28 CFR - Judicial Administration

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a component of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ or Department), is issuing a final rule to amend its Privacy Act exemption regulations for the system of records titled, “Next Generation Identification (NGI) System,” JUSTICE/FBI-009, last published in full on May 5, 2016. Specifically, the FBI exempts the records maintained in JUSTICE/FBI-009 from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act. The listed exemptions are necessary to avoid interference with the Department's law enforcement and national security functions and responsibilities of the FBI. This document addresses public comments on the proposed rule.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (“OJJDP”) of the Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”) published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2017, a partial Final Rule amending the formula grant program (“Formula Grant Program”) regulation. This technical correction corrects inaccurate citations to sections of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (the “Act”) in the partial Final Rule.

Elsewhere in this Federal Register, the United States Department of Justice (Department or DOJ) has published a new Privacy Act System of Records Notice, JUSTICE/DOJ-018, “DOJ Insider Threat Program Records.” Further, the Department issued a rescindment notice for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) System of Records Notice titled, “FBI Insider Threat Program Records,” JUSTICE/FBI-023. In this document, the DOJ withdraws the notice of proposed rulemaking for the “FBI Insider Threat Program Records” issued in CPCLO Order No. 008-2016, published on September 19, 2016, and proposes to exempt JUSTICE/DOJ-018 from certain provisions of the Privacy Act, in order to avoid interference with efforts to detect, deter, and/or mitigate insider threats. Public comment is invited.

This interim final rule updates and clarifies the procedures for submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests as required under the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (the 2016 Act) which was signed into law by the President on June 30, 2016. This rule makes the procedural changes necessitated by the 2016 Act, including requirements that agencies provide a minimum of 90 days for requesters to file an administrative appeal and that agencies provide dispute resolution services during the FOIA process. The 2016 Act also adds two new elements to agency Annual FOIA Reports. The rule codifies the “foreseeable harm” standard implemented by the 2016 Act. The principal changes that were required to the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia's (“CSOSA”) current regulations are discussed below. Congress mandated that agencies make changes to their regulations within 180 days of the law taking effect. Because the changes are mandated by Congress and are non-controversial, CSOSA is publishing this rule as an interim final rule.

The Attorney General has delegated to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, with certain restrictions, the authority to perform the functions of the “Central Authority” or “Competent Authority” under treaties and executive agreements between the United States and other countries on mutual assistance in criminal matters that designate the Attorney General or the Department of Justice as such authority. The Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division is authorized to re-delegate this authority to the Deputy Assistant Attorneys General and to the Director and Deputy Directors of the Office of International Affairs (OIA). This final rule will expand the scope of persons to whom this authority may be re-delegated to include OIA's Associate Directors.

The Department of Justice is adjusting for inflation the civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by components of the Department, in accordance with the provisions of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, for penalties assessed after February 3, 2017, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015.

On January 17, 2017, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (“OJJDP”) of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”), published a partial final rule to amend portions of the formula grant program (“Formula Grant Program”) regulation to reflect changes in OJJDP policy. That rule is scheduled to become effective February 16, 2017. In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” this action hereby temporarily delays the effective date of the final rule entitled “Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Formula Grant Program” until March 21, 2017 (which is 60 days from January 20, 2017). This temporary delay will allow Department of Justice officials an opportunity to review any potential questions of fact, law and policy raised by this regulation, consistent with the Chief of Staff's memorandum of January 20, 2017.

The Department of Justice is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking to revise its regulation implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as applicable to programs and activities receiving financial assistance from the Department, in order to incorporate amendments to the statute, including the changes in the meaning and interpretation of the applicable definition of disability required by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008; incorporate requirements stemming from judicial decisions; update accessibility standards applicable to new construction and alteration of buildings and facilities; update certain provisions to promote consistency with comparable provisions implementing title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and make other non-substantive clarifying edits, including updating outdated terminology and references that currently exist in 28 CFR part 42, such as changing the word “handicapped” and similar variations of that word to language referencing “individuals with disabilities,” modifying the order of the regulatory provisions to group like provisions together, and adding some headings to make the regulation more user-friendly.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (“OJJDP”) of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”), publishes this partial final rule to amend portions of the formula grant program (“Formula Grant Program”) regulation to reflect changes in OJJDP policy.

