70548 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 224 / Tuesday, November 22, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

removed and is replaced with 

‘‘physician fee schedule.’’

■ b. In paragraph (c), the phrase 

‘‘subparts D or E, part 405 of this 

chapter’’ is removed and the phrase 

‘‘subpart B, part 414 of this chapter’’ is 

added in its place. 

■ 10. In § 418.306, the introductory text 

of paragraph (b) is republished, 

paragraph (b)(3) is revised, and new 

paragraphs (b)(4) and (b)(5) are added to 

read as follows: 

§ 418.306 Determination of payment rates. 

* * * * * 

(b) Payment rates. The payment rates 

for routine home care and other services 

included in hospice care are as follows: 

* * * * * 

(3) For Federal fiscal years 1994 

through 2002, the payment rate is the 

payment rate in effect during the 

previous fiscal year increased by a factor 

equal to the market basket percentage 

increase minus—

(i) 2 percentage points in FY 1994; 

(ii) 1.5 percentage points in FYs 1995 

and 1996; 

(iii) 0.5 percentage points in FY 1997; 

and 

(iv) 1 percentage point in FY 1998 

through FY 2002. 

(4) For Federal fiscal year 2001, the 

payment rate is the payment rate in 

effect during the previous fiscal year 

increased by a factor equal to the market 

basket percentage increase plus 5 

percentage points. However, this 

payment rate is effective only for the 

period April 1, 2001 through September 

30, 2001. For the period October 1, 2000 

through March 31, 2001, the payment 

rate is based upon the rule under 

paragraph (b)(3)(iv) of this section. The 

payment rate in effect during the period 

April 1, 2001 through September 30, 

2001 is considered the payment rate in 

effect during fiscal year 2001. 

(5) The payment rate for hospice 

services furnished during fiscal years 

2001 and 2002 is increased by an 

additional 0.5 percent and 0.75 percent, 

respectively. This additional amount is 

not included in updating the payment 

rate as described in paragraph (b)(3) of 

this section. 

* * * * * 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.773, Medicare—Hospital 

Insurance; and Program No. 93.774, 

Medicare—Supplementary Medical 

Insurance Program) 

Dated: May 24, 2005. 

Mark B. McClellan, 

Administrator, Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services. 

Approved: October 11, 2005. 

Michael O. Leavitt, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 05–23078 Filed 11–21–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

49 CFR Part 10 

FAA Accident and Incident Data 

System Records Expunction Policy 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Policy statement. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) has adopted a 

policy which, when implemented, will 

result in the expunction of airman 

identities from certain FAA accident 

and incident records. 

DATES: This policy is effective 

November 22, 2005, with 

implementation as discussed herein. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joseph R. Standell, Aeronautical Center 

Counsel, Aeronautical Center (AMC–7), 

Federal Aviation Administration, 6500 

S. MacArthur, Oklahoma City, OK 

73169. Telephone (405) 954–3296. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under sections 40101, 40113, and 

44701 of the U.S. Transportation Code, 

as amended, 49 U.S.C. 40101, 40113 and 

44701, the FAA may maintain records of 

aviation accidents and incidents 

containing identifying information of 

individual airmen if safety in air 

commerce or air transportation and the 

public interest require. These records 

include all accidents that were 

investigated by the FAA and incidents 

reported to or investigated by the FAA. 

Part 10 of the Department of 

Transportation Regulations, 49 CFR 10.1 

et seq., sets forth the conditions for 

maintenance and access to records 

pertaining to individuals. 

Presently, written accident and 

incident records are destroyed in 

accordance with the applicable 

retention guidelines contained in FAA 

Order 1350.15C. Certain essential 

information is extracted from written 

accident and incident records and 

maintained in the Accident and 

Incident Data System (AIDS). 

Currently, computer based electronic 

AIDS records are maintained 

indefinitely by the FAA. The custodian 

of AIDS is the Aviation Data Systems 

Branch, AFS–620, at the Mike 

Monroney Aeronautical Center, 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. AIDS 

records may be accessed by FAA 

personnel at the FAA’s Headquarters in 

Washington, DC and the FAA’s field 

and regional offices. See, System of 

Records DOT/FAA 847, 65 FR 19527 

(April 11, 2000). One of the reasons the 

FAA maintains these records is for 

safety related statistical research. 

Aviation Safety Inspectors may also use 

these records to determine whether an 

airman should be re-examined. AIDS 

records are considered to be basic 

qualification information and may be 

released to the public pursuant to the 

routine uses listed in DOT/FAA 847. 

In 1989, the FAA conducted a System 

Safety and Efficiency Review (SSER) of 

its General Aviation Compliance and 

Enforcement Programs. The SSER 

review team comprised both FAA 

personnel and representatives of various 

industry organizations, including the 

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, 

the Experimental Aircraft Association, 

and the National Business Aircraft 

Association. The establishment of an 

accident and incident expungement 

policy was one of the many topics 

discussed during the System Safety and 

Efficiency Review. However, no 

accident and incident expungment 

policy was implemented at that time. 

From 1996 until the present, the FAA 

has expunged the identity of airmen 

from AIDS records on an ad hoc basis, 

where it was determined that their 

identity no longer served a relevant 

purpose. Those determinations were 

made in response to individual requests 

for correction of accident or incident 

record pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 

U.S.C. 552a. Absent a request for 

correction of records under the Privacy 

Act, the record remained in AIDS 

indefinitely. There has been growing 

concern within the FAA that this 

practice is unfair to those airmen who 

do not know their identity may be 

removed from an AIDS record by 

making a request under the Privacy Act. 

