Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 235 / Friday, December 8, 2023 / Proposed Rules 85529 

34See 16 CFR 1.13(d) (‘‘The presiding officer’s 

recommended decision will be limited to 

explaining the presiding officer’s proposed 

resolution of disputed issues of material fact.’’). 

35See 15 U.S.C. 57a(i)(2)(A); 16 CFR 1.18(c). 

transcript of the informal hearing will 

be placed in the rulemaking record. 

Because there are no ‘‘disputed issues 

of material fact’’ to resolve at the 

informal hearing, the presiding officer is 

not anticipated to make a recommended 

decision.34 The role of the presiding 

officer therefore will be to preside over 

and to ensure the orderly conduct of the 

informal hearing, including selecting 

the sequence in which oral statements 

will be heard, and to place the transcript 

and any additional written submissions 

received into the rulemaking record. 

The presiding officer may prescribe 

additional procedures or issue rulings in 

accordance with Commission Rule 1.13, 

16 CFR 1.13. In execution of the 

presiding officer’s obligations and 

responsibilities under the Commission 

Rules, the presiding officer may issue 

additional public notices. 

VI. Communications by Outside Parties 

to the Commissioners or Their Advisors 

Pursuant to Commission Rule 

1.18(c)(1), 16 CFR 1.18(c)(1), the 

Commission has determined that 

communications with respect to the 

merits of this proceeding from any 

outside party to any Commissioner or 

Commissioner advisor shall be subject 

to the following treatment. Written 

communications and summaries or 

transcripts of oral communications shall 

be placed on the rulemaking record if 

the communication is received before 

the end of the comment period. They 

shall be placed on the public record if 

the communication is received later. 

Unless the outside party making an oral 

communication is a member of 

Congress, such communications are 

permitted only if advance notice is 

published in the Weekly Calendar and 

Notice of ‘‘Sunshine’’ Meetings.35

By direction of the Commission. 

Joel Christie, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–26946 Filed 12–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

24 CFR Parts 115 and 125 

[Docket No. FR–6355–N–02] 

RIN 2529–AB07 

Removing Criminal Conviction 

Restrictions for Testers in FHIP- and 

FHAP-Funded Testing Programs; 

Extension of Comment Period 

AGENCY: Office of Fair Housing and 

Equal Opportunity, HUD. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: On October 31, 2023, HUD 

published in the Federal Register a 

notice of proposed rulemaking entitled 

‘‘Removing Criminal Conviction 

Restrictions for Testers in FHIP- and 

FHAP-Funded Testing Programs,’’ 

proposing to eliminate the tester 

restrictions for Fair Housing Initiatives 

Program (FHIP) grantees and for Fair 

Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) 

agencies that forbid FHIP and FHAP 

recipients from using fair housing 

testers with prior felony convictions or 

convictions of crimes involving fraud or 

perjury. The proposed rule provided for 

a 60-day comment period, which would 

have ended January 2, 2024. HUD has 

determined that a 9-day extension of the 

comment period, until January 11, 2024, 

is appropriate. This extension will allow 

interested persons additional time to 

analyze the proposal and prepare their 

comments. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

proposed rule published on October 31, 

2023, at 88 FR 74381, is extended. 

Comments should be received on or 

before January 11, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this proposed rule. There are two 

methods for submitting public 

comments. All submissions must refer 

to the above docket number and title. 

1. Submission of Comments by Mail. 

Comments may be submitted by mail to 

the Regulations Division, Office of 

General Counsel, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 451 

7th Street SW, Room 10276, 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

2. Electronic Submission of 

Comments. Interested persons may 

submit comments electronically through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly 

encourages commenters to submit 

comments electronically. Electronic 

submission of comments allows the 

commenter maximum time to prepare 

and submit a comment, ensures timely 

receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to 

make them immediately available to the 

public. Comments submitted 

electronically through the 

www.regulations.gov website can be 

viewed by other commenters and 

interested members of the public. 

Commenters should follow the 

instructions provided on that site to 

submit comments electronically. 

Note: To receive consideration as public 

comments, comments must be submitted 

through one of the two methods specified 

above. Again, all submissions must refer to 

the docket number and title of the rule. 

No Facsimile Comments: Facsimile 

(FAX) comments are not acceptable. 

Public Inspection of Comments. All 

properly submitted comments and 

communications submitted to HUD will 

be available for public inspection and 

copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

weekdays at the above address. Due to 

security measures at the HUD 

Headquarters building, an advance 

appointment to review the public 

comments must be scheduled by calling 

the Regulations Division at 202–402– 

3055 (this is not a toll-free number). 

HUD welcomes and is prepared to 

receive calls from individuals who are 

deaf or hard of hearing, as well as 

individuals with communication 

disabilities. To learn more about how to 

make an accessible telephone call, 

please visit https://www.fcc.gov/ 

consumers/guides/telecommunicationsrelay-service-trs. Copies of all comments 

submitted are available for inspection 

and downloading at 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Demetria McCain, Principal Deputy 

Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and 

Equal Opportunity, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, Office 

of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, 

451 7th Street SW, Room 5250, 

Washington, DC 20410–8000, telephone 

number 202–402–7861 (this is not a tollfree number). HUD welcomes and is 

prepared to receive calls from 

individuals who are deaf or hard of 

hearing, as well as individuals with 

speech or communication disabilities. 

