76730 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 182 / Thursday, September 19, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

(2) Inform the government astronaut 

being trained of the differences between 

the training device and the vehicle’s 

configuration and mission. 

(d) An operator must update the 

government astronaut training to ensure 

that the training incorporates lessons 

learned from training and operational 

missions including— 

(1) Providing traceability to revisions 

or changes; and 

(2) Documenting the completed 

training for each government astronaut 

and maintaining the documentation for 

each active government astronaut. 

(e) An operator must establish a 

recurrent training schedule and ensure 

that all training of government 

astronauts performing safety-critical 

roles is current before launch or reentry. 

(f) For licensed missions supporting 

U.S. Government contracts, operators 

may meet the training requirements of 

this section through U.S. Government’s 

contractual requirements. 

§ 460.61 Environmental control and life 

support systems. 

(a) An operator must provide 

atmospheric conditions adequate to 

sustain life and consciousness for all 

inhabited areas within a vehicle that 

house a government astronaut. The 

operator must monitor and control the 

following atmospheric conditions in the 

inhabited areas or demonstrate through 

the license or permit process that an 

alternate means provides an equivalent 

level of safety— 

(1) Composition of the atmosphere, 

which includes oxygen and carbon 

dioxide, and any revitalization; 

(2) Pressure, temperature and 

humidity; 

(3) Contaminants that include 

particulates and any harmful or 

hazardous concentrations of gases, or 

vapors; and 

(4) Ventilation and circulation. 

(b) An operator must provide an 

adequate redundant or secondary 

oxygen supply for any government 

astronaut with a safety-critical role. 

(c) An operator must provide a 

redundant means of preventing cabin 

depressurization; or prevent 

incapacitation of any government 

astronaut with a safety-critical role in 

the event of loss of cabin pressure. 

■ 39. Add subpart D to read as follows: 

Subpart D—Launch and Reentry with a 

Government Astronaut Without a SafetyCritical Role 

Sec. 

460.63 Scope. 

460.65 Applicability. 

460.67 Training of government astronauts 

without a safety-critical role. 

Subpart D—Launch and Reentry with a 

Government Astronaut Without a 

Safety-Critical Role 

§ 460.63 Scope. 

This subpart establishes requirements 

for operators and applicants whose 

licensed or permitted operations involve 

government astronauts on board a 

vehicle without a safety-critical role. 

§ 460.65 Applicability. 

This subpart applies to: 

(a) An applicant for a license or 

permit under this chapter who proposes 

to have a government astronaut without 

a safety-critical role on board a vehicle. 

(b) An operator licensed or permitted 

under this chapter who has a 

government astronaut without a safetycritical role on board a vehicle. 

§ 460.67 Training of government 

astronauts without a safety-critical role. 

An operator must ensure that each 

government astronaut without a safetycritical role is trained on how to 

respond to emergency situations, 

including smoke, fire, loss of cabin 

pressure, and emergency exit. 

Issued under authority provided by 49 

U.S.C. 106(f) and 51 U.S.C. 509 in 

Washington, DC. 

Michael Gordon Whitaker, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20900 Filed 9–18–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY 

CORPORATION 

29 CFR Part 4044 

Allocation of Assets in SingleEmployer Plans; Interest Assumptions 

for Valuing Benefits 

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation (PBGC). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s 

regulation on Allocation of Assets in 

Single-Employer Plans to prescribe the 

spreads component of the interest 

assumption under the asset allocation 

regulation for plans with valuation dates 

of October 31, 2024–January 30, 2025. 

These interest assumptions are used for 

valuing benefits under terminating 

single-employer plans and for other 

purposes. 

DATES: Effective October 31, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Monica O’Donnell (odonnell.monica@

pbgc.gov), Attorney, Office of the 

General Counsel, Pension Benefit 

Guaranty Corporation, 445 12th Street 

SW, Washington, DC 20024–2101, 202– 

229–8706. If you are deaf or hard of 

hearing or have a speech disability, 

please dial 7–1–1 to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PBGC’s 

regulation on Allocation of Assets in 

Single-Employer Plans (29 CFR part 

4044) prescribes actuarial 

assumptions—including an interest 

assumption—for valuing benefits under 

terminating single-employer plans 

covered by title IV of the Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

(ERISA). The interest assumption is also 

posted on PBGC’s website 

(www.pbgc.gov). 

