11700 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 52 / Thursday, March 19, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

regulations reflect changes in the law 

made by the Tax Increase Prevention 

and Reconciliation Act of 2005 that 

require Federal, State, and local 

government entities to withhold income 

tax when making payments to persons 

providing property or services. These 

proposed regulations provide guidance 

to assist the government entities in 

complying with section 3402(t). The 

regulations also provide certain 

guidance to persons receiving payments 

for property or services from 

government entities. 

DATES: The public hearing is being held 

on April 16, 2009, at 10 a.m. The IRS 

must receive outlines of the topics to be 

discussed at the hearing by March 25, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: The public hearing is being 

held in the auditorium, Internal 

Revenue Building, 1111 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. Send 

submissions to: CC: PA: LPD: PR (REG– 

158747–06), room 5203, Internal 

Revenue Service, P.O. Box 7604, Ben 

Franklin Station, Washington, DC 

20044. Submissions may be handdelivered Monday through Friday 

between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

to CC: PA: LPD: PR (REG–158747–06), 

Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue 

Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. Alternatively, 

taxpayers may submit electronic 

outlines of oral comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Concerning these proposed regulations, 

Jean Casey, (202) 622–6040; concerning 

submissions of comments, the hearing, 

and/or to be placed on the building 

access list to attend the hearing, Richard 

A. Hurst at 

Richard.A.Hurst@irscounsel.treas.gov or 

(202) 622–7180 (not toll-free numbers). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject of the public hearing is the 

notice of proposed rulemaking (REG– 

158747–06) that was published in the 

Federal Register on Friday, December 5, 

2008 (73 FR 74082). 

Persons, who wish to present oral 

comments at the hearing that submitted 

written comments, must submit an 

outline of the topics to be discussed and 

the amount of time to be devoted to 

each topic (signed original and eight (8) 

copies) by March 25, 2009. 

A period of 10 minutes is allotted to 

each person for presenting oral 

comments. After the deadline for 

receiving outlines has passed, the IRS 

will prepare an agenda containing the 

schedule of speakers. Copies of the 

agenda will be made available, free of 

charge, at the hearing or in the Freedom 

of Information Reading Room (FOIA RR) 

(Room 1621) which is located at the 

11th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

entrance, 1111 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. 

Because of access restrictions, the IRS 

will not admit visitors beyond the 

immediate entrance area more than 30 

minutes before the hearing starts. For 

information about having your name 

placed on the building access list to 

attend the hearing, see the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

LaNita Van Dyke, 

Chief, Publications and Regulations Branch, 

Legal Processing Division, Associate Chief 

Counsel (Procedure and Administration). 

[FR Doc. E9–5951 Filed 3–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Office of Labor-Management 

Standards 

29 CFR Parts 403 and 408 

RIN 1215–AB62 

Labor Organization Annual Financial 

Reports 

AGENCY: Office of Labor-Management 

Standards, Employment Standards 

Administration, Labor. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed extension of 

effective date and applicability date. 

SUMMARY: This notice seeks public 

comment on a proposal to delay for 180 

days the April 21, 2009 effective date of 

the rule Labor Organization Annual 

Financial Reports, published in the 

Federal Register on January 21, 2009, 

and extended by a document published 

February 20, 2009; and delay the 

applicability date of the rule, now set 

for July 1, 2009, until January 1, 2010. 

The rule revised the Labor Organization 

Annual Report Form LM–2 and 

established a procedure whereby the 

Department of Labor may revoke, when 

warranted, the authorization to file the 

simplified Labor Organization Annual 

Report Form LM–3. 

DATES: Following notice and comment, 

the Department delayed the subject rule, 

Labor Organization Annual Financial 

Reports, published in the Federal 

Register on January 21, 2009, and 

scheduled to take effect on February 20, 

2009, from taking effect until April 21, 

2009 (74 FR 7814). This notice proposes 

to further delay the effective date until 

October 19, 2009. Additionally, the rule 

published on January 21, 2009, applied 

to labor organizations with fiscal years 

beginning on or after July 1, 2009. This 

notice also proposes to delay the 

applicability date of the rule to labor 

organizations reporting on fiscal years 

beginning on or after January 1, 2010. 