This rule amends the Department of Justice's regulations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to incorporate certain changes made to the FOIA by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. In addition, this rule amends certain provisions in the fee section to reflect developments in the case law and to streamline the description of the factors to be considered when making fee waiver determinations.

In this document, the Bureau of Prisons makes a minor technical change to its regulations on contraband and inmate personal property to maintain consistency in language which describes the purpose of the regulations as ensuring the safety, security, or good order of the facility or protection of the public.

This rule revises the Department of Justice's (Department's) regulations implementing a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) concerning unfair immigration-related employment practices. The revisions conform the regulations to the statutory text as amended, simplify and add definitions of statutory terms, update and clarify the procedures for filing and processing charges of discrimination, ensure effective investigations of unfair immigration-related employment practices, reflect developments in nondiscrimination jurisprudence, reflect changes in existing practices ( e.g., electronic filing of charges), reflect the new name of the office within the Department charged with enforcing this statute, and replace outdated references.

The Department of Justice (the “Department”) is requesting public comment on the draft “Release to One, Release to All” policy, which was prepared by the Office of Information Policy (OIP). This draft policy is not final, and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views. The draft policy takes into account lessons learned from the DOJ pilot and all of the issues examined through the Chief FOIA Office Council, including certain exceptions to the policy and two different options for the timing of when documents should be posted online. The Department requests your comments on the entire draft policy. All public comments submitted in response to this notice will be considered when finalizing this document.

This final rule amends the Department of Justice (Department) regulation implementing title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities by public accommodations and commercial facilities, including movie theaters. The rule adds specific requirements addressing the obligations of public accommodations that own, lease, or operate movie theaters to provide effective communication to patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, or blind or have low vision. The rule requires that movie theater auditoriums provide closed movie captioning and audio description when showing a digital movie distributed with such features unless doing so would result in an undue burden or a fundamental alteration. The rule requires movie theaters to have a specified number of captioning devices and audio description devices based on the number of auditoriums in the movie theater that show digital movies. The rule does not impose any specific requirements for movie theater auditoriums that exhibit analog movies exclusively.

This rule amends the regulations for the STOP ( Services•Training•Officers•Prosecutors ) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program (STOP Program) and the general provisions governing Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) programs to comply with statutory changes and reduce repetition of statutory language. Also, this rule implements statutory requirements for nondisclosure of confidential or private information relating to all OVW grant programs.

This final rule amends the Department of Justice (DOJ) organizational regulations to remove authority from United States Attorneys (USAs) to designate any Assistant United States Attorney as Acting United States Attorney. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 governs designations of Acting USAs. The removal of authority from USAs is designed to bring DOJ's organizational regulations in compliance with the Act.

Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a component of the United States Department of Justice (“Department” or “DOJ”), has published a notice of a new Privacy Act system of records, “FBI Insider Threat Program Records (ITPR),” JUSTICE/FBI-023. In this notice of proposed rulemaking, the FBI proposes to exempt this system from certain provisions of the Privacy Act in order to avoid interference with efforts to detect, deter, and/or mitigate insider threats to national security or to the FBI and its personnel, facilities, resources, and activities. For the reasons provided below, the Department proposes to amend its Privacy Act regulations by establishing an exemption for records in this system from certain provisions of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j) and (k). Public comment is invited.

On August 15, 2016, the Department of Justice (Department) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register proposing to revise regulations implementing section 274B of the Immigration and Nationality Act, concerning unfair immigration-related employment practices. The comment period for the NPRM is scheduled to close on September 14, 2016. The Department is extending the comment period by 30 days until October 14, 2016, in order to provide additional time for the public to prepare comments.