PBGC uses the interest assumption in 

§ 4044.54 to determine the present value 

of annuities in an involuntary or 

distress termination of a singleemployer plan under the asset 

allocation regulation. The assumptions 

in part 4044 of PBGC’s regulations are 

also used in other situations where it is 

appropriate for liabilities to align with 

private sector group annuity prices. For 

example, PBGC’s regulations on Notice, 

Collection, and Redetermination of 

Withdrawal Liability (29 CFR part 4219) 

and Duties of Plan Sponsor Following 

Mass Withdrawal (29 CFR part 4281) 

provide that these assumptions are used 

to value liabilities for purposes of 

determining withdrawn employers’ 

reallocation liability in the event of a 

mass withdrawal from a multiemployer 

plan. Multiemployer plans that receive 

special financial assistance under the 

regulation on Special Financial 

Assistance by PBGC (29 CFR part 4262) 

must, as a condition of receiving special 

financial assistance, use the interest 

assumption to determine withdrawal 

liability for a prescribed period. 

Additionally, plan sponsors are required 

to use some, or all of these assumptions 

for specified purposes (e.g., reporting 

benefit liabilities in filings required 

under PBGC’s regulation on Annual 

Financial and Actuarial Information 

Reporting (29 CFR part 4010) or 

determining certain amounts to transfer 

to PBGC’s Missing Participants Program 

on behalf of a missing participant of a 

terminating defined benefit plan under 

PBGC’s regulation on Missing 

Participants (29 CFR part 4050)) and 

may use them for other purposes (e.g., 

to ensure that plan spinoffs comply with 

section 414(l) of the Internal Revenue 

Code (the Code)). 

On June 6, 2024, PBGC issued a final 

rule at 89 FR 48291 that changes the 

structure of the interest assumption for 

valuation dates on or after July 31, 2024, 

from the select and ultimate approach to 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 182 / Thursday, September 19, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 76731 

a yield curve approach. As described in 

the June 6 final rule, this ‘‘4044 yield 

curve,’’ is based on a blend of two 

publicly available bond yield curves 

that is adjusted to the extent necessary 

so that the resulting liabilities align with 

group annuity prices. The adjustments 

are referred to as ‘‘spreads.’’ PBGC 

determines and publishes spreads 

quarterly based on survey data on 

pricing of private-sector group 

annuities. As noted in the preamble to 

the June 6 rule, PBGC will post the 4044 

yield curve on its website at 

www.pbgc.gov each month shortly after 

its underlying data become available. In 

addition, practitioners are able to 

determine the 4044 yield curve as of the 

end of any month using the publicly 

available bond yield curves and the 

spreads specified in the regulation. 

This rule amends the regulation to 

specify the spreads used to determine 

the 4044 yield curve as of the last days 

of October, November, and December of 

2024, (i.e., the ‘‘fourth quarter 2024 

spreads’’). 

Need for Immediate Guidance 

PBGC has determined that notice of, 

and public comment on, this rule are 

impracticable, unnecessary, and 

contrary to the public interest. PBGC 

routinely updates the spreads 

component of the interest assumption in 

the asset allocation regulation so that 

the 4044 yield curve may be determined 

as soon as the underlying bond yield 

curves become available. These 

amendments are merely technical; they 

ensure that use of PBGC’s interest 

assumption continues to yield liabilities 

in line with group annuity prices. 

Accordingly, PBGC finds that the public 

interest is best served by issuing this 

rule expeditiously, without an 

opportunity for notice and comment, 

and that good cause exists for making 

the assumptions set forth in this 

amendment effective less than 30 days 

after publication. 

PBGC has determined that this action 

is not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ 

under the criteria set forth in Executive 

Order 12866. 

