Appendix H. 2018 Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation Adjustment (01/29/18)

• Author: Charles M. Miller/Daniel Brown/Marcine Anne Seid
• Profession: Founding partner of the Miller Law Offices, Studio City, California/Partner in Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP's Washington, D.C./Principal attorney of the Seid Law Group, Palo Alto, California
• Pages: 394-398

394 Appendix H

3944

Federal Register/ Vol. 83, No. 19/ Monday, January 29, 2018/ Rules and Regulations

(h) Additional Information

Appendix B of Sikorsky S–330 Model 269D

Helicopter Basic Handbook of Maintenance

Instructions, No. CSP–D–2, dated February 1,

1993, and revised October 15, 2014;

Appendix B of Sikorsky S–330 Model 269D

Config. ‘‘A’’ Helicopter Basic Handbook of

Maintenance Instructions, No. CSP–D–9,

dated July 20, 2001, and revised October 15,

2014; and Sikorsky 269D Helicopter Alert

Service Bulletin DB–052, Basic Issue, dated

January 16, 2014, which are not incorporated

by reference, contain additional information

about the subject of this AD. For service

information identified in this AD, contact

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Customer

Service Engineering, 124 Quarry Road,

Trumbull, CT 06611; telephone 1–800–

Winged–S or 203–416–4299; email wcs_cust_

service_eng.gr-sik@lmco.com. You may

review a copy of the service information at

the FAA, Office of the Regional Counsel,

Southwest Region, 10101 Hillwood Pkwy,

Room 6N–321, Fort Worth, TX 76177.

(i) Subject

Joint Aircraft Service Component (JASC)

Code: 6310, Engine/Transmission Coupling.

Issued in Fort Worth, Texas, on January 17,

2018.

Lance T. Gant,

Director, Compliance & Airworthiness

Division, Aircraft Certification Service.

[FR Doc. 2018–01572 Filed 1–26–18; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

28 CFR Part 85

[Docket No. OAG 159; AG Order No. 4093–

2018]

Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation

Adjustment

AGENCY

: Department of Justice.

ACTION

: Final rule.

SUMMARY

: 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 January 29,

2018, with respect to violations

occurring after November 2, 2015.

DATES

: This rule is effective January 29,

2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

:

Robert Hinchman, Senior Counsel,

Office of Legal Policy, U.S. Department

of Justice, Room 4252 RFK Building,

950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20530, telephone (202)

514–8059 (not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

:

I. Statutory Process for Implementing

Annual Inflation Adjustments

Section 701 of the Bipartisan Budget

Act of 2015, Public Law 114–74 (Nov.

2, 2015) (‘‘BBA’’), 28 U.S.C. 2461 note,

substantially revised the prior

provisions of the Federal Civil Monetary

Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of

1990, Public Law 101–410 (the

‘‘Inflation Adjustment Act’’), and

substituted a different statutory formula

for calculating inflation adjustments on

an annual basis.

In accordance with the provisions of

the BBA, on June 30, 2016 (81 FR

42491), the Department of Justice

published an interim rule to adjust for

inflation the civil monetary penalties

assessed or enforced by components of

the Department after August 1, 2016,

with respect to violations occurring after

November 2, 2015, the date of

enactment of the BBA. Readers may

refer to the Supplementary Information

(also known as the preamble) of the

Department’s 2016 interim rule for

additional background information

regarding the statutory authority for

adjustments of civil monetary penalty

amounts to take account of inflation and

the Department’s past implementation

of inflation adjustments.

The BBA also provides for agencies to

adjust their civil penalties on January 15

of each year to account for inflation

during the preceding year, rounded to

the nearest dollar. Accordingly, on

February 3, 2017 (82 FR 9131), the

Department published a final rule to

adjust for inflation the civil monetary

penalties assessed or enforced by

components of the Department after that

date, with respect to violations

occurring after November 2, 2015.

II. Inflation Adjustments Made by This

Rule

As required, the Department is

publishing this final rule to adjust the

civil penalties that were most recently

adjusted as of February 3, 2017. Under

the statutory formula, the adjustments

made by this rule are based on the

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer

Price Index for October 2017. The OMB

Memorandum for the Heads of

Executive Departments and Agencies

M–18–03 (Dec. 15, 2017), https://

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/

uploads/2017/11/M-18-03.pdf (last

visited Jan. 1, 2018), instructs that the

applicable inflation factor for this

adjustment is 1.02041. Accordingly, this

rule adjusts the civil penalty amounts in

28 CFR 85.5 by applying this inflation

factor mechanically to each of the civil

penalty amounts listed (rounded to the

nearest dollar).

Example:

•In 2016, the Program Fraud Civil

Remedies Act penalty was increased to

$10,781 in accordance with the

adjustment requirements of the BBA.

•For 2017, where the applicable

inflation factor was 1.01636, the existing

penalty of $10,781 was multiplied by

1.01636 and revised to $10,957

(rounded to the nearest dollar).

•For this final rule in 2018, where

the applicable inflation factor is

1.02041, the existing penalty of $10,957

is multiplied by 1.02041 and revised to

$11,181 (rounded to the nearest dollar).

This rule adjusts for inflation civil

monetary penalties within the

jurisdiction of the Department of Justice

for purposes of the Inflation Adjustment

Act, as amended. Other agencies are

responsible for the inflation adjustments

of certain other civil monetary penalties

that the Department’s litigating

components bring suit to collect. The

reader should consult the regulations of

those other agencies for inflation

adjustments to those penalties.

III. Effective Date of Adjusted Civil

Penalty Amounts

Under this rule, the adjusted civil

penalty amounts are applicable only to

civil penalties assessed after January 29,

2018, with respect to violations

occurring after November 2, 2015, the

date of enactment of the BBA.

The penalty amounts set forth in the

existing table in 28 CFR 85.5 are

applicable to civil penalties assessed

after August 1, 2016, and on or before

the effective date of this rule, with

respect to violations occurring after

November 2, 2015. Civil penalties for

violations occurring on or before

November 2, 2015, and assessments

made on or before August 1, 2016, will

continue to be subject to the civil

monetary penalty amounts set forth in

the Department’s regulations in 28 CFR

parts 20, 22, 36, 68, 71, 76, and 85 as

such regulations were in effect prior to

August 1, 2016 (or as set forth by statute

if the amount had not yet been adjusted

by regulation prior to August 1, 2016).

Statutory and Regulatory Analyses

Administrative Procedure Act

The BBA provides that, for each

annual adjustment made after the initial

adjustments of civil penalties in 2016,

the head of an agency shall adjust the

civil monetary penalties each year

notwithstanding 5 U.S.C. 553.

Accordingly, this rule is being issued as

a final rule without prior notice and

public comment, and without a delayed

effective date.

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