[Federal Register: January 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 19)]
[Rules and Regulations]               
[Page 4204-4205]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30ja07-7]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment Standards Administration

20 CFR Part 725

RIN 1215-AB60

 
Regulations Implementing the Black Lung Benefits Act of 1969, as 
Amended

AGENCY: Employment Standards Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule eliminates the procedural requirement that the 
Department's administrative law judges include the parties' names in 
decisions and orders issued in Black Lung Benefits Act claims. The 
Department is revising the rule to give the Office of Administrative 
Law Judges more flexibility in captioning these decisions. This will 
allow the Department the flexibility to limit the amount of personal 
information about black lung claimants that is included in published 
final decisions.

DATES: Effective January 30, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James L. DeMarce, Director, Division 
of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation, Office of Workers' Compensation 
Programs, Employment Standards Administration, 202-693-0046.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The current version of Sec.  725.477(b) has 
been in effect since 1978. The regulation requires the Department of 
Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges to include, among other 
things, the ``names of the parties'' in decisions and orders issued 
under the Black Lung Benefits Act, as amended, 30 U.S.C. 901-944. Coal 
miners or their survivors who have filed claims for benefits are 
parties to the claim; thus, their names are included in the decision 
and order. Given the nature of black lung benefits claims, the decision 
and order frequently contains a variety of personal information about 
the miner and his or her survivors and dependents. In virtually every 
case, this information includes detailed medical assessments of the 
miner's physical condition, including the miner's medical history, 
physical examination and objective test findings, medical treatment 
records, and hospitalization records. In certain cases, a miner's or 
survivor's financial records and the names, birthdates, and medical 
histories of dependents may also be disclosed.
    For many years, publication of these decisions was not widespread. 
Although available for public inspection through the Office of 
Administrative Law Judges, only a small percentage of decisions were 
published in commercial legal reporters, such as the Black Lung 
Reporter. But beginning in November 1996, Congress required agencies to 
publish final adjudicatory decisions on the Internet (or in other 
electronic form). See 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2). Accordingly, the Office of 
Administrative Law Judges now posts all final decisions on the 
Department of Labor's Web site. As a result, these decisions are now 
readily accessible to the public. By removing from Sec.  725.477(b) the 
requirement that parties' names be included in decisions, the revised 
rule affords the Office of Administrative Law Judges the flexibility to 
adopt procedures, as it deems necessary, that both ensure public access 
to its decisions and eliminate the link between individual claimants 
and their medical and financial information necessarily disclosed in 
those decisions.
    Finally, the revision to Sec.  725.477(b) conforms the Black Lung 
Benefits Act regulations to the rules governing decisions issued by the 
Office of Administrative Law Judges under the Longshore and Harbor 
Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. 901 et seq., as well as decisions 
issued by the Benefits Review Board and the Employees' Compensation 
Appeals Board, two other Department of Labor adjudicatory bodies. 
Neither the Longshore Act regulations nor the regulations governing 
decisions issued by the two Boards require that the parties' names be 
included in the decisions rendered. See 20 CFR 501.6 (Employees' 
Compensation Appeals Board); 20 CFR 702.348 (Longshore Act); 20 CFR 
802.404 (Benefits Review Board).

Rulemaking Analyses

Administrative Procedure Act

    Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act exempts ``rules of 
agency organization, procedure, or practice.'' from proposed rulemaking 
(i.e., notice-and-comment rulemaking). 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(A). The 
Department's revision to Sec.  725.477(b) pertains solely to the 
Department's formatting of decisions and orders and makes no change to 
a substantive standard. Accordingly, the Department has determined that 
this revision need not be published as a proposed rule under 5 U.S.C. 
553(b). For the same reason, the Department has determined that there 
is good cause, within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to make the 
revision effective upon publication.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Because the Department has concluded that this action is not 
subject to the Administrative Procedure Act's proposed rulemaking 
requirements, it is not subject to the regulatory flexibility 
provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act(5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    This action is not subject to sections 202 or 205 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act (UMRA, Pub. L. 104-4) because the Department has 
determined that the revision is not subject to the Administrative 
Procedure Act's proposed rulemaking requirements. In addition, this 
action does not significantly or uniquely affect small governments or 
impose a significant intergovernmental mandate as described in sections 
203 and 204 of UMRA.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This action does not impose an information collection burden under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Executive Order 12866

    This action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and is 
therefore not subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget 
under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993)).

[[Page 4205]]

Executive Order 13132

    This action will not have substantial direct effect on the States, 
on the relationship between the national government and the States, or 
on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various 
levels of government, as described in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 
43255 (Aug. 10, 1999)).

List of Subjects in 20 CFR Part 725

    Administrative practice and procedure, Black lung benefits, Claims, 
Health care, Lung diseases, Miners, Mines, Workers' compensation.


0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 20 CFR Part 725 is amended 
as set forth below:

PART 725--CLAIMS FOR BENEFITS UNDER PART C OF TITLE IV OF THE 
FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT, AS AMENDED

0
1. The authority citation for part 725 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301, Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950, 15 
FR 3174, 30 U.S.C. 901 et seq., 921, 932, 936; 33 U.S.C. 901 et 
seq., 42 U.S.C. 405, Secretary's Order 7-87, 52 FR 48466, Employment 
Standards Order No. 90-02.


0
2. Amend Sec.  725.477(b) by revising the first sentence to read as 
follows:


Sec.  725.477  Form and contents of decision and order.

* * * * *
    (b) A decision and order shall contain a statement of the basis of 
the order, findings of fact, conclusions of law, and an award, 
rejection or other appropriate paragraph containing the action of the 
administrative law judge, his or her signature and the date of issuance 
* * *.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 25th day of January, 2007.
Victoria A. Lipnic,
Assistant Secretary for Employment Standards Administration.
Shelby Hallmark,
Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs.
 [FR Doc. E7-1432 Filed 1-29-07; 8:45 am]

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