59820 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 214 / Wednesday, November 5, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

health regulation at § 424.22(d)(3)(ii), as

it applies to indirect salaried

employment or contractual

arrangements, may have on rural areas

where the hospital or other entity is so

pervasive a presence in the community

that, in addition to owning the home

health agency, it also employs the

majority of the physicians.

We have asked the Medicare fiscal

intermediaries to cooperate with the

Office of Inspector General to look into

the referral patterns of hospitals that

own facilities providing ancillary

services, including home health

services.

III. Other Required Information

A. Executive Order 12866 Review

In accordance with provisions of

Executive Order 12866, this notice with

comment period was received by the

Office of Management and Budget.

B. Collection of Information

Requirements

This notice with comment period

does not impose information collection

and recordkeeping requirements.

Consequently, it need not be reviewed

by the Office of Management and

Budget for purposes of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501

et seq.).

C. Response to Comments

Because of the large number of items

of correspondence we normally receive

on Federal Register documents

published for comment, we are not able

to acknowledge or respond to them

individually. We will consider all

comments we receive by the date and

time specified in the DATES section of

this notice, and, if we proceed with a

subsequent document, we will respond

to the comments in that document.

(Authority: Secs. 1102, 1814(a), 1835(a),

1871, and 1877 of the Social Security Act (42

U.S.C. 1302, 1395f(a), 1395(a), 1395hh, and

1395nn))

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program No. 93.773 Medicare—Hospitals

Insurance Program; and Program No. 93.774,

Medicare—Supplementary Medical

Insurance Program)

Dated: October 17, 1997.

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle,

Deputy Administrator, Health Care Financing

Administration.

Dated: October 23, 1997.

Donna E. Shalala,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–29071 Filed 11–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

43 CFR Part 1860

[WO–350–1220–00–24 1A]

RIN 1004–AC–88

Patent Preparation and Issuance

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Final rulemaking.

SUMMARY: This final rule amends part

1860 of Title 43 of the Code of Federal

Regulations (CFR) to completely remove

subpart 1862, which contains internal

instructions on preparing and issuing

patents. The Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) plans to place these

procedures in an existing BLM Manual/

Handbook, a more appropriate location

than the CFR. The public will have

access to the material.

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 5, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Vanessa Engle, Lands and Realty Group,

Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C

Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20240;

Telephone (202) 452–7776 (Commercial

or FTS).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

II. Response to Comments

III. Discussion of Final Rule

IV. Procedural Matters

I. Background

The existing regulation at 43 CFR part

1862 has no requirements with which

the public must comply. Instead, it

contains internal instructions on

preparing and issuing patents, which

properly should be in manuals and

handbooks. For this reason, BLM

published a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking in the August 16, 1996,

Federal Register (61 FR 42579), to

advise the public of its plans to

completely remove subpart 1862 from

43 CFR and place the material in the

BLM Manual/Handbook. We invited

public comments for 30 days and

received comments from a mining

association. We have considered the

association’s comments in preparing the

final rule.

II. Response to Comments

The commenter opposed the proposed

rule because it neither indicated where

in BLM’s policy manuals and

handbooks the regulation would reside

nor whether the instructions would

remain the same or change.

Changes to the proposed rule, based

on this comment, are not necessary.

BLM will not make any substantive

alterations to the instructions but will

update them before they are placed in

the existing BLM Manual/Handbook,

which currently is being updated to

ensure continuity of the subpart 1862

instructions. Under the heading of

subpart 1862, the manual/handbook

will go into considerable detail on the

requirements for preparing and issuing

patents. In addition to the information

previously contained in subpart 1862,

the manual will include sections on

different types of patents, specific

language to be included in patents,

directions on how to correctly format

and number patents and other

particulars. BLM will not remove any of

the requirements previously found in 43

CFR part 1862.

III. Discussion of Final Rule

This final rule completely removes

Subpart 1862 of Title 43 CFR, which

provides internal instructions on

preparing and issuing patents. BLM is

issuing the rule without change from the

August 16, 1996, Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking. This action meets one of

the objectives of President Clinton’s

Government-wide regulatory reform

initiative—to eliminate unnecessary

regulations from the CFR.

IV. Procedural Matters

National Environmental Policy Act of

1969

BLM has prepared an environmental

assessment (EA), and has found that the

final rule would not constitute a major

Federal action significantly affecting the

quality of the human environment

under section 102(2)(C) of the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 432(2)(C). BLM has

placed the EA and the Finding of No

Significant Impact (FONSI) on file in the

BLM Administrative Record, 1620 L

Street, NW, Room 401, Washington, DC,

during regular business hours, 7:45 a.m.

to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Paperwork Reduction Act

This final rule does not contain

information collection requirements that

the Office of Management and Budget

must approve under the Paperwork

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

BLM has determined that the final

rule, which merely removes

unnecessary regulations, will not have a

significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities

within the meaning of the Regulatory

Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 214 / Wednesday, November 5, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 59821

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

This final rule does not include any

Federal mandate that may result in

increased expenditures of $100 million

in any one year by State, local, or tribal

governments, or by the private sector.

