[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 76 (Friday, April 19, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23507-23508]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09265]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 76 / Friday, April 19, 2013 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 23507]]
FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY
12 CFR Chapter XII
[No. 2013-N-06]
Notice of Regulatory Review
AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.
ACTION: Request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing a notice
of a regulatory review that will be conducted in accordance with the
process set forth in the regulatory review plan published by FHFA last
year,\1\ and requesting comments on how its regulations may be made
more effective and less burdensome.
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\1\ Regulatory Review Plan, 77 FR 10351 (Feb. 22, 2012).
DATES: Written comments on this notice of regulatory review must be
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received no later than June 18, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments, identified by ``Regulatory
Review [No. 2013-N-06]'', by any of the following methods:
Email: Comments to Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel may
be sent by email to [email protected]. Please include ``Regulatory
Review [No. 2013-N-06]'' in the subject line of the message.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by FHFA.
Please include ``Regulatory Review [No. 2013-N-06]'' in the subject
line of the message.
U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or
Other Mail Service: The mailing address for comments is: Alfred M.
Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/Regulatory Review [No.
2013-N-06], Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution Center, (OGC)
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20024.
Hand Delivered/Courier: The hand delivery address is:
Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/Regulatory
Review [No. 2013-N-06], Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution
Center, (OGC) Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC
20024. The package should be logged at the FHFA Guard Desk, First
Floor, on business days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
All comments received will be posted without change on FHFA's Web
site at http://www.fhfa.gov, and will include any personal information
provided, such as name, address (mailing and email), and telephone
numbers. In addition, copies of all comments received will be available
without charge for public inspection on business days between the hours
of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., at the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
Constitution Center, (OGC) Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20024. To make an appointment to inspect comments,
please call the Office of General Counsel at (202) 649-3804.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher T. Curtis, Senior Deputy
General Counsel, [email protected], (202) 649-3051 (this is
not a toll-free number), Federal Housing Finance Agency, Constitution
Center, (OGC) Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC
20024. The telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the
Hearing Impaired is (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Establishment of FHFA; Transfer and Review of Regulations
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) established
FHFA on July 30, 2008, as an independent regulatory agency to supervise
and regulate the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae),
the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the
Federal Home Loan Banks (collectively, regulated entities), and the
Office of Finance of the Federal Home Loan Bank System. HERA
transferred to the new agency the employees, functions, and regulations
of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the
Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board), and the Government-
Sponsored Enterprise mission team within the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD).
HERA and, most recently, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) mandate that FHFA issue new
regulations on specific matters in connection with FHFA's supervision
and regulation of the regulated entities and the Office of Finance.
Currently, in determining whether to revise, adopt without change, or
repeal transferred OFHEO, Finance Board, and certain HUD regulations,
FHFA reviews such regulations to determine the appropriate action and
publishes the regulations for comment. Public comments provide
additional information to FHFA on how to make the regulations more
effective and less burdensome.
Executive Order 13579
Executive Order 13579, ``Regulation and Independent Regulatory
Agencies,'' (July 11, 2011), requests that each independent regulatory
agency, such as FHFA, analyze its existing regulations and modify,
streamline, expand, or repeal them in accordance with the findings of
the analysis. Executive Order 13579 also requests each independent
regulatory agency to make public a plan under which the agency will
periodically review its existing significant regulations to make the
agency's regulatory program more effective or less burdensome in
achieving regulatory objectives.
FHFA's Regulatory Review Plan Under Executive Order 13579
After notice and request for comment,\2\ FHFA published its
regulatory review plan on February 22, 2012.\3\ The plan provides for
FHFA to review its regulations for effectiveness and burden every five
years, beginning not later than August of this year, applying factors
enumerated in the plan. The regulatory review plan is available at the
following location: http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/23372/77_FR_10351_Feb_22_2012.pdf. FHFA regulations published in Chapter XII of Title
12 of the Code of Federal Regulations are available at the following
locations: (1)
[[Page 23508]]
The Government-wide public Web site at: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=7c0e5ce2b44677c52dbb9e542ffb2d2e&c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title12/12cfrv9_02.tpl; (2) FHFA's Internet Web site at: http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=89&ListNumber=5&ListYear=2012&SortBy=#Year_2012; and
(3) http://www.regulations.gov. FHFA's Office of General Counsel will
conduct the reviews, culminating in a report to the agency's Director.
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\2\ Notice of Regulatory Review Plan, 76 FR 59066 (Sept. 23,
2011).
\3\ Regulatory Review Plan, 77 FR 10351 (Feb. 22, 2012).
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This Notice initiates the first such review.
II. Request for Comment
FHFA hereby requests comment on its existing regulations for
purposes of improving their effectiveness and reducing their burden.
Included in the review are all current regulations, including those not
yet transferred from the predecessor agencies, but not including rules
of agency organization, procedure, or practice, or regulations adopted
or substantially amended within the last two years. Members of the
public may nonetheless comment on those recently adopted or amended
regulations, and FHFA will take those comments into account as
appropriate, however, FHFA does not anticipate responding to individual
comments.
Factors that FHFA's regulatory review plan identifies as relevant
to the review, and which FHFA suggests should guide commenters,
include:
(1) Legal or regulatory developments, including new laws, executive
orders or judicial decisions that have been adopted since the
promulgation of a regulation that make such regulation inefficient,
obsolete, contrary to controlling legal precedent, or unduly
burdensome;
(2) Marketplace developments, technological evolution, and related
changes that may have rendered an existing regulation, in whole or in
part, inefficient, outmoded, or outdated;
(3) Whether the provisions of the regulation are written in plain
language or otherwise need clarification;
(4) Compelling evidence that a consolidation of two or more
regulations, elimination of a duplicative regulation, or other revision
to regulatory requirements would facilitate compliance by or
supervision of a regulated entity or the Office of Finance;
(5) A demonstrated better alternative method to effect a regulatory
purpose or requirement supported by compelling evidence of
significantly less intrusive means or of a substantially more efficient
method of accomplishing the same supervisory purpose.\4\
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\4\ 77 FR at 10351-02.
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As stated in the regulatory review plan, FHFA's Office of General
Counsel will review all comments received, will consult with other FHFA
offices and divisions, and will make a report of findings and
recommendations to the FHFA Director on a timely basis. The report of
findings and recommendations will be privileged and confidential. After
receiving the report of findings and recommendations, the FHFA Director
will determine what steps may be necessary to relieve any unnecessary
burden, including amendment to or repeal of existing regulations or
issuance of less formal guidance.
This regulatory review is not a formal or informal rulemaking
proceeding under the Administrative Procedure Act and creates no right
of action against FHFA. The determination of FHFA to conduct or not to
conduct a review of a particular regulation, and any determinations,
findings, or recommendations resulting from this review, are not final
agency actions and, therefore, are not subject to judicial review.
Dated: April 12, 2013.
Edward J. DeMarco,
Acting Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2013-09265 Filed 4-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P