Reg Watch

By The Hill Staff - 12/01/11 08:57 PM ET

• The Federal Communications Commission’s comment period is ending on Dec. 5 for “various proposals designed to assist consumers in detecting and preventing the placement of unauthorized charges on their telephone bills.” The “truth-in-billing and billing format” rule would require “wireline and wireless … telephone companies to notify subscribers on all telephone bills and on their websites that subscribers may file complaints with the commission” about unauthorized charges.

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission “is proposing a safety standard for play yards,” following the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The stricter standard, which will focus on “durable infant or toddler products,” is intended to “reduce the risk of injury.” The rule is open for comment through Dec. 5.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seeking comments on its amended “list of biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety” before it republishes it. The rule would specifically “include the reorganization of the select agent list into a tiered list, the establishment of appropriate practices to ensure reliability of personnel with access to Tier 1 biological select agents and toxins (BSAT) at registered facilities, and the establishment of appropriate practices for physical and cybersecurity facilities that possess Tier 1 BSAT,” according to the National Select Agent Registry site. The rule is open for comments through Dec. 2.

• The Small Business Administration has proposed a rule that would “provide for a ‘covered contract’ for certain subcontractors.” These covered contracts would address concerns that prime contractors were using small businesses to receive awards by “making it appear that the prime contractor awarded a much higher percentage of its subcontracts to small-business concerns than the prime contractors actually awarded.” The amended regulations would more clearly define subcontractors and place the responsibility for “monitoring small-business subcontracting plan performance” with the contracting officers. The contracts “for which a small-business subcontracting plan is required, currently valued above $1.5 million for construction and $650,000 for all other contracts,” would be “covered.” The rule is open for comment through Dec. 5.