Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2000 / Notices 2455

The public is invited to submit both

relevant information and relevant

comments to the docket. Written

submissions should refer to the docket

number of this notice (Docket No. FRA–

1999–6689) and be sent to the DOT

Central Docket Management Facility,

400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington,

D.C. 20590–0001. All docketed material

will be available for inspection during

regular business hours at DOT’s Central

Docket Management Facility, Room Pl401 (Plaza Level), 400 Seventh Street,

S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590–0001. All

documents in the public docket are also

available for inspection and copying on

the Internet at the docket facility’s web

site at http://dms.dot.gov.

Grady C. Cothen, Jr.,

Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety

Standards and Program Development.

[FR Doc. 00–892 Filed 1–13–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–U

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

[Docket NHTSA–99–5087]

Safety Performance Standards

Program Meeting

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of NHTSA Rulemaking

Status Meeting.

SUMMARY: This notice announces a

public meeting at which NHTSA will

answer questions from the public and

the automobile industry regarding the

agency’s vehicle regulatory program.

DATES: The Agency’s regular, quarterly

public meeting relating to its vehicle

regulatory program will be held on

Thursday, March 16, 2000, beginning at

9:45 a.m. and ending at approximately

12 p.m, at the Best Western

International Hotel, Detroit, MI.

Questions relating to the vehicle

regulatory program must be submitted

in writing with a diskette (Wordperfect)

by Thursday, February 17, 2000, to the

address shown below or by e-mail. If

sufficient time is available, questions

received after February 17, may be

answered at the meeting. The

individual, group or company

submitting a questions(s) does not have

to be present for the questions(s) to be

answered. A consolidated list of the

questions submitted by February 17,

2000, and the issues to be discussed,

will be posted on NHTSA’s web site

(www.nhtsa.dot.gov) by Monday, March

6, 2000, and also will be available at the

meeting.

ADDRESSES: Questions for the March 16,

NHTSA Rulemaking Status Meeting,

relating to the agency’s vehicle

regulatory program, should be

submitted to Delia Lopez, NPS–01,

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, Room 5401, 400

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC

20590, Fax Number 202–366–4329, email dlopez@nhtsa.dot.gov. The meeting

will be held at the Best Western

International Hotel, 9191 Wickham

Road, Detroit, MI.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Delia Lopez, (202) 366–1810.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NHTSA

holds a regular, quarterly meeting to

answer questions from the public and

the regulated industries regarding the

agency’s vehicle regulatory program.

Questions on aspects of the agency’s

research and development activities that

relate directly to ongoing regulatory

actions should be submitted, as in the

past, to the agency’s Safety Performance

Standards Office. The purpose of this

meeting is to focus on those phases of

NHTSA activities which are technical,

interpretative or procedural in nature.

Transcripts of these meetings will be

available for public inspection in the

DOT Docket in Washington, DC, within

four weeks after the meeting. Copies of

the transcript will then be available at

ten cents a page, (length has varied from

80 to 150 pages) upon request to DOT

Docket, Room PL–401, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. The

DOT Docket is open to the public from

10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The transcript

may also accessed electronically at

http://dms.dot.gov,at docket NHTSA–

99–5087. Questions to be answered at

the quarterly meeting should be

organized by categories to help us

process the questions into an agenda

form more efficiently. Sample format:

I. Rulemaking

A. Crash avoidance

B. Crashworthiness

C. Other Rulemakings

II. Consumer Information

III. Miscellaneous

NHTSA will provide auxiliary aids to

participants as necessary. Any person

desiring assistance of ‘‘auxiliary aids’’

(e.g., sign-language interpreter,

telecommunications devices for deaf

persons (TDDs), readers, taped texts,

brailled materials, or large print

materials and/or a magnifying device),

please contact Delia Lopez on (202)

366–1810, by COB March 6, 2000.

Issued: January 10, 2000.

Stephen R. Kratzke,

Acting Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 00–971 Filed 1–13–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency

[Docket No. 00–01]

Notice of Request for Preemption

Opinion

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Office of the Comptroller

of the Currency (OCC) is publishing for

comment a written request for our

opinion on whether a Pennsylvania

statute regulating auctioneers applies to

a national bank that uses an auction

format to market and sell certificates of

deposit (CDs) over the Internet. The

purpose of this notice is to afford

interested persons an opportunity to

submit comments before the OCC issues

a final opinion responding to this

request.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before February 14, 2000.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments

electronically to

regs.comments@occ.treas.gov or by mail

to Docket No. 00–01, Communications

Division, Third Floor, Office of the

Comptroller of the Currency, 250 E St.,

SW, Washington, DC 20219. Comments

will be available for inspection and

photocopying at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark Tenhundfeld, Assistant Director,

Legislative and Regulatory Activities

Division, (202) 874–5090.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A national

bank headquartered in Pennsylvania

(the Bank) uses an auction format to

market and sell CDs over the Internet,

an activity referred to in this Notice as

the ‘‘online deposit program.’’ A

Pennsylvania statute requires that

auctioneers be licensed and subjects

them to examination and inspection by

the state. The Bank has submitted a

written request for the OCC’s opinion on

whether Federal law preempts the

application of the Pennsylvania statute

to the Bank’s online deposit program.

Section 114 of the Riegle-Neal

Interstate Banking and Branching

2456 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2000 / Notices

1Pub. L. 103–328, sec. 114, 108 Stat. 2338, 2366–

68 (1994), codified at 12 U.S.C. 43. This publication

requirement is subject to certain exceptions that are

described in section 114(c) of the statute.

2The Bank’s request to the OCC contains

additional information about its online deposit

program, including eligibility requirements for CD

purchasers and the mechanics of the bidding

process, that is not pertinent to the preemption

issue. The Bank represents that it maintains the

confidentiality of information provided by

participants in the online deposit program in

accordance with its privacy policy, which is posted

on the Auction Site.

3 63 Pa. Stat. at § 734.2.

4 Id. at § 734.3.

5 Id. at § 734.16.

6 Id. at § 734.20.

7 Id. at § 734.29.

8See Franklin Nat’l Bank v. New York, 347 U.S.

373 (1954).

9See, e.g., OCC Interpretive Letter No. 749 (Sept.

13, 1996) (opining that state law requiring licensing

of national banks’ annuities sales activities is

preempted); OCC Interpretive Letter No. 628 (July

19, 1993) (opining that state securities board

regulation requiring a national bank providing trust

services to register as an investment adviser is

preempted).

Efficiency Act of 1994 1 requires the

OCC to publish notice in the Federal

Register before issuing a final written

opinion about the preemptive effect of

Federal law in four specified areas:

community reinvestment, consumer

protection, fair lending, or the

establishment of interstate branches. It

is not clear that the Pennsylvania statute

under review falls within one of the four

areas covered by section 114. The

Bank’s written submission does not

address this issue. Nevertheless, in light

of the novelty of the preemption

question presented by the Bank—the

applicability of state law to national

banks that provide traditional financial

services through electronic means—

comments from interested parties will

aid the OCC in considering the Bank’s

request. Therefore, we have concluded

that it is appropriate to publish a notice

and request comment on the Bank’s

request. We will also publish any final

written opinion responding to the

request in the Federal Register.

The Bank’s Online Deposit Program

The Bank is headquartered in

Pennsylvania and has branches in four

other states. The Bank’s Internet website

permits visitors to link to a site (the

Auction Site) on which the Bank offers

potential customers the opportunity to

purchase CDs that it issues and that are

priced through an online auction

process, which the Bank describes as

follows.

The Bank periodically posts on the

Auction Site a notice of an online

auction of CDs offered by the Bank.

