[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 244 (Thursday, December 21, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60571-60572]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27439]


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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. 82, No. 244 / Thursday, December 21, 2017 / 
Proposed Rules  

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

23 CFR Chapter I

[Docket No. FHWA-2016-0002]
RIN 2125-AF70


Tribal Transportation Self-Governance Program; Negotiated 
Rulemaking Committee Meeting

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of negotiated rulemaking committee meeting.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Negotiated Rulemaking Act, the Secretary of 
Transportation announces a meeting of the Tribal Transportation Self-
Governance (TTSGP) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The meeting is open 
to the public.

DATES: The meeting will be held January 8-12, 2018, from 8 a.m. to 5 
p.m., CDT.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Eastern Federal Lands 
Highway Division, Loudoun Tech Center, 21400 Ridgetop Circle, Sterling, 
VA 20166-6511. Attendance is open to the public up to the room's 
capacity. Copies of the TTSGP Committee materials and an agenda will be 
made available in advance of the meeting at https://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/ttp/ttsgp/.
    Send comments to Erin Kenley, Designated Federal Official, Federal 
Highway Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590; 
or Vivian Philbin, Assistant Chief Counsel, 12300 West Dakota Avenue, 
Lakewood, CO 80228. Or email to: [email protected].
    Comments received by FHWA will be available for inspection at the 
address listed above from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through 
Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Kenley, Designated Federal 
Official, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 
(202) 366-1567 or at [email protected]. Vivian Philbin, Assistant 
Chief Counsel, 12300 West Dakota Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80228. Telephone: 
(720) 963-3445 or at [email protected]. Additional information may 
be posted on the FHWA Tribal Transportation Self-Governance Program 
website at https://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/ttp/ttsgp/ as it comes 
available.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Section 1121 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) 
Act, Public Law 114-94 (Dec. 4, 2015), directs the Secretary to develop 
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that contains the regulations 
required to carry out the TTSGP at the United States Department of 
Transportation (Department). Section 1121 also requires the Secretary 
to establish a committee to carry out this work and apply the 
procedures of negotiated rulemaking under subchapter III of chapter 5 
of title 5 (the Negotiated Rulemaking Act) in a manner that reflects 
the unique government-to-government relationship between the Indian 
tribes and the United States. On July 27, 2016, the Secretary published 
a document in the Federal Register (81 FR 49193) ``Negotiated 
Rulemaking Proposed Committee Membership and First Meeting,'' and the 
TTSGP Committee held its first meeting from August 16 to 18, 2016, in 
Sterling, Virginia. The TTSGP Committee organized itself into work 
groups to assist in the negotiation and development of proposed 
regulatory text. Between September 2016 and December 2016, the full 
Committee met three additional times at the following locations: 
Sterling, Virginia; Shawnee, Oklahoma; and Bloomington, Minnesota. An 
additional meeting of the full committee was scheduled for Atmore, 
Alabama in December 2016. However, due to severe inclement weather and 
subsequent air travel flight cancellations, a quorum of representatives 
needed to conduct an official Committee meeting (in accordance with the 
Committee's protocols) was not obtained. Notwithstanding, the committee 
representatives that were present used the scheduled time to carry out 
business in work groups. A significant amount of the proposed language 
for the NPRM was developed during the meetings that were held. Due to a 
change in Administration, the committee's work was put on hold in 
January 2017 to allow the new Administration to be briefed on the 
rulemaking and determine its future direction.
    Section 1121 of the FAST Act allows a 180-day extension to the 
deadlines identified within it for completing this work. After 
receiving a consensus approval from the tribal committee members, the 
Secretary sent letters to the required members of Congress on September 
1, 2017, informing them of the implementation of this provision.
    In an effort to publish the NPRM within the time frames identified 
by statute, this will be the last meeting of the Committee until after 
the comment period is complete. At that time, the Committee may 
reconvene to address the comments received and work together to develop 
the proposed language for the Final Rule.
    The Secretary acknowledges and appreciates the Committee's work and 
effort to date and looks forward to working together to complete this 
task. Several of the Committee members who were designated as 
Alternates have now been placed on the Committee as Primary members due 
to numerous circumstances. These include:

--Connie Thompson, Transportation Director, Assiniboine and Sioux 
Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation, Montana [replacing John Smith, 
Transportation Director, Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes' 
Joint Business Council on the Wind River Indian Reservation, Arapahoe, 
WY]
--Dean Branchaud, Red Lake Band of Chippewa, Red Lake, MN [replacing 
David Conner, Self-Governance Coordinator, Red Lake Band of Chippewa 
Indians, Red Lake, MN]
--Mary Beth Frank-Clark, Transportation Planner, Nez Pierce Tribe, 
Lewiston, ID [replacing Timothy Ballew II, Tribal Chairman, Lummi 
Nation, Bellingham, WA]; and
--Clyde M. Romero, Jr., Executive Director of Self-Governance, Taos 
Pueblo, Taos, NM [replacing Mickey Peercy, Executive Director of Self-
Governance, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Tishomingo, OK].

    Requests for additional nominees to backfill the alternate 
positions made available through these moves will not be accepted at 
this time.

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    The Secretary also designates the following individuals to replace 
Federal representatives of the Committee as Primary members:

--Anthony Bedell, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental 
Affairs, Office of the Secretary, USDOT, Washington, DC [replacing 
Kenneth Martin, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tribal Government 
Affairs, Office of the Secretary, USDOT, Washington, DC]
--Colleen Vaughn, Environmental Policy Analyst/Historic Preservation 
Officer, Office of Policy Development, USDOT, Washington, DC [replacing 
Katherine Andrus, Environmental Protection Specialist and Federal 
Preservation Officer, FAA, Washington, DC]
--Erin Kenley, Director, Office of Tribal Transportation, FHWA, USDOT, 
Washington, DC as the Designated Federal Official [replacing Robert W. 
Sparrow, Supervisory Program Manager, Office of Tribal Transportation, 
FHWA, Washington, DC].

II. Meeting Participation

    The meeting will be open to the public. Time has been set aside 
during each day of the meeting for members of the public to contribute 
to the discussion and provide oral comments.
    The committee will dedicate a substantial amount of time at this 
meeting to reviewing and finalizing the proposed regulatory language 
and preamble to the NPRM.

III. Potential Future Committee Meetings and Rulemaking Calendar

    Potential future meetings and the committee's responsibilities, as 
well as locations of consultation sessions/outreach during the NPRM 
comment period, will be discussed during this meeting. Notifications of 
any future meetings will be shown on the TTSGP website at https://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/ttp/ttsgp/ at least 15 calendar days prior to 
a meeting. Dates and locations of consultation sessions/outreach during 
the comment period will be shown on the site as well as be included in 
a Federal Register document and in the preamble to the proposed NPRM. 
The Department intends to complete the negotiated rulemaking process 
for the proposed rule and publish a Final Rule in 2018.

     Issued on: December 13, 2017.
Brandye L. Hendrickson,
Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017-27439 Filed 12-20-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-22-P