This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

51753 

Vol. 82, No. 215 

Wednesday, November 8, 2017 

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

OFFICE 

4 CFR Part 81 

Public Availability of Government 

Accountability Office Records 

AGENCY: Government Accountability 

Office. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: These revisions clarify 

procedures to obtain Government 

Accountability Office (GAO) records. 

Specifically, the revisions add 

procedures for requesting records of 

GAO’s Office of Inspector General. The 

revisions also clarify that documents 

prepared by GAO or GAO’s Office of 

Inspector General for referral to another 

agency for law enforcement purposes 

are not subject to the regulations in this 

part. The previous regulatory language 

on this point was imprecise. 

DATES: This rule is effective as of 

December 8, 2017. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

A. Bielec, Assistant General Counsel, 

bielecj@gao.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: GAO is 

amending 4 CFR 81.2 by specifically 

providing that GAO’s Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) will process any requests 

under this part for OIG records. The 

OIG, which was established by statute 

in 2008, audits and investigates matters 

related to GAO’s operations. The OIG 

executes its responsibilities 

independently of and free from 

interference or control by any other 

office or body within GAO. In keeping 

with and to best preserve this 

independence, the OIG itself should 

process requests for its records. 

However, when the OIG receives a 

request for records that originated in 

GAO, the OIG will refer the requester to 

GAO. These revisions provide that with 

respect to any request for OIG records, 

other than records that originated in 

GAO, throughout this part the term 

‘‘Counsel to the Inspector General’’ 

would be substituted for ‘‘Chief Quality 

Officer’’ and the term ‘‘Inspector 

General’’ would be substituted for 

‘‘Comptroller General.’’ 

In addition, § 81.6(g) is amended to 

clarify that documents prepared by GAO 

for referral to another agency for law 

enforcement purposes are exempt from 

the procedures in this part. Section 

81.6(g) previously provided that records 

that GAO has already provided to 

another agency for law enforcement 

purposes are exempt. However, § 81.6(g) 

did not specifically address requests for 

records that GAO, including the OIG, 

created for referral to another agency for 

law enforcement purposes, but has not 

yet provided to another agency. For 

instance, during an investigation into 

possible criminal activity, the GAO OIG 

creates documents that may be 

forwarded to another agency for law 

enforcement purposes at the conclusion 

of the OIG’s investigation. Section 

81.6(g) was unclear as to whether such 

records, which have not yet been 

forwarded to another agency, would be 

subject to this part if requested before 

the conclusion of the investigation. 

These changes clarify that records 

compiled for referral to another agency 

for law enforcement purposes are 

exempt from this part. 

GAO is not subject to the 

Administrative Procedure Act and 

accordingly is not required by law to 

seek comments before issuing a final 

rule. Application of the Administrative 

Procedure Act to GAO is not to be 

inferred from GAO’s invitation of 

comments on the proposed rule. 

Nevertheless, GAO published a 

proposed rule regarding these changes 

and invited comments at 82 FR 37545 

(August 11, 2017). GAO received two 

comments on the proposed rule. Neither 

comment specifically addressed the 

proposed changes to this part. As a 

result, the final rule does not reflect 

these comments. 

GAO added a sentence to the final 

version of § 81.2 that did not appear in 

the proposed version. This sentence 

clarifies that when the OIG receives a 

request for records that originated in 

GAO, the OIG will refer the requester to 

GAO. The final rule otherwise does not 

differ substantively from the proposed 

rule. 

List of Subjects in 4 CFR Part 81 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Archives and records, 

Freedom of information, Requests for 

records. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, the Government 

Accountability Office amends 4 CFR 

part 81 as follows: 

PART 81—PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF 

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

OFFICE RECORDS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 81 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 31 U.S.C. 711. 

■ 2. Amend § 81.2 by designating the 

undesignated paragraph as paragraph (a) 

and adding paragraph (b) to read as 

follows: 

§ 81.2 Administration. 