Each auction has a starting and ending

time and identifies the dollar amount,

the term, the quantity, and the

maximum annual percentage yield

(APY) of the CDs offered. For example,

an auction might contain 100 CDs, each

with a face amount of $10,000, a term

of six months, and a maximum APY of

8%. In this case, the 100 bids with the

lowest APY equal to or below 8% will

be selected as the winning bidders. The

winning bidders are required to

complete an application to purchase a

CD at their respective bid prices,

pursuant to terms and conditions that

the Bank has established for the online

deposit program and that are posted on

the Auction Site.2

The Pennsylvania Auction Statute

The Pennsylvania auction statute is

codified at 63 Pa. Stat. § 734 et seq.

(1998). It governs the licensing and

regulation of persons—‘‘auctioneers’’—

engaged in the sale of property at

auction. The Pennsylvania statute

defines an ‘‘auction’’ as

the offer to sell property to the members of

an audience congregated for the purpose of

making bids for the purchase of property in

an effort by the auctioneer or apprentice

auctioneer to advance the amount of the bids

to obtain the highest or most favorable offer.3

Auctioneers must be licensed by the

State Board of Auctioneer Examiners 4

and are required to keep detailed

records of sales of property at auction.5

Pennsylvania auctioneers are subject to

examination by the state.6 An

auctioneer who fails to obtain a license

is subject to civil and criminal

penalties.7 The Pennsylvania statute

permits either individuals or

corporations to be auctioneers, and the

Bank believes that a corporation that

employs an individual auctioneer may

have to be licensed both as an

auctioneer and as an auction company.

Issues Presented by the Bank

The Bank asserts that Federal law

authorizes it to conduct the online

deposit program, that the licensing,

recordkeeping, and examination

requirements in the Pennsylvania

auction statute impermissibly condition

and burden the exercise of this Federal

authority, and that the Pennsylvania

statute is therefore preempted. The Bank

relies on the express authority provided

by 12 U.S.C. 24(Seventh) to ‘‘receive

deposits,’’ on the incidental powers

clause of 12 U.S.C. 24(Seventh), and on

the OCC’s regulation at 12 CFR 7.1019,

which authorizes national banks to

perform, provide, or deliver through

electronic means any authorized

product or service.

The Bank also cites a line of national

bank preemption cases decided by the

U.S. Supreme Court and culminating in

the Court’s decision in Barnett Bank of

Marion County, N.A. v. Nelson, 517 U.S.

25 (1996), in support of its position that

a state may not regulate an activity that

a national bank is Federally authorized

to conduct. The Bank notes that its use

of the online Auction Site may

constitute the promotion and

advertising of its deposit products and

that the Supreme Court has specifically

held that a state law purporting to limit

or restrict national bank advertising is

preempted.8 In addition, the Bank relies

on prior OCC interpretive letters

opining that state laws purporting to

apply licensing requirements to national

banks’ Federally authorized activities

are preempted.9 Finally, the Bank

asserts that application of the

Pennsylvania statute to its online

auction activities is preempted because

the national bank visitorial powers

statute, 12 U.S.C. 484, vests the OCC

with exclusive authority to examine and

supervise national banks.

Request for Comments

The OCC solicits comment on

whether Federal law preempts the

Pennsylvania auction statute as it would

apply to the Bank’s online deposit

program.

Dated: January 4, 2000.

John D. Hawke, Jr.,

Comptroller of the Currency.

[FR Doc. 00–968 Filed 1–13–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4810–33–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of Thrift Supervision

Proposed Agency Information

Collection Activities; Comment

Request

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Department of the

Treasury, as part of its continuing effort

to reduce paperwork and respondent

burden, invites the general public and

other Federal agencies to comment on

proposed and continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13. Today, the Office of

Thrift Supervision within the

Department of the Treasury solicits

comments on Mutual to Stock

Conversion.

DATES: Submit written comments on or

before March 14, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Manager,

Dissemination Branch, Information

Management and Services Division,

Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G