Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Disclosure and Reporting

• Published date: 24 May 2021
• Citation: 86 FR 27797
• Record Number: 2021-10769
• Section: Rules and Regulations
• Court: Farm Credit Administration

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

27797

Vol. 86, No. 98

Monday, May 24, 2021

1

Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100–

233, January 6, 1988).

2

Sections 8.0 to 8.41 of the Act (12 U.S.C. 2279aa

to 2279cc).

FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

12 CFR Part 655

RIN 3052–AD47

Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Corporation Disclosure and Reporting

AGENCY

: Farm Credit Administration.

ACTION

: Direct final rule.

SUMMARY

: The Farm Credit

Administration (FCA or we) issues this

direct final rule adopting administrative

amendments to eliminate requirements

for the Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Corporation (Farmer Mac or the

Corporation) to submit paper copies of

certain reports to the FCA’s Office of

Secondary Market Oversight (OSMO).

Electronic copies of the reports are

sufficient for oversight and examination

purposes.

DATES

: If no significant adverse

comment is received on or before June

23, 2021, this regulation shall become

effective no earlier than the expiration

of 30 days after publication in the

Federal Register during which either or

both Houses of Congress are in session.

We will publish notice of the effective

date in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES

: For accuracy and efficiency

reasons, please submit comments by

email or through the FCA’s website. We

do not accept comments submitted by

facsimile (fax), as faxes are difficult for

us to process in compliance with

section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Please do not submit your comment

multiple times via different methods.

You may submit comments by any of

the following methods:

•Email: Send us an email at reg-

comm@fca.gov.

•FCA Website: http://www.fca.gov.

Click inside the ‘‘I want to. . .’’ field

near the top of the page; select

‘‘comment on a pending regulation’’

from the dropdown menu; and click

‘‘Go.’’ This takes you to an electronic

public comment form.

•Mail: Laurie A. Rea, Director, Office

of Secondary Market Oversight, Farm

Credit Administration, 1501 Farm

Credit Drive, McLean, VA 22102–5090.

You may review copies of comments we

receive on our website at http://

www.fca.gov. Once you are in the

website, click inside the ‘‘I want to

. . .’’ field near the top of the page;

select ‘‘find comments on a pending

regulation’’ from the dropdown menu;

and click ‘‘Go.’’ This page will take you

to the Comment Letters page where you

can select the regulation for which you

would like to read the public comments.

We will show your comments as

submitted, but for technical reasons we

may omit items such as logos and

special characters. Identifying

information you provide, such as phone

numbers and addresses, will be publicly

available. However, we will attempt to

remove email addresses to help reduce

internet spam. You may also review

comments at our office in McLean,

Virginia. Please call us at (703) 883–

4280 or email us at reg-comm@fca.gov

to make an appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

:

Technical Information: Tiffany West,

Assistant to the Director, Office of

Secondary Market Oversight, Farm

Credit Administration, McLean, VA

22102–5090, (703) 883–4280, TTY (703)

883–4056; or

Legal Information: Hazem Isawi,

Senior Attorney, Office of General

Counsel, Farm Credit Administration,

McLean, VA 22102–5090, (703) 883–

4020, TTY (703) 883–4056.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

:

I. Objective

The objective of this direct final rule

is to eliminate the requirement for

Farmer Mac to submit paper copies of

reports to OSMO in most circumstances

by:

•Maintaining the requirement for

submission of electronic reports; and

•Limiting the requirement for

submission of paper copies of reports to

circumstances where it is impossible to

provide an electronic report timely.

II. Discussion

Farmer Mac is a stockholder-owned,

federally chartered instrumentality that

is an institution of the Farm Credit

System (System) and a Government-

sponsored enterprise (GSE). The

Corporation was established and

chartered by the Agricultural Credit Act

of 1987 (1987 Act)

1

to create a

secondary market for agricultural real

estate mortgage loans, rural housing

mortgage loans, rural utility cooperative

loans, and the guaranteed portions of

USDA-guaranteed farm and rural

development loans. Title VIII of the

Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended

(Act),

2

governs the Corporation.

Existing FCA regulations require

Farmer Mac to file both one paper copy

and one electronic copy of certain

reports with the FCA. There are three

instances of requirements of paper copy

submissions:

•Section 655.10(c) requires the

Corporation to provide FCA with one

paper and one electronic copy of every

signed report that is distributed to its

shareholders unless that report is the

same as that filed with the Securities

and Exchange Commission (SEC). If the

report is the same as that filed with the

SEC, the Corporation may instead

provide the signed reports to us only in

electronic form and simultaneous with

filing the report with the SEC.

•Section 655.15(a) requires the

Corporation to provide FCA one paper

and one electronic copy of every interim

report, notice, and proxy statement filed

with the SEC.

•Section 655.21(a) requires the

Corporation to provide FCA one paper

and one electronic copy of every filing

made with the U.S. Treasury, the SEC,

or New York Stock Exchange (NYSE),

including financial statements and

related schedules, exhibits, and other

documents that are part of the filing.

Additionally, § 655.21(b) requires that

Farmer Mac send us, within 3 business

days and according to the instructions

provided by us, copies of all substantive

correspondence between the

Corporation and the U.S. Treasury, the

SEC, or NYSE that are directed at the

activities of the Corporation. However,

it does not specify how the copies are

to be sent.

Electronic copies of the required

reports specified above are sufficient to

allow for oversight and examination of

the Corporation. The only circumstance

where a paper copy would be necessary

is if it is impossible to provide an

electronic copy. This includes events

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27798

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 98 / Monday, May 24, 2021 / Rules and Regulations

3

Recommendation 95–4, referencing the

Administrative Procedure Act ‘‘good cause’’

exemption at 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), adopted June 15,

1995.

such as, but not limited to, security

breaches, power outages, and the

inability to access electronic portals.

