Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 210 / Friday, October 30, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 66787 

coverage but will be subject to full 

underwriting. 

(2) If you are an active workforce 

member and you have entered into a 

domestic partnership, your domestic 

partner is eligible to submit an 

application for coverage under this 

section at any time from the 

commencing date of your domestic 

partnership and will be subject to full 

underwriting requirements. You are not 

eligible for abbreviated underwriting 

because of your domestic partnership. 

You, your domestic partner, or both you 

and your domestic partner may apply 

for coverage at any time, but full 

underwriting will be required for both 

of you. 

(b) Domestic partnership. The new 

spouse or domestic partner of an 

annuitant or retired member of the 

uniformed services may apply for 

coverage with full underwriting at any 

time following the marriage or 

commencing date of the domestic 

partnership. 

(c) Other qualified relatives. Other 

qualified relative(s) of a workforce 

member may apply for coverage with 

full underwriting at any time following 

the marriage or commencing date of the 

domestic partnership. 

■ 6. In § 875.412, the introductory text 

is revised and paragraph (e) is added to 

read as follows: 

§ 875.412 When will my coverage 

terminate? 

Except as provided in paragraph (e) of 

this section, your coverage will 

terminate on the earliest of the 

following dates: 

* * * * * 

(e) Termination of a domestic 

partnership does not terminate 

insurance coverage as long as the Carrier 

continues to receive the required 

premium when due. 

[FR Doc. 2015–27381 Filed 10–29–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6325–63–P 

MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION 

BOARD 

5 CFR Part 1201 

Practices and Procedures 

AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection 

Board. 

ACTION: Interim final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Merit Systems Protection 

Board (MSPB or the Board) hereby 

amends its rules of practice and 

procedure to clarify that parties have a 

right to discovery under the MSPB’s 

existing discovery procedures in 

compliance proceedings. 

DATES: This interim final rule is 

effective on October 30, 2015. Submit 

written comments concerning this 

interim final rule on or before December 

29, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments 

concerning this interim final rule by one 

of the following methods and in 

accordance with the relevant 

instructions: 

Email: mspb@mspb.gov. Comments 

submitted by email can be contained in 

the body of the email or as an 

attachment in any common electronic 

format, including word processing 

applications, HTML and PDF. If 

possible, commenters are asked to use a 

text format and not an image format for 

attachments. An email should contain a 

subject line indicating that the 

submission contains comments 

concerning the MSPB’s interim final 

rule. The MSPB asks that commenters 

use email to submit comments if 

possible. Submission of comments by 

email will assist the MSPB to process 

comments and speed publication of a 

final rule. 

Fax: (202) 653–7130. Comments 

submitted by fax should be addressed to 

William D. Spencer and contain a 

subject line indicating that the 

submission contains comments 

concerning the MSPB’s interim final 

rule. 

Mail or other commercial delivery: 

Comments submitted by mail should be 

addressed to William D. Spencer, Clerk 

of the Board, Merit Systems Protection 

Board, 1615 M Street NW., Washington, 

DC 20419. 

Hand delivery or courier: Comments 

submitted by hand delivery or courier 

should be addressed to William D. 

Spencer, Clerk of the Board, Merit 

Systems Protection Board, 1615 M 

Street NW., Washington, DC 20419, and 

delivered to the 5th floor reception 

window at this street address. Such 

deliveries are only accepted Monday 

through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

excluding Federal holidays. Instructions: As noted above, the 

MSPB requests that commenters use 

email to submit comments, if possible. 