Because no general notice of proposed 

rulemaking is required for this 

amendment, the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act of 1980 does not apply. See 5 U.S.C. 

601(2). 

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 4044 

Employee benefit plans, Pension 

insurance, Pensions. 

In consideration of the foregoing, 29 

CFR part 4044 is amended as follows: 

PART 4044—ALLOCATION OF 

ASSETS IN SINGLE–EMPLOYER 

PLANS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 4044 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1301(a), 1302(b)(3), 

1341, 1344, 1362. 

■ 2. In § 4044.54, revise table 1 to 

paragraph (e) to read as follows: 

§ 4044.54 Interest assumptions. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

TABLE 1 TO PARAGRAPH (e)— 

SPREADS

Maturity point 

Third 

quarter 

2024 

spreads 

(percent) 

Fourth 

quarter 

2024 

spreads 

(percent) 

0.5 0.38 0.33 

1.0 0.38 0.33 

1.5 0.37 0.33 

2.0 0.37 0.33 

2.5 0.37 0.33 

3.0 0.37 0.33 

3.5 0.37 0.33 

4.0 0.37 0.33 

4.5 0.37 0.33 

5.0 0.37 0.33 

5.5 0.37 0.32 

6.0 0.37 0.32 

6.5 0.37 0.32 

7.0 0.37 0.32 

7.5 0.37 0.32 

8.0 0.37 0.32 

8.5 0.37 0.32 

9.0 0.37 0.32 

9.5 0.36 0.32 

10.0 0.36 0.32 

10.5 0.36 0.32 

11.0 0.36 0.32 

11.5 0.36 0.32 

12.0 0.36 0.32 

12.5 0.36 0.32 

13.0 0.36 0.32 

13.5 0.35 0.31 

14.0 0.35 0.31 

14.5 0.35 0.31 

15.0 0.35 0.31 

15.5 0.35 0.31 

16.0 0.35 0.31 

16.5 0.34 0.31 

17.0 0.34 0.31 

17.5 0.34 0.31 

18.0 0.34 0.31 

18.5 0.34 0.31 

19.0 0.34 0.31 

19.5 0.34 0.30 

20.0 0.34 0.30 

20.5 0.33 0.30 

21.0 0.33 0.30 

21.5 0.33 0.30 

22.0 0.33 0.30 

22.5 0.33 0.30 

23.0 0.33 0.30 

23.5 0.33 0.30 

24.0 0.33 0.30 

24.5 0.33 0.30 

25.0 0.33 0.30 

TABLE 1 TO PARAGRAPH (e)— 

SPREADS—Continued 

Maturity point 

Third 

quarter 

2024 

spreads 

(percent) 

Fourth 

quarter 

2024 

spreads 

(percent) 

25.5 0.33 0.30 

26.0 0.33 0.30 

26.5 0.32 0.30 

27.0 0.32 0.30 

27.5 0.32 0.30 

28.0 0.32 0.30 

29.0 0.32 0.30 

29.5 0.32 0.30 

30.0 0.32 0.30 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

Hilary Duke, 

Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory 

Affairs, Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

[FR Doc. 2024–21359 Filed 9–18–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7709–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

33 CFR Part 165 

[Docket Number USCG–2024–0276] 

RIN 1625–AA00 

Safety Zone; Severe Weather, Natural 

and Other Disasters in Southeast 

Texas 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Temporary final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is 

establishing a temporary safety zone for 

all navigable waters within the Captain 

of the Port Sector Houston-Galveston 

(COTP) zone to be enforced in the event 

of severe weather or natural and other 

disasters in southeast Texas. This action 

is necessary for the safety of life on 

these navigable waters within the COTP 

zone. 

DATES: This rule is effective without 

actual notice from September 19, 2024 

through 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 

2024. For the purposes of enforcement, 

actual notice will be used from 

September 11, 2024 until September 19, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: To view documents 

mentioned in this preamble as being 

available in the docket, go to https://

www.regulations.gov, type USCG–2024– 

0276 in the search box and click 

‘‘Search.’’ Next, in the Document Type 

column, select ‘‘Supporting & Related 

Material.’’ 


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