Table 2 lists all species or stocks for which take is authorized for this activity and summarizes information related to the population or stock, including regulatory status under the MMPA and Endangered Species Act (ESA) and potential biological removal (PBR), where known. PBR is defined by the MMPA as the maximum number of animals, not including natural mortalities, that may be removed from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population (as described in NMFS' SARs). While no serious injury or mortality is authorized here, PBR and annual serious injury and mortality (M/SI) from anthropogenic sources are included here as gross indicators of the status of the species or stocks and other threats.

Marine mammal abundance estimates presented in this document represent the total number of individuals that make up a given stock or the total number estimated within a particular study or survey area. NMFS' stock abundance estimates for most species represent the total estimate of individuals within the geographic area, if known, that comprises that stock. For some species, this geographic area may extend beyond U.S. waters. All managed stocks in this region are assessed in NMFS' U.S. Atlantic SARs. All values presented in table 2 are the most recent available at the time of publication (including from the draft 2024 SARs) and are available online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-stock-assessments.

A detailed description of the species likely to be affected by the Lubec Harbor project, including brief introductions to the species and relevant stocks as well as available information regarding population trends and threats, and information regarding local occurrence, were provided in the Federal Register notice for the proposed IHA (90 FR 11262, March 5, 2025); since that time, we are not aware of any changes in the status of these species and stocks; therefore, detailed descriptions are not provided here. Please refer to that Federal Register notice for these descriptions. Please also refer to NMFS' website ( https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/find-species ) for generalized species accounts.

Hearing is the most important sensory modality for marine mammals underwater, and exposure to anthropogenic sound can have deleterious effects. To appropriately assess the potential effects of exposure to sound, it is necessary to understand the frequency ranges marine mammals are able to hear. Not all marine mammal species have equal hearing capabilities ( e.g., Richardson et al., 1995; Wartzok and Ketten, 1999; Au and Hastings, 2008). To reflect this, Southall et al. (2007, 2019) recommended that marine mammals be divided into hearing groups based on directly measured (behavioral or auditory evoked potential techniques) or estimated hearing ranges (behavioral response data, anatomical modeling, etc. ). Subsequently, NMFS (2024) updated generalized hearing ranges for these marine mammal hearing groups. Generalized hearing ranges were chosen based on the ~65 decibel (dB) threshold from composite audiograms, previous analyses in NMFS (2018), and/or data from Southall et al. (2007) and Southall et al. (2019). Marine mammal hearing groups and their associated hearing ranges are provided in table 3.

The subject permit is requested under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (MMPA; 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. ), the regulations governing the taking and importing of marine mammals (50 CFR part 216), the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ), the regulations governing the taking, importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR parts 222-226), and the Fur Seal Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq. ).

The applicant requests a 10-year permit to import, export, and receive parts from up to 200 individual cetaceans and 200 individual pinnipeds (excluding walrus), annually, to understand diving, metabolic, and reproductive physiology. Sources of foreign and domestic parts may include other authorized researchers or curated collections, subsistence harvests, captive animals, bycatch from legal commercial fishing operations, and foreign stranded animals.

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ), an initial determination has been made that the activity proposed is categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.

Concurrent with the publication of this notice in the Federal Register , NMFS is forwarding copies of the application to the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors.

The subject permit is requested under the authority of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. ), the regulations governing the taking and importing of marine mammals (50 CFR part 216), the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. ), the regulations governing the taking, importing, and exporting of endangered and threatened species (50 CFR parts 222-226), and the Fur Seal Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1151 et seq. ).

The applicant requests a 10-year permit to take marine mammals in the North Pacific Ocean to study distribution, abundance, long-term trends, movements, population structure, body condition, health, ecology, behavior, and impact of human activities. Up to 32 species of marine mammals may be targeted for research including the following ESA-listed species: blue ( Balaenoptera musculus ), fin ( Balaenoptera physalus ), gray ( Eschrichtius robustus; Western North Pacific distinct population segment [DPS]), humpback ( Megaptera novaeangliae; Western North Pacific, Mexico, and Central America DPSs), killer ( Orcinus orca; Southern Resident DPS), North Pacific right ( Eubalaena japonica ), sei ( Balaenoptera borealis ), and sperm ( Physeter macrocephalus ) whales; Guadalupe fur seals ( Arctocephalus townsendi ) and Steller sea lions ( Eumetopias jubatus ). Research would include vessel and aerial surveys (manned and unmanned) for counts, passive acoustic recording, observations, photo-identification, photogrammetry, thermal imaging, video recording, echosounders for prey mapping, biological sampling (sloughed skin, exhaled air, feces, prey remains, skin and blubber biopsy), and tagging (suction-cup and dart). Biological samples may be imported and exported for analysis. See the application for numbers of animals requested by species and procedure.

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ), an initial determination has been made that the activity proposed is categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.

Concurrent with the publication of this notice in the Federal Register , NMFS is forwarding copies of the application to the Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors.

In accordance with 10 CFR part 430, subpart E, DOE gives notification of the issuance of its Decision and Order as set forth below. The Decision and Order grants ELF a small business exemption from the applicable energy conservation standards for air cleaners specified at 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(1) through December 30, 2025. If ELF chooses to make any representations concerning the energy efficiency of the its air cleaner basic models, it must do so in accordance with the DOE test procedure specified in 10 CFR 430.23(hh)(4) and appendix FF to 10 CFR part 430, subpart B (appendix FF).

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Public Law 94-163, as amended (EPCA), 1 authorizes DOE to regulate the energy efficiency of a number of consumer products and certain industrial equipment. (42 U.S.C. 6291-6317) Title III, Part B of EPCA  2 established the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles, which sets forth a variety of provisions designed to improve energy efficiency. These products include air cleaners, the subject of this document. (42 U.S.C. 6292(a)(20))

The energy conservation program under EPCA consists essentially of four parts: (1) testing, (2) labeling, (3) Federal energy conservation standards, and (4) certification and enforcement procedures. Relevant provisions of EPCA specifically include definitions (42 U.S.C. 6291), test procedures (42 U.S.C. 6293), labeling provisions (42 U.S.C. 6294), energy conservation standards (42 U.S.C. 6295), and the authority to require information and reports from manufacturers (42 U.S.C. 6296).

Consistent with the requirements in 42 U.S.C. 6295, DOE has established energy conservation standards for air cleaners. On April 11, 2023, DOE published a direct final rule adopting the standards and compliance dates consistent with the recommendations from a group of joint stakeholders representing manufacturers, efficiency advocates, and consumer groups. 88 FR 21752. These standards apply to products manufactured in, or imported into, the United States starting on December 31, 2023, for the Tier 1 standards specified in 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(1) and on December 31, 2025, for the Tier 2 standards specified in 10 CFR 430.32.(ee)(2).

Under 42 U.S.C. 6295(t), DOE may grant a temporary exemption from an applicable energy conservation standard to a manufacturer if DOE finds that the annual gross revenues of such manufacturer from all its operations (including the manufacture and sale of covered products) does not exceed $8,000,000 for the 12-month period preceding the date of the application. In making this finding, DOE must account for the annual gross revenues of any other person who controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, such manufacturer (42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(1)). The Secretary may not grant an exemption with respect to any type (or class) of covered product subject to an energy conservation standard unless the Secretary finds, after obtaining the written views of the Attorney General, that a failure to allow an exemption would likely result in a lessening of competition. (42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(2))

Subpart E of 10 CFR part 430 specifies further information regarding the purpose and process for considering applications for small business exemptions under 42 U.S.C. 6295(t). Among these requirements, 10 CFR 430.52(b) specifies that an application shall be in writing and shall include the following:

(1) Name and mailing address of applicant;

(2) Whether the applicant controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another manufacturer, and if so, the nature of that control relationship;

(3) The text or substance of the standard or portion thereof for which the exemption is sought and the length of time desired for the exemption;

(4) Information showing the annual gross revenue of the applicant for the preceding 12-month period from all of its operations (including the manufacture and sale of covered products);

(5) Information to show that failure to grant an exemption is likely to result in a lessening of competition;

(6) Such other information, if any, believed to be pertinent by the petitioner; and

(7) Such other information as the Secretary may require.

After receiving an application and accepting it for filing, DOE publishes a notice announcing the application in the Federal Register . 10 CFR 430.53(d). DOE transmits notice of the application for exemption to the Attorney General with: (a) a statement of the facts and of the reasons for the exemption, and (b) copies of all documents submitted. 10 CFR 430.54. After obtaining the written views of the Attorney General, the Secretary evaluates whether a failure to allow an exemption would likely result in a lessening of competition (see 10 CFR 430.55) and then issues a decision and order either granting or denying the application (see 10 CFR 430.56) in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(2).

On May 27, 2024, 3 E.L. Foust Co. (ELF) submitted an application, pursuant to subpart E of 10 CFR part 430, requesting a small business exemption from the energy conservation standards at 10 CFR 430.32(ee). As discussed previously, there are two tiers of standards for air cleaners. Compliance with the Tier 2 standards is not required until December 31, 2025, which is the date on which the requested exemption from the December 31, 2023, Tier 1 standards expires. As such, DOE did not consider an exemption for ELF for the Tier 2 standards. ELF will need to submit a separate application if they wish to request an exemption from the Tier 2 standards. Such an application would need to include current financial information available at that time and information regarding impacts on competition with respect to the Tier 2 standards.

ELF requested an exemption on the basis of its status as a small business. According to ELF, failure to receive a small business exemption would likely result in a lessening of competition in the market for air cleaners. ELF requested that the exemption apply for two years. In its application, ELF referred to the market for air cleaners intended for people with multiple chemical sensitivity. Specifically, ELF stated that its air purifiers are built with zero plastic or glue to eliminate volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and they offer particulate filtration. ELF claimed that larger companies do not offer these types of air cleaners, and estimated that five manufacturers, including ELF, specifically serve the market by not using plastics and glues in their air cleaners and by providing substantial gas phase filtration media. ELF stated that three of these manufacturers are based in the United States and that if DOE does not grant ELF an exemption, the market would be reduced to two U.S. manufacturers. ELF stated that the effects of the rule on those manufacturers is not known. ELF also stated that less competition in the non-plastic air cleaner market would accelerate the loss of non-plastic air cleaners and those products would become more expensive to consumers.

On October 7, 2024, DOE issued a notice announcing the receipt of and publishing ELF's application for exemption. 89 FR 81059. In accordance with its regulations, DOE also transmitted ELF's application for exemption to the Attorney General along with: (a) A statement of the facts and of the reasons for the exemption, and (b) copies of all documents submitted. 10 CFR 430.54.

In response to the 2024 notice announcing ELF's application, DOE received comments submitted by Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, Inc. (Daikin)  4 and Michael Ravnitzky (Ravnitzky)  5 . Daikin opposed the small business exemption, noting that there are about 5 manufacturers in this segment of the air cleaner market making products without plastics or glue to eliminate VOCs for people who suffer from multiple chemical sensitivity, and that granting the waiver will lessen the energy savings of the air cleaner energy conservation standards and provide an unfair cost advantage for ELF's products. Ravnitzky supported the request for a two-year waiver due to concern for the impact that denying the waiver would have on individuals with multiple chemical sensitivity.

Per 42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(2), DOE obtained the written views of the Attorney General concerning ELF's application for exemption. Under this statutory provision, DOE may only grant a small business exemption if it has consulted with the Attorney General and finds that a lessening of competition would likely result. In its assessment letter  6 responding to DOE, the Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded that failure to grant ELF's application for a small business exemption for air cleaners would reduce competition to some degree. The basis for DOJ's determination is that, as a result of the standard, ELF will no longer be able to sell its air cleaner products through one of its main distribution channels, and therefore, customers will have one less competitive option through that channel. DOJ made this determination after reviewing ELF's application, as well as the technical analysis supporting the rule from which the exemption is sought. DOJ also reviewed the materials provided in response to the related request for comments, spoke with the company's representative, and reviewed other relevant, publicly available information.

In accordance with 10 CFR 430.55 and 10 CFR 430.56, DOE gives notice of the issuance of its decision and order granting ELF's application for a small business exemption from the Tier 1 standards for air cleaners, specified at 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(1), through December 30, 2025.

In evaluating this matter, DOE first reviewed financial information submitted by ELF as part of its application and found that the annual gross revenues from all its operations (including the manufacture and sale of covered products) did not exceed $8,000,000 for the 12-month period preceding the date of the application, consistent with 42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(1). DOE then considered whether a failure to allow the exemption would result in a lessening of competition, consistent with 42 U.S.C. 6295(t)(2). After consultation with the Attorney General, DOE has determined that failure to grant a small business exemption would likely result in a lessening of competition. In response to Daikin's comment regarding a lessening in energy savings and potential cost advantage associated with granting the application, DOE notes compliance costs are typically a much larger percentage of revenue for small manufacturers than they are for larger manufacturers. An exemption under 42 U.S.C. 6295(t) allows small manufacturers to spread compliance costs across a longer timeframe. A necessary result of extending the compliance timeframe for a small manufacturer is a reduction in energy savings and a potential cost advantage for the small manufacturer. But the impact is mitigated by the relatively short duration of the exemption period.

After careful consideration of all the material that was submitted by ELF, comments received in this process, and consultation with DOJ, in this matter, it is ORDERED that:

(1) ELF air cleaners are exempt from the applicable energy conservation standards set forth in 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(1).

(2) This Order is in effect through December 30, 2025. For air cleaners manufactured on and after December 31, 2025, ELF is required to comply with the applicable energy conservation standards specified in 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(2).

(3) To the extent that ELF seeks any additional small business exemption from the standards specified in 10 CFR 430.32(ee)(2), it would be required to submit a separate application regarding those standards in accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 430, subpart E.

(4) Any representations of energy efficiency that ELF chooses to make for its air cleaners must be made in accordance with the DOE test procedure specified in 10 CFR 430.23(hh)(4) and appendix FF, as well as the representations requirements specified in 10 CFR 429.68.

(5) This Order is issued on the condition that the statements and representations provided by ELF are valid. DOE may rescind or modify this Order at any time if it determines the factual basis underlying the application for small business exemption is incorrect. Likewise, ELF may request that DOE rescind the order if ELF discovers an error in the information provided to DOE as part of its application.

This document of the Department of Energy was signed on April 21, 2025, by Louis Hrkman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the Federal Register .

On January 9, 2014, FERC confirmed and approved Rate Schedules P-13, NFTS-13, and EE-13 under Rate Order No. SWPA-66 on a final basis through September 30, 2017. Subsequently, rate schedule NFTS-13 was renamed to NFTS-13A and rate schedule P-13 was renamed to P-13A and then later to P-13B, in each case with no revenue adjustment. 1 Additionally, all three rate schedules have been extended with no revenue adjustment. 2 Most recently, the Southwestern Administrator extended rate schedules P-13B, NFTS-13A, and EE-13, via Rate Order No. SWPA-85, through September 30, 2025.

Southwestern published a Federal Register notice (Proposed FRN) on November 12, 2024 (89 FR 88997), proposing to modify Integrated System rate schedules to meet the identified average annual revenue requirement of $237,821,129, an increase of $44,230,649 (22.8 percent). The Proposed FRN also initiated a 90-day public consultation and comment period and set the date of the public information and public comment forum to be December 18, 2024. No written comments were received and responses to outstanding comments or questions from the public information and public comment forum were posted on Southwestern's website.

Following review of the proposal, Rate Order No. SWPA-87, which provides rate schedules for the Integrated System is hereby confirmed, approved, and placed into effect on an interim basis. Southwestern will submit Rate Order No. SWPA-87 to FERC for confirmation and approval on a final basis.

Pursuant to Sections 301(b) and 302(a) of the Department of Energy Organization Act, 42 U.S.C. 7151(b) and 7152(a), the functions of the Secretary of the Interior and the Federal Power Commission under Section 5 of the Flood Control Act of 1944, 16 U.S.C. 825s, relating to the Southwestern Power Administration (Southwestern), were transferred to and vested in the Secretary of Energy. By Delegation Order No. S1-DEL-RATES-2016, effective November 19, 2016, the Secretary of Energy delegated: (1) the authority to develop power and transmission rates to Southwestern's Administrator; (2) the authority to confirm, approve, and place such rates into effect on an interim basis to the Deputy Secretary of Energy; and (3) the authority to confirm, approve, and place into effect on a final basis, or to remand or disapprove such rates, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). By Delegation Order No. S1-DEL-S3-2024, effective August 30, 2024, the Secretary of Energy also delegated the authority to confirm, approve, and place such rates into effect on an interim basis to the Under Secretary for Infrastructure. By Redelegation Order No. S3-DEL-SWPA1-2023, effective April 10, 2023, the Under Secretary for Infrastructure redelegated the authority to confirm, approve, and place such rates into effect on an interim basis to the Southwestern Administrator.

On September 30, 2013, in Rate Order No. SWPA-66, the Deputy Secretary of Energy placed into effect Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13, NFTS-13, and EE-13) on an interim basis for the period October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2017. FERC confirmed and approved Southwestern's interim Integrated System rates on a final basis on January 9, 2014, for a period ending September 30, 2017.

Southwestern re-designated Integrated System rate schedule “NFTS-13” as “NFTS-13A” with no revenue adjustment to better align Southwestern's rate schedule with standard practices utilized by the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. In Rate Order No. SWPA-71, the Deputy Secretary of Energy placed into effect Southwestern's rate schedule NFTS-13A on an interim basis beginning January 1, 2017. FERC confirmed and approved NFTS-13A on a final basis on March 9, 2017.

On September 13, 2017, in Rate Order No. SWPA-72, the Deputy Secretary of Energy extended all of Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13, NTFS-13A, and EE-13) for two years, for the period of October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2019.

Southwestern re-designated Integrated System rate schedule “P-13” as “P-13A” with no revenue adjustment to incorporate a new section regarding requirements for the peaking energy schedule submission time. In Rate Order No. SWPA-73, the Assistant Secretary for Electricity placed into effect Southwestern's rate schedule for P-13A on an interim basis beginning July 1, 2019. FERC confirmed and approved P-13A on a final basis on August 29, 2019.

On September 22, 2019, in Rate Order No. SWPA-74, the Assistant Secretary for Electricity extended all of Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13A, NFTS-13A, and EE-13) for two years, for the period of October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2021.

On August 30, 2021, in Rate Order No. SWPA-77, the Administrator, Southwestern, extended all of Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13A, NFTS-13A, and EE-13) for two years, for the period of October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2023.

Southwestern re-designated Integrated System rate schedule “P-13A” as “P-13B” with no revenue adjustment to update the peaking energy schedule submission time requirements. In Rate Order No. SWPA-80, the Administrator, Southwestern, placed into effect Southwestern's rate schedule for P-13B on an interim basis beginning July 15, 2023. FERC confirmed and approved P-13B on a final basis on February 2, 2024.

On September 25, 2023, in Rate Order No. SWPA-81, the Administrator, Southwestern, temporarily extended all of Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13B, NFTS-13A, and EE-13) for one year, for the period of October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024.

On September 13, 2024, in Rate Order No. SWPA-85, the Administrator, Southwestern, temporarily extended all of Southwestern's Integrated System rate schedules (P-13B, NFTS-13A, and EE-13) for one year, for the period of October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025.

Southwestern's current Integrated System rate schedules (P-13B, NFTS-13A, and EE-13) are based on its 2013 Power Repayment Study (PRS). Each subsequent annual PRS from 2014 through 2022 indicated a need for a revenue adjustment within a plus or minus two percent range of the revenue estimate based on the current rate schedules. It is Southwestern's practice for the Administrator to defer, on a case-by-case basis, revenue adjustments for the Integrated System within plus or minus two percent from the revenue estimate based on the current rate schedules. Therefore, the Administrator deferred revenue adjustments annually for the Integrated System annually through 2022. Southwestern prepared a 2023 Current PRS which indicated that the existing power rate would not satisfy present financial criteria regarding repayment of investment within a 50-year period due to increased operations and maintenance expenses, increased cost of replacements in the hydroelectric generating and transmission facilities, and an increased need for purchased power and wheeling. The 2023 Revised PRS indicates the need for an increase in annual revenues of $44,230,649, or 22.8 percent, to accomplish repayment in the required number of years. Accordingly, Southwestern has prepared a Rate Design Study (RDS) and new proposed rate schedules (P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23) based on the additional revenue requirement to ensure repayment.

Southwestern conducted the rate adjustment proceeding in accordance with title 10, part 903, subpart A of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR part 903), “Procedures for Public Participation in Power and Transmission Rate Adjustments and Extensions.” Opportunities for public review and comment during a 90-day period on the proposed Integrated System power rate schedules were announced by a Federal Register notice published on November 12, 2024 (89 FR 88997), with written comments due February 10, 2025. A combined public information and comment forum was held virtually on December 18, 2024. Southwestern published the Federal Register notice, the proposed rate schedule, and the draft 2023 PRS on its website as well as a transcript of the public forum and responses to outstanding questions from the public forum for customers and interested parties to review and comment upon during the public comment period.

Following the conclusion of the comment period on February 10, 2025, Southwestern finalized the Power Repayment Studies and Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23 to recover the increased revenue requirement of $44,230,649 which is the lowest possible rate needed to satisfy the repayment criteria set forth within the provisions of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order No. RA 6120.2. This rate represents an annual increase of 22.8 percent. The Administrator made the decision to approve the rate proposal for implementation.

Southwestern will continue to perform its Power Repayment Studies annually, and if the 2025 results should indicate the need for additional revenues, another rate adjustment proceeding will be conducted to implement the updated revenue requirements.

Southwestern did not receive any written comments during the 90-day public review and comment period. Southwestern did receive oral comments from Ms. Nicki Fuller of Southwestern Power Resources Association, Mr. James Striedel of GDS Associates, representing the Texas customers of Southwestern, Ms. Amanda Kenly of Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc., and Mr. David Yeager of the City of Duncan, Oklahoma, during Southwestern's December 18, 2024, public information and comment forum which are summarized below. The comments are also included verbatim as part of the transcript of the public comment forum which will be submitted to FERC along with other applicable documents for final confirmation and approval of Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23.

Ms. Fuller asked Southwestern to explain differences between the 2022 and 2023 PRSs. Southwestern explained that the purchased power need increased due to long term generating unit outages and the associated cost increased due to increasing replacement capacity costs; the Corps' operations and maintenance costs increased due to implementation of a new method to estimate costs which better reflects actual operation and maintenance costs experienced; service charges increased due to a new Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) transmission expense; and investment costs increased to reflect actual costs increases experienced for recent investments. In addition to the information provided during the forum Southwestern provided more information on the investment cost increases and project additions on its website after the forum.

Mr. Striedel asked some general questions regarding the Integrated System rate. Southwestern clarified that there are 22 hydroelectric projects and Southwestern's transmission system included in the Integrated System, and 19 of those hydroelectric projects are operated as an interconnected system while the remaining three hydroelectric projects are isolated operationally but integrated financially. Mr. Striedel asked why the operationally isolated projects pay for transmission costs when they are not connected via transmission lines to the interconnected system projects. Southwestern explained that there are transmission costs associated with project investment as well as project investment associated with transmission which means that some of the transmission service costs does directly benefit isolated projects. Additionally, the diversification of the Integrated System portfolio provides rate stability, particularly to operationally isolated hydroelectric projects.

Ms. Kenly asked Southwestern to confirm that the annual cost for MISO transmission is perpetuated through the end of the 50-year PRS. Southwestern confirmed this in the affirmative. Ms. Kenly asked for additional information on the water assumptions in the 2023 PRS. Southwestern explained that inflow data from 1928 to 2022 is used to inform annual generation amounts in the resource analysis, and the average year for generation is used in the PRS as well as the associated RDS. Ms. Kenly then asked if the resource analysis included any assumed capacity uprates, retirements, or capacity reductions. Southwestern stated that long term outages within the first five years of the study are included in the analysis, but capacity uprates, capacity derates, and retirements are not included in the resource analysis unless they have already been realized. Southwestern provided detailed information on outage and capacity derates on its website after the forum. Finally, Ms. Kenly asked for an overview of the proposed rate structure. Southwestern provided a high-level overview of the 2023 RDS.

Mr. Yeager asked if there was a list of project replacements (a subtotal of project investment) included in the PRS or RDS. Southwestern responded that there is information on project replacements in Appendix J of the PRS.

Information regarding the rate adjustment proceeding, including the Final 2023 PRS and Rate Proposal, for Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23 is available for public review in the offices of Southwestern Power Administration, 6655 S Lewis Ave., Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136. Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23 are available on Southwestern's website at www.energy.gov/swpa/rates-and-repayment.

I have certified that the provisional rates under Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23 are the lowest possible rates consistent with sound business principles. The rates were developed following administrative policies and applicable laws.

Southwestern has determined that this action fits within the following categorical exclusions listed in appendix B to subpart D of 10 CFR 1021.410: B4.3 (Electric power marketing rate changes). Categorically excluded projects and activities do not require preparation of either an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment. A copy of the categorical exclusion determination is available on Southwestern's website at https://www.energy.gov/swpa/southwestern-power-administration.

Southwestern has an exemption from centralized regulatory review under Executive Order 12866; accordingly, no clearance of this notice by the Office of Management and Budget is required.

Rate Schedules P-23, NFS-23, and EE-23 herein confirmed, approved, and placed into effect on an interim basis, together with supporting documents, will be submitted to the FERC for confirmation and final approval.

In view of the foregoing and pursuant to the authority delegated to me by the Secretary of Energy, I hereby confirm, approve and place in effect on an interim basis, effective June 1, 2025, the Integrated System Rate Schedule P-23, Wholesale Rates for Hydro Peaking Power; Rate Schedule NFS-23, Wholesale Rates for Non-Federal Service; and Rate Schedule EE-23, Wholesale Rates for Excess Energy. The rate schedules shall remain in effect on an interim basis through September 30, 2027, or until the FERC confirms and approves the rates on a final basis, or until they are superseded by a subsequent rate.

This document of the Department of Energy was signed on April 23, 2025, by Michael S. Wech, Administrator for Southwestern Power Administration, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document, with the original signature and date, is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an official document of DOE. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the Federal Register .

During the period June 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, in accordance with interim approval from Rate Order No. SWPA-87 issued by the Administrator on April 23, 2025, and pursuant to final approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In the marketing area of Southwestern Power Administration (Southwestern), described generally as the States of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

To wholesale Customers which have contractual rights from Southwestern to purchase Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy (Peaking Energy and Supplemental Peaking Energy).

Three-phase, alternating current, delivered at approximately 60 Hertz, at the nominal voltage(s), at the point(s) of delivery, and in such quantities as are specified by contract.

The services necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the System of Southwestern in accordance with good utility practice, which include the following:

Is provided by Southwestern as Balancing Authority Area operator and is in regard to interchange and load-match scheduling and related system control and dispatch functions.

Is provided at generation and transmission facilities in the System of Southwestern to produce or absorb reactive power and to maintain transmission voltages within specific limits.

Is the continuous balancing of generation and interchange resources accomplished by raising or lowering the output of on-line generation as necessary to follow the moment-by-moment changes in load and to maintain frequency within a Balancing Authority Area.

Maintains generating units on-line, but loaded at less than maximum output, which may be used to service load immediately when disturbance conditions are experienced due to a sudden loss of generation or load.

Provides an additional amount of operating reserve sufficient to reduce Area Control Error to zero within 10 minutes following loss of generating capacity which would result from the most severe single contingency.

Corrects for differences over a period of time between schedules and actual hourly deliveries of energy to a load. Energy delivered or received within the authorized bandwidth for this service is accounted for as an inadvertent flow and is returned to the providing party by the receiving party in accordance with standard utility practice or a contractual arrangement between the parties.

The entity which is utilizing and/or purchasing Federal Power and Federal Energy and services from Southwestern pursuant to this Rate Schedule.

The period of time used to determine maximum integrated rates of delivery for the purpose of power accounting which is the 60-minute period that begins with the change of hour.

The power and energy provided from the System of Southwestern.

The Federal Power that Southwestern sells and makes available to the Customers through their respective Power Sales Contracts in accordance with this Rate Schedule.

The quantity equal to the Peaking Contract Demand for any month unless otherwise provided by the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

The maximum rate in kilowatts at which Southwestern is obligated to deliver Federal Energy associated with Hydro Peaking Power as set forth in the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

The Federal Energy associated with Hydro Peaking Power that Southwestern sells and makes available to the Customer in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

The time by which Southwestern requires the Customer to submit Peaking Energy schedules to Southwestern as provided for in this Rate Schedule and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

The Customer's contract with Southwestern for the sale of Federal Power and Federal Energy.

The Federal Energy associated with Hydro Peaking Power that Southwestern sells and makes available to the Customer if determined by Southwestern to be available and that is in addition to the quantity of Peaking Energy purchased by the Customer in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

The transmission and related facilities owned by Southwestern, and/or the generation, transmission, and related facilities owned by others, the capacity of which, by contract, is available to and utilized by Southwestern to satisfy its contractual obligations to the Customer.

Any force which is not within the control of the party affected, including, but not limited to failure of water supply, failure of facilities, flood, earthquake, storm, lightning, fire, epidemic, riot, civil disturbance, labor disturbance, sabotage, war, act of war, terrorist acts, or restraint by court of general jurisdiction, which by exercise of due diligence and foresight such party could not reasonably have been expected to avoid.

Unless otherwise specified, this Section 2 is applicable to all sales under the Customer's Power Sales Contract.

$5.30 per kilowatt of Peaking Billing Demand.