* * * * * 

(b) Requests for records of GAO’s 

Office of Inspector General (OIG) shall 

be processed by the Counsel to the 

Inspector General in accordance with 

this part. The Inspector General shall 

decide any administrative appeals of 

decisions of the Counsel to the Inspector 

General concerning such requests. 

However, if any of the requested records 

of the OIG originated in GAO, the 

Counsel to the Inspector General shall 

refer the requester to GAO’s Chief 

Quality Officer for processing of the 

request for those records in accordance 

with this part. With regard to any public 

request to inspect or copy records of the 

OIG, other than records that originated 

in GAO, in this part the term ‘‘Counsel 

to the Inspector General’’ is to be 

substituted for ‘‘Chief Quality Officer’’ 

and the term ‘‘Inspector General’’ is to 

be substituted for ‘‘Comptroller 

General’’. All requests to inspect or 

obtain a copy of an identifiable record 

of the OIG must be submitted in writing 

to the Counsel to the Inspector General, 

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 

Suite 1808, 441 G Street NW., 

Washington, DC 20548 or emailed to 

OIGRecordsRequest@gao.gov. 

■ 3. Amend § 81.6 by revising paragraph 

(g) to read as follows: 

§ 81.6 Records which may be exempt from 

disclosure. 

* * * * * 

(g) Records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes that originate in 

another agency, or records prepared for 

referral to and/or provided by GAO or 


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51754 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

1Consistent with Board practice, the low reserve 

tranche and reserve requirement exemption 

amounts have been rounded to the nearest $0.1 

million. 

the OIG to another agency for law 

enforcement purposes. 

* * * * * 

Dated: November 3, 2017. 

Susan A. Poling, 

General Counsel, Government Accountability 

Office. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24340 Filed 11–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1610–02–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

12 CFR Part 204 

Regulation D; Docket No. OP–1582; 

Reserve Requirements of Depository 

Institutions 

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Board is amending 

Regulation D, Reserve Requirements of 

Depository Institutions, to reflect the 

annual indexing of the reserve 

requirement exemption amount and the 

low reserve tranche for 2018. The 

Regulation D amendments set the 

amount of total reservable liabilities of 

each depository institution that is 

subject to a zero percent reserve 

requirement in 2018 at $16.0 million 

(up from $15.5 million in 2017). This 

amount is known as the reserve 

requirement exemption amount. The 

Regulation D amendments also set the 

amount of net transaction accounts at 

each depository institution (over the 

reserve requirement exemption amount) 

that is subject to a three percent reserve 

requirement in 2018 at $122.3 million 

(up from $115.1 million in 2017). This 

amount is known as the low reserve 

tranche. The adjustments to both of 

these amounts are derived using 

statutory formulas specified in the 

Federal Reserve Act. 

The Board is also announcing changes 

in two other amounts, the nonexempt 

deposit cutoff level and the reduced 

reporting limit, that are used to 

determine the frequency at which 

depository institutions must submit 

deposit reports. 

DATES:

Effective Date: December 8, 2017. 

Compliance Dates: The new low 

reserve tranche and reserve requirement 

exemption amount will apply to the 

fourteen-day reserve maintenance 

period that begins January 18, 2018. For 

depository institutions that report 

deposit data weekly, this maintenance 

period corresponds to the fourteen-day 

computation period that begins 

December 19, 2017. For depository 

institutions that report deposit data 

quarterly, this maintenance period 

corresponds to the seven-day 

computation period that begins 

December 19, 2017. The new values of 

the nonexempt deposit cutoff level, the 

reserve requirement exemption amount, 

and the reduced reporting limit will be 

used to determine the frequency at 

which a depository institution submits 

deposit reports effective in either June 

or September 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Clinton N. Chen, Senior Attorney (202– 

452–3952), Legal Division, or Kristen R. 