All comments received will be made 

available online at the Board’s Web site, 

including any personal information 

provided, unless the comment includes 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by law. Those desiring to 

submit anonymous comments must 

submit comments in a manner that does 

not reveal the commenter’s identity, 

include a statement that the comment is 

being submitted anonymously, and 

include no personally-identifiable 

information. The email address of a 

commenter who chooses to submit 

comments using email will not be 

disclosed unless it appears in comments 

attached to an email or in the body of 

a comment. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William D. Spencer, Clerk of the Board, 

Merit Systems Protection Board, 1615 M 

Street NW., Washington, DC, 20419; 

phone: (202) 653–7200; fax: (202) 653– 

7130; or email: mspb@mspb.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

interim final rule is necessary because 

in Bernard v. Dep’t of Agric., 788 F.3d 

1365, 1367–70 (Fed. Cir. 2015), the 

United States Court of Appeals for the 

Federal Circuit held that the MSPB’s 

regulations provide no clear guarantee 

that parties are authorized to undertake 

discovery in enforcement proceedings. 

This interim final rule amends the 

MSPB’s regulations to address this 

holding and make clear that the parties 

have a right to discovery in such cases 

under the Board’s existing discovery 

procedures. 

Amendments Made by This Interim 

Final Rule 

A new provision, section 

1201.183(a)(9), is inserted to make clear 

that discovery may be undertaken in 

enforcement matters. This new 

provision makes clear that the Board’s 

regular discovery procedures apply in 

enforcement matters and sets a deadline 

by which initial discovery requests must 

be filed. As in other Board cases, this 

deadline may be changed by the judge. 

Justification for Use of Interim Final 

Rule 

Ordinarily, the Administrative 

Procedure Act (APA) requires an agency 

to provide notice of proposed 

rulemaking and a period of public 

comment before the promulgation of a 

new regulation. 5 U.S.C. 553(b) and (c). 

However, section 553(b) of the APA 

specifically provides that the notice and 

comment requirements do not apply: 

(A) To interpretative rules, general 

statements of policy, or rules of agency 

organization, procedure, or practice; or 

(B) when the agency for good cause 

finds (and incorporates the finding and 

a brief statement of reasons therefor in 

the rules issued) that notice and public 

procedure thereon are impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest. The APA also requires the 

publication of any substantive rule at 

least thirty days before its effective date, 

5 U.S.C. 553(d), except where the rule 

is interpretive, where the rule grants an 

exception or relieves a restriction, or ‘‘as 


Lhorne on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with RULES
66788 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 210 / Friday, October 30, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

otherwise provided by the agency for 

good cause found and published with 

the rule.’’ Id. 

The Board finds that use of an 

immediately effective interim final rule 

instead of notice and comment 

rulemaking is appropriate here because 

the amendments contained herein 

merely reflect the decision of the 

Federal Circuit in Bernard and are 

necessary to avert any further confusion 

regarding the Board’s practice and 

procedures governing the right to 

discovery in compliance cases. Under 

these circumstances, notice and 

comment rulemaking is unnecessary 

and not required by any public interest. 

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 1201 

Administrative practice and 

procedure. 

Accordingly, for the reasons set forth 

in the preamble, the Board amends 5 

CFR part 1201 as follows: 

PART 1201—PRACTICES AND 

PROCEDURES 

■ 1. The authority citation for 5 CFR 

part 1201 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1204, 1305, and 7701, 

and 38 U.S.C. 4331, unless otherwise noted. 

■ 2. Section 1201.183 is amended by 

adding paragraph (a)(9) to read as 

follows: 

§ 1201.183 Procedures for processing 

petitions for enforcement. 

(a) * * * 

(9) Discovery may be undertaken in 

accordance with the Board’s regular 

discovery procedures (§§ 1201.71 

through 1201.75 of this part), except 

that unless otherwise directed by the 

judge, initial discovery requests must be 

served no later than 15 days after the 

alleged noncomplying party files a 

response to the petition for enforcement 

as required under paragraph (a)(1) of 

this section. 

* * * * * 

William D. Spencer, 

Clerk of the Board. 

[FR Doc. 2015–27652 Filed 10–29–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7400–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 23 

[Docket No. FAA–2015–3880; Special 

Conditions No. 23–271–SC] 

Special Conditions: Honda Aircraft 

Company (Honda) Model HA–420, 

HondaJet; Cruise Speed Control 

System 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Final special conditions. 

SUMMARY: These special conditions are 

issued for the Honda Aircraft Company 

HA–420 airplane. This airplane will 

have a novel or unusual design 

feature(s) associated with the use of a 

cruise speed control system. The 

applicable airworthiness regulations do 

not contain adequate or appropriate 

safety standards for this design feature. 

These special conditions contain the 

additional safety standards that the 

Administrator considers necessary to 

establish a level of safety equivalent to 

that established by the existing 

airworthiness standards. 

DATES: These special conditions are 

effective October 30, 2015 and are 

applicable on October 26, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Pretz, Federal Aviation Administration, 

Small Airplane Directorate, Aircraft 

Certification Service, 901 Locust, Room 

301, Kansas City, MO 64106; telephone 

(816) 329–3239; facsimile (816) 329– 

4090. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On October 11, 2006, Honda Aircraft 

Company applied for a type certificate 

for their new Model HA–420. On 

October 10, 2013, Honda Aircraft 

Company requested an extension with 

an effective application date of October 

1, 2013. This extension changed the 

type certification basis to amendment 

23–62. 

The HA–420 is a four to five 

passenger (depending on configuration), 

two crew, lightweight business jet with 

a 43,000-foot service ceiling and a 

maximum takeoff weight of 9963 

pounds. The airplane is powered by two 

GE-Honda Aero Engines (GHAE) HF– 

120 turbofan engines. 

The HA–420 airplane will use a cruise 

speed control system (CSC), which is 

part of the automatic flight control 

system (AFCS), to reduce pilot workload 

during cruise flight only. The intended 

function is automatic airplane speed 

control during altitude hold AFCS mode 

by adjustment of the engine thrust 

within a narrow authority band utilizing 

the existing engine synchronization 

control. The CSC system does not back 

drive the throttles. The command 

authority is limited to values used for 

engine synchronization and can only be 

engaged when the throttle is positioned 

in a pre-determined range typically used 

for cruise power. This significantly 

reduces the CSC authority such that 

failure modes of the system should be 

minor. The proposed CSC system 

functions in a manner similar to an 

auto-throttle system, but has 

significantly less authority when 

compared to a traditional auto-throttle 

system. 

Type Certification Basis 

Under the provisions of 14 CFR 21.17, 

Honda Aircraft Company must show 

that the HA–420 meets the applicable 

provisions of part 23, as amended by 

amendments 23–1 through 23–62, 

thereto. 

If the Administrator finds that the 

applicable airworthiness regulations 

(i.e., 14 CFR part 23) do not contain 

adequate or appropriate safety standards 

for the HA–420 because of a novel or 

unusual design feature, special 

conditions are prescribed under the 

provisions of § 21.16. 

In addition to the applicable 

airworthiness regulations and special 

conditions, the HA–420 must comply 

with the fuel vent and exhaust emission 

requirements of 14 CFR part 34 and the 

noise certification requirements of 14 

CFR part 36. In addition, the FAA must 

issue a finding of regulatory adequacy 

pursuant to § 611 of Public Law 92–574, 

the ‘‘Noise Control Act of 1972.’’ 

The FAA issues special conditions, as 

defined in 14 CFR 11.19, in accordance 

with § 11.38, and they become part of 

the type-certification basis under 

§ 21.17(a)(2). Special conditions are 

initially applicable to the model for 

which they are issued. Should the type 

certificate for that model be amended 

later to include any other model that 

incorporates the same or similar novel 

or unusual design feature, the special 

conditions would also apply to the other 

model under § 21.101. 

Novel or Unusual Design Features 

The HA–420 will incorporate the 

following novel or unusual design 

features: Cruise Speed Control system 

Discussion 

As defined in the summary section, 

this airplane makes use of a CSC system, 

which is a novel design for this type of 

airplane. The applicable airworthiness 


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