The Department of Justice finalizes its implementation of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 26, 2013.

This rule finalizes the Interim Final Rule published on June 15, 2016, which implemented recently-enacted statutory changes governing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 (the “Fund”). After consideration of all of the public comments filed in response to the Interim Final Rule, the Special Master has concluded that no substantive changes to the Interim Final Rule are needed. Accordingly, this Final Rule adopts as final the provisions of the Interim Final Rule, with only two minor technical corrections.

This rulemaking proposes to make the following changes to current regulations implementing the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Act: Revising provisions pertaining to the filing of an application for benefits, revising provisions that define when an individual is a public safety officer, when an officer has sustained a line-of-duty injury, when payment of benefits is prohibited, and when individuals are ineligible for payment; revising provisions pertaining to the admissibility, sufficiency, and evaluation of evidence submitted in PSOB claims; revising provisions concerning the fees that may be charged for representation in PSOB claims, establishing provisions that prescribe the scope of legal review of PSOB claims and the completeness of applications for benefits, and revising provisions pertaining to the definitions of permanent and total disability, payment of benefits, educational assistance, and other matters necessary to implement the aforementioned changes.

The Department of Justice (Department) proposes to revise regulations implementing a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act concerning unfair immigration-related employment practices. The proposed revisions are appropriate to conform the regulations to the statutory text as amended, simplify and add definitions of statutory terms, update and clarify the procedures for filing and processing charges of discrimination, ensure effective investigations of unfair immigration-related employment practices, reflect developments in nondiscrimination jurisprudence, reflect changes in existing practices ( e.g., electronic filing of charges), reflect the new name of the office within the Department charged with enforcing this statute, and replace outdated references.

The Department of Justice (Department) is issuing this final rule to amend its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations in order to incorporate the statutory changes to the ADA set forth in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADA Amendments Act or the Act), which took effect on January 1, 2009. In response to earlier Supreme Court decisions that significantly narrowed the application of the definition of “disability” under the ADA, Congress enacted the ADA Amendments Act to restore the understanding that the definition of “disability” shall be broadly construed and applied without extensive analysis. Congress intended that the primary object of attention in cases brought under the ADA should be whether covered entities have complied with their statutory obligations not to discriminate based on disability. In this final rule, the Department is adding new sections to its title II and title III ADA regulations to set forth the proper meaning and interpretation of the definition of “disability” and to make related changes required by the ADA Amendments Act in other sections of the regulations.

The Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”) proposes to update the implementing regulation for the Formula Grant Program authorized by Title II, Part B, of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (“the Act” or “JJDPA”). The purpose of the Formula Grant Program is to provide formula grant awards to states to support juvenile delinquency prevention programs and to improve their juvenile justice systems. The proposed rule would supersede the existing Formula Grant Program regulations to reflect changes in the 2002 JJDPA reauthorization as well as policy changes to the Formula Grant Program.

On May 9, 2016, the Department of Justice (Department) published a Supplemental Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SANPRM) in the Federal Register addressing the potential application of technical accessibility requirements to the Web sites of title II entities. The comment period is scheduled to close on August 8, 2016. The Department is extending the comment period by 60 days until October 7, 2016, in order to provide additional time for the public to prepare comments.

This rule proposes to make the following changes to current regulations implementing the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Act: Adopting the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program's List of WTC-Related Health Conditions (List), the WTC Health Program's standards for certifying that an injury is covered for treatment under the Program, and related regulatory provisions, establishing payment offset provisions between the PSOB Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and revising the provisions that define when the statutory presumption of line-of-duty death resulting from certain heart attacks, strokes, and vascular ruptures is rebutted. The proposed changes based on the WTC Health Program's List and related provisions would provide a means for claimants to establish that certain public safety officers with chronic, often latent, health conditions sustained a line-of-duty injury under the PSOB Act. The proposed payment offset provisions are intended to implement statutory amendments to the PSOB Act requiring such offset and to facilitate claims processing. Similarly, the proposed rule implementing the statutory presumption associated with certain heart attacks, strokes, and vascular ruptures is intended to amend the current regulation to conform to recent amendments to the PSOB Act and to improve the processing of such claims.

