This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

1911 

Vol. 72, No. 10 

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Part 890 

RIN 3206–AK95 

Federal Employees Health Benefits 

Program: Discontinuance of Health 

Plan in an Emergency 

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Final Regulation. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) is issuing a final 

rule to amend the Federal Employees 

Health Benefits (FEHB) regulations 

regarding discontinuance of a health 

plan to include situations in which a 

health plan becomes incapacitated, 

either temporarily or permanently, as 

the result of a disaster. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 16, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Edward M. 

DeHarde, Center for Employee and 

Family Support Policy, Strategic Human 

Resources Policy Division, Office of 

Personnel Management, 1900 E Street, 

NW., Washington, DC 20415; or call him 

at 202–606–0004. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPM 

currently has regulations dealing with 

the discontinuance of a health plan in 

whole or part. The regulations apply 

when a plan goes out of business or 

withdraws from the FEHB Program. 

Enrollees in such plans are notified that 

they need to change plans. The 

regulations also allow the automatic 

transfer of the enrollment of annuitants 

who do not change plans. 

In light of the devastation wrought by 

Hurricane Katrina, OPM has expanded 

the discontinuation of a health plan to 

include situations in which a plan 

becomes incapable of providing 

services, either on a permanent or 

temporary basis, because of a disaster. 

In such a situation enrollees are now 

allowed to change health plans. 

However, depending on the nature of 

the disaster, it may not be possible to 

locate enrollees to notify them of the 

need to change health plans. To ensure 

there is no loss of coverage, any enrollee 

who is not able to make a change in 

these circumstances will be transferred 

automatically to the standard option of 

the nationwide Blue Cross and Blue 

Shield Service Benefit Plan. To the 

extent practical, OPM will work 

together with carriers and agencies to 

notify affected individual employees, 

and OPM will make general notification 

or announcement on its Web site. 

Invoking the provisions of these final 

regulations will be at OPM’s discretion. 

OPM will provide whatever notification 

is feasible, if a disaster necessitates 

enrollment changes under these 

provisions. 

It should be noted that, although one 

of the regulatory sections being 

amended, § 890.301, refers to employees 

who do not participate in premium 

conversion, under the premium 

conversion regulations at § 892.207 

these provisions would also apply to 

employees who do participate in 

premium conversion. 

A proposed rule was published to 

amend 5 CFR part 890 in the Federal 

Register at 71 FR 11287, March 7, 2006. 

OPM requested comments by May 8, 

2006. We received one comment by that 

date, from an FEHB Program carrier. 

The issues raised by this commenter are 

discussed below. 

The commenter suggested the 

regulations are unfair to affected carriers 

as it could force them to incur lost 

revenue; the commenter indicated that 

the proposed regulations do not define 

terms such as incapacitated, 

discontinuance, and disaster; the 

commenter suggested that the 

regulations do not provide a clear 

process for OPM to make 

determinations, enforce rules or 

communicate with members and plans; 

and the commenter suggested that the 

regulations give overly broad discretion 

to OPM. 

The intent of the regulations is that 

Federal employees can receive coverage 

for services in the event of a disaster, 

even if the employee’s health plan is 

incapable of providing coverage. The 

regulations do not affect any health plan 

that could still provide benefit coverage 

to affected enrollees. Loss of coverage 

due to the discontinuation of a health 

plan is a longstanding part of FEHB 

Program regulations. The proposed rule 

adds discontinuation due to disaster to 

the list of possible causes for the 

discontinuation of a health plan. 

Under existing regulations, annuitants 

who do not change health plans when 

a plan is discontinued are deemed to 

have enrolled in the nationwide Blue 

Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit 

Plan; however, employees who do not 

change health plans are deemed to have 

cancelled their coverage. Under the new 

rule, employees receive the same 

protection as annuitants when their 

health plan is discontinued due to 

disaster. This will ensure that no 

enrollee loses coverage because of a 

disaster. The rule requires wide latitude 

in its application since no one can 

accurately predict disaster or its 

aftermath. OPM is committed to 

protecting the health and safety of the 

Federal workforce. Therefore, for the 

reasons supplied in the proposed rule, 

we are adopting the proposed rule as the 

final rule without change. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

I certify that this regulation will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities 

because the regulation only affects 

health benefits of Federal employees 

and retirees. 

Executive Order 12866, Regulatory 

Review 

This rule has been reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget in 

accordance with Executive Order 12866. 

Lists of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 890 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Government employees, 

Health facilities, Health insurance, 

Health professions, Hostages, Iraq, 

Kuwait, Lebanon, Military personnel, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Retirement. 

U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 

Linda M. Springer, 

Director. 

■ Accordingly, OPM is amending part 

890 of title 5, Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

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1912 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 10 / Wednesday, January 17, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 

1To view the interim rule, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, click on the ‘‘Advanced 

Search’’ tab, and select ‘‘Docket Search.’’ In the 

Docket ID field, enter APHIS–2006–0117, then click 

‘‘Submit.’’ Clicking on the Docket ID link in the 

search results page will produce a list of all 

documents in the docket. 

PART 890—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 

HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 890 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 8913; § 890.303 also 

issued under 50 U.S.C. 403p, 22 U.S.C. 4069c 

and 4069c–1; subpart L also issued under 

sec. 599 C of Pub. L 101–513, 104 Stat. 2064, 

as amended; § 890.102 also issued under 

sections 11202(f), 11232(e), and 11246(b) and 

(c) of Pub. L. 105–33, 111 Stat. 251; and 

section 721 of Pub. L. 105–261, 112 Stat. 

