[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