64946 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 242 / Monday, December 17, 2001 / Proposed Rules

(h) Staff are well trained in the

handling and restraint of prisoners,

including the proper use of firearms and

other restraint devices, and have

received specialized training in the area

of sexual harassment.

§ 97.22 No pre-emption of federal, State, or

local laws or regulations.

The regulations in this part

implement the Act and do not pre-empt

any applicable federal, State, or local

law that may impose additional

obligations on private prisoner transport

companies or otherwise regulate the

transportation of violent prisoners. All

federal laws and regulations governing

interstate commerce (e.g., federal laws

regulating the possession of weapons

and Federal Aviation Administration

rules and regulations governing travel

on commercial aircraft) will continue to

apply to private prisoner transport

companies. The regulations in this part

in no way pre-empt, displace, or affect

the authority of States, local

governments, or other federal agencies

to address these issues.

§ 97.24 No civil defense created.

The regulations in this part on private

prisoner transport companies are not

intended to create a defense to any civil

action, whether initiated by a unit of

government or any other party.

Compliance with the regulations in this

part is not intended to and does not

establish a defense against an allegation

of negligence or breach of contract.

Regardless of whether a contractual

agreement establishes minimum

precautions, the companies affected by

the regulations in this part will remain

subject to the standards of care that are

imposed by constitutional, statutory and

common law upon their activities (or

other activities of a similarly hazardous

nature).

§ 97.30 Enforcement.

Any person who is found in violation

of the regulations in this part will:

(a) Be liable to the United States for

a civil penalty in an amount not to

exceed $10,000 for each violation;

(b) Be liable to the United States for

the costs of prosecution; and

(c) Make restitution to any entity of

the United States, of a State, or of an

inferior political subdivision of a State,

that expends funds for the purpose of

apprehending any violent prisoner who

escapes from a prisoner transport

company as the result, in whole or in

part, of a violation of the regulations in

this part promulgated pursuant to the

Act.

Dated: December 11, 2001.

John Ashcroft,

Attorney General.

[FR Doc. 01–30937 Filed 12–14–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4401–19–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health

Administration

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, 1926 and

1928

[Docket Number H–122A]

RIN 1218–AB37

Indoor Air Quality

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Withdrawal of proposal.

SUMMARY: OSHA is withdrawing its

Indoor Air Quality proposal and

terminating the rulemaking proceeding.

In the years since the proposal was

issued, a great many state and local

governments and private employers

have taken action to curtail smoking in

public areas and in workplaces. In

addition, the portion of the proposal not

related to environmental tobacco smoke

(ETS) received little attention during the

rulemaking proceedings, and much of

that consisted of commenters calling

into question significant portions of the

proposal. As a result, record evidence

supporting the non-ETS portion of the

proposal is sparse.

Withdrawal of this proposal will also

allow the Agency to devote its resources

to other projects. The Agency’s current

regulatory priorities, as set forth in the

Regulatory Agenda, include a number of

important occupational safety and

health standards. This document does

not preclude any agency action that

OSHA may find to be appropriate in the

future.

DATES: The withdrawal is made on

December 17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bonnie Friedman, Director, OSHA

Public Affairs Office, Occupational

Safety and Health Administration,

Room N–3647, U.S. Department of

Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20210; Telephone (202)

693–1999; Fax (202) 693–1634.

Authority and Signature

This document was prepared under

the direction of John L. Henshaw,

Assistant Secretary of Labor for

Occupational Safety and Health, U.S.

Department of Labor. It is issued

pursuant to section 6(b) of the

Occupational Safety and Health Act of

1970 (84 Stat. 1594, 29 U.S.C. 655) and

29 C.F.R. 1911.18.

Signed at Washington, DC this 12th of

December, 2001.

John L. Henshaw,

Assistant Secretary of Labor.

[FR Doc. 01–31165 Filed 12–14–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–26–M

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 51

[CC Docket No. 01–318, CC Docket No. 98–

56, CC Docket No. 98–157, CC Docket No.

96–98, CC Docket No. 98–141; DA 01–2859]

Performance Measurements and

Standards for Unbundled Network

Elements and Interconnection

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of

comment period.

SUMMARY: This document grants a

motion requesting an extension of the

comment period established in the

above-captioned docket. The order

grants a 21-day extension to both the

comment and reply comment deadlines.

DATES: Comments are due January 22,

2002 and Reply Comments are due

February 12, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cathy Carpino, Attorney Advisor, Policy

and Program Planning Division,

Common Carrier Bureau, (202) 418–

1580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. On November 19, 2001, the

Commission released a Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking (66 FR 59759

(November 30, 2001)) establishing the

pleading cycle for comments and reply

comments in the above-captioned

docket. The deadline for comments was

established as December 31, 2001, and

January 22, 2002 for reply comments.

2. On December 3, 2001, the United

States Telecom Association (USTA)

filed a Motion for Extension of Time to

extend the date for comments and reply

comments by 30 days. According to

USTA, it seeks this extension to permit

its membership the opportunity ‘‘to

undertake the dialogue necessary to

pursue an industry wide solution’’ to

unbundled network element (UNE)

performance standards in response to

the UNE Measurements and Standards

Notice. USTA argues that the current

comment schedule, which, it notes, falls

within the upcoming holiday season,

would not provide USTA’s members an

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 242 / Monday, December 17, 2001 / Proposed Rules 64947

adequate opportunity to consider the

issues raised in this proceeding and that

an extension would not prejudice the

interests of other parties.

3. On December 4, 2001, BellSouth

Corporation (BellSouth) filed comments

in support of USTA’s extension request,

noting that during this holiday season,

many of BellSouth’s personnel who are

necessary to address the issues raised in

this proceeding are often unavailable.

BellSouth argues that affording the

parties additional time to prepare

comments will facilitate the

development of a more complete record

that will, in turn, enable the

Commission to conclude this

proceeding in a reasonable and timely

manner. On December 5, 2001, the

Competitive Telecommunications

Association (CompTel) filed similar

comments in support of the USTA

Motion. Like BellSouth, CompTel

contends that a modest extension of the

comment period would permit

interested parties to provide more

substantive and complete comments on

the complex issues raised in the UNE

Measurements and Standards Notice.

CompTel argues that the subject matter

about which the Commission requested

comment will require a great deal of

inter-company coordination between

operations, engineering, provisioning

and policy experts to provide the

Commission with the most useful

information. CompTel notes that the

upcoming holiday season will only

exacerbate an undertaking that will

already be complicated by the

dispersion of expertise within the

organizations of both competitive and

incumbent carriers.

4. It is the policy of the Commission

that extensions of time are not routinely

granted. In this instance, however, the

Bureau finds that USTA, BellSouth, and

CompTel have shown good cause for a

limited extension of the deadline for

filing comments and reply comments in

this proceeding. Because of the

complexity and the sheer number of

issues presented in the UNE

Measurements and Standards Notice,

the Commission’s desire to obtain a

complete record with input from both

carriers and state public utility

commissions, and the impending

holiday season, a 21-day extension is

granted for both comments and reply

comments from the dates those

comments were due initially.

5. Accordingly, pursuant to authority

found in section 4(i) of the

Communications Act of 1934, as

amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), and sections

0.91, 0.291 and 1.46 of the

Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 0.91, 0.291,

1.46, USTA’s Motion for Extension of

Time is granted to the extent described

herein to establish a new comments

deadline of January 22, 2002 and reply

comments deadline of February 12,

2002.

Federal Communications Commission.

Michelle M. Carey,

Chief, Policy and Program Planning Division.

[FR Doc. 01–30984 Filed 12–14–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P