[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 134 (Friday, July 14, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32511-32512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14770]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Chapter I

46 CFR Chapters I and III

49 CFR Chapter IV

[Docket No. USCG-2017-0661]


Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee--Input To Support 
Regulatory Reform of Coast Guard Regulations--New Task

AGENCY: U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security.

ACTION: Announcement of new task assignment for the Merchant Marine 
Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC); teleconference meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard is issuing a new task to the Merchant 
Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC). The U.S. Coast Guard is 
asking MERPAC to help the agency identify existing regulations, 
guidance, and collections of information (that fall within the scope of 
the Committee's charter) for possible repeal, replacement, or 
modification. This tasking is in response to the issuance of Executive 
Orders 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs; 
13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda;'' and 13783, 
``Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth.'' The full 
Committee is scheduled to meet by teleconference on August 8, 2017 to 
discuss this tasking. This teleconference will be open to the public. 
The U.S. Coast Guard will consider MERPAC recommendations as part of 
the process of identifying regulations, guidance, and collections of 
information to be repealed, replaced, or modified pursuant to the three 
Executive Orders discussed above.

DATES: The full Committee is scheduled to meet by teleconference on 
August 8, 2017, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. EDT. Please note that this 
teleconference may adjourn early if the Committee has completed its 
business.

ADDRESSES: To join the teleconference or to request special 
accommodations, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section no later than 1 p.m. on August 1, 2017. The 
number of teleconference lines is limited and will be available on a 
first-come, first-served basis.
    Instructions: Submit comments on the task statement at any time, 
including orally at the teleconference, but if you want Committee 
members to review your comments before the teleconference, please 
submit your comments no later than August 1, 2017. You must include the 
words ``Department of Homeland Security'' and the docket number for 
this action. Written comments may also be submitted using the Federal 
e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. If you encounter 
technical difficulties with comment submission, contact the individual 
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice. 
Comments received will be posted without alteration at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. You 
may review Regulations.gov's Privacy

[[Page 32512]]

and Security Notice at https://www.regulations.gov/privacyNotice.
    Docket Search: For access to the docket or to read documents or 
comments related to this notice, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
insert ``USCG-2017-0661'' in the Search box, press Enter, and then 
click on the item you wish to view.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lieutenant Junior Grade James Fortin, 
Alternate Designated Federal Officer of the Merchant Marine Personnel 
Advisory Committee, (202) 372-1128, or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

New Task to the Committee

    The U.S. Coast Guard is issuing a new task to MERPAC to provide 
recommendations on whether existing regulations, guidance, and 
information collections (that fall within the scope of the Committee's 
charter) should be repealed, replaced, or modified. MERPAC will then 
provide advice and recommendations on the assigned task and submit a 
final recommendation report to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Background

    On January 30, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13771, 
``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs.'' Under that 
Executive Order, for every one new regulation issued, at least two 
prior regulations must be identified for elimination, and the cost of 
planned regulations must be prudently managed and controlled through a 
budgeting process. On February 24, 2017, the President issued Executive 
Order 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda.'' That Executive 
Order directs agencies to take specific steps to identify and alleviate 
unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people. On March 
28, 2017, the President issued Executive Order 13783, ``Promoting 
Energy Independence and Economic Growth.'' Executive Order 13783 
promotes the clean and safe development of our Nation's vast energy 
resources, while at the same time avoiding agency actions that 
unnecessarily encumber energy production.
    When implementing the regulatory offsets required by Executive 
Order 13771, each agency head is directed to prioritize, to the extent 
permitted by law, those regulations that the agency's Regulatory Reform 
Task Force identifies as outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective in 
accordance with Executive Order 13777. As part of this process to 
comply with all three Executive Orders, the U.S. Coast Guard is 
reaching out through multiple avenues to interested individuals to 
gather their input about what regulations, guidance, and information 
collections, they believe may need to be repealed, replaced, or 
modified. On June 8, 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a general notice 
in the Federal Register requesting comments from interested individuals 
regarding their recommendations, 82 FR 26632. In addition to this 
general solicitation, the U.S. Coast Guard also wants to leverage the 
expertise of its Federal Advisory Committees and is issuing similar 
tasks to each of its Committees. A detailed discussion of each of the 
Executive orders and information on where U.S. Coast Guard regulations, 
guidance, and information collections are found is in the June 8th 
notice.

The Task

    MERPAC is tasked to:

    Provide input to the U.S. Coast Guard on all existing 
regulations, guidance, and information collections that fall within 
the scope of the Committee's charter.
    1. One or more subcommittees/working groups, as needed, will be 
established to work on this tasking in accordance with the Committee 
charter and bylaws. The subcommittee(s) shall terminate upon the 
approval and submission of a final recommendation to the U.S. Coast 
Guard from the parent Committee.
    2. Review regulations, guidance, and information collections and 
provide recommendations whether an existing rule, guidance, or 
information collection should be repealed, replaced or modified. If 
the Committee recommends modification, please provide specific 
recommendations for how the regulation, guidance, or information 
collection should be modified. Recommendations should include an 
explanation on how and to what extent repeal, replacement or 
modification will reduce costs or burdens to industry and the extent 
to which risks to health or safety would likely increase.
    a. Identify regulations, guidance, or information collections 
that potentially impose the following types of burden on the 
industry:
    i. Regulations, guidance, or information collections imposing 
administrative burdens on the industry.
    ii. Regulations, guidance, or information collections imposing 
burdens in the development or use of domestically produced energy 
resources. ``Burden,'' for the purposes of compliance with Executive 
Order 13783, means ``to unnecessarily obstruct, delay, curtail, or 
otherwise impose significant costs on the siting, permitting, 
production, utilization, transmission, or delivery of energy 
resources.''
    b. Identify regulations, guidance, or information collections 
that potentially impose the following types of costs on the 
industry:
    i. Regulations, guidance, or information collections imposing 
costs that are outdated (such as due to technological advancement), 
or are no longer necessary.
    ii. Regulations, guidance, or information collections imposing 
costs which are no longer enforced as written or which are 
ineffective.
    iii. Regulations, guidance, or information collections imposing 
costs tied to reporting or recordkeeping requirements that impose 
burdens that exceed benefits. Explain why the reporting or 
recordkeeping requirement is overly burdensome, unnecessary, or how 
it could be modified.
    c. Identify regulations, guidance, and information collections 
that the Committee believes have led to the elimination of jobs or 
inhibits job creation within a particular industry.
    3. All regulations, guidance, and information collections, or 
parts thereof, recommended by the Committee should be described in 
sufficient detail (by section, paragraph, sentence, clause, etc.) so 
that it can readily be identified. Data (quantitative or 
qualitative) should be provided to support and illustrate the 
impact, cost, or burden, as applicable, for each recommendation. If 
the data is not readily available, the Committee should include 
information as to how such information can be obtained either by the 
Committee or directly by the Coast Guard.

Public Participation

    All meetings associated with this tasking, both full Committee 
meetings and subcommittee/working groups, are open to the public. A 
public oral comment period will be held during the August 8, 2017, 
teleconference. Public comments or questions will be taken at the 
discretion of the Designated Federal Officer; commenters are requested 
to limit their comments to 3 minutes. Please contact the individual 
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, to register as a 
commenter. Subcommittee meetings held in association with this tasking 
will be announced as they are scheduled through notices posted to 
http://[email protected]/merpac and uploaded as supporting documents in 
the electronic docket for this action, [USCG-2017-0661], at 
Regulations.gov.

J.G. Lantz,
Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2017-14770 Filed 7-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 9110-04-P