In 2003, the FAA reevaluated its 

policy of indefinitely retaining AIDS 

records on individuals, and 

subsequently adopted a policy of 

expunging certain electronic AIDS 

records. This policy is explained in 

detail herein. This policy applies to 

individuals who have been identified in 

electronic AIDS records. This policy 

applies to individuals who hold airman 

certificates, as well as to those who do 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 224 / Tuesday, November 22, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 70549 

not, such as passengers. This policy 

does not apply to the following: 

Identities of air carriers, repair 

stations, or other organizational entities 

whether or not the air carrier, repair 

station or other organizational entity is 

owned or operated by an individual; 

records generated or maintained by 

entities other than the FAA such as 

electronic records of accidents and/or 

incidents maintained by the National 

Transportation Safety Board; this policy 

does not apply to written records of 

accidents or incidents because it is the 

FAA’s current policy to destroy those 

records pursuant to the retention 

guidelines contained in FAA Order 

1350.15C. 

This policy statement is published 

because the subject is a matter of general 

interest in the aviation community. 

FAA Recordkeeping 

The FAA maintains records of 

accidents and incidents in the Accident 

and Incident Data System (AIDS), and 

with paper documents. All records 

contain identifying information such as 

name, date of birth, and certificate 

number. The records also contain 

information about each accident or 

incident such as the date and place of 

the event as well as a description of 

what happened. 

AIDS is an automated data base 

system that contains summaries of all 

FAA accident and incident 

investigations. Copies of paper 

documents associated with an accident 

or incident are not included in AIDS 

records. AIDS is the primary source of 

summary information for the FAA and 

the public concerning any accident or 

incident investigated by the FAA. 

Expunction Policy 

Electronic accident and incident 

records identifying an individual will 

now be maintained for five years from 

the date of the accident or incident. In 

that regard, it is believed that after five 

years, any information about an 

individual’s identity will be of little, if 

any, value. Under this expunction 

policy, any information which identifies 

the individual will be removed from the 

AIDS record, including the individual’s 

name and FAA certificate number. The 

case report number will not be removed, 

nor will the rest of the information, such 

as the pilot’s experience, the description 

of the event, the N number and type of 

aircraft involved. This information will 

be maintained so that the FAA will be 

able to research the accident history of 

an aircraft or conduct statistical research 

of data. 

In all cases, if at the time an AIDS 

record is due to be expunged, a 

subsequent AIDS record has been 

opened, the first record will not be 

expunged unless and until the 

subsequent record is eligible for 

expungement. 

Implementation of the AIDS 

Expunction Policy 

The FAA currently has several 

decades of records which will be 

expunged under this policy. It is 

expected that the initial expunction of 

eligible AIDS records will be completed 

in stages. 

Changes will be made to the AIDS 

program so that AIDS data eligible to be 

expunged is identified and 

automatically expunged from the AIDS 

computer base. The FAA expects that 

the necessary hardware and software 

changes to the AIDS data base system 

will be completed by [November 1, 

2005]. 

Once this expunction system is fully 

functioning, the FAA intends to 

expunge identifying information from 

eligible AIDS records on a monthly 

basis. An individual may expect his or 

her AIDS records to be expunged during 

the month following the eligibility for 

expunction under this policy. The FAA 

maintains a large number of records in 

AIDS. Therefore, it is impossible for the 

Agency to assure the expunction of any 

particular record in strict accordance 

with this policy. If an individual 

becomes aware of any AIDS data eligible 

for expunction that has not been 

expunged, he or she may request 

amendment of the record under the 

Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a(d). Any 

request to amend an individual’s AIDS 

record must be made in writing to the 

systems manager in accordance with the 

procedures prescribed in 49 CFR part 

10. 

Issued in Washington, DC on November 17, 

2005. 

Marion Blakey, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 05–23101 Filed 11–21–05; 8:45am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 300 

[Docket No. 050719189–5286–03; I.D. 

071405C] 

RIN 0648–AT33 

International Fisheries; Pacific Tuna 

Fisheries; Restrictions for 2005 and 

2006 Purse Seine and Longline 

Fisheries in the Eastern Tropical 

Pacific Ocean 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this final 

rule to implement the 2005 and 2006 

management measures to prevent 

overfishing of the eastern tropical 

Pacific Ocean (ETP) tuna stocks, 

consistent with recommendations by the 

Inter-American Tropical Tuna 

Commission (IATTC) that have been 

approved by the Department of State 

(DOS) under the Tuna Conventions Act. 

The purse seine fishery for tuna in the 

ETP will be closed for a 6–week period 

beginning November 20, 2005, through 

December 31, 2005, and beginning 

November 20, 2006, through December 

31, 2006. In this final rule, NMFS also 

announces that the longline fishery will 

close when a 150–mt limit has been 

reached. These actions are taken to limit 

fishing mortality on tuna stocks caused 

by purse seine fishing and longline 

fishing in the Convention Area and 

contribute to the long-term conservation 

of tuna stocks at levels that support 

healthy fisheries. 

DATES: The 2005 tuna purse seine 

fishery closure is effective November 20, 

2005, through December 31, 2005. The 

2006 tuna purse seine fishery closure is 

effective November 20, 2006, through 

December 31, 2006. For 2006, the bigeye 

longline fishery will close when the 

bigeye tuna catch reaches 150 mt. NMFS 

will publish a notification in the 

Federal Register announcing the 

effective date of that closure. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the regulatory 

impact review/final regulatory 

flexibility analysis (FRFA) may be 

obtained from the Southwest Regional 

Administrator, Southwest Region, 

NMFS, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, 

Long Beach, CA 90902–4213. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J. 

Allison Routt, Sustainable Fisheries