Semiannual Regulatory Agenda Published

Yesterday the various departments of the Executive Branch published their Semiannual Regulatory Agenda’s in the Federal Register. This agenda includes their Regulatory Plan (a listing “of the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in that fiscal year”) and the regulatory flexibility agenda (a listing of the rules that are “likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities”). The DHS portion of the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda can be found at 77 FR 7960-7965.

Unified Agenda Listings

As I noted in an earlier blog post the Unified Agenda  (a listing of all “current and projected rulemakings, as well as actions completed since the publication of the last regulatory agenda”) was published sometime earlier this year at www.reginfo.com. Before I discuss the Agenda published yesterday it may be helpful to look at the Unified Agenda items of principal concern to the chemical security community. The two tables below (Proposed Rule Stage and Final Rule Stage) list all of the current rule making efforts and the date of their next expected action.

Proposed Rule Stage

Agency	Next Action	Title	RIN #
DHS/OS	Final Rule – No date	Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Program	1601-AA52
DHS/OS	NPRM – 06-12	Petitions for Rulemaking, Amendment, or Repeal	1601-AA56
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 07-12	Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements	1625-AB21
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 09-12	Updates to Maritime Security	1625-AB38
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 06-12	Top Screen Information Collection from MTSA-Regulated Facilities Handling Chemicals	1625-AB64
DHS/USCG	Final Rule – No date	Reconsideration of Letters of Recommendation for Waterfront Facilities Handling LNG and LHG	1625-AB67
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 06-12	Sensitive Security Information: Disclosure in Federal Civil Court Proceedings	1652-AA54
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 05-12	Freight Railroads, Public Transportation and Passenger Railroads, and Over-the-Road Buses--Security Training of Employees	1652-AA55
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 09-12	Freight Railroads and Passenger Railroads--Vulnerability Assessment and Security Plan	1652-AA56
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 08-12	Standardized Vetting, Adjudication, and Redress Services	1652-AA61

Final Rule Stage

Agency	Next Action	Title	RIN #
DHS/USCG	Final Rule – 04-12	Revision to Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Requirements for Mariners	1625-AB80
DHS/TSA	Notice – 06-12	Air Cargo Screening	1652-AA64

The only significant changes from the previous Unified Agenda are that DHS has issued the NPRMs for the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program and the LNG Letter of Recommendation Program. Oh, and of course the dates of the next expected action have slipped again as DHS continues to miss its regulatory mandates. One should be surprised if any of the dates listed above are actually met; really surprised.

Regulatory Plan

Only two of the rulemaking efforts listed in the tables above made it to the DHS Regulatory Plan; the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program (ANSP) and the Update to Maritime Security (MTSA II). One might expect from the listing in yesterday’s Federal Register that these would be the two rulemaking efforts most likely to be completed in the next six months or so before the next Regulatory Plan is issued, but I doubt it.

The MTSA revision is most likely to be published since it is fairly well along the regulatory process, but this has not yet been submitted to the OMB for approval. With the international implications of expected provisions of this rule the OMB approval process could be quite lengthy.

Since the public comment period on the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program NPRM was just closed in December I expect that it will be some time yet before we see a final rule published. This is especially true since this rule will have a significant impact on the agricultural community and they have the most powerful lobbying team in Washington.

I really expect that we might see some other rules from the above lists make it into the Federal Register before the AMNSP (certainly) or the MTSA II (likely) rules are published. I would think that since the Coast Guard has informally implemented some of their revisions to the TWIC requirements that the Final Rule for the TWIC Requirements for Mariners would have a high chance of getting published.

I also expect that the TSA will finally get around to publishing their very long overdue rules on security training. The only impediment to this is the fact that they have combined what used to be three separate rule making efforts (freight rail, passenger rail, and bus operators) into one rule. Even so, this should not be difficult to get published.