Payne, Financial Analyst (202–452– 

2872), Division of Monetary Affairs; for 

users of Telecommunications Device for 

the Deaf (TDD) only, contact (202/263– 

4869); Board of Governors of the Federal 

Reserve System, 20th and C Streets 

NW., Washington, DC 20551. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

19(b)(2) of the Federal Reserve Act (12 

U.S.C. 461(b)(2)) requires each 

depository institution to maintain 

reserves against its transaction accounts 

and nonpersonal time deposits, as 

prescribed by Board regulations, for the 

purpose of implementing monetary 

policy. Section 11(a)(2) of the Federal 

Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 248(a)(2)) 

authorizes the Board to require reports 

of liabilities and assets from depository 

institutions to enable the Board to 

conduct monetary policy. The Board’s 

actions with respect to each of these 

provisions are discussed in turn below. 

I. Reserve Requirements 

Pursuant to section 19(b) of the 

Federal Reserve Act (Act), transaction 

account balances maintained at each 

depository institution are subject to 

reserve requirement ratios of zero, three, 

or ten percent. Section 19(b)(11)(A) of 

the Act (12 U.S.C. 461(b)(11)(A)) 

provides that a zero percent reserve 

requirement shall apply at each 

depository institution to total reservable 

liabilities that do not exceed a certain 

amount, known as the reserve 

requirement exemption amount. 

Section 19(b)(11)(B) provides that, 

before December 31 of each year, the 

Board shall issue a regulation adjusting 

the reserve requirement exemption 

amount for the next calendar year if 

total reservable liabilities held at all 

depository institutions increase from 

one year to the next. No adjustment is 

made to the reserve requirement 

exemption amount if total reservable 

liabilities held at all depository 

institutions should decrease during the 

applicable time period. The Act requires 

the percentage increase in the reserve 

requirement exemption amount to be 80 

percent of the increase in total 

reservable liabilities of all depository 

institutions over the one-year period 

that ends on the June 30 prior to the 

adjustment. 

Total reservable liabilities of all 

depository institutions increased by 3.9 

percent, from $7,531 billion to $7,821 

billion, between June 30, 2016, and June 

30, 2017. Accordingly, the Board is 

amending Regulation D to set the 

reserve requirement exemption amount 

for 2018 at $16.0 million, an increase of 

$0.5 million from its level in 2017.1

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act 

(12 U.S.C. 461(b)(2)), transaction 

account balances maintained at each 

depository institution over the reserve 

requirement exemption amount and up 

to a certain amount, known as the low 

reserve tranche, are subject to a three 

percent reserve requirement. 

Transaction account balances over the 

low reserve tranche are subject to a ten 

percent reserve requirement. Section 

19(b)(2) also provides that, before 

December 31 of each year, the Board 

shall issue a regulation adjusting the 

low reserve tranche for the next 

calendar year. The Act requires the 

adjustment in the low reserve tranche to 

be 80 percent of the percentage increase 

or decrease in total transaction accounts 

of all depository institutions over the 

one-year period that ends on the June 30 

prior to the adjustment. 

Net transaction accounts of all 

depository institutions increased 7.8 

percent, from $2,200 billion to $2,372 

billion, between June 30, 2016, and June 

30, 2017. Accordingly, the Board is 

amending Regulation D to set the low 

reserve tranche for net transaction 

accounts for 2018 at $122.3 million, an 

increase of $7.2 million from 2017. 

The new low reserve tranche and 

reserve requirement exemption amount 

will be effective for all depository 

institutions for the fourteen-day reserve 

maintenance period beginning 

Thursday, January 18, 2018. For 

depository institutions that report 

deposit data weekly, this maintenance 

period corresponds to the fourteen-day 

computation period that begins 

December 19, 2017. For depository 

institutions that report deposit data 

quarterly, this maintenance period 

corresponds to the seven-day 

computation period that begins 

December 19, 2017. 

II. Deposit Reports 

Section 11(b)(2) of the Federal 

Reserve Act authorizes the Board to 


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