2061 unless otherwise noted. 

■ 2. In § 890.301 add new paragraph 

(i)(4)(iv) to read as follows: 

§ 890.301 Opportunities for employees 

who are not participants in premium 

conversion to enroll or change enrollment; 

effective dates. 

* * * * * 

(i) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(iv) If the discontinuance of the plan, 

whether permanent or temporary, is due 

to a disaster, an employee must change 

the enrollment within 60 days of the 

disaster, as announced by OPM. If an 

employee does not change the 

enrollment within the time frame 

announced by OPM, the employee will 

be considered to be enrolled in the 

standard option of the Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan. The 

effective date of enrollment changes 

under this provision will be set by OPM 

when it makes the announcement 

allowing such changes. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 890.306 add new paragraph 

(1)(4)(v) to read as follows: 

§ 890.306 When can annuitants or survivor 

annuitants change enrollment or reenroll 

and what are the effective dates? 

* * * * * 

(1) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(v) If the discontinuance of the plan, 

whether permanent or temporary, is due 

to a disaster, an annuitant must change 

the enrollment within 60 days of the 

disaster, as announced by OPM. If an 

annuitant does not change the 

enrollment within the time frame 

announced by OPM, the annuitant will 

be considered to be enrolled in the 

standard option of the Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan. The 

effective date of enrollment changes 

under this provision will be set by OPM 

when it makes the announcement 

allowing such changes. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. In § 890.806 add new paragraph 

(j)(4)(iv) to read as follows: 

§ 890.806 When can former spouses 

change enrollment or reenroll and what are 

the effective dates? 

* * * * * 

(j) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(iv) If the discontinuance of the plan, 

whether permanent or temporary, is due 

to a disaster, the former spouse must 

change the enrollment within 60 days of 

the disaster, as announced by OPM. If 

the former spouse does not change the 

enrollment within the time frame 

announced by OPM, the former spouse 

will be considered to be enrolled in the 

standard option of the Blue Cross and 

Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan. The 

effective date of enrollment changes 

under this provision will be set by OPM 

when it makes the announcement 

allowing such changes. 

* * * * * 

■ 5. In § 890.1108 add new paragraph 

(h)(4)(iv) to read as follows: 

§ 890.1108 Opportunities to change 

enrollment; effective dates. 

* * * * * 

(h) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(iv) If the discontinuance of the plan, 

whether permanent or temporary, is due 

to a disaster, the enrollee must change 

the enrollment within 60 days of the 

disaster, as announced by OPM. If the 

enrollee does not change the enrollment 

within the time frame announced by 

OPM, the enrollee will be considered to 

be enrolled in the standard option of the 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service 

Benefit Plan. The effective date of 

enrollment changes under this provision 

will be set by OPM when it makes the 

announcement allowing such changes. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E7–533 Filed 1–16–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–39–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 301 

[Docket No. APHIS–2006–0117] 

Pine Shoot Beetle; Additions to 

Quarantined Areas 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as 

final rule. 

SUMMARY: We are adopting as a final 

rule, without change, an interim rule 

that amended the pine shoot beetle 

regulations by adding counties in 

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New 

York, and Ohio to the list of quarantined 

areas and by designating the States of 

Michigan, Minnesota, and 

Pennsylvania, in their entirety, as 

quarantined areas based on their 

decision not to enforce intrastate 

movement restrictions. The interim rule 

also added the States of Connecticut and 

Rhode Island, in their entirety, to the 

list of quarantined areas based on 

projections of the natural spread of pine 

shoot beetle that make it reasonable to 

believe that the pest is present in those 

States. The interim rule was necessary 

to prevent the spread of pine shoot 

beetle, a pest of pine trees, into 

noninfested areas of the United States. 

DATES: Effective on January 17, 2007, we 

are adopting as a final rule the interim 

rule published at 71 FR 58243–58246 on 

October 3, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Weyman Fussell, Program Manager, Pest 

Detection and Management Programs, 

PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 134, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1231; (301) 734–

5705. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The regulations in 7 CFR 301.50 

through 301.50–10 (referred to below as 

the regulations) restrict the interstate 

movement of certain regulated articles 

from quarantined areas in order to 

prevent the spread of pine shoot beetle 

(PSB) into noninfested areas of the 

United States. 

In an interim rule 1 effective and 

published in the Federal Register on 

October 3, 2006 (71 FR 58243–58246, 

Docket No. APHIS–2006–0117), we 

amended the regulations by adding Jo 

Daviess and Stark Counties, IL; 

Dearborn County, IN; Dubuque and 

Scott Counties, IA; Bergen, Hunterdon, 

Passaic, Sussex, and Warren Counties, 

NJ; Columbia, Orange, and Ulster 

Counties, NY; and Highland, Jackson, 

Ross, and Scioto Counties, OH, to the 

list of quarantined areas in § 301.50–

3(c). In addition, we designated the 

States of Michigan, Minnesota, and 

Pennsylvania, in their entirety, as 

quarantined areas based on their 

decision not to enforce intrastate 

movement restrictions. Finally, we 

added the States of Connecticut and 

Rhode Island, in their entirety, to the 

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