To learn more about how to make an 

accessible telephone calls, please visit: 

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/ 

telecommunications-relay-service-trs. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

October 31, 2023, at 88 FR 74381, HUD 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking entitled ‘‘Removing 

Criminal Conviction Restrictions for 

Testers in FHIP- and FHAP-Funded 

Testing Programs,’’ which proposes to 

eliminate restrictions for Fair Housing 

Initiatives Program (FHIP) grantees and 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
85530 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 235 / Friday, December 8, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

for Fair Housing Assistance Program 

(FHAP) agencies that forbid FHIP and 

FHAP recipients from using fair housing 

testers with prior felony convictions or 

convictions of crimes involving fraud or 

perjury. This proposed rule would make 

HUD’s programs as inclusive as possible 

for people with criminal records, 

consistent with Secretary Marcia 

Fudge’s April 12, 2022, Memorandum, 

‘‘Eliminating Barriers That May 

Unnecessarily Prevent Individuals with 

Criminal Histories from Participating in 

HUD Program.’’ It would also ensure 

that FHIP and FHAP funded entities are 

able to fully investigate criminal 

background screening policies that are 

potentially discriminatory under federal 

civil rights laws by using testers with 

actual criminal backgrounds. In 

accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a 

summary of this rule may be found at 

https://www.regulations.gov/document/ 

HUD-2023-0091-0076. 

While the proposed rule had a 60-day 

comment period, HUD has received 

feedback from commenters requesting 

additional time to review and provide 

comments on this rule. In response, 

HUD is extending the deadline for 

comments to January 11, 2024. 

Aaron Santa Anna, 

Associate General Counsel for Legislation and 

Regulations. 

[FR Doc. 2023–27025 Filed 12–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 131 

[EPA–HQ–OW–2023–0378; FRL–10761–01– 

OW] 

RIN 2040–AG31 

Water Quality Standards To Protect 

Human Health in Florida 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to 

establish new and revised human health 

water quality criteria for certain 

pollutants in the state of Florida. On 

December 1, 2022, the EPA issued an 

Administrator’s Determination that 

Florida’s existing human health criteria 

(HHC) are not protective of Florida’s 

designated uses and that additional 

HHC are needed for certain priority 

toxic pollutants for which Florida 

currently lacks any HHC. Accordingly, 

the EPA is proposing new and revised 

HHC to protect the human health 

designated uses of Florida’s waters. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before February 6, 2024. Public 

Hearing: The EPA will hold two public 

hearings during the public comment 

period. Please refer to the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for 

additional information on the public 

hearings. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OW–2023–0378, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov/ (our 

preferred method). Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, 

Standards and Health Protection 

Division Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier (by 

scheduled appointment only): EPA 

Docket Center, WJC West Building, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20004. The Docket 

Center’s hours of operations are 8:30 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday (except Federal holidays). 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. EPA– 

HQ–OW–2023–0378 for this 

rulemaking. Comments received may be 

posted without change to https://

www.regulations.gov/, including any 

personal information provided. For 

detailed instructions on sending 

comments and additional information 

on the rulemaking process, see the 

‘‘Public Participation’’ heading of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. The EPA is offering two 

public hearings on this proposed 

rulemaking. Refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section below for 

additional information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Erica Weyer, Office of Water, Standards 

and Health Protection Division (4305T), 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 

566–2793; email address: weyer.erica@

epa.gov. Additional information is also 

available online at https://www.epa.gov/ 

wqs-tech/water-quality-standardsprotect-human-health-florida. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

proposed rulemaking is organized as 

follows: 

I. Public Participation 

A. Written Comments 

B. Participation in Public Hearings 

II. General Information 

A. Does this action apply to me? 

III. Background 

A. Statutory and Regulatory Background 

B. General Recommended Approach for 

Deriving Human Health Criteria 

C. History of Florida’s Human Health 

Criteria 

IV. Derivation of Human Health Criteria for 

Florida 

A. Scope of EPA’s Proposal 

B. Tribal Reserved Rights Applicable to 

Florida’s Waters 

C. Human Health Criteria Inputs 

D. Proposed Human Health Criteria for 

Florida 

E. Applicability 

F. Alternative Regulatory Approaches and 

Implementation Mechanisms 

V. Economic Analysis 

A. Identifying Affected Entities 

B. Method for Estimating Costs 

C. Results 

VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review and Executive 

Order 14094: Modernizing Regulatory 

Review 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act 

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of 

Children From Environmental Health 

and Safety Risks 

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use 

I. National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act of 1995 

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions 

To Address Environmental Justice in 

Minority Populations and Low-Income 

Populations and Executive Order 14096: 

Revitalizing our Nation’s Commitment to 

Environmental Justice for All 

I. Public Participation 

A. Written Comments 

Submit your comments, identified by 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2023– 

0378, at https://www.regulations.gov 

(our preferred method), or the other 

methods identified in the ADDRESSES

section. Once submitted, comments 

cannot be edited or removed from the 

docket. The EPA may publish any 

comment received to its public docket. 

Do not submit to the EPA’s docket at 

https://www.regulations.gov any 

information you consider to be 

Confidential Business Information (CBI), 

Proprietary Business Information (PBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. The EPA will generally not 

consider comments or comment 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS