61020 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 196 / Thursday, October 9, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

Department of Labor will not make 

further payments to such State. 

Portia Wu, 

Assistant Secretary for Employment and 

Training, Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2014–24098 Filed 10–8–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

24 CFR Chapter II 

[Docket No. FR–5817–N–01] 

Federal Housing Administration (FHA): 

Solicitation of Comment on Streamline 

Refinance Provisions in the FHA 

Single Family Housing Policy 

Handbook 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Housing—Federal Housing 

Commissioner, HUD. 

ACTION: Solicitation of comment. 

SUMMARY: On September 30, 2014, FHA 

issued the FHA Single Family Housing 

Policy Handbook section for Title II 

Insured Housing Programs Forward 

Mortgages: Origination through PostClosing/Endorsement, Handbook 

4000.1. The goal of the new FHA Single 

Family Housing Policy Handbook 

(Handbook) is to streamline and ease the 

implementation of FHA’s various 

programs by consolidating and 

organizing all of FHA’s Single Family 

policy into one document. FHA will be 

issuing other individual sections of the 

Handbook as they are completed. As 

part of the consolidation of policy 

pertaining to streamline refinance 

transactions, FHA has taken the 

opportunity to integrate the language 

pertaining to streamline refinance 

transactions in Mortgagee Letters 2013– 

29, 2011–11, 2009–32 and 2008–40 into 

a refined mortgage payment history and 

calculation of the maximum insurable 

mortgage for the streamline refinance 

program. Prior to adopting in the 

Handbook as final this refined 

maximum insured mortgage calculation 

for streamline refinance transactions, 

HUD seeks public comment on this 

language as presented in the Handbook. 

DATES: Comment Due Date: November 

10, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this document to the Regulations 

Division, Office of General Counsel, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 

10276, Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

Communications must refer to the above 

docket number and title. There are two 

methods for submitting public 

comments. All submissions must refer 

to the above docket number and title. 

1. Submission of Comments by Mail. 

Comments may be submitted by mail to 

the Regulations Division, Office of 

General Counsel, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 451 

7th Street SW., Room 10276, 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

2. Electronic Submission of 

Comments. Interested persons may 

submit comments electronically through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly 

encourages commenters to submit 

comments electronically. Electronic 

submission of comments allows the 

commenter maximum time to prepare 

and submit a comment, ensures timely 

receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to 

make them immediately available to the 

public. Comments submitted 

electronically through the 

www.regulations.gov Web site can be 

viewed by other commenters and 

interested members of the public. 

Commenters should follow the 

instructions provided on that site to 

submit comments electronically. 

Note: To receive consideration as public 

comments, comments must be submitted 

through one of the two methods specified 

above. Again, all submissions must refer to 

the docket number and title of the document. 

No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile 

(FAX) comments are not acceptable. 

Public Inspection of Public 

Comments. All properly submitted 

comments and communications 

submitted to HUD will be available for 

public inspection and copying between 

8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above 

address. Due to security measures at the 

HUD Headquarters building, an 

appointment to review the public 

comments must be scheduled in 

advance by calling the Regulations 

Division at 202–708–3055 (this is not a 

toll-free number). Individuals with 

speech or hearing impairments may 

access this number via TTY by calling 

the Federal Relay Service at 800–877– 

8339. Copies of all comments submitted 

are available for inspection and 

downloading at www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elissa Saunders, Deputy Director, Office 

of Single Family Program Development, 

Office of Housing, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 451 

7th Street SW., Room 9278, Washington, 

DC 20410; telephone number 202–708– 

2121 (this is not a toll-free number). 

Persons with hearing or speech 

impairments may access this number 

through TTY by calling the toll-free 

Federal Relay Service at 800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Payment history standards related to 

streamline refinances are currently 

found in Handbook HUD 4155.1, 

entitled Mortgage Credit Analysis for 

Mortgage Insurance on One- to FourUnit Mortgage Loans, in sections 

3.A.1.h., but have subsequently been 

modified by Mortgagee Letters, 

including those referenced above. The 

Maximum Insurable Mortgage 

Calculation for streamline refinances is 

found in section 3.C.2.c. 

In an effort to ease program 

implementation and reduce burden on 

lenders, servicers, borrowers, and 

interested members of the public, FHA, 

as noted in the Summary of this 

document, is consolidating and 

reorganizing its guidance into a new, 

comprehensive FHA Single Family 

Housing Policy Handbook (Handbook), 

which, once effective, will supersede all 

mortgagee letters and prior handbook 

provisions whose content has been 

incorporated into the Handbook. This 

consolidation and reorganization 

alleviates unnecessary burdens on 

lenders, servicers, and borrowers who 

have had to keep track of individual 

policy changes published in individual 

mortgagee letters, and gives all 

interested parties one place to find 

important program requirements. 

The Handbook section for Title II 

Insured Housing Programs Forward 

Mortgages—Origination through PostClosing/Endorsement was issued on 

September 30, 2014, at http://

portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/

huddoc?id=40001HSGH.pdf and will be 

effective for case numbers assigned on 

or after June 15, 2015. Due to the timing 

of the pre-scheduled release of the 

Handbook and the complexity of 

incorporating and organizing the 

various guidance documents for 

streamline refinances noted above, and 

eliminating extraneous examples, HUD 

has opted, in an abundance of caution, 

to seek public comment on the refined 

maximum mortgage amount calculation 

provision and payment history for the 

streamline refinance program which can 

be found in Paragraphs (4)(b) and (j) of 

II.A.8.d.vi.(C) ‘‘Streamline Refinances’’ 

in the Title II Insured Housing Programs 

Forward Mortgages section of the 

Handbook. The public comments 

received on these provisions will be 

given consideration, and notification 

will be provided of changes, if any, 

made to this section of the Handbook. 

Given the significant transition period 

that FHA is providing between the 

posting of the Handbook and the 

effective date of the Handbook, FHA 

does not anticipate having to change the 

effective date as a result of any changes 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 196 / Thursday, October 9, 2014 / Proposed Rules 61021 

that may be made to the streamline 

refinance section of the Handbook. 

Dated: October 3, 2014. 

Carol J. Galante, 

Assistant Secretary for Housing—Federal 

Housing Commissioner. 

[FR Doc. 2014–24069 Filed 10–8–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

25 CFR Parts 81 and 82 

[BIA–2014–0006; K00103 12/13 A3A10; 

134D0102DR–DS5A300000– 

DR.5A311.IA000113] 

RIN 1076–AE93 

Secretarial Election Procedures 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs 

is proposing to amend its regulations 

governing Secretarial elections and 

procedures for tribal members to 

petition for Secretarial elections. This 

proposed rule reflects changes in the 

law and the requirement that 

regulations be written in plain language. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before December 17, 2014. See the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document for dates of tribal 

consultations. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

—Federal rulemaking portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. The rule is listed 

under the agency name ‘‘Bureau of 

Indian Affairs.’’ The rule has been 

assigned Docket ID: BIA–2014–0006. 

—Email: laurel.ironcloud@bia.gov. 

Include ‘‘Part 81’’ in the subject line of 

the message. 

—Mail or hand-delivery: Chief, 

Division of Tribal Government Services, 

Office of Indian Services, Bureau of 

Indian Affairs, Department of the 

Interior, 1849 C Street NW., Mail Stop 

4513–MIB, Washington, DC 20240. 

Comments on the Paperwork 

Reduction Act information collections 

contained in this rule are separate from 

comments on the substance of the rule. 

Submit comments on the information 

collection requirements in this rule to 

the Desk Officer for the Department of 

the Interior by email at OIRA_

Submission@omb.eop.gov or by 

facsimile at (202) 395–5806. Please also 

send a copy of your comments to 

laurel.ironcloud@bia.gov. 

See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document for locations of 

tribal consultation sessions. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laurel Iron Cloud, Chief, Division of 

Tribal Government Services, Central 

Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs at 

telephone (202) 513–7641. Individuals 

who use a telecommunications device 

for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service at 1–800– 

877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

Monday through Friday, excluding 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is 

amending 25 CFR parts 81 (Secretarial 

Elections) and 82 (Petitioning 

Procedures), combining them into one 

Code of Federal Regulations part at 25 

CFR part 81. The Secretarial Elections 

regulations were originally adopted in 

1964, and the Petitioning Procedures 

regulations were originally adopted in 

1967. See 29 FR 14359 (October 17, 

1964); 32 FR 11779 (August 16, 1967). 

The Department has not updated either 

of these regulations since 1981. See 46 

FR 1668 (January 7, 1981). 

A Secretarial election is a Federal 

election conducted by the Secretary of 

the Interior (Secretary) under a Federal 

statute or tribal governing document 

under 25 CFR part 81. See Cohen’s 

Handbook of Federal Indian Law 

section 4.06[2][a]–[b], at 286–297 (Nell 

Jessup Newton ed., 2012). See also 

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. Andrus, 

566 F. 2d 1085 (8th Cir. 1977), cert. 

denied, 439 U.S. 820 (1978). The 

proposed rule: 

• Responds to the amendments made 

to section 16 of the Indian 

Reorganization Act (IRA) (June 18, 1934, 

48 Stat. 984) (25 U.S.C. 476), as 

amended, which established time 

frames within which the Secretary must 

call and conduct Secretarial elections 

and provided that all elections will be 

handled by mailout ballot unless polling 

places are expressly required by the 

amendment or adoption article of the 

tribe’s governing document. 

• Responds to the amendments made 

to Section 17 of the IRA by the Act of 

May 24, 1990 (104 Stat. 207) (25 U.S.C. 

477) under which additional tribes may 

petition for charter of incorporation and 

removes the requirement of an election 

to ratify the approval of new charters 

issued after May 24, 1990, unless 

required by tribal law. 

• Reflects the 1994 addition of two 

subsections to section 16 of the IRA by 

Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (108 

Stat. 707) (25 U.S.C. 476(f) & (g)) that 

prohibit the government from making a 

regulation or administrative decision 

‘‘that classifies, enhances, or diminishes 

the privileges and immunities available 

to a federally recognized Indian tribe 

relative to the privileges and immunities 

available to other federally recognized 

tribes by virtue of their status as Indian 

tribes.’’ 

When Congress enacted Oklahoma 

Indian Welfare Act (OIWA) in 1936, the 

language it used to guarantee the right 

of tribes to organize and adopt 

constitutions and bylaws was different 

from that used in the IRA. The OIWA 

language requires the Secretary to 

approve the constitution before it is 

submitted to the tribal membership for 

a vote to ratify it. These regulations 

reflect the difference in language 

between the IRA and the OIWA. 

The proposed rule includes language 

clarifying that a tribe reorganized under 

the IRA may amend its governing 

document to remove the requirement for 

Secretarial approval of future 

amendments. Once the requirement for 

Secretarial approval is removed through 

a Secretarial election, Secretarial 

approval of future amendments is not 

required. 

The proposed rule also clarifies that 

the Secretary will accept petitions for 

Secretarial elections only from federally 

recognized tribes included on the list of 

recognized tribes published by the 

Secretary pursuant to section 479a–1. 

II. Comments From Tribal 

Representatives 

As discussed in section III of this 

document, we held several tribal 

consultation sessions on draft 

regulations addressing Secretarial 

elections and petitioning procedures. 

The following summarizes comments 

received during that consultation 

process. 

Definitions 

Several tribes questioned the 

definition of ‘‘Indian’’ included in the 

consultation draft. Because the term is 

not used in the body of the regulation 

other than as defined in the IRA, we 

have deleted this definition. We have 

also clarified the definition of ‘‘tribe’’ as 

those federally recognized tribes 

included on the list of recognized tribes 

published by the Secretary pursuant to 

Section 479a–1. 

One tribe questioned the definition of 

‘‘member’’ because the consultation 

draft included an additional provision 

stating that, in the absence of the tribe’s 

written criteria for membership, a 

member is a person the tribal members 

recognize as belonging to that tribe. The 

tribe noted that there may not be 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS