[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 219 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57193-57197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27300]



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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 63

[CC Docket No. 91-273; FCC 95-417]


Notification of Common Carriers of Service Disruptions

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This Order on Reconsideration (Order) amends the Commission's 
rules regarding the reporting of telephone network outages in 
accordance with requests for reconsideration filed in response to the 
Second Report and Order. Previously the rules required carriers to 
report, inter alia, fire-related incidents impacting 1000 or more of a 
carrier's lines and outages affecting major airports and 911 
facilities. Under the previous rule, outages affecting 911 were to be 
reported if they disrupted 25% or more of the lines to a Public Service 
Answering Point (PSAP) and outages affecting major airports were to be 
reported if they were ``likely to be of media interest.'' The present 
Order alters these aspects of the outage reporting rule.
    For 911 outages, the Order replaces the requirement that carriers 
report all outages that disrupt more than 25% of the lines to any PSAP. 
The old requirement was difficult to apply. The new rules simplify the 
system.
    Reports will hereafter be required in the following situations: If, 
for 24 hours or more, one or more PSAPs cannot be reached by 911 
callers, and each such isolated PSAP serves fewer than 30,000 access 
lines, an initial report of the outage is due within 120 minutes of the 
carrier's first knowledge of such an outage; if, for at least 30 
minutes, an E911 Tandem fails to relay 911 calls to one or more PSAPs, 
an initial report is due within 120 minutes, regardless of the number 
of access lines served by that tandem; if, for at least 30 minutes, an 
end office serving 50,000 or more access lines fails to relay 911 
calls, or one or more PSAPs serving in the aggregate 50,000 or more 
access lines cannot be reached by 911 callers, an initial report is due 
within 120 minutes; or if, for at least 30 minutes, an end office 
serving from 30,000 to 50,000 access lines is cut off from 911 service, 
or one or more PSAPs serving in the aggregate 30,000 to 50,000 access 
lines cannot be reached by 911 callers, an initial report is due within 
3 days. Final reports of all these outages are due within 30 days.
    The Order also eliminates the requirement that carriers report any 
outage affecting a major airport that is ``likely to be of media 
interest.'' This rule was too subjective. The new rule requires that 
carriers report any outage affecting a major airport that ``has 
received any media attention of which the carrier's reporting personnel 
are aware.''
    The Order denies the request of Pacific Bell that the Commission 
clarify that the obligation to report fire-related incidents does not 
apply to telephone poles and aerial cables that are consumed in fires. 
This requirement has not proved burdensome to carriers and will supply 
the Commission with valuable information.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 12, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robert E. Kimball, (202) 418-2339, Network Services Division, Common 
Carrier Bureau.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order 
in CC Docket No 91-273, FCC 95-417, adopted October 4, 1995, and 
released October 30, 1995. The item is available for inspection and 
copying during normal hours in the Commission's FCC Reference Center 
(room 230), 1919 M St., NW., Washington, D.C., or a copy may be 
purchased from the duplicating contractor, International Transcription 
Service, Inc. (202) 857-3800, 2100 M Street NW., Suite 140, Washington, 
D.C. 20037. The Order will be published in the FCC Record.

OMB Review

    Implementation of this collection of information will be subject to 
approval by the Office of Management and Budget.
    Title: Amendment of Part 63 of the Commission's Rules to Provide 
for Notification by Common Carriers of Service Disruptions (Section 
63.100): Order on Reconsideration.
    OMB Number: 3060-0484.
    Expiration Date: 6/30/96.
    Action: Revised collections.
    Respondents: Business or other for profit.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion. Initial report due 120 minutes 
or 3 days after incident depending on number of potentially affected 
customers and nature of disruption. Final report due twenty-eight or 
thirty days after initial report, depending on nature of disruption.
    Estimated Annual Burden: For the entire reporting requirement 
inclusive of the amendments, the estimated burden remains the same as 
that approved by the OMB for the Second Report and Order, 59 FR 40264, 
August 8, 1994. 200 responses; 5 hours each; 1000 hours total. The 
information to be furnished is generally gathered by carriers during 
outages and will be less than is presently being provided, so the 
requirement is not burdensome.
    Paperwork Reduction: Public reporting burden for this collection of 
information is estimated to average 5 hours per response, including the 
time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, 
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing 
the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden 
estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, 
including suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Federal 
Communications Commission, Records Management Division, Room 234, 
Paperwork Reduction Project (3060-0484), Washington, D.C. and to the 
Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3060-
0484), Washington, D.C. 20503.
    Needs and Uses: Section 63.100 of the Commission's Rules, 47 CFR 
Sec. 63.100, is amended to provide for the collection of information 
which we believe is essential to our mission of ensuring that the 
public is protected from major disruptions to telephone services. The 
amendments modify 47 CFR Section 63.100 to require that local exchange 
or interexchange common carriers or competitive access providers that 

[[Page 57194]]
operate either transmission or switching facilities and provide access 
service or interstate or international telecommunications service 
report outages that affect 30,000 or more customers or that affect 
special facilities and report fire-related incidents impacting 1000 or 
more lines. With such reports the FCC can monitor and take effective 
action to ensure network reliability. The present amendments provide 
for the replacement of the requirement that carriers report 911 outages 
that disrupt 25% or more of the lines serving any PSAP with a less 
burdensome requirement that will, nevertheless, supply the Commission 
with all necessary 911 outage information. The present amendment also 
replaces the requirement that carriers report outages affecting major 
airports that are likely to attract media attention with a less 
burdensome requirement that will supply the Commission with all 
necessary information on major outages affecting airports.

Analysis of Proceeding

    In requiring carriers to report 911 outages that disrupt more than 
25% of the lines serving any PSAP, the previous rules were supposed to 
simplify the criteria under which carriers had voluntarily reported 
special facilities outages prior to the Second Report and Order (59 FR 
40264, August 8, 1994). A subcommittee of the Network Reliability 
Council, a Federal Advisory Committee providing reporting 
recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission, suggested 
that carriers report, inter alia, any ``outage of a loop facility 
containing 75% or more of the lines to the PSAP.'' Prior to the Second 
Report and Order, confusion among carriers submitting voluntary reports 
seemed to result from the multiplicity of other 911 reporting criteria 
suggested by the subcommittee, especially the criteria involving tandem 
or tandem-affecting failures. During the two years of voluntary 
reporting under the subcommittee's suggestions, the Commission received 
no indication that carriers were having difficulty determining the 
percentage of lines affected. By applying a lower percentage standard--
25%--and eliminating all other 911 reporting criteria, the Second 
Report and Order attempted to clarify the 911 reporting standards, 
obtain the same amount of data, better measure the relative impact of 
911 outages and motivate carriers to take greater cognizance of those 
routes that serve 911 PSAPs. In the present Order, however, commenters 
have demonstrated that determinations of the exact percentage of lines 
affecting a particular PSAP involve greater difficulties than had been 
anticipated.
    On the basis of the comments submitted in this proceeding and 
comparisons of 911 outage reports received before and after the Second 
Report and Order went into effect, the present Orders concludes that 
the 911 outage reporting requirements adopted in the Second Report and 
Order have produced a far greater number of 911 reports and a far 
greater reporting burden for some carriers than anticipated. In the 
five months following September 7, 1994, the effective date of the 
Second Report and Order, the Commission received 64 reports of outages 
affecting 911 services. In the five months prior to the September 7, 
1994 effective date, carriers using the TRG Guideline standards 
reported only seven 911-affecting outages. Non-911 outages reported 
since September 7, 1994 have not significantly increased. Commission 
analyses of 911 reports do not reveal any common causes of 911 outages 
relating to network vulnerability that account for this increase.
    Some 911 reports received since the effective date of the Second 
Report and Order appear to be the result of carriers preferring to err 
on the side of over-inclusiveness where they are unable to determine 
accurately the percentage of lines serving PSAPs that may have been 
affected by an outage. Numerous initial reports, not included in the 
totals above, have been withdrawn when carriers were subsequently able 
to determine with greater accuracy the effects of the outages reported. 
The most pronounced reason, however, for the increased 911 outage 
reporting is that carriers in less populated areas serve a very large 
number of small, dispersed PSAPs. Eleven of the sixty-four 911 outages 
reported since September 7, 1994 occurred in a single state where there 
are approximately 560 PSAPs. Approximately 80% of these PSAPs are 
manned by only one or two operators. Twenty of the sixty-four 911 
outages were reported by a single carrier serving an area encompassing 
over 700 PSAPs. Nearly 600 of these PSAPs are served by fewer than 
three voice connections, including connections maintained solely to 
provide redundancy. Failure of a single line to any PSAP served by no 
more than three lines will generate an outage report under the 
standards set forth in the Second Report and Order even if the failed 
line is provided solely for redundancy. In these circumstances the 
``outage'' will have no effect at all on PSAP operators or customers. 
Half of the 911 outages reported under these standards have been 
reported by the two carriers (including those carriers' subsidiaries) 
serving the largest number of predominantly rural areas.
    The Order finds that, because of the disproportionate number of 
very small rural PSAPs, the criteria for reporting 911 outages are 
unnecessarily broad to achieve the rule's intended purpose. The effect 
of the rule is to require the greatest amount of reporting for those 
PSAPs serving the fewest number of lines. This was not the object of 
the rule. It is clear from the NRC's E911 Focus Group Report that 
outages affecting 911 service were believed to be especially important 
because each 911 system was thought to represent a uniquely vulnerable 
point in the telecommunications network. An E911 PSAP was viewed as a 
gateway through which the whole variety of possible requests for 
emergency help would converge, be rapidly evaluated, and connected with 
the nearest and most appropriate public safety services. The rapid 
nationwide deployment of these increasingly complex and concentrated 
systems justified federal interest in discovering any common threats to 
their reliability. In rural areas where PSAPs are numerous and very 
small, where, for example the PSAP is a telephone in the local fire 
department, such convergence and vulnerability is more limited. The 
large number of 911 outage reports proceeding from these areas does not 
provide the Commission with significant, new information or promote the 
stated objectives of 911 outage reporting in the Second Report and 
Order.
    Burdensome federal reporting requirements may also increase the 
costs of 911 service reliability. Under the present reporting standard, 
for example, providing a redundant line to a PSAP will increase the 
probability that additional outages will have to be reported. The costs 
of such reporting could increase the costs of the line. Since the 
reliability of 911 service in rural areas will often depend on whether 
local governments can afford to deploy redundant lines, the federal 
reporting requirements could make it less likely that reliability will 
be increased in this way. The particular expenses carriers incur as 
providers of 911 service capabilities should not be inflated by a 
requirement that they monitor, analyze, tabulate, and report 911 
outages that are numerous, not because of any real threat to 
reliability, but only because the PSAPs in certain areas are, by 
necessity, small, separate and widely dispersed. The cost of providing 
911 service reliability should 

[[Page 57195]]
not be augmented by unnecessary federal reporting requirements.
    The problem of unnecessary 911 outage reporting can be fairly 
resolved without ignoring outages that affect smaller PSAPs. No 
statistical base of comparison will be sacrificed if a longer reporting 
threshold is established for outages that isolate the smaller PSAPs 
likely to be found outside major urban areas. A duration of 30 minutes 
or more for an outage in a rural area will not necessarily have the 
same significance for purposes of analyses as an outage of 30 or more 
minutes in an urban area. Restoration times for small installations 
over widely dispersed areas are likely to be longer due to their 
remoteness from vendors and from the more sophisticated equipment or 
technical help often needed to diagnose and to restore service. An 
outage lasting just 30 minutes in a rural area, for example, is likely 
to proceed from different causes and involve simpler solutions than an 
outage lasting the same amount of time in an urban area. A longer 
reporting threshold for smaller PSAPs will, however, alleviate the 
disproportionate burden the present 911 requirements impose on carriers 
serving such PSAPs. This order, therefore, amends Section 63.100(a)(4) 
of our rules, altering the duration threshold for reporting smaller 
outage affecting PSAPs.
    The amendments herein adopted replace the percentage standard, 
which has proven confusing and difficult to apply, by redefining 911 
reportable outages as those that lead to isolation of one or more 
PSAP(s) for 24 hours or more, if the isolated PSAP(s) collectively 
serve fewer than 30,000 access lines and no alternate routing has been 
invoked. The amendments define 911 outages requiring a report as those 
for which loss of call processing capabilities in the E911 tandem(s) 
continues for 30 minutes or more, regardless of the number of customers 
affected, if no alternate routing has been invoked. The amendments 
require reporting of both these types of 911 outages within 2 hours of 
the carrier's first knowledge that the outage is reportable. This will 
resolve the problems of reporting outages affecting smaller PSAPs while 
enabling the Commission to continue monitoring such outages at a more 
reasonable level.
    Previously, the rules allowed use of the blocked calls standard to 
determine whether the numerical thresholds had been reached for LEC 
tandem outages. In the case of 911 outages, however, it is more 
practical to require reporting of larger 911 outages according to the 
number of access lines served by the affected PSAP, regardless of the 
number of blocked calls. Carriers have had considerable difficulty 
determining the number of blocked 911 calls during outages. 911 outages 
are also less likely to be predictable on the basis of historical time-
of-day traffic loads, the alternative method of determining blocked 
calls provided for in the Second Report and Order. The number of access 
lines, on the other hand, is easily determined and will ensure maximum 
coverage of larger 911 outages. The amendments herein require reporting 
of larger 911 outages according to the number of access lines served by 
the affected PSAP, regardless of the number of blocked calls.
    To make as accessible and clear as possible the 911 outage 
reporting requirements under both the special facilities subsection and 
the numerical thresholds subsection of section 63.100 of the 
Commission's Rules, the amendments change the definition of ``special 
facilities'' to remove reference to 911 in that paragraph and 
consolidate all 911 reporting rules in a separate new subsection, 47 
CFR 63.100(h). To make application of this new subsection as specific 
as possible, the amendments complete the definition of reportable 911 
outages in section 63.100(a)(4) by including outages for which there 
is: (1) isolation of one or more PSAP(s) for 30 or more minutes, if the 
isolated PSAP(s) collectively serve(s) 30,000 or more access lines and 
no alternate routing has been invoked; or (2) isolation of an end 
office switch or host/remote cluster from 911 services for 30 minutes 
or more, if these installations collectively serve 30,000 or more 
access lines and no alternate routing has been invoked. For 911 
outages, only those that fall within these two categories or those 
described in the paragraph above will be reportable under the 
amendments.
    Under the previous rule, the time periods for initially reporting 
outages at the 50,000 and 30,000 potentially-affected-customers 
thresholds are 2 hours and 3 days, respectively. To avoid confusion, 
the amendments herein establish parallel reporting periods for 911 
outages affecting 50,000 and 30,000 customers respectively. Whether 
these thresholds have been reached will be determined by the number of 
access lines served by the isolated 911 installations. The amendments 
set a 3 day deadline for filing initial reports of outages isolating 
911 installations serving 30,000 to 50,000 lines and 2 hours for those 
serving 50,000 or more access lines.
    Finally, the amendments change the information requirements by 
eliminating the sentence, ``Carriers must indicate, when 911 is one of 
those services, whether more than 25% of the lines to any PSAP were 
disrupted and there was no automatic rerouting to an alternate PSAP.'' 
Any known effect on 911 services attributable to any outage reportable 
under other criteria is to be described under the information 
requirement that carriers specify the ``types of services affected.'' 
The amendments make this clear.
    In establishing an exemption for reporting 911 outages in 
situations where there is automatic rerouting to an alternate PSAP, the 
Second Report and Order attempted to avoid the reporting of 911 outages 
that had no real impact on 911 customers. The phrase ``automatic 
rerouting to an alternate PSAP,'' however, has resulted in some 
confusion and overreporting. Therefore, the present Order eliminates 
that phrase and, instead, requires 911 outage reports only where 
rerouting to the same or an alternate PSAP location did not occur. This 
will make it clear that an outage is reportable if there is a rerouting 
capability that is not used, but not reportable when calls are 
successfully rerouted.
    Since the Second Report and Order went into effect on September 7, 
1994, few outages affecting major airports have been reported. None has 
been reported because of the likelihood that it would attract media 
interest. Commenters have shown that attempting to estimate the 
newsworthiness of an outage, along with the other reporting and 
restoration efforts at hand, is an unreasonable task to impose on 
telecommunications technicians. The Commission's role as a source of 
information to which the public can turn when concerned about matters 
involving telecommunications, however, the Commission needs to know if 
an outage affecting a major airport does, in fact, receive media 
attention. The Order amends Section 63.100(a)(6) of the Commission's 
rules, therefore, to require the reporting of any outage affecting a 
major airport that ``has received any media attention of which the 
carrier's reporting personnel are aware.''
    The reporting requirement triggered when an outage arises because 
of a fire can give us and the industry valuable information about such 
vulnerabilities, particularly if alternative technologies, such as 
underground cable, could significantly improve reliability. For these 
reasons, the Order declines, at this time, to modify the reporting 
requirement for fire-related incidents.

