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.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

30589 

Vol. 83, No. 126 

Friday, June 29, 2018 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

5 CFR Part 870 

RIN 3206–AN52 

Federal Employees’ Group Life 

Insurance Program: Clarifying Annual 

Rates of Pay and Amending the 

Employment Status of Judges of the 

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims 

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) is issuing a 

proposed rule to amend the Federal 

Employees’ Group Life Insurance 

(FEGLI) regulations to clarify the 

definition of annual rates of pay for 

insured employees and to clarify the 

status of judges of the United States 

Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 

DATES: Comments are due on or before 

August 28, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Ronald Brown, Policy Analyst, 

Healthcare and Insurance, U.S. Office of 

Personnel Management, Room 4316, 

1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC. You 

may also submit comments identified by 

the RIN number stated above using the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://

www.regulations.gov). Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ronald Brown, Policy Analyst, (202) 

606–2128, or by email to 

Ronald.Brown@opm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Federal Employees’ Group Life 

Insurance Program (FEGLI) is 

administered by the United States Office 

of Personnel Management (OPM) in 

accordance with Chapter 87 of Title 5 of 

the U.S. Code and our implementing 

regulations (title 5, part 87, and title 48, 

part 21, of the Code of Federal 

Regulations). The FEGLI enabling 

legislation was signed August 17, 1954. 

As of September 30, 2017, FEGLI covers 

an estimated 4,231,000 employees and 

annuitants enrolled in Basic insurance, 

including 1,144,000 employees and 

annuitants with Option B insurance that 

has not reduced to zero, 1,187,000 

employees and annuitants enrolled in 

Option A insurance, and 933,000 

employees and annuitants enrolled in 

Option C insurance that has not reduced 

to zero. 

The FEGLI statute establishes the 

basic rules for benefits, enrollment, and 

participation, and provides that OPM 

‘‘shall specify the types of pay included 

in annual pay.’’ See 5 U.S.C. 8704(c). In 

accordance, OPM has promulgated 

regulations defining the ‘‘basic 

insurance amount’’ for all Program 

enrollees. Further, the ‘‘basic insurance 

amount’’ is defined by law using the 

term ‘‘annual rate of basic pay.’’ See 5 

U.S.C. 8701(c). For Program purposes, 

the basic insurance amount applies to 

Basic and Option B insurance. 

This proposed rule clarifies what is 

considered annual basic pay for FEGLI 

Program purposes, but does not change 

how the annual rate of basic pay is 

computed, provide additional 

enrollment or change opportunities, or 

make other changes not in the existing 

Program regulations. The proposed rule 

makes this clear in the revised sections 

of part 870 by aligning the Program and 

retirement regulations, and, in the 

process, eliminating certain outdated 

regulatory provisions on basic pay. 

Discussion of Proposed Changes 

OPM is issuing a proposed regulation 

to clarify that (1) annual basic pay for 

FEGLI includes any type of pay treated 

as basic pay for purposes of the 

retirement systems established under 5 

U.S.C. chapters 83 and 84 consistent 

with applicable law or OPM regulation, 

and (2) basic pay for FEGLI purposes 

does not include bonuses, allowances, 

overtime pay, or any other pay to a 

covered civilian employee given in 

addition to the base pay of the position 

except as otherwise provided by specific 

provision of law or OPM regulation. 

The proposed rule changes existing 

paragraphs 5 CFR 870.204(a)(1) and 

(a)(2) to clarify that basic pay for FEGLI 

purposes includes all payments that are 

retirement-creditable basic pay under 5 

U.S.C. chapters 83 and 84. The 

proposed rule also deletes paragraphs 

that are obsolete or creditable by other 

provisions of law or covered as 

exceptions to existing law. This 

includes a revised paragraph on locality 

pay, special pay supplements, and 

customs officer pay. 

The proposed regulation updates 

FEGLI regulations to state that (1) judges 

of the United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims, formerly judges of the 

United States Court of Veterans 

Appeals, are covered under applicable 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. chapter 87, and 

(2) any such judge who is in regular 

active service and a judge who is retired 

under chapter 72 of title 38 or under 

chapter 83 or 84 of title 5 shall be 

treated as an employee under FEGLI law 

and regulation. 

The proposed regulation updates 5 

CFR 870.101 with the correct title of the 

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims and updates paragraph 

5 CFR 870.101 with the correct title of 

the United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims. The proposed 

regulation also updates paragraph 5 CFR 

870.703(e)(1) to state that a judge of the 

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims who is in regular active 

service and a judge who is retired under 

38 U.S.C. 7296 is considered an 

employee under the FEGLI Program as 

required by Public Law 114–315. 

Regulatory Impact Analysis: OPM has 

examined the impact of this proposed 

rule as required by Executive Order 

12866 and Executive Order 13563, 

which directs agencies to assess all costs 

and benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, if regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public, health, and 

safety effects, distributive impacts, and 

equity). A regulatory impact analysis 

must be prepared for major rules with 

economically significant effects of $100 

million or more in any one year. This 

rule is not considered a major rule 

because the regulation only clarifies the 

definition of basic pay, but does not 

make substantive changes to its 

computation. This rule only affects the 

life insurance of a small number of 

federal employees and annuitants that 

are or have served as judges for the 

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veteran’s Claims. As the Court is 

authorized seven permanent, active 

Judges, and two additional Judges as 

part of a temporary expansion 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
30590 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 126 / Friday, June 29, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

provision, who are appointed for 15- 

year terms, OPM estimates the number 

of affected employees is de minimus. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 

(Pub. L. 96–354) (RFA) establishes ‘‘as a 

principle of regulatory issuance that 

agencies shall endeavor, consistent with 

the objectives of the rule and of 

applicable statutes, to fit regulatory and 

informational requirements to the scale 

of the businesses, organizations, and 

governmental jurisdictions subject to 

regulation.’’ To achieve this principle, 

agencies are required to solicit and 

consider flexible regulatory proposals 

and to explain the rationale for their 

actions to assure that such proposals are 

given serious consideration.’’ The RFA 

covers a wide range of small entities, 

including small businesses, not-forprofit organizations, and small 

governmental jurisdictions. 