The capacity charge for Hydro Peaking Power includes such transmission services as are necessary to integrate Southwestern's resources in order to reliably deliver Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy to the Customer. This capacity charge also includes two Ancillary Services charges: Scheduling, System Control, and Dispatch Service; and Reactive Supply and Voltage Control from Generation Sources Service.

Customers may utilize the transmission capacity associated with Peaking Contract Demand for the transmission of non-Federal energy, on a non-firm, as-available basis, at no additional charge for such transmission service or associated Ancillary Services, under the following terms and conditions:

2.1.3.3. The Customer commits to provide Real Power Losses associated with such deliveries of non-Federal energy; and

2.1.3.4. Sufficient transfer capability exists between the point of receipt into the System of Southwestern of such non-Federal energy and the Customer's point of delivery for Hydro Peaking Power for the time period that such secondary transmission service is requested.

If, during any month, the Peaking Contract Demand associated with a Power Sales Contract in which Southwestern has the obligation to provide 1,200 kilowatt-hours of Peaking Energy per kilowatt of Peaking Contract Demand is reduced by Southwestern for a period or periods of not less than two consecutive hours by reason of an outage caused by either an Uncontrollable Force or by the installation, maintenance, replacement or malfunction of generation, transmission and/or related facilities on the System of Southwestern, or insufficient pool levels, the Customer's capacity charges for such month will be reduced for each such reduction in service by an amount computed under the formula:

Such reduction in charges shall fulfill Southwestern's obligation to deliver Hydro Peaking Power and Peaking Energy.

$0.0128 per kilowatt-hour of Peaking Energy delivered plus the Purchased Power & Wheeling Adder as defined in Section 2.2.3 of this Rate Schedule.

$0.0128 per kilowatt-hour of Supplemental Peaking Energy delivered.

A purchased power and wheeling adder of $0.0087 per kilowatt-hour of Peaking Energy delivered, as adjusted by the Administrator, Southwestern, in accordance with the procedure within this Rate Schedule.

The Purchased Power & Wheeling Adder shall apply to sales of Peaking Energy. The Purchased Power & Wheeling Adder shall not apply to sales of Supplemental Peaking Energy or sales to any Customer which, by contract, has assumed the obligation to supply energy to fulfill the minimum of 1,200 kilowatt-hours of Peaking Energy per kilowatt of Peaking Contract Demand during a contract year (hereinafter “Contract Support Arrangements”).

Not more than twice annually, the Purchased Power & Wheeling Adder of $0.0087 (8.7 mills) per kilowatt-hour of Peaking Energy, as noted in this Rate Schedule, may be adjusted by the Administrator, Southwestern, by an amount up to a total of ±$0.0087 (8.7 mills) per kilowatt-hour per year, as calculated by the following formula:

$0.86 per kilowatt will be assessed for capacity used to deliver energy at any point of delivery at which Southwestern provides transformation service for deliveries at voltages of 69 kilovolts or less from higher voltage facilities.

Unless otherwise specified by contract, for any particular month, a charge for transformation service will be assessed on the greater of (1) that month's highest metered demand, or (2) the highest metered demand recorded during the previous 11 months, at any point of delivery. For the purpose of this Rate Schedule, the highest metered demand will be based on all deliveries, of both Federal and non-Federal energy, from the System of Southwestern, at such point during such month.

Monthly rate of $0.0208 per kilowatt of Peaking Billing Demand plus the Regulation Purchased Adder as defined in Section 2.4.5 of this Rate Schedule.

Monthly rate of $0.0208 per kilowatt of Peaking Billing Demand.

Daily rate of $0.00095 per kilowatt for non-Federal generation inside Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area.

Monthly rate of $0.0208 per kilowatt of Peaking Billing Demand.

Daily rate of $0.00095 per kilowatt for non-Federal generation inside Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area.

$0.0 per kilowatt for all reservation periods.

Regulation and Frequency Response Service is available only for deliveries of power and energy to load within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area and for deliveries of all Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy from and within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area. Spinning Operating Reserve Service and Supplemental Operating Reserve Service are available only for deliveries of non-Federal power and energy generated by resources located within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area and for deliveries of all Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy from and within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area. Energy Imbalance Service is available only for deliveries of power and energy to load within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area. Where available, such Ancillary Services must be taken from Southwestern; unless, arrangements are made in accordance with Section 2.4.4 of this Rate Schedule.

For any month, the charges for Ancillary Services for deliveries of Hydro Peaking Power shall be based on the Peaking Billing Demand.

The daily charge for Spinning Operating Reserve Service and Supplemental Operating Reserve Service for non-Federal generation inside Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area shall be applied to the greater of Southwestern's previous day's estimate of the peak, or the actual peak, in kilowatts, of the internal non-Federal generation.

Customers for which Ancillary Services are made available as specified above, must inform Southwestern by written notice of the Ancillary Services which they do not intend to take and purchase from Southwestern, and of their election to provide all or part of such Ancillary Services from their own resources or from a third party.

Subject to Southwestern's approval of the ability of such resources or third parties to meet Southwestern's technical and operational requirements for provision of such Ancillary Services, the Customer may change the Ancillary Services which it takes from Southwestern and/or from other sources at the beginning of any month upon the greater of 60 days' notice or upon completion of any necessary equipment modifications necessary to accommodate such change; Provided, That, if the Customer chooses not to take Regulation and Frequency Response Service for deliveries of power and energy to load within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area, which includes the associated Regulation Purchased Adder, the Customer must pursue these services from a different host Balancing Authority; thereby moving all metered loads and resources from Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area to the Balancing Authority Area of the new host Balancing Authority. Until such time as that meter reconfiguration is accomplished, the Customer will be charged for the Regulation and Frequency Response Service and applicable Adder then in effect. The Customer must notify Southwestern by July 1 of this choice, to be effective the subsequent calendar year.

The Regulation Purchased Adder during the time period of January 1 through December 31 of the current calendar year is based on the average annual use of energy from storage, based on Southwestern's studies, for Regulation and Frequency Response Service and Southwestern's estimated purchased power price for the corresponding year from the most currently approved Power Repayment Studies.

The replacement value of the estimated annual use of energy from storage for Regulation and Frequency Response Service shall be recovered by Customers located within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area on a non-coincident peak ratio share basis, divided into twelve equal monthly payments, in accordance with the formula in Section 2.4.5.2.

If the Regulation Purchased Adder is determined and applied under Southwestern's Rate Schedule NFS-23, then it shall not be applied here.

Unless otherwise specified by contract, the Regulation Purchased Adder for an individual Customer shall be based on the following formula rate, calculated to include the replacement value of the estimated annual use of energy from storage by Southwestern for Regulation and Frequency Response Service.

For Customers that have aggregated their load, resources, and scheduling into a single node by contract within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area, the individual Customer's respective Regulation Purchased Adder shall be that Customer's ratio share of the Regulation Purchased Adder established for the node. Such ratio share shall be determined for the Customer on a non-coincident basis and shall be calculated for the Customer from their highest metered load plus generation behind the meter.

Energy Imbalance Service primarily applies to deliveries of power and energy which are required to satisfy a Customer's load. As Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy are limited by contract, the Energy Imbalance Service bandwidth specified for Non-Federal Transmission Service does not apply to deliveries of Hydro Peaking Power, and therefore Energy Imbalance Service is not charged on such deliveries. Customers who consume a capacity of Hydro Peaking Power greater than their Peaking Contract Demand may be subject to a Capacity Overrun Penalty.

For each hour during which Hydro Peaking Power was provided at a rate greater than that to which the Customer is entitled, the Customer will be charged a Capacity Overrun Penalty at the following rates:

For each hour of overrun, the Applicable DA LMP is defined as follows:

For Customers that schedule their Federal Power into the SPP Integrated Marketplace: Applicable DA LMP = DA LMP at the SPP SPA Location.

For Customers that schedule their Federal Power into the MISO Energy and Operating Reserve Market: Applicable DA LMP = DA LMP at the MISO SPA Location.

For Customers that do not schedule their Federal Power into either the SPP Integrated Marketplace or the MISO Energy and Operating Reserve Market:

Customers which have loads within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area are obligated by contract to provide resources, over and above the Hydro Peaking Power and associated energy purchased from Southwestern, sufficient to meet their loads. A Capacity Overrun Penalty shall be applied only when the formulas provided in Customers' respective Power Sales Contracts indicate an overrun on Hydro Peaking Power, and investigation determines that all resources, both firm and non-firm, which were available at the time of the apparent overrun were insufficient to meet the Customer's load.

The Customer shall be assessed a penalty charge for each kilowatt-hour of overrun in the overrun period (month or contract year), at a per kilowatt-hour rate determined as the greater of:

$0.1276 -or-

The Applicable DA LMP Average.

The Applicable DA LMP Average is defined as follows:

For each Overrun Period Hour Interval, the Applicable DA LMP is defined as follows:

For Customers that schedule their Federal Power into the SPP Integrated Marketplace: Applicable DA LMP = DA LMP at the SPP SPA Location.

For Customers that schedule their Federal Power into the MISO Energy and Operating Reserve Market: Applicable DA LMP = DA LMP at the MISO SPA Location.

For Customers that do not schedule their Federal Power into either the SPP Integrated Marketplace or the MISO Energy and Operating Reserve Market: Applicable DA LMP = The greater of: DA LMP at the SPP SPA Location

-or-

DA LMP at the MISO SPA Location.

By contract, the Customer is subject to limitations on the maximum amounts of Peaking Energy which may be scheduled under the Customer's Power Sales Contract. When the Customer schedules an amount in excess of such maximum amounts, such Customer is subject to the Energy Overrun Penalty.

Any Customer served from facilities owned by or available by contract to Southwestern will be required to maintain a power factor of not less than 95 percent and will be subject to the following provisions.

The power factor will be determined for all Demand Periods and shall be calculated under the formula:

The Customer shall be assessed a penalty for all Demand Periods of a month where the power factor is less than 95 percent lagging. For any Demand Period during a particular month such penalty shall be in accordance with the following formula:

If C is negative, then C = zero (0).

The Power Factor Penalty is applicable to radial interconnections with the System of Southwestern. The total Power Factor Penalty for any month shall be the sum of all charges “C” for all Demand Periods of such month. No penalty is assessed for leading power factor. Southwestern, in its sole judgment and at its sole option, may determine whether power factor calculations should be applied to (i) a single physical point of delivery, (ii) a combination of physical points of delivery where a Customer has a single, electrically integrated load, (iii) or interconnections. The general criteria for such decision shall be that, given the configuration of the Customer's and Southwestern's systems, Southwestern will determine, in its sole judgment and at its sole option, whether the power factor calculation more accurately assesses the detrimental impact on Southwestern's system when the above formula is calculated for a single physical point of delivery, a combination of physical points of delivery, or for an interconnection as specified by an Interconnection Agreement.

Southwestern, at its sole option, may reduce or waive Power Factor Penalties when, in Southwestern's sole judgment, low power factor conditions were not detrimental to the System of Southwestern due to particular loading and voltage conditions at the time the power factor dropped below 95 percent lagging.

Customers are required to self-provide all Real Power Losses for non-Federal energy transmitted by Southwestern on behalf of such Customers under the provisions detailed below.

Real Power Losses are computed as four (4) percent of the total amount of non-Federal energy transmitted by Southwestern. The Customer's monthly Real Power Losses are computed each month on a megawatt-hour basis as follows:

The Customer must schedule or cause to be scheduled to Southwestern, Real Power Losses for which it is responsible subject to the following conditions:

4.1.1. The Customer shall schedule and deliver Real Power Losses back to Southwestern during the second month after they were incurred by Southwestern in the transmission of the Customer's non-Federal power and energy over the System of Southwestern unless such Customer has accounted for Real Power Losses as part of a metering arrangement with Southwestern.

4.1.2. On or before the twentieth day of each month, Southwestern shall determine the amount of non-Federal loss energy it provided on behalf of the Customer during the previous month and provide a written schedule to the Customer setting forth hour-by-hour the quantities of non-Federal energy to be delivered to Southwestern as losses during the next month.

4.1.3. Real Power Losses not delivered to Southwestern by the Customer, according to the schedule provided, during the month in which such losses are due shall be billed by Southwestern to the Customer to adjust the end-of-month loss energy balance to zero (0) megawatt-hours and the Customer shall be obliged to purchase such energy at the following rates:

4.1.4. Real Power Losses delivered to Southwestern by the Customer in excess of the losses due during the month shall be purchased by Southwestern from the Customer at a rate per megawatt-hour equal to Southwestern's rate per megawatt-hour for Supplemental Peaking Energy, as set forth in Southwestern's then-effective Rate Schedule for Hydro Peaking Power to adjust such hourly end-of-month loss energy balance to zero (0) megawatt-hours.

Southwestern's Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time is on or before 8:30 a.m. Central Prevailing Time (CPT), as adjusted by the Administrator, Southwestern, in accordance with Section 4.2.2 in this Rate Schedule, of the day preceding the day for the delivery of Peaking Energy. The Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time supersedes the Peaking Energy schedule submission time provided in the Customer's Power Sales Contract, pursuant to Section 4.2.1 of this Rate Schedule. Reductions to Peaking Energy schedules may be made in accordance with Section 4.2.3 of this Rate Schedule.

The Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time shall apply to the scheduling of Peaking Energy. The Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time shall not apply to the scheduling of Supplemental Peaking Energy or to Contract Support Arrangements.

Not more than once annually, the Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time of 8:30 a.m. CPT, as noted in Section 4.2 of this Rate Schedule, may be adjusted by the Administrator, Southwestern, to a time no earlier than 8:00 a.m. CPT and no later than 9:00 a.m. CPT.

The Administrator, Southwestern, will make a determination on the need to adjust the Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time based on Southwestern's studies involving financial analysis, regional energy market conditions, and/or operational considerations.

The Administrator, Southwestern, will notify customers of the determination to adjust the Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time in writing no later than 30 calendar days prior to the effective date of the Peaking Energy Schedule Submission Time adjustment.

During the period June 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, in accordance with interim approval from Rate Order No. SWPA-87 issued by the Administrator on April 23, 2025, and pursuant to final approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In the region of the System of Southwestern.

To Customers which have executed Service Agreements with Southwestern for the transmission of non-Federal power and energy over the System of Southwestern or for its use for interconnections. Southwestern will provide services over those portions of the System of Southwestern in which the Administrator, Southwestern, in his or her sole judgment, has determined that uncommitted transmission and transformation capacities in the System of Southwestern are and will be available in excess of the capacities required to market Federal power and energy pursuant to Section 5 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887,890; 16 U.S.C. 825s).

Three-phase, alternating current, delivered at approximately 60 Hertz, at the nominal voltage(s), at the point(s) specified by Service Agreement or Transmission Service Transaction.

The services necessary to support the transmission of capacity and energy from resources to loads while maintaining reliable operation of the System of Southwestern in accordance with good utility practice, which include the following:

Is provided by Southwestern as Balancing Authority Area operator and is in regard to interchange and load-match scheduling and related system control and dispatch functions.

Is provided at generation and transmission facilities in the System of Southwestern to produce or absorb reactive power and to maintain transmission voltages within specific limits.

Is the continuous balancing of generation and interchange resources accomplished by raising or lowering the output of on-line generation as necessary to follow the moment-by-moment changes in load and to maintain frequency within a Balancing Authority Area.

Maintains generating units on-line, but loaded at less than maximum output, which may be used to service load immediately when disturbance conditions are experienced due to a sudden loss of generation or load.

Provides an additional amount of operating reserve sufficient to reduce Area Control Error to zero within 10 minutes following loss of generating capacity which would result from the most severe single contingency.

Corrects for differences over a period of time between schedules and actual hourly deliveries of energy to a load. Energy delivered or received within the authorized bandwidth for this service is accounted for as an inadvertent flow and is returned to the providing party by the receiving party in accordance with standard utility practice or a contractual arrangement between the parties.

The entity which is utilizing and/or purchasing services from Southwestern pursuant to this Rate Schedule.

The period of time used to determine maximum integrated rates of delivery for the purpose of power accounting which is the 60-minute period that begins with the change of hour.

Transmission service reserved on a firm basis between specific points of receipt and delivery pursuant to either a Firm Transmission Service Agreement or to a Transmission Service Transaction.

A service that provides for the use of the System of Southwestern to deliver energy and/or provide system support at an interconnection.

Transmission service provided under Part III of Southwestern's Open Access Transmission Service Tariff which provides the Customer with firm transmission service for the delivery of capacity and energy from the Customer's resources to the Customer's load.

Transmission service reserved on a non-firm basis between specific points of receipt and delivery pursuant to a Transmission Service Transaction.

Either a single physical point to which electric power and energy are delivered from the System of Southwestern, or a specified set of delivery points which together form a single, electrically integrated load.

Service that is associated with Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service and Network Integration Transmission Service. For Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service, it consists of transmission service provided on an as-available, non-firm basis, scheduled within the limits of a particular capacity reservation for transmission service, and scheduled from points of receipt, or to points of delivery, other than those designated in a Long-Term Firm Transmission Service Agreement or a Transmission Service Transaction for Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service. For Network Integration Transmission Service, Secondary Transmission Service consists of transmission service provided on an as-available, non-firm basis, from resources other than the network resources designated in a Network Transmission Service Agreement, to meet the Customer's network load. The charges for Secondary Transmission Service, other than Ancillary Services, are included in the applicable capacity charges for Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service and Network Integration Transmission Service.

A contract executed between a Customer and Southwestern for the transmission of non-Federal power and energy over the System of Southwestern or for interconnections which include the following:

Provides for reserved transmission capacity on a firm basis, for a particular point-to-point delivery path.

Provides for the use of the System of Southwestern and recognizes the exchange of mutual benefits for such use or provides for application of a charge for Interconnection Facilities Service.

Provides for the Customer to request firm transmission service for the delivery of capacity and energy from the Customer's network resources to the Customer's network load, for a period of one year or more.

Provides for the Customer to request transmission service on a non-firm basis.

The request made under a Transmission Service Agreement through the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (hereinafter “SPP”) Open Access Same-Time Information System (hereinafter “OASIS”) for reservation of transmission capacity over a particular point-to-point delivery path for a particular period. The Customer must submit hourly schedules for actual service in addition to the Service Request.

The transmission and related facilities owned by Southwestern, and/or the generation, transmission, and related facilities owned by others, the capacity of which, by contract, is available to and utilized by Southwestern to satisfy its contractual obligations to the Customer.

A Service Request that has been approved by SPP.

Any force which is not within the control of the party affected, including, but not limited to failure of water supply, failure of facilities, flood, earthquake, storm, lightning, fire, epidemic, riot, civil disturbance, labor disturbance, sabotage, war, act of war, terrorist acts, or restraint by court of general jurisdiction, which by exercise of due diligence and foresight such party could not reasonably have been expected to avoid.

The capacity charge for Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service includes Secondary Transmission Service but does not include charges for Ancillary Services associated with actual schedules.

Capacity charges for Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service are applied to quantities reserved by contract under a Firm Transmission Service Agreement or in accordance with a Transmission Service Transaction.

A Customer, unless otherwise specified by contract, will be assessed capacity charges on the greatest of:

(1) the highest metered demand at any particular Point of Delivery during a particular month, rounded up to the nearest whole megawatt, or

(2) the highest metered demand recorded at such Point of Delivery during any of the previous 11 months, rounded up to the nearest whole megawatt, or

(3) the capacity reserved by contract; which shall be considered such Customer's reserved capacity.

Secondary Transmission Service for such Customer shall be limited during any month to the most recent metered demand on which that Customer is billed or to the capacity reserved by contract, whichever is greater.

Capacity charges for Non-Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Service are applied to quantities reserved under a Transmission Service Transaction, and do not include charges for Ancillary Services.

$10,869,400.

$905,800.

787,800 kilowatts.

$1.15 per kilowatt of Network Load (charge derived from $905,800 ÷ 787,800 kilowatts).

Network Integration Transmission Service is available only for deliveries of non-Federal power and energy, and is applied to the Customer utilizing such service exclusive of any deliveries of Federal power and energy. The capacity on which charges for any particular Customer utilizing this service is determined on the greatest of (1) the highest metered demand at any particular point of delivery during a particular month, rounded up to the nearest whole megawatt, or (2) the highest metered demand recorded at such point of delivery during any of the previous 11 months, rounded up to the nearest whole megawatt.

For a Customer taking Network Integration Transmission Service who is also taking delivery of Federal Power and Energy, the highest metered demand shall be determined by subtracting the energy scheduled for delivery of Federal Power and Energy for any hour from the metered demand for such hour.

Secondary transmission Service for a Customer shall be limited during any month to the most recent highest metered demand on which such Customer is billed. Charges for Ancillary Services shall also be assessed.

The SPP Open Access Transmission Tariff Network Integration Transmission Service Annual Revenue Requirement shall be based on the following formula which shall be calculated when a Customer transitions from a Service Agreement to an agreement for Network Integration Transmission Service under the SPP Open Access Transmission Tariff.

$1.15 per kilowatt.

Any Customer that requests an interconnection from Southwestern which, in Southwestern's sole judgment and at its sole option, does not provide commensurate benefits or compensation to Southwestern for the use of its facilities shall be assessed a capacity charge for Interconnection Facilities Service. For any month, charges for Interconnection Facilities Service shall be assessed on the greater of (1) that month's actual highest metered demand, or (2) the highest metered demand recorded during the previous eleven months, as metered at the interconnection. The use of Interconnection Facilities Service will be subject to power factor provisions as specified in this Rate Schedule. The interconnection customer shall also schedule and deliver Real Power Losses pursuant to the provisions of this Rate Schedule based on metered flow through the interconnection where Interconnection Facilities Services is assessed.

$0.86 per kilowatt will be assessed for capacity used to deliver energy at any point of delivery at which Southwestern provides transformation service for deliveries at voltages of 69 kilovolts or less from higher voltage facilities.

Unless otherwise specified by contract, for any particular month, a charge for transformation service will be assessed on the greater of (1) that month's highest metered demand, or (2) the highest metered demand recorded during the previous 11 months, at any point of delivery. For the purpose of this Rate Schedule, the highest metered demand will be based on all deliveries, of both Federal and non-Federal energy, from the System of Southwestern, at such point during such month.

Ancillary service charges are per kilowatt of transmission capacity reserved in increments of service or invoiced in accordance with a Long-Term Firm Transmission Service Agreement or Network Transmission Service Agreement. One ancillary service, Reactive Supply and Voltage Control from Generation Sources Service, is invoiced for Interconnection Facilities Service per kilowatt of capacity.

$0.0 per kilowatt for all reservation periods.

Scheduling, System Control, and Dispatch Service and Reactive Supply and Voltage Control from Generation Sources Service are available for all transmission services in and from the System of Southwestern and shall be provided by Southwestern. Reactive Supply and Voltage Control from Generation Sources Service is also provided for Interconnection Facilities Service.

Regulation and Frequency Response Service and Energy Imbalance Service are available only for deliveries of power and energy to load within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area, and shall be provided by Southwestern, unless, subject to Southwestern's approval, they are provided by others.

Spinning Operating Reserve Service and Supplemental Operating Reserve Service are available only for deliveries of power and energy generated by resources located within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area and shall be provided by Southwestern, unless, subject to Southwestern's approval, they are provided by others.

Charges for all Ancillary Services are applied to the transmission capacity reserved or network transmission service taken by the Customer in accordance with the rates listed above when such services are provided by Southwestern. Reactive Supply and Voltage Control from Generation Sources Service is applied to the Interconnection Facilities Service capacity.

The charges for Ancillary Services are considered to include Ancillary Services for any Secondary Transmission Service, except in cases where Ancillary Services identified in Sections 2.6.1.3 through 2.6.1.6 of this Rate Schedule are applicable to a Transmission Service Transaction of Secondary Transmission Service, but are not applicable to the transmission capacity reserved under which Secondary Transmission Service is provided. When charges for Ancillary Services are applicable to Secondary Transmission Service, the charge for the Ancillary Service shall be the hourly rate applied to all energy transmitted utilizing the Secondary Transmission Service.

Customers for which Ancillary Services identified in Sections 2.6.1.3 through 2.6.1.6 of this Rate Schedule are made available as specified above must inform Southwestern by written notice of the Ancillary Services which they do not intend to take and purchase from Southwestern, and of their election to provide all or part of such Ancillary Services from their own resources or from a third party. Such notice requirements also apply to requests for Southwestern to provide Ancillary Services when such services are available as specified above.

Subject to Southwestern's approval of the ability of such resources or third parties to meet Southwestern's technical and operational requirements for provision of such Ancillary Services, the Customer may change the Ancillary Services which it takes from Southwestern and/or from other sources at the beginning of any month upon the greater of 60 days written notice or upon the completion of any necessary equipment modifications necessary to accommodate such change; Provided, That, if the Customer chooses not to take Regulation and Frequency Response Service, which includes the associated Regulation Purchased Adder, the Customer must pursue these services from a different host Balancing Authority; thereby moving all metered loads and resources from Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area to the Balancing Authority Area of the new host Balancing Authority. Until such time as that meter reconfiguration is accomplished, the Customer will be charged for the Regulation and Frequency Response Service and applicable Adder then in effect. The Customer must notify Southwestern by July 1 of this choice, to be effective the subsequent calendar year.

The Regulation Purchased Adder during the time period of January 1 through December 31 of the current calendar year is based on the average annual use of energy from storage for Regulation and Frequency Response Service, based on Southwestern's studies, and Southwestern's estimated purchased power price for the corresponding year from the most currently approved Power Repayment Studies.

The replacement value of the estimated annual use of energy from storage for Regulation and Frequency Response Service shall be recovered by Customers located within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area on a non-coincident peak ratio share basis, divided into twelve equal monthly payments, in accordance with the formula in Section 2.6.5.2.

If the Regulation Purchased Adder is determined and applied under Southwestern's Rate Schedule P-23, then it shall not be applied here.

Unless otherwise specified by contract, the Regulation Purchased Adder for an individual Customer shall be based on the following formula rate, calculated to include the replacement value of the estimated annual use of energy from storage by Southwestern for Regulation and Frequency Response Service.

For Customers that have aggregated their load, resources, and scheduling into a single node by contract within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area, the individual Customer's respective Regulation Purchased Adder shall be that Customer's ratio share of the Regulation Purchased Adder established for the node. Such ratio share shall be determined for the Customer on a non-coincident basis and shall be calculated for the Customer from their highest metered load plus generation behind the meter.

Energy Imbalance Service is authorized for use only within a bandwidth of ± 1.5 percent of the actual requirements of the load at a particular point of delivery, for any hour, compared to the resources scheduled to meet such load during such hour. Deviations which are greater than ± 1.5 percent, but which are less than ± 2,000 kilowatts, are considered to be within the authorized bandwidth. Deviations outside the authorized bandwidth are subject to a Capacity Overrun Penalty.

Energy delivered or received within the authorized bandwidth for this service is accounted for as an inadvertent flow and will be netted against flows in the future. The inadvertent flow in any given hour will only be offset with the flows in the corresponding hour of a day in the same category. Unless otherwise specified by contract, the two categories of days are weekdays and weekend days/North American Electric Reliability Corporation holidays, and this process will result in a separate inadvertent accumulation for each hour of the two categories of days. The hourly accumulations in the current month will be added to the hourly inadvertent balances from the previous month, resulting in a month-end balance for each hour.

The Customer is required to adjust the scheduling of resources in such a way as to reduce the accumulation towards zero. It is recognized that the inadvertent hourly flows can be both negative and positive, and that offsetting flows should deter a significant accumulation of inadvertent. Unless otherwise specified by contract, in the event any hourly month-end balance exceeds 12 MWhs, the excess will be subject to Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this Rate Schedule, depending on the direction of the accumulation.

For each hour during which energy flows outside the authorized bandwidth, the Customer will be obliged to purchase such energy at the following rates:

Customers who receive deliveries within Southwestern's Balancing Authority Area are obligated to provide resources sufficient to meet their loads. Such obligation is not related to the amount of transmission capacity that such Customers may have reserved for transmission service to a particular load. In the event that a Customer underschedules its resources to serve its load, resulting in a difference between resources and actual metered load (adjusted for transformer losses as applicable) outside the authorized bandwidth for Energy Imbalance Service for any hour, then such Customer is subject to the Capacity Overrun Penalty.

In the event that a Customer schedules greater resources than are needed to serve its load, such that energy flows at rates beyond the authorized bandwidth for the use of Energy Imbalance Service, Southwestern retains such energy at no cost to Southwestern and with no obligation to return such energy.

Any Customer served from facilities owned by or available by contract to Southwestern will be required to maintain a power factor of not less than 95 percent and will be subject to the following provisions.

The power factor will be determined for all Demand Periods and shall be calculated under the formula:

The Customer shall be assessed a penalty for all Demand Periods of a month where the power factor is less than 95 percent lagging. For any Demand Period during a particular month such penalty shall be in accordance with the following formula:

If C is negative, then C = zero (0).

The Power Factor Penalty is applicable to radial interconnections with the System of Southwestern. The total Power Factor Penalty for any month shall be the sum of all charges “C” for all Demand Periods of such month. No penalty is assessed for leading power factor. Southwestern, in its sole judgment and at its sole option, may determine whether power factor calculations should be applied to (i) a single physical point of delivery, (ii) a combination of physical points of delivery where a Customer has a single, electrically integrated load, (iii) or interconnections. The general criteria for such decision shall be that, given the configuration of the Customer's and Southwestern's systems, Southwestern will determine, in its sole judgment and at its sole option, whether the power factor calculation more accurately assesses the detrimental impact on Southwestern's system when the above formula is calculated for a single physical point of delivery, a combination of physical points of delivery, or for an interconnection as specified by an Interconnection Agreement.