The comment period for the proposed 

delay of the effective date and 

applicability date will close on April 7, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 1215–AB62, only by 

the following methods: 

Internet—Federal eRulemaking Portal. 

Electronic comments may be submitted 

through http://www.regulations.gov. To 

locate the proposed rule, use key words 

such as ‘‘Labor-Management Standards’’ 

or ‘‘Labor Organization Annual 

Financial Reports’’ to search documents 

accepting comments. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Please be advised that comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

Delivery: Comments may also be 

hand-delivered or mailed to: Denise M. 

Boucher, Director of the Office of Policy, 

Reports and Disclosure, Office of LaborManagement Standards, U.S. 

Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Room N–5609, 

Washington, DC 20210. Because of 

security precautions the Department 

continues to experience delays in U.S. 

mail delivery. You should take this into 

consideration when preparing to meet 

the deadline for submitting comments. 

The Office of Labor-Management 

Standards (OLMS) recommends that 

you confirm receipt of your delivered 

comments by contacting (202) 693–0123 

(this is not a toll-free number). 

Individuals with hearing impairments 

may call (800) 877–8339 (TTY/TDD). 

Only those comments submitted 

through http://www.regulations.gov, 

hand-delivered, or mailed will be 

accepted. Comments will be available 

for public inspection at http:// 

www.regulations.gov and during normal 

business hours at the above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Denise M. Boucher, Director, Office of 

Policy, Reports and Disclosure, Office of 

Labor-Management Standards, 

Employment Standards Administration, 

U.S. Department of Labor, 200 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N– 

5609, Washington, DC 20210, (202) 693– 

1185 (this is not a toll-free number), 

(800) 877–8339 (TTY/TDD). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department published a notice (74 FR 

5899) on February 3, 2009, seeking 

public comment on whether or not it 

should delay for 60 days the effective 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 52 / Thursday, March 19, 2009 / Proposed Rules 11701 

date of the January 21 rule in order to 

provide the opportunity for further 

review and consideration of the 

questions of law and policy raised by 

the rule, including the merits of the rule 

and whether or not the Department 

should rescind or retain it. The period 

for public comment on the proposed 

extension closed on February 13, 2009, 

and the comment period on the merits 

of the rule closed on March 5, 2009. The 

Department received about 100 

comments. 

On February 20, 2009, the Department 

published a final rule extending the 

effective date of the January 21 rule 

until April 21, 2009, to provide an 

opportunity for that review (74 FR 

7814). The Department is currently 

reviewing questions of law and policy 

raised by the rule, including 

consideration of the comments received 

from the public on these questions. This 

process will inform the Department in 

its determination whether or not to 

propose rescission of the January 21 

rule. 

This proposal to extend the effective 

date of the rule until October 19, 2009, 

and to extend the applicability date 

until January 1, 2010, is based upon 

both the need to review the comments 

received as well as the considerations 

underlying the Department’s initial 

proposal to extend the effective date of 

the rule. As there stated: 

Without this proposal to delay the effective 

date, affected labor organizations likely will 

undertake much effort and expense in 

changing their recordkeeping systems to meet 

the changes required by the rule. If a decision 

is made to propose changes and such changes 

are ultimately effectuated, these expenses 

will have been incurred unnecessarily. The 

tasks undertaken will have to be repeated, 

and costs duplicated, to comply with any 

further revisions to the rule. Additionally, 

the Department itself will incur significant 

start up costs in revising its electronic 

software to make the changes required by the 

rule; costs that will have to be duplicated if 

changes are later proposed and effectuated in 

a final rule. Furthermore, unless the 

Department now proposes to delay the 

effective date of the rule, the Department will 

have to begin answering questions and 

providing compliance assistance about how 

the final rule is to be implemented, guidance 

that will only confuse labor organizations if 

new guidance about a revised rule has to be 

provided in the near future. For the foregoing 

reasons, the Department has determined to 

propose delay of the effective date of the final 

rule and, by doing so, alert affected labor 

organizations that it may be advisable for 

them to delay preparations and financial 

commitments associated with the changes 

required by the final rule until a decision is 

made regarding the effective date of the final 

rule. The Department proposes the delay of 

the effective date to provide an opportunity 

for further review and consideration of the 

questions of law and policy raised by it. 

