[No title available]

Part VIII

Department of Housing and Urban Development

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Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD)

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Subtitles A and B

[Docket No. FR-5292-N-01]

Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

AGENCY: Department of Housing and Urban Development.

ACTION: Semiannual regulatory agenda.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 4(b) of Executive Order 12866

``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' as amended, HUD is publishing its

agenda of regulations already issued or that are expected to be issued

during the next several months. The agenda also includes rules

currently in effect that are under review and describes those

regulations that may affect small entities, as required by section 602

of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The purpose of publication of the

agenda is to encourage more effective public participation in the

regulatory process by providing the public with advance information

about pending regulatory activities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aaron Santa Anna, Assistant General

Counsel for Regulations, Office of General Counsel, Department of

Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 10276,

Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone (202) 708-3055. (This is not a

toll-free number.) A telecommunications device for hearing- and speech-

impaired individuals (TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339 (Federal

Information Relay Service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58

FR 51735), as amended, requires each department or agency to

prepare semiannually an agenda of: (1) Regulations that the

department or agency has issued or expects to issue and (2) rules

currently in effect that are under departmental or agency review.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 to 612) requires each

department or agency to publish semiannually a regulatory agenda of

rules expected to be proposed or promulgated that are likely to

have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of

``small entities,'' meaning small businesses, small organizations,

or small governmental jurisdictions. Executive Order 12866 and the

Regulatory Flexibility Act permit incorporation of the agenda

required by these two authorities with any other prescribed agenda.

HUD's regulatory agenda combines the information required by

Executive Order 12866 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act. In

addition, HUD's regulatory agenda contains certain information not

required by either the Executive order or by the Regulatory

Flexibility Act that the Department considers useful, both to

better inform the public and to enhance the Department's own

inventory control over its body of regulations. As was the case

with the fall 2008 edition of HUD's regulatory agenda, the Internet

will be the basic means for disseminating the spring 2009 Unified

Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda will be available online at

www.reginfo.gov, in a format that offers users a greatly enhanced

ability to obtain information from the Agenda database. Because

publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory

flexibility agendas by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

602), the Department's published agenda entries include only:

(1) Rules that are in the Department's regulatory flexibility

agenda, in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, because

they are likely to have a significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities; and

(2) Rules that the Department has identified for periodic

review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

Publication of these entries is limited to fields that contain

information required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act's Agenda

requirements. Additional information on these entries is available

in the Unified Agenda published online at www.reginfo.gov.

The Department is subject to certain rulemaking requirements

set forth in the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act

(42 U.S.C. 3531 et seq.). Section 7(o) of the Department of Housing

and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(o)) requires that the

Secretary transmit to the congressional committees having

jurisdictional oversight of HUD (the Senate Committee on Banking,

Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the House Committee on Financial

Services), a semiannual agenda of all rules or regulations that are

under development or review by the Department. A rule appearing on

the agenda cannot be published for comment before or during the

first 15 calendar days after transmittal of the agenda. Section

7(o) provides that if, within that period, either committee

notifies the Secretary that it intends to review any rule or

regulation that appears on the agenda, the Secretary must submit to

both committees a copy of the rule or regulation, in the form that

it is intended to be proposed, at least 15 calendar days before it

is to be published for comment. The semiannual agenda posted on

www.reginfo.gov is the agenda transmitted to the committees in

compliance with the above requirements.

HUD has attempted to list in this agenda all regulations and

regulatory reviews pending at the time of publication, except for

minor and routine or repetitive actions, but some may have been

inadvertently omitted, or may have arisen too late to be included

in the published agenda. There is no legal significance to the

omission of an item from this agenda. Also, where a date is

provided for the next rulemaking action, the date is an estimate

and is not a commitment to act on or by the date shown.

In some cases, HUD has withdrawn rules that were placed on

previous agendas for which there has been no publication activity.

Withdrawal of a rule does not necessarily mean that HUD will not

proceed with the rulemaking. Withdrawal allows HUD to assess the

subject matter further and determine whether rulemaking in that

area is appropriate. Following such an assessment, the Department

may determine that certain rules listed as withdrawn under this

agenda are appropriate. If that determination is made, such rules

will be included in a succeeding semiannual agenda.

In addition, for a few rules that have been published as

proposed or interim rules and which, therefore, require further

rulemaking, HUD has identified the timing of the next action stage

as ``undetermined.'' These are rules that are still under review by

HUD for which a determination and timing of the next action stage

have not yet been made.

Since the purpose of publication of the agenda is to encourage

more effective public participation in the

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regulatory process by providing the public with early information

about the Department's future regulatory actions, HUD invites all

interested members of the public to comment on the rules listed in

the agenda.

Dated: March 3, 2009.

Linda M. Cruciani,

Deputy General Counsel for Operations.

Office of Housing--Completed Actions

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Regulation

Sequence Title Identifier

Number Number

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226 24 CFR 3500 Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA): Simplification and 2502-AI61

Improvement of the Process of Obtaining Home Mortgages and Reducing Consumer Costs (FR-

5180).................................................................................

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_______________________________________________________________________

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Completed Actions

Office of Housing (OH)

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226. REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT (RESPA): SIMPLIFICATION AND

IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROCESS OF OBTAINING HOME MORTGAGES AND REDUCING

CONSUMER COSTS (FR-5180)

Legal Authority: 12 USC 2601 et seq; 42 USC 3535(d)

Abstract: This final rule amends HUD's regulations to further RESPA's

purposes by requiring more timely and effective disclosures related to

mortgage settlement costs for federally related mortgage loans to

consumers. The changes made by this final rule are designed to protect

consumers from unnecessarily high settlement costs by taking steps to:

(1) Improve and standardize the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) form, to make

it easier to use for shopping among settlement providers; (2) ensure

that page one of the GFE provides a clear summary of the loan terms and

total settlement charges, so that borrowers will be able to use the GFE

to identify a particular loan product and then comparison-shop among

loan originators; (3) provide more accurate estimates of costs of

settlement services shown on the GFE; (4) improve disclosure of yield

spread premiums, to help borrowers understand how they can affect their

settlement charges; (5) facilitate comparison of the GFE and the HUD-1/

HUD-1A Settlement Statements; (6) ensure that at settlement, borrowers

are aware of final costs as they relate to the particular mortgage loan

and settlement transaction; (7) clarify HUD-1 instructions; (8) clarify

HUD's current regulations concerning discounts; and (9) expressly state

when RESPA permits certain pricing mechanisms that benefit consumers,

including volume-based discounts. The final rule follows a March 14,

2008, proposed rule and makes changes in response to public comment and

further consideration of certain issues by HUD.

Completed:

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Reason Date FR Cite

________________________________________________________________________

Final Action 11/17/08 73 FR 68204

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes

Agency Contact: Ivy Jackson

Phone: 202 708-0502

RIN: 2502-AI61

[FR Doc. E9-10275 Filed 05-08-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-67-S