Southwestern, at its sole option, may reduce or waive Power Factor Penalties when, in Southwestern's sole judgment, low power factor conditions were not detrimental to the System of Southwestern due to particular loading and voltage conditions at the time the power factor dropped below 95 percent lagging.

Customers are required to self-provide all Real Power Losses for non-Federal energy transmitted by Southwestern on behalf of such Customers under the provisions detailed below.

Real Power Losses are computed as four (4) percent of the total amount of non-Federal energy transmitted by Southwestern. The Customer's monthly Real Power Losses are computed each month on a megawatt-hour basis as follows:

The Customer must schedule or cause to be scheduled to Southwestern, Real Power Losses for which it is responsible subject to the following conditions:

4.1.1. The Customer shall schedule and deliver Real Power Losses back to Southwestern during the second month after they were incurred by Southwestern in the transmission of the Customer's non-Federal power and energy over the System of Southwestern unless such Customer has accounted for Real Power Losses as part of a metering arrangement with Southwestern.

4.1.2. On or before the twentieth day of each month, Southwestern shall determine the amount of non-Federal loss energy it provided on behalf of the Customer during the previous month and provide a written schedule to the Customer setting forth hour-by-hour the quantities of non-Federal energy to be delivered to Southwestern as losses during the next month.

4.1.3. Real Power Losses not delivered to Southwestern by the Customer, according to the schedule provided, during the month in which such losses are due shall be billed by Southwestern to the Customer to adjust the end-of-month loss energy balance to zero (0) megawatt-hours and the Customer shall be obliged to purchase such energy at the following rates:

4.1.4. Real Power Losses delivered to Southwestern by the Customer in excess of the losses due during the month shall be purchased by Southwestern from the Customer at a rate per megawatt-hour equal to Southwestern's rate per megawatt-hour for Supplemental Peaking Energy, as set forth in Southwestern's then-effective Rate Schedule for Hydro Peaking Power to adjust such hourly end-of-month loss energy balance to zero (0) megawatt-hours.

During the period June 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, in accordance with interim approval from Rate Order No. SWPA-87 issued by the Administrator on April 23, 2025, and pursuant to final approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In the marketing area of Southwestern Power Administration (Southwestern), described generally as the States of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, furnished at such times and in such amounts as Southwestern determines to be available.

To entities which, by contract, may purchase Excess Energy from Southwestern.

Three-phase, alternating current, delivered at approximately 60 Hertz, at the nominal voltage(s) and at the point(s) of delivery specified by contract.

The charge for Excess Energy will be determined at the time of sale based on market rates, plus administrative costs. Transmission service for the delivery of Excess Energy shall be the sole responsibility of such customer purchasing Excess Energy.

The Bureau has suspension and debarment authority pursuant to 47 CFR 54.8 and 47 CFR 0.111(a)(14). Suspensions ensure that suspended parties cannot continue to benefit from the schools and libraries mechanism pending resolution of the debarment process. Attached is the suspension letter, DA 25-328, which was mailed to Mr. Klein and released on April 29, 2025. The complete text of the notice of suspension and initiation of debarment proceedings is available on the FCC's website at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-328A1.pdf.

The Bureau has suspension and debarment authority pursuant to 47 CFR 54.8 and 47 CFR 0.111(a)(14). Suspensions ensure that suspended parties cannot continue to benefit from the schools and libraries mechanism pending resolution of the debarment process. Attached is the suspension letter, DA 25-329, which was mailed to Mr. Schwartz and released on April 29, 2025. The complete text of the notice of suspension and initiation of debarment proceedings is available on the FCC's website at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-329A1.pdf .

The Bureau has suspension and debarment authority pursuant to 47 CFR 54.8 and 47 CFR 0.111(a)(14). Suspensions ensure that suspended parties cannot continue to benefit from the schools and libraries mechanism pending resolution of the debarment process. Attached is the suspension letter, DA 25-327, which was mailed to Mr. Melber and released on April 29, 2025. The complete text of the notice of suspension and initiation of debarment proceedings is on the FCC's website at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-327A1.pdf.

The Bureau has suspension and debarment authority pursuant to 47 CFR 54.8 and 47 CFR 0.111(a)(14). Suspensions ensure that suspended parties cannot continue to benefit from the schools and libraries mechanism pending resolution of the debarment process. Attached is the suspension letter, DA 25-330, which was mailed to Mr. Klein and released on April 29, 2025. The complete text of the notice of suspension and initiation of debarment proceedings is available on the FCC's website at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-330A1.pdf .

The Bureau has suspension and debarment authority pursuant to 47 CFR 54.8 and 47 CFR 0.111(a)(14). Suspensions ensure that suspended parties cannot continue to benefit from the schools and libraries mechanism pending resolution of the debarment process. Attached is the suspension letter, DA 25-331, which was mailed to Mr. Steinberg and released on May 29, 2025. The complete text of the notice of suspension and initiation of debarment proceedings is available on the FCC's website at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-331A1.pdf.

OMB Control Number: 3060-0938.

Title: Form 2100, Schedule 319—Low Power FM Station License Application.

Form Number: Form 2100, Schedule 319.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Not-for-profit institutions, State, local or Tribal Government.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 200 respondents and 200 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 1 hour.

Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement.

Total Annual Burden: 200 hours.

Total Annual Cost: $27,500.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in Sections 154(i), 303 and 308 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

Needs and Uses: FCC Form 2100, Schedule 319 (LPFM License Application) is used to apply for a new or modified low power FM (LPFM) broadcast station license in the current Media Bureau database system, the “Licensing Management System.” Specifically, it may be used: (1) to cover an authorized construction permit; (2) to replace a nondirectional antenna with a different type of nondirectional antenna with the same number of bays; (3) to replace the transmission line, which may require a change in the transmitter power output to maintain the licensed effective radiated power; (4) to change the hours of operation of a LPFM station authorized to operate pursuant to a time-share agreement; (5) to amend a pending license application; and (6) as otherwise ordered by staff.

OMB Control Number: 3060-0750.

Title: 47 CFR 73.671, Educational and Informational Programming for Children; 47 CFR 73.673, Public Information Initiatives Regarding Educational and informational Programming for Children.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 1,767 respondents; 1,123,812 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 0.017-0.084 hours.

Frequency of Response: Third-party disclosure requirements.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The statutory authority for this collection is contained in Sections 4(i), 303, and 336 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

Total Annual Burden: 57,463 hours.

Total Annual Cost: None.

Needs and Uses: On July 10, 2019, the Commission adopted a Report and Order in MB Docket Nos. 18-202 and 17-105, FCC 19-67, In the Matter of Children's Television Programming Rules; Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, which modernizes the children's television programming rules in light of changes to the media landscape that have occurred since the rules were first adopted. The Report and Order revises the following information collection requirements:

Pursuant to 47 CFR 73.671(c)(5), each commercial television broadcast station must identify programming as specifically designed to educate and inform children by the display on the television screen throughout the program of the symbol E/I. This requirement is intended to assist parents in identifying educational and informational programming for their children. Noncommercial television broadcast stations are no longer required to identify Core Programming by displaying the E/I symbol throughout the program.

Pursuant to 47 CFR 73.671(e), each television broadcast station that preempts an episode of a regularly scheduled weekly Core Program on its primary stream will be permitted to count the episode toward the Core Programming processing guidelines if it reschedules the episode on its primary stream in accordance with the requirements of 47 CFR 73.671(e). Similarly, each television broadcast station that preempts an episode of a regularly scheduled weekly Core Program on a multicast stream will be permitted to count the episode toward the Core Programming processing guidelines if it reschedules the episode on the multicast stream in accordance with the requirements of 47 CFR 73.671(e). Among other requirements, the station must make an on-air notification of the schedule change during the same time slot as the preempted episode. The on-air notification must include the alternate date and time when the program will air. This requirement will help to ensure that parents and children are able to locate the rescheduled program.

Pursuant to 47 CFR 73.673, each commercial television broadcast station licensee must provide information identifying programming specifically designed to educate and inform children to publishers of program guides. This requirement is intended to improve the information available to parents regarding programming specifically designed for children's educational and informational needs. Commercial television broadcast station licensees are no longer be required to provide program guide publishers an indication of the age group for which the programming is intended. The Report and Order finds that very few program guides include this information.

OMB Control Number: 3060-0316.

Title: 47 CFR 76.5, Definitions, 76.1700, Records to Be Maintained Locally by Cable System Operators; 76.1702, Equal Employment Opportunity; 76.1703, Commercial Records on Children's Programs; 76.1707, Leased Access; 76.1711, Emergency Alert System (EAS) Tests and Activation.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 3,000 respondents; 3,000 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 14 hours.

Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirements.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 301, 302, 302a, 303, 303a, 307, 308, 309, 312, 315, 317, 325, 338, 339, 340, 341, 503, 521, 522, 531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 562, 571, 572, 573.

Total Annual Burden: 42,000 hours.

Total Annual Cost: No cost.

Needs and Uses: The Commission is seeking Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the extension of a currently approved collection. The information collection requirements for this information collection are as follows: 47 CFR 76.1700 requires cable system operators to place the public inspection file materials required to be retained by the following rules in the online public file hosted by the Commission: Sections 76.1701 (political file); 76.1702 (EEO); 76.1703 (commercial records for children's programming); 76.1707 (leased access); 76.1709 (availability of signals); 76.1715 (sponsorship identification); and 76.630 (compatibility with consumer electronics equipment.

47 CFR 76.1700(b) requires cable system operators to make the records required to be retained by the following rules available to local franchising authorities: Sections 76.1704 (proof-of-performance test data) and 76.1713 (complaint resolution).

47 CFR 76.1700(c) requires cable system operators to make the records required to be retained by the following rules available to the Commission: Sections 76.1704 (proof-of-performance test data); 76.1706 (signal leakage logs and repair records); 76.1711 (emergency alert system and activations); 76.1713 (complaint resolution); and 76.1716 (subscriber records).

47 CFR 76.1700(d) exempts cable television systems having fewer than 1,000 subscribers from the online public file and the public inspection requirements contained in 47 CFR 76.1701 (political file); 76.1702 (equal employment opportunity); 76.1703 (commercial records for children's programming); 76.1704 (proof-of-performance test data); 76.1706 (signal leakage logs and repair records); and 76.1715 (sponsorship identifications).

47 CFR 76.1700(e) requires, for cable systems exempt from the online public file requirement, that public file material that continues to be retained at the system be retained in a public inspection file maintained at the office which the system operator maintains for the ordinary collection of subscriber charges, resolution of subscriber complaints, and other business or at any accessible place in the community served by the system unit(s) (such as a public registry for documents or an attorney's office). Public files must be available for public inspection during regular business hours.

47 CFR 76.1700(f) requires cable systems to provide a link to the public inspection file hosted on the Commission's website from the home page of its own website, if the system has a website, and provide contact information on its website for a system representative who can assist any person with disabilities with issues related to the content of the public files. A system also is required to include in the online public file the address of the system's local public file, if the system retains documents in the local file that are not available in the Commission's online file, and the name, phone number, and email address of the system's designated contact for questions about the public file. In addition, a system must provide on the online public file a list of the five digit ZIP codes served by the system.

47 CFR 76.1700(g) requires that cable operators make any material in the public inspection file that is not also available in the Commission's online file available for machine reproduction upon request made in person, provided the requesting party shall pay the reasonable cost of reproduction. Requests for machine copies must be fulfilled at a location specified by the system operator, within a reasonable period of time, which in no event shall be longer than seven days. The system operator is not required to honor requests made by mail but may do so if it chooses.

47 CFR 76.1702(a) requires that every employment unit with six or more full-time employees shall maintain for public inspection a file containing copies of all EEO program annual reports filed with the Commission and the equal employment opportunity program information described in 47 CFR 76.1702(b). These materials shall be placed in the Commission's online public inspection file for each cable system associated with the employment unit. These materials must be placed in the Commission's online public inspection file annually by the date that the unit's EEO program annual report is due to be filed and shall be retained for a period of five years. A headquarters employment unit file and a file containing a consolidated set of all documents pertaining to the other employment units of a multichannel video programming distributor that operates multiple units shall be maintained in the Commission's online public file for every cable system associated with the headquarters employment unit.

47 CFR 76.1702(b) requires that the following equal employment opportunity program information shall be included annually in the unit's public file, and on the unit's website, if it has one, at the time of the filing of its FCC Form 396-C: (1) A list of all full-time vacancies filled by the multichannel video programming distributor employment unit during the preceding year, identified by job title; (2) For each such vacancy, the recruitment source(s) utilized to fill the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to notification, which should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact person and telephone number; (3) The recruitment source that referred the hiree for each full-time vacancy during the preceding year; (4) Data reflecting the total number of persons interviewed for full-time vacancies during the preceding year and the total number of interviewees referred by each recruitment source utilized in connection with such vacancies; and (5) A list and brief description of the initiatives undertaken during the preceding year, if applicable.

47 CFR 76.1703 requires that cable operations airing children's programming must maintain records sufficient to verify compliance with 47 CFR 76.225 and make such records available to the public. Such records must be maintained for a period sufficient to cover the limitation period specified in 47 U.S.C. 503(b)(6)(B). Cable television operators must file their certifications of compliance with the commercial limits in children's programming annually within 30 days after the end of the calendar year.

47 CFR 76.1707 requires that if a cable operator adopts and enforces a written policy regarding indecent leased access programming pursuant to § 76.701, such a policy will be considered published pursuant to that rule by inclusion of the written policy in the operator's public inspection file.

47 CFR 76.1711 requires that records be kept of each test and activation of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) procedures pursuant to the requirements of 47 CFR part 11 and the EAS Operating Handbook. These records shall be kept for three years.

47 CFR 76.5 defines certain terms covered in the cable industry.

The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

OMB Control Number: 3060-1005.

Title: Numbering Resource Optimization—Phase 3.

Form Number: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit and State, Local, or Tribal Government.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 31 respondents; 211 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 25-40 hours.

Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement and third party disclosure requirement.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 153, 154, 201-205, 207-209, 218, 225-227, 251-252, 271, and 332.

Total Annual Burden: 5,290 hours.

Total Annual Cost: No cost.

Needs and Uses: The Commission established a safety valve to ensure that carriers experiencing rapid growth in a given market will be able to meet customer demand. States may use this safety valve to grant requests from carriers that demonstrate the following:

(1) The carrier will exhaust its numbering resources in a market or rate area within three months (in lieu of six months-to-exhaust requirement); and

(2) Projected growth is based on the carrier's actual growth in the market or rate area, or in the carrier's actual growth in a reasonably comparable market, but only if that projected growth varies no more than 15 percent from historical growth in the relevant market.