Agencies must perform a review to 

determine whether a rule will have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. If 

the agency determines that it will, the 

agency must prepare a regulatory 

flexibility analysis as described in the 

RFA. I certify that this regulation will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

because the regulation only affects a 

small number of Federal employees and 

annuitants. 

Executive Order 12866, Regulatory 

Review 

This proposed rule has been reviewed 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget in accordance with Executive 

Orders 13563 and 12866. 

Executive Order 13771, Reducing 

Regulation and Controlling Regulatory 

Costs 

This proposed rule is not expected to 

be an E.O. 13771 regulatory action 

because this proposed rule is not 

significant under Executive Order 

12866. The proposed rule makes 

minimal changes to coverage for certain 

judges, and clarifies that annual basic 

pay for FEGLI includes any type of pay 

treated as basic pay for purposes of the 

retirement systems established under 5 

U.S.C. chapters 83 and 84 consistent 

with applicable law or OPM regulation. 

This proposed rule is not subject to 

the requirements of E.O. 13771 (82 FR 

9339, February 3, 2017) because it is 

related to agency organization, 

management, or personnel and affects 

only a small number of federal 

employees and annuitants. 

Federalism 

We have examined this rule in 

accordance with Executive Order 13132, 

Federalism, and have determined that 

this rule will not have any negative 

impact on the rights, roles and 

responsibilities of State, local, or tribal 

governments. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. chapter 3507(d); see 5 CFR 

part 1320) requires that the U.S. Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) 

approve all collections of information 

by a Federal agency from the public 

before they can be implemented. 

Respondents are not required to respond 

to any collection of information unless 

it displays a current valid OMB control 

number. OPM is not proposing any 

additional collections in this rule. This 

rule does not affect any existing 

collections. 

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 870 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Government employees, 

Hostages, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Life 

Insurance, Retirement. 

Office of Personnel Management. 

Jeff T.H. Pon, 

Director. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, OPM is proposing to amend 

part 870 of title 5 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

PART 870—FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ 

GROUP LIFE INSURANCE PROGRAM 

■ 1. The authority citation for Part 870 

continues to read: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 8716; Subpart J also 

issued under section 599C of Pub. L. 101– 

513, 104 Stat. 2064, as amended; Sec. 

870.302(a)(3)(ii) also issued under section 

153 of Pub. L. 104–134, 110 Stat. 1321; Sec. 

870.302(a)(3) also issued under sections 

11202(f), 11232(e), and 11246(b) and (c) of 

Pub. L. 105–33, 111 Stat. 251, and section 

7(e) of Pub. L. 105–274, 112 Stat. 2419; Sec. 

870.302(a)(3) also issued under section 145 of 

Pub. L. 106–522, 114 Stat. 2472; Secs. 

870.302(b)(8), 870.601(a), and 870.602(b) also 

issued under Pub. L. 110–279, 122 Stat. 2604; 

Subpart E also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8702(c); 

Sec. 870.601(d)(3) also issued under 5 U.S.C. 

8706(d); Sec. 870.703(e)(1) also issued under 

section 502 of Pub. L. 110–177, 121 Stat. 

Start Printed Page 773662542; Sec. 870.705 

also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8714b(c) and 

8714c(c); Public Law 104–106, 110 Stat. 521. 

■ 2. Amend § 870.101 by revising the 

definition of Employing Office, to read 

as follows: 

§ 870.101 Definitions. 

Employing Office 

* * * * * 

(4) The United States Court of 

Appeals for Veterans Claims is the 

employing office for judges of the 

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. Amend § 870.204 by revising 

paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 870.204 Annual rates of pay. 

(a)(1) An employee’s annual pay is the 

annual basic pay of the position as fixed 

by law or regulation, except as 

otherwise provided by specific 

provision of law or OPM regulation. 

Annual pay for this purpose includes 

the following: 

(i) Any pay of a type that is treated as 

basic pay for purposes of the retirement 

systems established under 5 U.S.C. 

chapters 83 and 84, consistent with 5 

U.S.C. 8331(3); 

(ii) Any geographic-based pay 

supplement that is equivalent to a 

locality-based comparability payment 

under 5 U.S.C. 5304; and 

(iii) Any special pay supplement for 

a defined subcategory of employees that 

is equivalent to a special rate 

supplement under 5 U.S.C. 5305. 

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(1) 

of this section, annual basic pay does 

not include the following: 

(i) Bonuses, allowances, overtime pay, 

or any other pay to a covered civilian 

employee given in addition to the base 

pay of the position, except as otherwise 

provided by specific provision of law or 

OPM regulation. 

(ii) Physicians comparability 

allowances under 5 U.S.C. 5948. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. Amend § 870.703 by adding 

paragraph (e)(1)(vii) to read as follows: 

§ 870.703 Election of Basic insurance. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(vii) 38 U.S.C. 7296. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2018–14032 Filed 6–28–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–63–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 810 

[Doc. No. AMS–FGIS–18–0053] 

United States Standards for Canola 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: The United States Department 

of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS