Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 28, 2005 / Notices 56765 

UNITED STATES SENTENCING 

COMMISSION 

Sentencing Guidelines for United 

States Courts 

AGENCY: United States Sentencing 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of final action regarding 

amendments to federal sentencing 

guidelines effective November 1, 2005. 

SUMMARY: On April 29, 2005, the 

Commission submitted to Congress 

amendments to the federal sentencing 

guidelines. (See 70 FR 24852, May 11, 

2005). The Commission has made 

technical and conforming amendments 

to commentary provisions related to 

those amendments. The Commission 

hereby gives notice of these commentary 

amendments. 

DATES: The Commission has specified 

an effective date of November 1, 2005, 

for the amendments set forth in this 

notice. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Courlander, Public Affairs 

Officer, Telephone: (202) 502–4590. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

United States Sentencing Commission, 

an independent commission in the 

judicial branch of the United States 

government, is authorized by 28 U.S.C. 

994(a) to promulgate sentencing 

guidelines and policy statements for 

federal courts. Section 994 also directs 

the Commission to review and revise 

periodically promulgated guidelines 

and authorizes it to submit guideline 

amendments to Congress not later than 

the first day of May each year. See 28 

U.S.C. 994(o), (p). Absent an affirmative 

disapproval by the Congress within 180 

days after the Commission submits its 

amendments, the amendments become 

effective on the date specified by the 

Commission (typically November 1 of 

the same calendar year). 28 U.S.C. 

994(p). 

Unlike amendments made to 

sentencing guidelines, amendments to 

commentary may be made at any time 

and are not subject to congressional 

review. To the extent practicable, the 

Commission endeavors to include 

amendments to commentary in any 

submission of guideline amendments to 

Congress. Occasionally, however, the 

Commission determines that technical 

and conforming changes to commentary 

are necessary in order to execute 

correctly the amendments submitted to 

Congress. This notice sets forth 

technical and conforming amendments 

to commentary related to the 

amendments submitted to Congress on 

April 29, 2005, that will become 

effective on November 1, 2005. 

Authority: USSC Rules of Practice and 

Procedure 4.1. 

Ricardo H. Hinojosa, 

Chair. 

1. Amendment 

The Commentary to § 2J1.6 captioned 

‘‘Application Notes’’ is amended in 

Note 3 in the second paragraph in the 

fourth sentence by striking ‘‘See 

§ 3D1.1(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘See 

§ 3D1.1(b)(1)’’. 

The Commentary to § 2K2.1 captioned 

‘‘Statutory Provisions’’, as amended by 

Amendment 3 submitted to Congress on 

April 29, 2005, (70 FR 24855.; USSG 

App. C (amendment 677)), is amended 

by striking ‘‘(e)–(h), (j)–(n)’’ and 

inserting ‘‘(e)–(i), (k)–(o)’’. 

The Commentary to § 2P1.2 captioned 

‘‘Application Notes’’ is amended in 

Note 2 in the fourth sentence by striking 

‘‘See § 3D1.1(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘See 

§ 3D1.1(b)(1)’’. 

The Commentary to § 3D1.1 captioned 

‘‘Application Note’’ is amended in Note 

1 in the first paragraph by striking 

‘‘Subsection (b)’’ and inserting 

‘‘Subsection (b)(1)’’; in the fourth 

sentence by striking ‘‘subsection (b)’’

and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(1)’’; and in 

the second paragraph by striking 

‘‘subsection (b)’’ and inserting 

‘‘subsection (b)(1)’’. 

The Commentary to § 3D1.2 captioned 

‘‘Application Notes’’ is amended in 

Note 1 by striking ‘‘See § 3D1.1(b)’’ and 

inserting ‘‘See § 3D1.1(b)(1)’’. 

The Commentary to § 5G1.2 captioned 

‘‘Application Notes’’, as amended by 

Amendment 1 submitted to Congress on 

April 29, 2005 (70 FR 24852; USSG 

App. C (amendment 675)), is amended 

in Note 2 in subdivision (A) by striking 

‘‘(A) specifies’’ and inserting ‘‘(i) 

specifies’’ and by striking ‘‘(B) requires’’

and inserting ‘‘(ii) requires’’; and in 

subdivision (B)(ii) by striking ‘‘(Multiple 

Counts)’’ and inserting ‘‘(Groups of 

Closely Related Counts)’’. 

Appendix A (Statutory Index), as 

amended by Amendment 3 submitted to 

Congress on April 29, 2005, (70 FR 

24855; USSG App. C (amendment 677)), 

is amended by striking the following: 

‘‘18 U.S.C. 924(i)(1) 2A1.1, 2A1.2 

18 U.S.C. 924(i)(2) 2A1.3, 2A1.4 

18 U.S.C. 924(j)–(n) 2K2.1’’. 

and inserting the following: 

‘‘18 U.S.C. 924(i) 2K2.1 

18 U.S.C. 924(j)(1) 2A1.1, 2A1.2 

18 U.S.C. 924(j)(2) 2A1.3, 2A1.4 

18 U.S.C. 924(k)–(o) 2K2.1’’. 

Reason for Amendment: This 

amendment makes various technical 

and conforming changes in order to 

implement more fully amendments 

submitted to Congress on April 29, 2005 

(70 FR 24852–24856). 

[FR Doc. 05–19324 Filed 9–27–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 2210–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

Surety Bond Guarantee Program Fees 

AGENCY: Small Business Administration 

(SBA). 

ACTION: Notice of fee increase. 

SUMMARY: This notice increases the 

guarantee fee charged on each 

guaranteed bond (other than a bid bond) 

and payable by surety companies 

participating in SBA’s Surety Bond 

Guarantee (SBG) Program from 20% of 

the bond premium to 32% of the bond 

premium, effective April 3, 2006. SBA 

has determined that the fee increase is 

necessary to supplement reserves in the 

SBG Program’s revolving fund to better 

offset unfunded program liabilities 

resulting from claims filed by sureties 

under SBA’s guarantee. This notice also 

addresses comments received by SBA in 

response to the notice proposing the fee 

increase, which was published in the 

Federal Register on August 15, 2005. 

DATES: This fee increase is effective on 

April 3, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara Brannan, Special Assistant, 

Office of Surety Guarantees, (202) 205–

6545; Barbara.Brannan@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

On August 15, 2005, SBA published 

a notice in the Federal Register 

proposing to increase the guarantee fee 

payable by sureties participating in the 

SBG Program (Sureties) from the present 

20% to 32% of the bond premium, 

effective October 1, 2005, and requested 

comments on the proposal (70 FR 

47874). In response to SBA’s notice and 

request for public comments, which had 

a 30-day public comment period, SBA 

received 38 written comments. The 

commenters included four industry 

associations (three letters, one signed 

jointly); three surety companies (each 

one currently participating in the SBG 

Program); 18 contractors (who have or 

had SBA guaranteed bonding through 

the SBG Program), 13 surety agents, and 

one Certified Public Accountant. Two 

commenters supported the fee increase. 

Thirty-six of the 38 commenters 

opposed the fee increase. The comments 

are addressed below.