The Commission lifted the ban on service-specific and technology-specific overlays (collectively, specialized overlays or SOs), allowing state commissions seeking to implement SOs to request delegated authority to do so on a case-by-case basis. To provide further guidance to state commissions, the Commission set forth the criteria that each request for delegated authority to implement a SO should address. This will enable us to examine the feasibility of SOs in a particular area, and to determine whether the Commission's stated goals are likely to be met if the SO is implemented. Specifically, state commissions should also specifically address the following:

(1) The technologies or services to be included in the SO;

(2) The geographic area to be covered;

(3) Whether the SO will be transitional;

(4) When the SO will be implemented and, if a transitional SO is proposed, when the SO will become an all-services overlay;

(5) Whether the SO will include take-backs;

(6) Whether there will be 10-digit dialing in the SO and the underlying area code(s);

(7) Whether the SO and underlying area code(s) will be subject to rationing; and

(8) Whether the SO will cover an area in which pooling is taking place.

The Commission uses the information it collects to assist the state commissions in carrying out their delegated authority over numbering resources.

Description: ORR has undertaken a reorganization of its information collections to promote operational efficiency. The reorganization will result in more collections that contain fewer forms under a single OMB number. This information collection currently contains 22 unique forms (33 including alternative versions). Under the reorganization, ORR proposes to discontinue the use of 6 forms, transfer 10 forms to new information collections associated with Assessments and Home Studies/Post Release Services; and revisions to five existing forms.

The UAC Bureau is requesting to discontinue the use of 6 forms created for the case management system, the UC Path, which was never implemented. Except where indicated below, the UC Path versions of these forms contain features and/or logic not replicated in UAC Portal, and have never been used, thus maintaining these forms is unnecessary. These forms include:

• Long Term Foster Care Travel Request (Form S-14)—UC Path version only. UAC Bureau plans to revise and continue using the UAC Portal version

• Home Study/Post-Release Service (HS/PRS) Provider Entity (Form S-21A)

• Home Study/Post-Release Service (HS/PRS) Subcontractor Entity (Form S-21B)

• Home Study/Post-Release Service (HS/PRS) Primary Provider Profile (Form S-21C)

• Home Study/Post-Release Service (HS/PRS) Subcontractor Profile (Form S-21D)

• Sponsor Application (Form S-24)

Additionally, the following forms currently approved under this collection will be transferred to two new information collections proposed separately. The proposed new collections will encompass forms pertaining to Assessments and HS/PRS. These forms include:

• Assessments Information Collection

○ Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5)

○ Adult Contact Profile (Form S-7)

○ Initial Intakes Assessment (Form S-8)

○ Assessment for Risk (Form S-9)

○ UAC Assessment (Form S-11)

○ UAC Case Review (Form S-12)

○ Individual Service Plan (Form S-13)

• Home Study/Post-Release Services Information Collection

○ Home Study Assessment (Form S-6)

○ Post-Release Service (PRS) Referral (Form S-19)

○ Home Study Referral (Form S-26)

○ Post-Release Service (PRS) Report (Form S-22)

Finally, the UAC Bureau plans to keep the following forms in this information collection and make revisions as noted below. These forms are completed by foster parents or case managers or clinicians at care provider facilities to request approval for a child to travel outside the local community with their foster parent; to update the child's biographic information and admit them into the program; to authorize and document the child's contact with others outside the program; to document outreach performed on the child's behalf by care providers; and to capture high-level milestones in the child's case. These forms are documentary in nature and a critical component of the child's case file. ORR-funded care providers must always remain compliant with ORR and state licensing requirements per the Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule 45 CFR 410.1302(a); proposed revisions that remove or simplify form fields attesting to or documenting program compliance do not exempt programs from satisfying these requirements. The following revisions are currently proposed for each form:

• Foster Care Travel Request (Form S-14):

○ Remove “Long-term” from the form's title to clarify this form may be used for children in all foster care settings.

○ Add “physical location of the child” filed to the UAC Basic Information section, consistent with changes made to the UAC Case Status (S-27) form; this field will auto-populate data from the “UAC Portal Discharge Tab.

○ Clarify that the name of the individual with whom the child is traveling must be an adult.

○ Remove Personal Vehicle information section from the form to align UAC travel request data collection with domestic child welfare practices;

○ Add Health Safety Travel Plan section to the form to document how the child's health condition, if applicable, may be effectively managed while traveling with their foster family, and plan for how the foster family will handle any health-related emergencies which may occur during travel.

○ Simplify the Travel Request Approval section by removing the following fields:

Reason Travel Request is being submitted to ORR/DCS for approval:

Is the travel request in accordance with state guidelines?

Purpose of travel and trip summary:

Are there any identified safety concerns in this child's background?

Is there any indication of flight risk

○ Add a summary approval field with an open text comment space for approving officials to document their rationale for approval or denial.

○ Adjust the burden estimate to account for an increase in the number of care provider facilities completing the form as the form is now used for children in all foster care settings, not just long-term foster care; a decrease in the number of children placed in ORR care; and to reflect a decrease in the overall number of fields the respondent will need to complete. The annual number of respondents increased from 30 to 138, the annual number of responses per respondent increased from 8 to 108; and the average burden hours per response decreased from 0.33 hours to 0.25 hours.

• Admission (Form S-18):

○ Add “physical location of the child” filed to the UAC Basic Information section, consistent with changes made to the UAC Case Status (Form S-27) form; this field will auto-populate data from the UAC Portal Discharge Tab.

○ Adjust the burden estimate to account for an increase in the number of care provider facilities and number of children placed in ORR care. The annual number of respondents increased from 216 to 300 and the annual number of responses per respondent decreased from 278 to 217.

• UAC Authorized/Restricted Call List and Call Log (Form S-20):

○ Add “Call Supervision Required?” field to the Authorized Contacts List; content will auto-populate on the call logs display tab and reference the corresponding field in the Family/Friend contact profile. When entering this data, respondents will select from a “Yes/No” dropdown menu to indicate if contact between the child and named individual must be supervised by care provider staff.

○ Add the following fields to the UAC Call Log to support data tracking related to UAC Bureau Policy Guide Section 3.3.10 Calls, Visitation, Mail and Email:

“Call Duration” with an open text field for the care provider staff to document the length of the call

“Supervision Required?”, which will auto-populate “Yes” or “No” based on the corresponding field in the contact profile.

“Supervised By: ” with an open text field for the care provider to identify which staff member supervised the call.

Call Method with dropdown options to specify if the contact was made by phone or video call.

○ Adjust the burden estimate to account for an increase in the number of care provider facilities, a decrease in the number of children placed in ORR care, as well as revisions to policies on phone calls in UAC Bureau Policy Guide Section 3.3.10-Calls, Visitation, Mail and Email as they impact form requirements. The annual number of respondents increased from 216 to 300, and the annual number of responses per respondent decreased from 6,981 to 217.

• Case Manager Call Log and Case Notes (Form S-23):

○ Adjust the burden estimate to account for an increase in the number of care provider facilities, and a decrease in the number of children placed in ORR care. The annual number of respondents increased from 216 to 300, and the annual number of responses per respondent decreased from 8,426 to 217.

• UAC Case Status (Form S-27):

○ Assigned a tracking number to the form (S-27).

○ Add “Physical Location of the Child” Field to the UAC Basic Information Section. This will auto-populate with data sourced from the UAC Portal Discharge Tab, presented as an appendix to the form.

○ Add “Concurrent Planning: Additional Potential Sponsors” segment to Family Reunification Section with the following fields (which will auto-populate from the Sponsor Assessment (Form S-5, currently approved under this information collection):

Potential Sponsor Name

Relationship to Child

Sponsor Category

○ Split the “Know Your Rights Presentation and Legal Screening” into two distinct fields to capture the completion date for each more accurately, acknowledging that they typically are not completed on the same day.

○ Add “Back-Up Case Manager” segment to Case Manager Information Section to designate an alternative Case Manager who may take actions on behalf of the primary Case Manager when they are unavailable. The corresponding fields mirror those for primary case manager and will either be system-generated or auto-populate with user account data already entered the system. The fields include:

Back-up Case Manager Name

Back-up Case Manager Email Address

Back-up Case Manager Phone Number

Back-up Case Manager Organization

Assigned on (MM/DD/YYYY)

○ Adjust the burden estimate to account for an increase in the number of care provider facilities, a decrease in the number of children placed in ORR care, as well as the addition of the above listed new segments and fields. The annual number of respondents increased from 216 to 300; the annual number of responses per respondent decreased from 278 to 217; and the average burden hours per response increased from 0.08 hours to 0.25 hours.

Respondents: ORR grantee and contractor staff.

Annual Burden Estimates:

Authority: 6 U.S.C. 279; 8 U.S.C. 1232.

The ORR UC Bureau is proposing a new form, the Individualized Section 504 Service Plan (Form S-25). The proposed information collection is necessary to allow the ORR UC Bureau to comply with a court order and improve service delivery for unaccompanied children identified as having a disability. On June 29, 2018, Plaintiffs filed their federal class action lawsuit in the Central District of California, western division, captioned Lucas R. et al. v. Becerra et al. (Case No. 2:18-CV-05741 DMG PLA), asserting claims under the Flores Consent Decree, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the Due Process clause, and the First Amendment. Plaintiffs allege violation of unaccompanied children rights in decisions regarding family reunification, placement in restrictive facilities, services for children with disabilities, administration of psychotropic medication, and access to legal assistance. On May 3, 2024, the Court granted final approval for the settlement agreements of the Plaintiffs' claims for disabilities, psychotropic medication, and legal assistance. As part of the settlement agreement for the disabilities claim, ORR is required to develop and implement individualized Section 504 service plans for any child identified as having a disability. The disabilities settlement agreement must be fully implemented by May 3, 2025.

Description: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides letters of certification to victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons under the authority of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, as amended 22 U.S.C. 7105(b)(1)(C) and (E). HHS delegated this authority to OTIP. Certification is required for adult victims of human trafficking in the U.S. to apply for federally funded benefits and services.

OTIP developed The Request for Certification of Adult Victims of Human Trafficking (RFC) form for potential victims and their advocates, including case managers, attorneys, law enforcement officers, service providers, and other representatives to provide the required information for certification to HHS in accordance with the TVPA of 2000, as amended.

Since the RFC form originally received clearance, OTIP modernized its request process and launched Shepherd, an online case management system, to process requests for certification and assistance. The PDF version of the form should only be used in exceptional circumstances when the online case management system is inaccessible. If a requester encounters issues submitting a request through Shepherd, they may submit the RFC form to OTIP as a password protected PDF to Trafficking@acf.hhs.gov.

The form asks the requester for their identifying information, identifying information for the individual who experienced trafficking victimization in the event the form is submitted by a case manager, and information describing the victim's case management service needs.

Respondents: Potential victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons and their advocates, including case managers, attorneys, law enforcement officers, service providers, and other representatives.

Annual Burden Estimates: The fluctuation in certification letters issued by HHS primarily reflects changing patterns in law enforcement investigations and the number of T visas and Continued Presence status issued by the Department of Homeland Security. Burden estimates have been calculated based on the average number of RFCs received and certification letters issued over the last two periods that the information collection has been in effect (fiscal year 2019 to 2024). Over the course of this time, OTIP has received approximately 8-12 RFCs per week (416-624 RFCs per year) and issued an average of 525 certification letters per year. The time to complete the RFC remains the same. Burden estimates for this collection have been revised, accordingly.

Description: The ACF-801 provides monthly case-level data on the children and families receiving direct child care services under CCDF. The ACF-801 case-level data are reported either monthly or quarterly. New instructions for reporting race and ethnicity will provide improved data quality and uniformity of information collected that is consistent with OMB guidance.

Respondents: State and Territory Lead Agencies.

ACF has increased its burden estimate from the level contained in a prior Federal Register notice (dated November 5, 2024) to fully account for estimated administrative burden.

Authority: Section 658K of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9857 et seq. ); regulations 45 CFR 98.70 and 98.71.

Description: OCS administers LIHEAP at the federal level. The LIHEAP Performance Data Form ( LPDF ) is an annual report in response to Section 2610(b) of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 [42 U.S.C. 8629(b)] (LIHEAP statute), which requires the Secretary of HHS to submit, no later than June 30 of each federal fiscal year, a report to Congress on the impact of LIHEAP on recipient and eligible households for the prior federal fiscal year. The completeness, accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of responses to data collections are needed for HHS to do the following:

• Provide reliable and complete fiscal and household data to Congress in the Department's LIHEAP Report to Congress for the federal fiscal year; and

• Respond to questions from the Congress, Department, OMB, White House, and other interested parties in a timely manner; and

• Report LIHEAP performance results as part of the Administration's annual Congressional Justification.

In response to the 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program—Greater Fraud Prevention Controls are Needed (GAO-10-621), and in consideration of the recommendations issued by the LIHEAP Performance Measures Implementation Work Group, OCS required the collection and reporting of these performance measures by state LIHEAP grant recipients, including the District of Columbia. The original LDPF was approved by OMB in November 2014 and has been in use since. The LPDF provides for the collection of data on state grant recipients' sources and uses of LIHEAP funds, including average benefit amounts, as well as data for the following developmental LIHEAP performance measures:

1. The benefit targeting index for high burden households receiving LIHEAP fuel assistance;

2. The burden reduction targeting index for high burden households receiving LIHEAP fuel assistance;

3. The number of households where LIHEAP prevented a potential home energy crisis; and

4. The number of households where LIHEAP benefits restored home energy.

All state LIHEAP grant recipients, including the District of Columbia, are required to complete the LPDF on an annual basis through ACF's web-based data collection and reporting system, the Online Data Collection, which is available at the GrantSolutions homepage ( https://home.grantsolutions.gov/home ). The reporting requirements will be described through the LIHEAP Forms and Funding Applications page ( https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/form/liheap-forms-and-funding-applications ) of ACF's website.

This request will (1) continue approval to collect information using the currently approved version of the LPDF through June 30, 2025; and (2) incorporate changes to the LPDF designed to collect performance data on the impacts of supplemental federal LIHEAP funds and to improve form fields and language. The changes proposed would go into effect in July 2025 and consist of (1) changing the name of Module 1 of the form from “Grantee Survey” to “Grant Recipient Survey”; (2) adding an item for reporting carryover of Residential Energy Assistance Challenge (REACH) funds to the following FY; (3) adding an item for reporting non-administrative information technology enhancements; (4) removing maximum income cutoffs from funding uses; (5) replacement of sources and uses of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) [Pub. L. 116-136] funds and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) [Pub. L. 117-2] funds with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) [Pub. L. 117-58] funds; and (6) minor wording and structural changes.

Module 1 of the LPDF will continue to require the following data from each state for the federal fiscal year:

• Grant recipient information.

• Sources and uses of LIHEAP funds, by funding type.

• Average LIHEAP household benefits, by funding type.

Modules 2, 2A, and 2B of the LPDF will continue to require the following data from each state for the federal fiscal year:

• Grant recipient information;

• Energy burden targeting;

• Restoration of home energy service; and

• Prevention of loss of home energy.

Modules 2, 2A, and 2B require reporting on households that received benefits from, respectively, non-supplemental funds, CARES Act funds, and ARPA funds.

Module 3 of the LIHEAP LPDF will continue to voluntarily collect the following additional information from each interested grant recipient for the federal fiscal year:

• Average annual energy usage;

• Unduplicated number of households using supplemental heating fuel and air conditioning;

• Unduplicated number of households that had restoration of home energy service, and

• Unduplicated number of households that had prevention of loss of home energy.

LIHEAP grant recipients will be able to compare their own results to the results for other states, as well as to regional and national results, through the Data Warehouse of the LIHEAP Performance Management website as they manage their programs.

ACF published a Federal Register notice on December 2, 2024 soliciting 60 days of public comment on this request, including the minor revisions to go into effect in 2025. ACF received no comments on this notice.

Respondents: State governments, including the District of Columbia; the largest five electricity and natural gas vendors by state; the largest ten fuel oil and propane vendors by state; and the states' sub-recipients.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 23,253.6.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 8629(b).

Under 45 CFR 162.940, an organization may request an exception from the use of a HIPAA standard to test a proposed modification to that standard. The purpose of the exception is to test how the proposed modification would be a significant improvement to the current standard. In its request, the requestor must explain how the proposed exception would do all the following:

• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system by leading to cost reductions for, or improvements in benefits from, electronic health care transactions.

• Meet the needs of the health data standards user community, particularly health care providers, health plans, and health care clearinghouses.

• Be uniform and consistent with the other standards adopted under 45 CFR part 162 (HIPAA Administrative Simplification) and, as appropriate, with other private and public sector health data standards.

• Have low additional development and implementation costs relative to the benefits of using the standard.

• Be supported by an ANSI-accredited SSO or other private or public organization that would maintain the standard over time.

• Have timely development, testing, implementation, and updating procedures to achieve administrative simplification benefits faster.

• Be technologically independent of the computer platforms and transmission protocols used in electronic health transactions, unless they are explicitly part of the standard.

• Be precise, unambiguous, and as simple as possible.

• Result in minimum data collection and paperwork burdens on users.

• Incorporate flexibility to adapt more easily to changes in the health care infrastructure (such as new services, organizations, and provider types) and information technology.

Additional information about the exception request and approval process can be found at: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/guidance-letter-exception-process.pdf.

Inquiries regarding the exception request and approval process can be sent to: AdministrativeSimplificationException@cms.hhs.gov.

On March 10, 2021, Health Level Seven (HL7) International Da Vinci Project (Da Vinci) submitted a request for an exception from the requirements to use the HIPAA-adopted standards for referral certification and authorization (PA) transactions (X12N 278 Version 5010) and eligibility for a health plan (eligibility) transactions (X12N 270/271 Version 5010), at 45 CFR 162.1302(c) and 162.1202(c), respectively. Specifically, HL7 requested that the exception apply to Da Vinci member organizations designated as payers  1 and their trading partners to allow them to use the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Prior Authorization Support (PAS) Implementation Guide (IG) in conjunction with the HL7 FHIR Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD) IG to determine if prior authorization (PA) is required, and for performing Payer Side PA based on the FHIR standards. These alternative standards reference the use of the HL7 Documentation Templates and Rules (DTR) IG.

In evaluating the request for the exception, we considered the following criteria, specified at 45 CFR 162.940(b): (1) whether the proposed modification represented a significant improvement to the current standard; (2) the extent and length of time of the exception; (3) consultations with designated standards maintenance organizations (DSMOs).

We notified HL7 that its exception request was approved on April 20, 2021, and provided details on the conditions for the approved exception, as required under 45 CFR 162.940(c)(1). The HIPAA exception allowed for Da Vinci member organizations designated as payers and their trading partners to use alternative HL7 FHIR standards to support prior authorization and eligibility transactions (for the CRD IG) without enforcement actions until April 14, 2024. The permitted alternative HL7 FHIR standards were as follows:

• HL7 FHIR PAS IG.

• HL7 FHIR CRD IG to determine if PA is required, and for performing Payer Side PA based on the FHIR standards.

The exception permitted Da Vinci to use the HL7 FHIR Prior Authorization Support (PAS) Implementation Guide (IG) and the HL7 FHIR Coverage Requirements Discovery (CRD) IG to determine if PA is required, and for performing Payer Side PA based on the FHIR standards instead of the HIPAA-adopted standards for referral certification and authorization (prior authorization) transactions (X12N 278 Version 5010) and eligibility for a health plan (eligibility) transactions (X12N 270/271 Version 5010), as required by 45 CFR 162.1302(c) and 162.1202(c), respectively.

An organization that receives an exception under 45 CFR 162.940 must submit to the National Standards Group (NSG) a report of its results, including a cost-benefit analysis, within 90 days after completing the test. 2 Our approval letter specified that a report of the test results must be submitted to us by July 14, 2024, which was provided on June 25, 2024. Our approval letter for the exception request and the Da Vinci test results report are available at: https://confluence.hl7.org/display/DVP/Da+Vinci+HIPAA+Exception.

This document does not impose information collection requirements, that is, reporting, recordkeeping or third-party disclosure requirements. Consequently, there is no need for review by the Office Management and Budget under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

On January 17, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard published a request in the Federal Register (90 FR 5923) soliciting applications for persons interested in membership on the National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee to represent entities engaged in offshore oil exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf adjacent to Alaska. The U.S. Coast Guard is re-soliciting applications for this representative position.

The National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee is a Federal advisory committee. The Committee operates under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. ch. 10 and 46 U.S.C. 15109.

The Committee was established on December 4, 2018, by section 601 of the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, Public Law 115-282, 132 Stat. 4192 and amended by section 8331 of the Elijah E. Cummings Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2020, Public Law 116 283, and is codified in 46 U.S.C. 15106.

The Committee will advise the Secretary of Homeland Security on matters relating to activities directly involved with, or in support of, the exploration of offshore mineral and energy resources, to the extent that such matters are within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Committee is required to meet at least once a year in accordance with 46 U.S.C. 15109(a). We expect the Committee to meet at least twice a year, but it may meet more frequently. The meetings are generally held in cities that have high concentrations of maritime personnel and related marine industry businesses.

All members serve at their own expense and receive no salary or other compensation from the Federal Government.

Under the provisions in 46 U.S.C. 15109(f)(6), if you are appointed as a member of the Committee, your membership term will expire on December 31 of the third full year after the effective date of your appointment. The Secretary may require an individual to have passed an appropriate security background examination before appointment to the Committee, 46 U.S.C. 15109(f)(4).

In this re-solicitation for a Committee member, we will consider applications for one position representing entities engaged in offshore oil exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf adjacent to Alaska. The member who fills the position will be appointed to represent the interest as described above. As a representative, the member is expected to represent and speak on behalf of interests, views, or perspectives of a recognizable group of persons or class of stakeholders.

If you are appointed as a member of the Committee, you will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement and a Gratuitous Services Agreement.

If you are interested in applying to become a member of the Committee, email your complete application to Justin.P.Goff@uscg.mil as provided in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

The U.S. Coast Guard will not consider incomplete or late applications.

Purpose: To obtain qualified applicants to fill one vacancy on the National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee. When you apply for appointment to the DHS' National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee, DHS collects your name, contact information, and any other personal information that you submit in conjunction with your application. DHS will use this information to evaluate your candidacy for Committee membership. If you are chosen to serve as a Committee member, your name will appear in publicly available Committee documents, membership lists, and Committee reports.

Authorities: 5 U.S.C. ch. 10; 46 U.S.C. 15106 and 15109; and Department of Homeland Security Delegation No. 00915.

Routine Uses: Authorized U.S. Coast Guard personnel will use this information to consider and obtain qualified candidates to serve on the Committee. Any external disclosures of information within this record will be made in accordance with DHS/ALL-009, Department of Homeland Security Advisory Committee (73 FR 57639, October 3, 2008).

Consequences of Failure to Provide Information: Furnishing this information is voluntary. However, failure to furnish the requested information may result in your application not being considered for the Committee.

The United States is signatory to the International Maritime Organization's International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), as amended. The special construction or purpose of some vessels makes them unable to comply with the light, shape, or sound signal provisions of the 72 COLREGS. Under statutory law, however, specified 72 COLREGS provisions are not applicable to a vessel of special construction or purpose if the Coast Guard determines that the vessel cannot comply fully with those requirements without interfering with the special function of the vessel. 1

The owner, builder, operator, or agent of a special construction or purpose vessel may apply to the Coast Guard District Office in which the vessel is being built or operated for a determination that compliance with alternative requirements is justified, 2 and the Chief of the Prevention Division would then issue the applicant a certificate of alternative compliance (COAC) if he or she determines that the vessel cannot comply fully with 72 COLREGS light, shape, and sound signal provisions without interference with the vessel's special function. 3 If the Coast Guard issues a COAC, it must publish notice of this action in the Federal Register . 4

The Chief of Prevention Division, Seventh District, U.S. Coast Guard, certifies that the M/V LA BORINQUENA (O.N. 1345507) is a vessel of special construction or purpose, and that, with respect to the positions of the forward and aft masthead lights, it is not possible to comply fully with the requirements of the provisions enumerated in the 72 COLREGS, without interfering with the normal operation, construction, or design of the vessel's car deck. The Chief of Prevention Division, Seventh District, U.S. Coast Guard, further finds and certifies that the lights are configured in closest possible compliance with the applicable provisions of the 72 COLREGS. 5

This notice is issued under authority of 33 U.S.C. 1605(c) and 33 CFR 81.18.

TSA published a Federal Register notice, with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments, of the following collection of information on December 12, 2024, 89 FR 100518. TSA did not receive any comments on the notice.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. ), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The ICR documentation will be available at https://www.reginfo.gov upon its submission to OMB. Therefore, in preparation for OMB review and approval of the following information collection, TSA is soliciting comments to—

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed information requirement is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden;

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including using appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Title: Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC®) Program.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

OMB Control Number: 1652-0047.

Forms(s): TWIC® Disclosure and Certification Form, TWIC® Pre-Enrollment Application, TWIC® Enrollment Application, TWIC® Card Replacement Request, and TWIC® Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Affected Public: Individuals seeking or requiring unescorted access to secure areas within the TSA's national and transportation security mission or facilities and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-295 (Nov. 25, 2002; sec. 102), other authorized individuals in the field of transportation, and all mariners holding U.S. Coast Guard-issued credentials or qualification documents.

Abstract: The data collected will be used for processing TWIC enrollments as well as to allow expanded enrollment options for additional comparability or eligibility determinations for other programs, such as the Hazardous Materials Endorsement Threat Assessment Program. Individuals in the field of transportation who are authorized to apply for a TWIC for use as part of other government programs, may apply for a TWIC and undergo the associated STA. The data is used to conduct a comprehensive STA that includes: (1) a criminal history records check; (2) a check of intelligence databases; and (3) an immigration status check. TSA may also use the information to determine a TWIC holder's eligibility to participate in TSA's expedited screening program for air travel, the TSA PreCheck® Application Program. Active (unexpired) TWIC holders who meet the eligibility requirements for TSA PreCheck may use their TWIC card's Credential Identification Number in the appropriate known traveler number field of an airline reservation to obtain expedited screening eligibility.

At the enrollment center, applicants verify their biographic information and provide identity documentation, biometric information, and proof of immigration status (if required). This information allows TSA to complete the STA. During enrollment, TSA collects from applicants a $124.00 fee for standard enrollment. If TSA determines that the applicant is eligible to receive a TWIC as a result of the STA, TSA issues and sends an activated TWIC card to the address provided by the applicant or notifies the applicant that their TWIC is ready for pick up and activation at an enrollment center. Once activated, this credential can be used for facility and vessel access control requirements to include card authentication, card validation, and identity verification. In the event of a lost, damaged or stolen credential, the cardholder must notify TSA immediately and may request a replacement card online, via telephone, or from an enrollment center for a $60.00 fee.

TSA has identified several situations where an individual may be charged a reduced fee. First, if TSA determines an individual has already completed a comparable STA through other governmental agencies, such as the TSA Hazardous Materials Endorsement program and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Free and Secure Trade Program, the individual is eligible for a reduced fee of $93.00.

Second, under section 809 of the United States Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, certain Merchant Mariners are not required to obtain a credential when they apply for their TWIC STA. If a mariner opts to not receive a TWIC card, TSA may reduce the TWIC fee to reflect only the enrollment and vetting segments of the fee, resulting in a fee reduction of $25.75.

Third, TWIC applicants who previously maintained an active TWIC STA may be eligible to renew online. Approximately 60 percent of active TWIC cardholders enroll for a new TWIC after their STA expires 5 years from the date of issuance. Online TWIC renewals reduce the applicant cost and hour burden by permitting eligible applicants to obtain a new TWIC without enrolling in-person at a TSA enrollment center. Additionally, TSA mitigates certain security risks associated with online renewals by enrolling current TWIC cardholders in recurrent vetting services, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Rap Back Service. The renewal fee for TWIC online renewals is $116.00 compared to the in person renewal fee of $124.00.

TSA invites all TWIC applicants to complete an optional survey to gather information on the applicants' overall customer satisfaction with the enrollment process. This optional survey is administered following the enrollment process, including the new online renewals, and the process to activate the TWIC, where applicable. The results from these surveys are compiled to produce reports that are reviewed by the enrollment services provider and TSA.

Number of Annual Respondents: 705,038. 1

Estimated Annual Burden Hours: An estimated 510,471 hours annually.

Estimated Annual Cost: $78,706,109.

This notice informs the public that HUD is seeking approval from OMB for the information collection described in Section A.

Title of Information Collection: Legal Instructions Concerning Applications for Full Insurance Benefits—Assignment of Multifamily and Healthcare Mortgages to the Secretary (the “Legal Instructions”).

OMB Approval Number: 2510-0006.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Form Number: HUD form 2510.

Description of the need for the information and proposed use: Mortgagees of FHA-insured mortgages may receive mortgage insurance benefits upon assignment of mortgages to the Secretary. In connection with the assignment, legal documents ( e.g., mortgage, mortgage note, security agreement, title insurance policy) must be submitted to HUD. The instructions contained in the Legal Instructions describe the documents to be submitted and the procedures for submission.

The Legal Instructions, in its current form and structure, can be found at https://www.hud.gov/stat/ogc-legal-instructions-full-insurance-benefits.

HUD proposes to revise this document with clarifying changes and updates to reflect current HUD requirements and policies, including requiring electronic submission for legal review, as well as current practices in real estate, title insurance, hazard insurance and mortgage financing transactions. Requiring electronic submission reflects the current practices and preferences of respondents. Since HUD began accepting electronic submission, HUD has not received any physical submissions from respondents.

In addition, sample documents reflecting existing HUD requirements and policies are being provided to assist with compliance with the Legal Instructions.

Agency form numbers, if applicable: HUD form 2510.

Members of affected public: FHA-approved Mortgagees and their counsel who have or will have multifamily rental or healthcare loans.

Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the information collection including number of respondents, frequency of response, and hours of response:

This notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and affected parties concerning the collection of information described in Section A on the following:

(1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information;

(3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;

(4) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond; including through the use of appropriate automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., requiring electronic submission of responses or revising the physical documentation requirements for electronically filed or issued response; and

(5) Whether any updates may be made to replace the existing formal legal language with plain language in the sample assignment documents of the proposed collection of information.

HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to these questions.

12 U.S.C. 1701z-1 Research and Demonstrations.

The purpose of the meeting of the Committee is to evaluate nominations of historic properties in order to advise the Board of the qualifications of each property being proposed for National Historic Landmark designation, and to make recommendations regarding the possible designation of those properties as National Historic Landmarks to the Board at a future meeting. The Committee also makes recommendations to the Board regarding amendments to existing designations and proposals for withdrawal of designation. The members of the Committee are:

Request for Accommodations: Please make requests in advance for sign language interpreter services, assistive listening devices, language translation services, or other reasonable accommodations. We ask that you contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice at least seven (7) business days prior to the meeting to give the Department of the Interior sufficient time to process your request. All reasonable accommodation requests are managed on a case-by-case basis.

The meeting will be open to the public. Pursuant to 36 CFR part 65, any member of the public may file, for consideration by the Committee, written comments concerning the National Historic Landmark nominations, amendments to existing designations, or proposals for withdrawal of designation.

Comments should be submitted to Sherry A. Frear, Chief, National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Mail Stop 2013, Washington, DC 20240, or email to nhl_info@nps.gov. All comments received will be provided to the Committee and the Board.

Purpose of the Meeting: The Board and its Committee may consider the following nominations:

Proposed Amendments to Existing Designations:

Public Disclosure of Comments: Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Authority: 36 CFR 65.5.

Even if an entity does not appear on the above list, BOEM may disqualify and reject certain joint or single bids submitted by an entity if that entity is chargeable for the prior production period with an average daily production in excess of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. See 30 CFR 556.512.

The Commission instituted the above-captioned investigation on December 6, 2023, based on a complaint filed by complainants Nokia Technologies Oy and Nokia Corporation, both of Espoo, Finland (“Nokia”). 88 FR 84830-31 (Dec. 6, 2023). The complaint, as supplemented, alleges a violation of section 337 based upon the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain video capable electronic devices, including computers, streaming devices, televisions, and components and modules thereof by reason of the infringement of claims 6-9, 11, 15, 21, and 23 of U.S. Patent No. 7,724,818 (“the '818 patent”); claims 1-30 of U.S. Patent Nos. 10,536,714 (“the '714 patent”); claims 1-36 of U.S. Patent No. 11,805,267 (“the '267 patent”); claims 1, 5, 6, 8-13, 17, 18, 20-24, 26, 29-33, 35, and 38 of U.S. Patent No. 8,077,991 (“the '991 patent”); and claims 8-11 of U.S. Patent No. 8,050,321 (“the '321 patent”). Id. at 84830. The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists. Id. The notice of investigation names as respondents HP, Inc. of Palo Alto, California (“HP”), and Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC, both of Seattle, Washington (“Amazon”). Id. The Office of Unfair Import Investigations (“OUII”) is participating in the investigation for the purposes of the public interest only. Id. at 84831.

The Commission terminated the investigation based on a partial withdrawal of the complaint with respect to claims 7, 11, 21, and 23 of the '818 patent; claims 1-22, and 24-30 of the '714 patent; claims 1-24, and 28-36 of the '267 patent; claims 1, 5-6, 8-9, 10-13, 17, 18, 20-21, 23-24, 26, 30, 32, 33, and 35 of the '991 patent; and claims 9 and 11 of the '321 patent. Order No. 19 (Feb. 14, 2024), unreviewed by Comm'n Notice (Mar. 8, 2024) (terminating the investigation with respect to claim 23 of the '818 patent); Order No. 42 (Sept. 3, 2024), unreviewed by Comm'n Notice (Sept. 17, 2024) (terminating the investigation with respect to claims 11 and 21 of the '818 patent; claims 1-14, 16-22, and 24-30 of the '714 patent; claims 1-6, 10-24, and 28-36 of the '267 patent; claims 1, 5-6, 8-9, 10-13, 17, 18, 20-21, 23-24, 26, 30, 32, 33, and 35 of the '991 patent and claims 9 and 11 of the '321 patent); Order No. 46 (Sept. 17, 2024), unreviewed by Comm'n Notice (Oct. 1, 2024) (terminating the investigation with respect to claim 7 of the '818 patent); Order No. 48 (Nov. 25, 2024), unreviewed by Comm'n Notice (Dec. 10, 2024) (terminating the investigation with respect to claim 15 of the '714 patent and claims 7-9 of the '267 patent). Accordingly, at the time of the Final ID, the asserted claims consisted of: claims 6, 8, 9 and 15 of the '818 patent; claims 8 and 10 of the '321 patent; claims 22, 29, 31, and 38 of the '991 patent; claims 15 and 23 of the '714 patent; and claims 7-9 and 25-27 of the '267 patent. Final ID at 6.

On August 12, 2024, the ALJ granted summary determination that Nokia failed to establish the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement under subsection 337(a)(3)(C) by failing to present evidence of a nexus between its investments and the domestic industry articles. Order No. 41 (Aug. 12, 2024). The Commission declined to review that ID. Comm'n Notice (Sept. 10, 2024).

The ALJ held an evidentiary hearing from September 9-13, 2024. Subsequently, the Commission terminated the investigation with respect to HP based on a settlement agreement. Order No. 49 (Nov. 27, 2024), unreviewed by Comm'n Notice (Dec. 10, 2024). Accordingly, at the time of the Final ID, only Amazon remained in the investigation as a respondent.

On December 20, 2024, the ALJ issued the Final ID finding a violation of section 337 by Amazon with respect to four patents—the '818, '321, '714, and '267 patents—and no violation with respect to the '991 patent. Final ID at 175. The Commission determined to review the Final ID in its entirety. 90 FR 11183-86 (Mar. 4, 2025).

On April 8, 2025, Nokia and Amazon moved, pursuant to 19 CFR 210.21(b), to terminate the investigation based on settlement. The motion contains attached settlement agreements (including a public version) and indicates that there are no other agreements between the parties regarding the subject matter of the investigation. On April 11, 2025, OUII responded to the motion by arguing that the public version of the settlement agreements are over-redacted, but that the motion should be granted if Nokia and Amazon provide a version of the settlement agreements with fewer redactions. On April 16, 2025, the Nokia and Amazon provided a new public version with fewer redactions.

Upon review of the parties' submission, the Commission has determined to grant the joint motion and terminate Amazon from the investigation. As Amazon is the last remaining respondent group, the investigation is hereby terminated in its entirety.

The Commission vote for this determination took place on April 23, 2025.

The authority for the Commission's determination is contained in section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), and in Part 210 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR part 210).

Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of the following four points:

Abstract: This declaration is to be submitted to determine whether a broker meets the minimum qualifications to be listed as an annuity broker pursuant to Section 11015(b) of Public Law 107-273.

1. Type of Information Collection: Extension of a previously approved collection.

2. The Title of the Form/Collection: Annuity Broker Declaration Form.

3. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the Department sponsoring the collection: OMB #1105-0080.

4. Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as well as the obligation to respond: Primary: Individuals.

5. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: It is estimated that 300 respondents will complete the form annually within approximately 1 hour.

6. An estimate of the total annual burden (in hours) associated with the collection: 300 annual burden hours.

7. An estimate of the total annual cost burden associated with the collection, if applicable:

If additional information is required contact: Darwin Arceo, Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE, 4W-218, Washington, DC.

The Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44. Section 922(g) of the GCA prohibits certain persons from shipping or transporting “in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess[ing] in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receiv[ing] any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.” Section 925(c) of the GCA provides that a person who is prohibited under section 922(g) may make application to the Attorney General to remove the firearms disabilities “if it is established to [the Attorney General's] . . . satisfaction that the circumstances regarding the disability, and the applicant's record and reputation, are such that the applicant will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief would not be contrary to the public interest.” Section 925(c) also provides that “[w]henever the Attorney General grants relief to any person pursuant to this section [s]he shall promptly publish in the Federal Register notice of such action, together with the reasons therefor.”

The Attorney General has reviewed all the relevant facts for each individual listed below, including the materials that each individual submitted seeking either a pardon or relief from federal firearms disabilities, and it is established to her satisfaction that each individual will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief to each individual would not be contrary to the public interest. Accordingly, on March 31, 2025, the Attorney General granted relief from federal firearms disabilities to these individuals pursuant to section 925(c):

The Federal government plays a critical role in supporting AI R&D in areas where private sector investment is insufficient or where national interests require government leadership. Many foundational breakthroughs in AI, such as neural networks and reinforcement learning, originated from government-funded research before becoming commercially viable. Industry tends to focus on near-term applications that promise immediate returns, while critical areas such as AI for national security, public infrastructure resilience, and scientific discovery often require long-term investment with uncertain commercial payoffs. By prioritizing areas of foundational research, the government plays a vital role in maintaining America's technological leadership and ensuring that AI development serves broad public interests rather than being driven solely by near-term market forces.

On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14179 (Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence) to establish U.S. policy for sustaining and enhancing America's AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security. This Order directs the development of an AI Action Plan to advance America's AI leadership, in a process led by the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the White House AI and Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor. The 2025 National AI R&D Strategic Plan will be aligned with the AI Action Plan.

The 2025 National AI R&D Strategic Plan will identify the Federal strategic priorities for AI research and development, with particular attention on areas that industry is unlikely to address. These areas might need prioritization by government because they serve national interests but may not provide immediate commercial returns, making them less attractive for private-sector funding. Respondents to this RFI are encouraged to articulate research needs and development challenges in AI that the Federal government should prioritize over the next 3 to 5 years, along with ideas for novel mechanisms for research partnerships with industry and/or academia.

Examples of areas in which Federal AI R&D investments could be prioritized may include, but are not limited to: fundamental advances in AI algorithms, architectures, mathematical foundations and computing paradigms that may not have immediate commercial applications, aiming at maintaining U.S. AI leadership into the future; high-risk, high-reward AI research relevant for domains critical to future U.S. competitiveness, including human-AI interaction; research on next-generation AI hardware and architectures beyond deep learning; AI research for accelerating fundamental scientific discovery and technological breakthroughs in areas where private-sector investment is insufficient; advances in AI systems capable of reasoning, adaptability, and robustness in dynamic environments; research into AI standards, security and reliability; AI research for national security and critical infrastructure; advances in agentic and physically embodied AI with strategic competitiveness implications; infrastructure support for the AI research and development community; advances in AI applications in cybersecurity and cyberspace operations beyond those of commercial use; advances in AI for public sector and government applications; and research on AI systems and education supporting American workers and improving workforce productivity. Many other research areas could also be relevant.

Public input in response to this RFI, as well as responses previously submitted to the RFI on the Development of an AI Action Plan (90 FR 9088), will inform OSTP and NITRD NCO in developing the 2025 National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan to reflect the Administration's commitment to fostering an environment where AI can thrive as a driver of economic growth, technological advancement, human flourishing, and national security.

Submitted by the National Science Foundation in support of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) National Coordination Office (NCO) on April 24, 2025.

Pursuant to 39 CFR 3041.405, the Commission gives notice that the Postal Service filed request(s) for the Commission to consider matters related to Competitive negotiated service agreement(s). The request(s) may propose the addition of a negotiated service agreement from the Competitive product list or the modification of an existing product currently appearing on the Competitive product list.

The public portions of the Postal Service's request(s) can be accessed via the Commission's website ( http://www.prc.gov ). Non-public portions of the Postal Service's request(s), if any, can be accessed through compliance with the requirements of 39 CFR 3011.301. 1

Section II identifies the docket number(s) associated with each Postal Service request, if any, that will be reviewed in a public proceeding as defined by 39 CFR 3010.101(p), the title of each such request, the request's acceptance date, and the authority cited by the Postal Service for each request. For each such request, the Commission appoints an officer of the Commission to represent the interests of the general public in the proceeding, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505 and 39 CFR 3000.114 (Public Representative). The Public Representative does not represent any individual person, entity or particular point of view, and, when Commission attorneys are appointed, no attorney-client relationship is established. Section II also establishes comment deadline(s) pertaining to each such request.

The Commission invites comments on whether the Postal Service's request(s) identified in Section II, if any, are consistent with the policies of title 39. Applicable statutory and regulatory requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3632, 39 U.S.C. 3633, 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3035, and 39 CFR part 3041. Comment deadline(s) for each such request, if any, appear in Section II.

Section III identifies the docket number(s) associated with each Postal Service request, if any, to add a standardized distinct product to the Competitive product list or to amend a standardized distinct product, the title of each such request, the request's acceptance date, and the authority cited by the Postal Service for each request. Standardized distinct products are negotiated service agreements that are variations of one or more Competitive products, and for which financial models, minimum rates, and classification criteria have undergone advance Commission review. See 39 CFR 3041.110(n); 39 CFR 3041.205(a). Such requests are reviewed in summary proceedings pursuant to 39 CFR 3041.325(c)(2) and 39 CFR 3041.505(f)(1). Pursuant to 39 CFR 3041.405(c)-(d), the Commission does not appoint a Public Representative or request public comment in proceedings to review such requests.

1. Docket No(s).: MC2025-1324 and K2025-1324; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail Express International, Priority Mail International & First-Class Package International Service Contract 66 to the Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: April 23, 2025; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3035.105, and 39 CFR 3041.310; Public Representative: Maxine Bradley; Comments Due: May 1, 2025.

2. Docket No(s).: MC2025-1326 and K2025-1326; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail & USPS Ground Advantage Contract 716 to the Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: April 23, 2025; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3035.105, and 39 CFR 3041.310; Public Representative: Kenneth Moeller; Comments Due: May 1, 2025.

None. See Section II for public proceedings.

This Notice will be published in the Federal Register .

The United States Postal Service® hereby gives notice that, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3642, on April 18, 2025, it filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission a Petition of the United States Postal Service for the Initiation of a Streamlined-Option Rulemaking Concerning a Request to Add Global Expedited Package Services—Non-Published Rates 17 (GEPS—NPR 17) to the Competitive Products List, including a Proposal for a GEPS—NPR 17 Model Contract Template and Application for Non-Public Treatment of Materials Filed Under Seal . Documents are available at www.prc.gov, Docket Nos. RM2025-8 and K2025-1321.

For Applicants' representations, legal analysis, and conditions, please refer to Applicants' application, dated March 10, 2025, which may be obtained via the Commission's website by searching for the file number at the top of this document, or for an Applicant using the Company name search field on the SEC's EDGAR system. The SEC's EDGAR system may be searched at https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch . You may also call the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy at (202) 551-8090.