New regs for Tuesday: Defining hearing aids

A new rule from the commission allows anyone to use the unlicensed hearing aids for simultaneous translation between languages as well as previous uses, such as amplifying sounds for the deaf and providing audio commentary for the blind.

With the new rule, the  FCC is also lowering the limit for the devices’ unwanted emissions. The new limits conform to those of the commission’s other unlicensed devices and are designed to decrease the chances that the devices will interfere with some television reception.

In its rule, scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the FCC claims that “that the benefits of expanding service to the public far outweighed any additional costs associated with implementing these changes.”

{mosads}Taxes:

The Internal Revenue Service is issuing regulations to tax indoor tanning, as required by the Affordable Care Act. 

Fish:
The National Marine Fisheries Service is allowing some fishing for northern rockfish in the Bering Sea. 

The service is also adjusting limits for commercial fishing from groundfish vessels. 

Energy:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will prioritize procuring products made out of renewable agriculture, forestry or biological materials, known as biobased products, for eight new categories.

In a change to federal guidelines, the department is adding a rule that when the government and federal contractors purchase aircraft and boat cleaners, automotive care products, metal cleaners, gasoline fuel additives and other items, they should seek out biobased products.

The department’s procurement preference program, known as the BioPreferred program, was created by the 2002 farm bill and is intended to reduce petroleum consumption and increase the use of renewable resources.

In the new rule, the USDA claims that the procurement measures seek “to improve demand for biobased products; to spur development of the industrial base through value-added agricultural processing and manufacturing in rural communities; and to enhance the Nation’s energy security by substituting biobased products for products derived from imported oil and natural gas.”

For a product to qualify as a biobased product, manufacturers must have their goods identified and labeled by the USDA.

Education:

The Education Department is announcing new priorities for the funding of rehabilitation and disability research.

The department also wants to extend some projects on Native American vocational rehabilitation first funded in 2007 and 2008. 

The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities is making technical amendments to regulations on the Institute of Museum and Library to reflect Congress’s reauthorization.