Overnight Regulation: HUD rules target harassment by landlords

Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from Capitol Hill and beyond. It’s Wednesday evening here in Washington, where we can only imagine Hillary Clinton is breathing a sigh of relief after Vice President Joe Biden announced he will not make a bid for the White House in 2016. Here’s the latest.

 

THE BIG STORY

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed new rules Wednesday to protect renters from being harassed by their landlords.

Rooting out sexual harassment of low-income women is the agency’s primary concern.

{mosads}”A home should be a refuge where every woman and man deserves to live without the threat of violence or harassment,” HUD Secretary Julian Castro said in a statement. “The rule HUD is proposing is designed to better protect victims of harassment by offering greater clarity for how to handle a claim against an abuser.”

The proposed rules define harassment in the context of public assistance and private housing.

The harassment standards would formally protect renters from being harassed based on their race, national origin, religion, sex, family status, or a disability, according to HUD.

The public has 60 days to comment.

 

ON TAP FOR THURSDAY 

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs’ Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management will meet to examine how to improve pay flexibility in the federal workforce. http://1.usa.gov/1NUzu6f

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing to discuss science and implementation concerns with EPA’s 2015 ozone standard. http://1.usa.gov/1MEEgyZ

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to discuss oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. http://1.usa.gov/1hM9Phz

 

TOMORROW’S REGS TODAY

The Obama administration will publish 160 new regulations, proposed rules, notices and other administrative actions in Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register.

–The Coast Guard will propose new chemical regulations for cargo ships.

The ships will face new safe carriage requirements based on the pollution risk of the chemicals they’re carrying. The regs would cover such chemicals as liquid hazardous materials, liquefied gases and compressed gases. The public has 90 days to comment. http://bit.ly/1MTFef0

–The Department of Defense (DOD) will reexamine new cloud computing security requirements for contractors storing military information.

The Defense Acquisition Regulations System announced in August will require federal contractors to report cyber intrusions and network penetrations of unclassified information systems.

The Pentagon already has similar rules to report classified information breaches.

The interim reporting requirements went into effect immediately, but the Defense Department is now extending the comment period to give the public more time to discuss.

The public has until Nov. 20 to comment. http://bit.ly/1GpYQpS

–The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) will propose regulatory relief measures for federal credit unions.

Credit unions would enjoy greater access to bank notes under the proposed changes.

The public has 30 days to comment. http://bit.ly/1MTFdb0

–The Department of Health and Human Services (HUD) will propose new payment methods to states offering low-income health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The payment methods would cover 2017 and 2018.

The public has 30 days to comment. http://bit.ly/1NUsypK

 

NEWS RIGHT NOW 

FCC fines companies for false advertising of prepaid calling cards http://bit.ly/1ZYi1xJ

Poll finds uptick in gun control opposition http://bit.ly/1jUgLdY

Advocates condemn racial disparities in juvenile prisons http://bit.ly/1NoaaCv

Toyota recalls 6.5M vehicles due to power window switch flaw http://bit.ly/1NoalOn

Drone sightings spur legislation to fence them in away from planes – USA Today http://usat.ly/1RWI1nZ

Woman trapped for days after car crash sues General Motors – The AP http://bit.ly/1MEGiPm

What’s in store for federal pay and benefits if Ryan becomes speaker? A likely hit – The Washington Post http://wapo.st/1MC5Wo2

We dump 8 million tons of plastic into the ocean each year. Where does it all go? – Vox http://bit.ly/1vqGvyb

 

BY THE NUMBERS

52: Percent who oppose tighter restrictions on guns.

46: Percent who support tighter restrictions.

(Source: CNN poll).

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We don’t have time to play chicken with these people’s retirements,” — Thomas Nyhan, executive director of Central States Pension Fund.

 

The Department of the Treasury is facing mounting pressure over a proposal to cut retirement benefits for hundreds of thousands of union workers. Hurtling toward insolvency, the Central States Pension Fund is looking to slash benefits by an average of one-third in order to prevent the program from running out of money in the coming years. But the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose members make up the largest chunk of Central States’ more than 400,000 participants, is fighting the benefit reductions. http://bit.ly/1LojzJR

 

We’ll work to stay on top of these and other stories throughout the week, so check The Hill’s Regulation page (http://digital-staging.thehill.com/regulation) early and often for the latest. And send any comments, complaints or regulatory news tips our way, tdevaney@digital-staging.thehill.com or lwheeler@digital-staging.thehill.com. And follow us at @timdevaney and@wheelerlydia.

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