Federally licensed firearm businesses will be able to run voluntary federal background checks on certain employees under a Justice Department final rule published in the Federal Register on Oct. 27.
The rule takes effect Nov. 27 and permits checks on both current employees and prospective hires who meet its eligibility criteria. It authorizes the checks without requiring businesses to conduct them.
The department amended regulations governing the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The rule sets out how licensees can use that system for employment checks involving eligible firearm handlers under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022.
The department also published a separate final rule on Oct. 27 implementing the HAVANA Act of 2021, which authorizes agency heads to make payments to certain people with qualifying brain injuries. That rule also takes effect Nov. 27.
It covers current and former department employees and their dependents. It adopts an interim final rule published April 19, 2024, with minor changes to officials' titles and the earliest date for eligible claims following statutory changes.
The department received no comments on the interim rule. The final changes concern the payment review process and claim eligibility rather than a new payment program.
In transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration published a final rule requiring repeated inspections of pitch trim actuators on certain Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing airplanes. The rule takes effect Dec. 1.
Reports of actuator failures during flight prompted the directive. It requires checks for cracked, missing or damaged sealant, repeated measurements of actuator travel time, and replacement and sealing when specified conditions apply.
The Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration separately proposed changes to hazardous materials shipping regulations. Comments on the Oct. 27 proposal close Dec. 28.
The proposal would align provisions with international standards, including shipping names, hazard classifications, packaging, air shipment quantity limits and vessel stowage requirements. Those changes remain proposals.
The FAA also proposed additional safety standards for an enhanced takeoff system on Embraer's ERJ 190-400 airplane. Existing aircraft safety regulations do not adequately cover the design feature, the agency said.
Comments on that proposal close Nov. 27. The proposed conditions would establish additional standards intended to provide safety equivalent to existing aircraft requirements.
The Homeland Security Department's Coast Guard proposed changing annual fireworks safety zones around Los Angeles and Long Beach. Its Oct. 27 proposal would add eight events, update 13 and remove two.
People and vessels would need specific authorization to enter the zones, which keep waterway users clear of potentially harmful fireworks debris. Comments close Nov. 27.