Therefore, a Section 202 statement

under the Unfunded Mandates Reform

Act is not required.

Executive Order 12612

BLM has analyzed this final rule

under the principles and criteria in

Executive Order 12612 and has

determined that the rule does not have

sufficient federalism implications to

warrant the preparation of a Federalism

Assessment.

Executive Order 12630

This final rule does not represent a

government action that interferes with

constitutionally protected property

rights. Thus, a Taking Implication

Assessment need not be prepared under

Executive Order 12630, ‘‘Government

Action and Interference with

Constitutionally Protected Property

Rights.’’

Executive Order 12866

This final rule does not meet the

criteria for a significant rule requiring

review by the Office of Management and

Budget under Executive Order 12866,

Regulatory Planning and Review.

Executive Order 12988

The Department has determined that

this final rule meets the applicable

standards provided in sections 3(a) and

3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, Civil

Justice Reform.

Report to Congress and the General

Accounting Office

Under 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), as added

by the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, BLM

submitted a report containing this rule

and other required information to the

U.S. Senate, U.S. House of

Representatives, and the Comptroller

General of the General Accounting

Office before publication of the rule in

today’s Federal Register. This rule is

not a ‘‘major rule’’ as defined by 5

U.S.C. 804(2).

Author: The principal author of this

final rule is Frances Watson, Regulatory

Affairs Group, Bureau of Land

Management, 1849 C Street, NW, Room

401 LS, Washington, D.C. 20240;

Telephone 202/452–5006 (Commercial

or FTS).

List of Subjects in 43 CFR Part 1860

Administrative practice and

procedure, Public lands.

For the reasons stated in the

preamble, and under the authority of 43

U.S.C. 1740, part 1860 of Title 43 of the

Code of Federal Regulations is amended

as set forth below:

PART 1860—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 1860

continues to read as follows:

Authority: R.S. 2450, as amended; 43

U.S.C. 1161.

Subpart 1862—[Removed and

Reserved]

2. Subpart 1862 is removed and

reserved.

Dated: October 28, 1997.

Sylvia V. Baca,

Acting Assistant Secretary, Land and

Minerals Management.

[FR Doc. 97–29273 Filed 11–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–84–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

43 CFR Part 3710

[WO–320–4130–02–24 1A]

RIN 1004–AC39

Use and Occupancy Under the Mining

Laws

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Correcting amendments.

SUMMARY: This document contains

corrections to the final regulations

published in the Federal Register on

Tuesday, July 16, 1996 (61 FR 37116).

The regulations addressed the unlawful

use and occupancy of unpatented

mining claims for non-mining purposes.

DATES: The corrections are effective on

November 5, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Richard E. Deery, (202) 452-0353.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July

16, 1996, BLM published a final rule

addressing the unlawful use and

occupancy of unpatented mining claims

for non-mining purposes. The

definitions section of the final rule and

its accompanying preamble contain the

undefined phrases ‘‘hardrock mining’’

and ‘‘hardrock mineral development.’’

Another section of the final rule and its

accompanying preamble contain an

erroneous cross reference. BLM must

clarify the undefined phrases and

correct the cross-referencing errors to

avoid confusing those people whose

activities are subject to the regulations.

Final § 3715.0–5 defines the term

‘‘mining laws’’ to mean, in pertinent

part, ‘‘all laws that apply to hardrock

mining on public lands and which make

public lands available for hardrock

mineral development. This includes, but

is not limited to, the general authorities

relating to hardrock mining or to the

public lands on which this rule is based

and case law which interprets those

authorities.’’ (Emphasis added.) Since

the final rule became effective, BLM has

learned from its field staff that use of the

undefined terms, ‘‘hardrock mining’’

and ‘‘hardrock mineral development’’ in

the definition of ‘‘mining laws’’ is

causing confusion among some people

whose activities are subject to the

regulations. These people are arguing

that BLM used these terms to exclude

activities associated with mining of

placer claims from the scope of these

regulations. BLM does not agree with

this position. Final § 3715.0–1 states in

pertinent part that, ‘‘The purpose of this

subpart is to manage the use and

occupancy of the public lands for the

development of locatable mineral

deposits by limiting such use or

occupancy to that which is reasonably

incident. (Emphasis added.) It is well

settled that the framework for locating

valuable mineral deposits set up by the

mining laws applies to claims both to

minerals in veins or lodes (hardrock)

and to minerals in alluvial, glacial, or

marine deposits (placer). See 30 U.S.C.

23 and 35 respectively. However, to

alleviate any possible confusion, both

now and in the future, BLM is removing

the undefined ‘‘hardrock’’ phrases and

replacing them with phrases

incorporating the concept of locatable

minerals. This action will ensure

consistency between the purpose and

definitions sections and eliminate any

confusion over the scope of the

regulations.

The final rule also contains a

provision that describes the four kinds

of enforcement actions BLM can take if

an occupant of an unpatented mining