74 FR at 5900. 

In addition, the Department is 

reviewing the comments it received on 

the merits of the rule and the question 

of whether to retain or rescind it. The 

Department received comments from 

individuals, labor unions, and public 

policy groups. Individuals and public 

policy groups opposed the rescission of 

the rule, explaining their views that the 

rule enhanced the transparency and 

accountability of labor unions. Two 

public policy groups and several 

individuals urged the Department to 

allow an extended comment period of 

not less than 120 days for the public to 

submit its view on the merits of the rule. 

Labor unions urged the Department to 

rescind the rule, many claiming that the 

Department underestimated the costs 

associated with the rule. Several labor 

organizations identified what they 

viewed as two fundamental flaws with 

the January 21, 2009 rule: (1) The rule 

had been promulgated without any 

meaningful review of the utility of the 

existing Form LM–2; and (2) the 

Department’s burden estimates for the 

2009 rule were based on unverified 

estimates rather than actual costs 

incurred. A federation of labor 

organizations stated that the Department 

has failed to demonstrate that the 

revised form will aid in the detection or 

prevention of corruption, noting its 

view that internal controls established 

by unions are the more effective 

approach. It also asserted that the 

Department’s annual reports fail to 

demonstrate that enhanced reporting 

has assisted the Department’s 

compliance efforts. Some labor unions 

expressed the view that the 2009 rule is 

based on a misapprehension about how 

unions receive dues payments and how 

organizing is conducted. Commenters 

expressed divergent views on the 

procedure for revoking the simplified 

reporting obligation for LM–3 filers 

whose reports were delinquent or 

deficient. While some saw the 

procedure as a necessary tool to fix an 

obvious problem, other commenters 

viewed the approach as fundamentally 

misguided and punitive. In the view of 

the latter commenters, improved 

compliance is better achieved through 

cooperative efforts by the Department 

and national or international unions 

working with locals that find it difficult 

to file timely reports. 

The Department will not be able to 

complete its review of the January 21 

rule, including consideration of the 

public comments on the merits of the 

rule, before April 21, 2009, the current 

effective date of the rule. The 

Department estimates that a further 

extension of 180 days will enable the 

Department to complete such review, 

and if a determination is reached to 

propose rescission, to complete the 

notice and comment process required 

for rescinding a rule. Without a further 

extension, those unions with fiscal years 

beginning on or after July 1, 2009, 

would have to begin immediate 

preparations to comply with the rule, 

preparations that entail significant 

burden and expense, but which may 

prove unnecessary. Furthermore, the 

Department itself would have to expend 

substantial financial and compliance 

resources to prepare for the rule, 

resources that could be directed to other 

purposes if the rule is subsequently 

rescinded. These front-end burdens 

most directly and substantially fall on 

labor unions that already file the Form 

LM–2. If a decision is made to propose 

rescinding the regulations, and such 

proposal ultimately is effectuated, these 

expenses will have been incurred 

unnecessarily. Moreover, the urgency of 

dealing with these front-end burdens is 

greater now than at the time of the 

February 3, 2009, proposal, as the 

applicability date of July 1, 2009, is 

nearer. 

For the foregoing reasons, the 

Department has determined to propose 

delay of the effective date and 

applicability date of the January 21, 

2009, rule and, by doing so, to alert 

affected labor organizations that it may 

be advisable for them to delay any 

preparations and financial commitments 

associated with the changes required by 

the rule until a decision is made 

regarding the proposed extension of the 

effective and applicability dates of the 

final rule. 

Signed in Washington, DC, this 11th day of 

March, 2009. 

Andrew D. Auerbach, 

Deputy Director, Office of Labor-Management 

Standards. 

Shelby Hallmark, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment 

Standards. 

[FR Doc. E9–5690 Filed 3–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–CP–P 


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