Ordering Clauses

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 1, 4(i), and 201 of the 
Communications Act 

[[Page 57196]]
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154 and 201, Section 63.100 of the 
Commission's Rules, 47 CFR 63.100, IS AMENDED as set forth below, 
effective April 12, 1996.
    It is Further Ordered, that, the Secretary shall cause a summary of 
this Order to be published in the Federal Register which shall include 
a statement describing how members of the public may obtain the 
complete text of this Commission decision. The Secretary shall also 
provide a copy of this Order to each state utility commission.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 63

    Communications common carriers, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Service disruptions.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.

Rule Changes

    Part 63 of Chapter I of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
is amended as follows:

PART 63--EXTENSION OF LINES AND DISCONTINUANCE, REDUCTION, OUTAGE 
AND IMPAIRMENT OF SERVICE BY COMMON CARRIERS; AND GRANTS OF 
RECOGNIZED PRIVATE OPERATING AGENCY STATUS

    1. The authority citation for part 63 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 201-205, 218, 403 and 
533, unless otherwise noted.

    2. Section 63.100 is amended by revising paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4), 
and (a)(6); in paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e) by removing the 
sentence ``Carriers must indicate, when specifying the types of service 
affected by any reportable outage, when 911 is one of those services, 
whether more than 25% of the lines to any PSAP were disrupted and there 
was no automatic rerouting to an alternate PSAP.'' and adding in its 
place ``When specifying the types of services affected by any 
reportable outage, carriers must indicate when 911 service was 
disrupted and rerouting to alternative answering locations was not 
implemented.''; and adding paragraph (h) to read as follows:


Sec. 63.100  Notification of service outage.

