[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 89 (Monday, May 11, 2009)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 21953-21955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-10275]


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Part VIII





Department of Housing and Urban Development





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Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD)






_______________________________________________________________________

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Subtitles A and B

[Docket No. FR-5292-N-01]

Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

AGENCY: Department of Housing and Urban Development.

ACTION: Semiannual regulatory agenda.

_______________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 4(b) of Executive Order 12866 
``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' as amended, HUD is publishing its 
agenda of regulations already issued or that are expected to be issued 
during the next several months. The agenda also includes rules 
currently in effect that are under review and describes those 
regulations that may affect small entities, as required by section 602 
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The purpose of publication of the 
agenda is to encourage more effective public participation in the 
regulatory process by providing the public with advance information 
about pending regulatory activities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aaron Santa Anna, Assistant General 
Counsel for Regulations, Office of General Counsel, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone (202) 708-3055. (This is not a 
toll-free number.) A telecommunications device for hearing- and speech-
impaired individuals (TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339 (Federal 
Information Relay Service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

     Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 
FR 51735), as amended, requires each department or agency to 
prepare semiannually an agenda of: (1) Regulations that the 
department or agency has issued or expects to issue and (2) rules 
currently in effect that are under departmental or agency review. 
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 to 612) requires each 
department or agency to publish semiannually a regulatory agenda of 
rules expected to be proposed or promulgated that are likely to 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
``small entities,'' meaning small businesses, small organizations, 
or small governmental jurisdictions. Executive Order 12866 and the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act permit incorporation of the agenda 
required by these two authorities with any other prescribed agenda.

     HUD's regulatory agenda combines the information required by 
Executive Order 12866 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act. In 
addition, HUD's regulatory agenda contains certain information not 
required by either the Executive order or by the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act that the Department considers useful, both to 
better inform the public and to enhance the Department's own 
inventory control over its body of regulations. As was the case 
with the fall 2008 edition of HUD's regulatory agenda, the Internet 
will be the basic means for disseminating the spring 2009 Unified 
Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda will be available online at 
www.reginfo.gov, in a format that offers users a greatly enhanced 
ability to obtain information from the Agenda database. Because 
publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory 
flexibility agendas by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 
602), the Department's published agenda entries include only:

    (1) Rules that are in the Department's regulatory flexibility 
agenda, in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, because 
they are likely to have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities; and

    (2) Rules that the Department has identified for periodic 
review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

     Publication of these entries is limited to fields that contain 
information required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act's Agenda 
requirements. Additional information on these entries is available 
in the Unified Agenda published online at www.reginfo.gov.

     The Department is subject to certain rulemaking requirements 
set forth in the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act 
(42 U.S.C. 3531 et seq.). Section 7(o) of the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(o)) requires that the 
Secretary transmit to the congressional committees having 
jurisdictional oversight of HUD (the Senate Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the House Committee on Financial 
Services), a semiannual agenda of all rules or regulations that are 
under development or review by the Department. A rule appearing on 
the agenda cannot be published for comment before or during the 
first 15 calendar days after transmittal of the agenda. Section 
7(o) provides that if, within that period, either committee 
notifies the Secretary that it intends to review any rule or 
regulation that appears on the agenda, the Secretary must submit to 
both committees a copy of the rule or regulation, in the form that 
it is intended to be proposed, at least 15 calendar days before it 
is to be published for comment. The semiannual agenda posted on 
www.reginfo.gov is the agenda transmitted to the committees in 
compliance with the above requirements.

     HUD has attempted to list in this agenda all regulations and 
regulatory reviews pending at the time of publication, except for 
minor and routine or repetitive actions, but some may have been 
inadvertently omitted, or may have arisen too late to be included 
in the published agenda. There is no legal significance to the 
omission of an item from this agenda. Also, where a date is 
provided for the next rulemaking action, the date is an estimate 
and is not a commitment to act on or by the date shown.

     In some cases, HUD has withdrawn rules that were placed on 
previous agendas for which there has been no publication activity. 
Withdrawal of a rule does not necessarily mean that HUD will not 
proceed with the rulemaking. Withdrawal allows HUD to assess the 
subject matter further and determine whether rulemaking in that 
area is appropriate. Following such an assessment, the Department 
may determine that certain rules listed as withdrawn under this 
agenda are appropriate. If that determination is made, such rules 
will be included in a succeeding semiannual agenda.

     In addition, for a few rules that have been published as 
proposed or interim rules and which, therefore, require further 
rulemaking, HUD has identified the timing of the next action stage 
as ``undetermined.'' These are rules that are still under review by 
HUD for which a determination and timing of the next action stage 
have not yet been made.

     Since the purpose of publication of the agenda is to encourage 
more effective public participation in the

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regulatory process by providing the public with early information 
about the Department's future regulatory actions, HUD invites all 
interested members of the public to comment on the rules listed in 
the agenda.

Dated: March 3, 2009.

 Linda M. Cruciani,

Deputy General Counsel for Operations.

                                      Office of Housing--Completed Actions
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                                                                                                     Regulation
 Sequence                                           Title                                            Identifier
  Number                                                                                               Number
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
226         24 CFR 3500 Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA): Simplification and             2502-AI61
            Improvement of the Process of Obtaining Home Mortgages and Reducing Consumer Costs (FR-
            5180).................................................................................
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Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)     Completed Actions


Office of Housing (OH)



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226. REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT (RESPA): SIMPLIFICATION AND 
IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROCESS OF OBTAINING HOME MORTGAGES AND REDUCING 
CONSUMER COSTS (FR-5180)

Legal Authority: 12 USC 2601 et seq; 42 USC 3535(d)

Abstract: This final rule amends HUD's regulations to further RESPA's 
purposes by requiring more timely and effective disclosures related to 
mortgage settlement costs for federally related mortgage loans to 
consumers. The changes made by this final rule are designed to protect 
consumers from unnecessarily high settlement costs by taking steps to: 
(1) Improve and standardize the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) form, to make 
it easier to use for shopping among settlement providers; (2) ensure 
that page one of the GFE provides a clear summary of the loan terms and 
total settlement charges, so that borrowers will be able to use the GFE 
to identify a particular loan product and then comparison-shop among 
loan originators; (3) provide more accurate estimates of costs of 
settlement services shown on the GFE; (4) improve disclosure of yield 
spread premiums, to help borrowers understand how they can affect their 
settlement charges; (5) facilitate comparison of the GFE and the HUD-1/
HUD-1A Settlement Statements; (6) ensure that at settlement, borrowers 
are aware of final costs as they relate to the particular mortgage loan 
and settlement transaction; (7) clarify HUD-1 instructions; (8) clarify 
HUD's current regulations concerning discounts; and (9) expressly state 
when RESPA permits certain pricing mechanisms that benefit consumers, 
including volume-based discounts. The final rule follows a March 14, 
2008, proposed rule and makes changes in response to public comment and 
further consideration of certain issues by HUD.

Completed:
________________________________________________________________________

Reason                            Date                      FR Cite

________________________________________________________________________

Final Action                    11/17/08                    73 FR 68204

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes

Agency Contact: Ivy Jackson
Phone: 202 708-0502

RIN: 2502-AI61
[FR Doc. E9-10275 Filed 05-08-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-S