The Office for Victims of Crime (“OVC”) of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (“OJP”), publishes this final rule to implement the victim assistance formula grant program (“Victim Assistance Program”) authorized by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (“VOCA”). VOCA authorizes OVC to provide an annual grant from the Crime Victims Fund to each State and eligible territory for the financial support of services to crime victims by eligible crime victim assistance programs. The rule codifies and updates the existing VOCA Victim Assistance Program Guidelines (“Guidelines”) to reflect changes in OVC policy, needs of the crime victim services field, and VOCA itself.

This rule amends the regulations that govern debt collection at the Department of Justice (Department) to bring the regulations into conformity with government-wide standards, to update or delete obsolete references, and to make other clarifying or technical changes.

This rule amends the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the establishment of the Office for Access to Justice as a distinct component of the Department of Justice. The Office for Access to Justice was created by the Attorney General to address the access-to-justice crisis in the criminal and civil justice systems. The office's mission is to help ensure that the justice system is efficient, fair, and accessible to all, irrespective of an individual's wealth and status. This rule sets forth the Office's organization, mission and functions.

In accordance with the provisions of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the Department of Justice is adjusting for inflation civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by components of the Department.

On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed into law the James Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Reauthorization Act (the “Reauthorized Zadroga Act”). The Act extends the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 which provides compensation to any individual (or a personal representative of a deceased individual) who suffered physical harm or was killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001, or the rescue and recovery efforts during the immediate aftermath of such crashes or the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath of those crashes. Special Master Sheila L. Birnbaum, appointed by the Attorney General to administer the Fund, is issuing this Interim Final Rule to address changes required by the Reauthorized Zadroga Act. Specifically, the statute extends the time period during which eligible claimants may submit claims for compensation until December 18, 2020, increases the Victim Compensation Fund's total funding available to pay claims, creates different categories of claims, directs the Victim Compensation Fund to issue full compensation to eligible claimants and imposes limitations on certain components of future loss calculations.

The Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) proposes changes to its regulations on compassionate release, including changing the title to “Reduction in Sentence in Extraordinary and Compelling Circumstances”; deleting language which indicates that the Bureau will only allow reductions in sentence for circumstances “which could not reasonably have been foreseen by the court at the time of sentencing”; and modifying and adding language to clarify the ineligibility of certain inmates for reductions in sentence and the eligibility of District of Columbia Code felony inmates (D.C. Code felony inmates) for medical and geriatric release.

The Department of Justice (Department or DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is extending the comment period for its proposal to exempt “The Next Generation Identification (NGI) System,” JUSTICE/FBI-009, from certain provisions of the Privacy Act, published in the Federal Register on May 5, 2016 (81 FR 27288). The original comment period is scheduled to expire on June 6, 2016. The Department is now extending the time period for public comments by 30 days. The updated comment period is scheduled to expire on July 6, 2016. This action will allow interested persons additional time to analyze the proposal and prepare their comments.

The Department of Justice is proposing to promulgate regulations establishing the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. These proposed regulations would establish a process for the FBI's implementation of NEPA, Executive Order 11514, Executive Order 12114, and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Department of Justice (Department) regulations addressing the procedural provisions of NEPA. Pursuant to CEQ regulations, the FBI is soliciting comments on the proposed FBI NEPA regulations from members of the interested public.

This rule proposes to amend the regulations for the STOP ( Services—Training—Officers—Prosecutors ) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program (STOP Program) and the general provisions governing Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Programs to comply with statutory changes and reduce repetition of statutory language. Also, this document would implement statutory requirements for nondisclosure of confidential or private information relating to all OVW grant programs.