III. Direct Final Rule

We are eliminating the requirements

for paper copy submissions in

§ 655.10(c), §655.15(a), and § 655.21(a),

and clarifying that submissions required

under § 655.21(b) should be done

electronically, by a direct final

rulemaking. The Administrative

Conference of the United States

recommends direct final rulemaking for

Federal agencies to enact

noncontroversial regulations on an

expedited basis, without the usual

notice and comment period.

3

This

process enables us to reduce the time

and resources we need to develop,

review, and publish a final rule while

still affording the public an adequate

opportunity to comment or object to the

rule.

In a direct final rulemaking, we notify

the public that the rule will become

final on a specified date unless we

receive a significant adverse comment

during the comment period. A

significant adverse comment is one

where the commenter explains why the

rule would be inappropriate (including

challenges to its underlying premise or

approach), ineffective, or unacceptable

without a change. In general, a

significant adverse comment would

raise an issue serious enough to warrant

a substantive response from the FCA in

a notice-and-comment proceeding.

We believe that a direct final

rulemaking is the appropriate method

for amending § 655.10(c), §655.15(a),

and § 655.21(a) and (b) because the

changes are administrative in nature

and do not substantively alter the rights

or responsibilities of any party. We do

not anticipate there will be significant

adverse comments. If, however, we

receive a significant adverse comment

during the comment period, we will

publish a notice of withdrawal of the

relevant provisions of this rule that will

also indicate how further rulemaking

will proceed. If we receive no

significant adverse comments, we will

publish notice of the effective date of

the rule following the required

congressional waiting period under

section 5.17(c)(1) of the Act.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis

and Major Rule Conclusion

Pursuant to section 605(b) of the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601

et seq.), FCA hereby certifies the final

rule will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities. The

Corporation has assets and annual

income over the amounts that would

qualify it as a small entity. Therefore,

the Corporation is not considered a

‘‘small entity’’ as defined in the

Regulatory Flexibility Act.

Under the provisions of the

Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801

et seq.), the Office of Management and

Budget’s Office of Information and

Regulatory Affairs has determined that

this direct final rule is not a ‘‘major

rule,’’ as the term is defined at 5 U.S.C.

804(2).

List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 655

Accounting; Agriculture; Banks,

banking; Conflicts of interest; Reporting

and recordkeeping requirements; Rural

areas.

For the reasons stated in the

preamble, part 655 of chapter VI, title 12

of the Code of Federal Regulations is

amended as follows:

PART 655—FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL

MORTGAGE CORPORATION

DISCLOSURE AND REPORTING

REQUIREMENTS

■1. The authority citation for part 655

continues to read as follows:

Authority: Sec. 5.9, 8.3, 8.11, and 8.12 of

Pub. L. 92–181, 85 Stat. 583 (12 U.S.C. 2243,

2279aa–3, 2279aa–11, 2279aa–12).

■2. Section 655.10 is amended by

revising paragraph (c) introductory text

to read as follows:

§ 655.10 Reports of condition.

* * * * *

(c) Distribution. The Corporation must

distribute the signed annual report of

condition to its shareholders within 120

days of its fiscal year-end. Within 5 days

of signing, the Corporation must provide

to us an electronic copy of every signed

report that is distributed to its

shareholders. If it is impossible to

provide an electronic copy, a paper

copy must be submitted within the

required time frame and an electronic

copy as soon as possible after that.

* * * * *

■3. Section 655.15 is amended by

revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:

§ 655.15 Interim reports, notices, and

proxy statements.

(a) The Corporation must provide to

us an electronic copy of every interim

report, notice, and proxy statement filed

with the SEC within 1 business day of

filing the item with the SEC, including

all papers and documents that are a part

of the report, notice, or statement. If it

is impossible to provide an electronic

copy, a paper copy must be submitted

within the required time frame and an

electronic copy as soon as possible after

that.

* * * * *

■4. Section 655.21 is amended by

revising paragraphs (a) and (b) to read

as follows:

§ 655.21 Filings and communications with

the U.S. Treasury, the SEC, and NYSE.

(a) The Corporation must send us an

electronic copy of every filing made

with U.S. Treasury, the SEC, or NYSE,

including financial statements and

related schedules, exhibits, and other

documents that are a part of the filing.

Such items must be filed with us no

later than 1 business day after the U.S.

Treasury, SEC, or NYSE filing. For those

filings with the NYSE that duplicate

ones made to the SEC, the Corporation

may send only the SEC filing to us. If

the filing is one addressed in subpart B

of this part, no action under this

paragraph is required. If it is impossible

to provide an electronic copy, a paper

copy must be submitted within the

required time frame and an electronic

copy as soon as possible after that.

(b) The Corporation must send us,

within 3 business days and according to

instructions provided by us, electronic

copies of all substantive correspondence

between the Corporation and the U.S.

Treasury, the SEC, or NYSE that are

directed at the activities of the

Corporation.

* * * * *

Dated: May 17, 2021.

Dale Aultman,

Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board.

[FR Doc. 2021–10769 Filed 5–21–21; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6705–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 71

[Docket No. FAA–2020–0868; Airspace

Docket No. 20–AAL–26]

RIN 2120–AA66

Amendment to Alaskan VOR Federal

Airway V–319, United States Area

Navigation (RNAV) Routes, T–219 and

T–269, and Revocation of Federal

Colored Airway R–50; Alaska

AGENCY

: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION

: Final rule.

SUMMARY

: This action removes Colored

Federal airway, R–50, and amends

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