    (a) * * *
    (3) Special offices and facilities are defined as major airports, 
major military installations, key government facilities, and nuclear 
power plants. 911 special facilities are addressed separately in 
paragraph (a)(4) of this section.
    (4) An outage which potentially affects a 911 special facility is 
defined as a significant service degradation, switch or transport, 
where rerouting to the same or an alternative answering location was 
not implemented, and involves one or more of the following situations:
    (i) Isolation of one or more Public Service Answering Points 
(PSAPs) for 24 hours or more, if the isolated PSAPs collectively serve 
less than 30,000 or more access lines, based on the carrier's database 
of lines served by each PSAP; or
    (ii) Loss of call processing capabilities in the E911 tandem(s), 
for 30 minutes or more, regardless of the number of customers affected; 
or
    (iii) Isolation of one or more PSAP(s), for 30 or more minutes, if 
the isolated PSAPs collectively serve 30,000 or more access lines, 
based on the carrier's database of lines served by each PSAP; or
    (iv) Isolation of an end office switch or host/remote cluster, for 
30 minutes or more, if the switches collectively serve, 30,000 or more 
access lines.
* * * * *
    (6) An outage which ``potentially affects'' a major airport is 
defined as an outage that disrupts 50% or more of the air traffic 
control links or other FAA communications links to any major airport, 
any outage that has caused an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) 
or major airport to lose it radar, any ARTCC or major airport outage 
that has received any media attention of which the carrier's reporting 
personnel are aware, any outage that causes a loss of both primary and 
backup facilities at any ARTCC or major airport, and any outage to an 
ARTCC or major airport that is deemed important by the FAA as indicated 
by FAA inquiry to the carrier management personnel.
* * * * *
    (h)(1) Any local exchange or interexchange common carrier or 
competitive access provider that operates transmission or switching 
facilities and provides access services or interstate or international 
telecommunications services, the experiences an outage on any 
facilities that it owns, operates or leases that potentially affects 
911 services must notify the Commission within the applicable period 
shown in the chart in this paragraph (h)(1) if such outage meets one of 
the following conditions, as defined in paragraph (a)(4) of this 
section:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Condition                    Lines affected             Duration                   Period         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loss of E911 Tandem capability......  No limit...............  30 minutes or more....  120 minutes.             
Isolation of PSAP(s)................  Under 30,000 access      24 hours or more......  120 minutes.             
                                       lines served.                                                            
Isolation of PSAP(s)................  50,000 or more access    30 minutes or more....  120 minutes.             
                                       lines served.                                                            
Isolation of PSAP(s)................  30,000 to 50,000 access  30 minutes or more....  3 days.                  
                                       lines served.                                                            
Isolation of EO switch, host/remotes  50,000 or more access    30 minutes or more....  120 minutes.             
 from 911.                             lines served.                                                            
Isolation of EO switch, host/remotes  30,000 to 50,000 access  30 minutes or more....  3 days.                  
 from 911.                             lines served.                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Satellite carriers and cellular carriers are exempted from the 
reporting requirement in this paragraph (h). Notification must be 
served on the Commission's Monitoring Watch Officer, on duty 24 hours a 
day in the FCC headquarters building in Washington, D.C., or on a 
secondary basis it may be served on the Commission's Watch Officer on 
duty at the FCC's facility at Grand Island, Nebraska. The notification 
must be by facsimile or other record means delivered within the 
notification period indicated above from the time of the carrier's 
first knowledge that the service outage ``potentially affects a 911 
special facility'' as described in paragraph (a)(4) of this section and 
summarized in the chart in paragraph (h)(1) of this section and the 
service outage has continued for the duration indicated in paragraph 
(a)(4) of this section and summarized in the chart in paragraph (h)(1) 
of this section. Notification shall identify a contact person who can 
provide further information, the telephone number at which the contact 
person can be reached, and the information known at the time 
notification is made about the service outage including: the date and 
estimated time (local time at the location of the outage) of 
commencement of the outage; the geographic area affected; the estimated 
number of customers affected; the types of services affected; the 
duration of the outage, i.e. time elapsed from the estimated 
commencement of the outage 

[[Page 57197]]
until restoration of full service; the estimated number of blocked 
calls during the outage; the apparent or known cause of the incident, 
including the name and type of equipment involved and the specific part 
of the network affected; methods used to restore service; and the steps 
taken to prevent recurrences of the outage. The report shall be 
captioned Initial Service Disruption Report. Lack of any of the 
information in this paragraph (h)(2) shall not delay the filing of this 
report. Not later than thirty days after the outage, the carrier shall 
file with the Chief, Common Carrier Bureau, a Final Service Disruption 
Report providing all available information on the service outage, 
including any information not contained in its Initial Service 
Disruption Report and detailing specifically the root cause of the 
outage and listing and evaluating the effectiveness and application in 
the immediate case of any best practices or industry standards 
identified by the Network Reliability Council to eliminate or 
ameliorate outages of the reported type.

[FR Doc. 95-27300 Filed 11-13-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-M