OPM, NOAA, EPA, CPSC, NRC: Five Federal Actions from Oct. 19, 2026 Federal Register

OPM Launches FEHB Enrollment Audit Portal

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is soliciting public comment on a new information collection — the FEHB Protection Act Portal (FPA Portal) — through December 18, 2026. The portal is a direct product of the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Protection Act of 2025 (Sec. 90101, Pub. L. 119-21, 139 Stat. 362), which requires OPM to conduct a comprehensive audit of family members covered under the FEHB Program. According to the notice, the FPA Portal is designed as an enrollee notification and eligibility verification system that will provide "a secure and consistent process to ensure that only eligible individuals are enrolled in the FEHB Program" and will "strengthen enrollment integrity" by removing ineligible family members.

The mechanism works as follows: enrollees whose family members' eligibility has not been verified will receive FPA Portal-generated emails and mailed notices directing them to sign in securely and submit documentation establishing a spouse's or child's eligibility. The portal will use automated document-verification capabilities to review submissions; cases that cannot be resolved through automated review will be referred to a contracted vendor and OPM for further processing. Employing agencies, payroll offices, and participating health insurance carriers are to be incorporated in subsequent phases. OPM estimates approximately 2.7 million respondents, with an estimated time per respondent of 30 minutes, yielding a total burden of 1.4 million hours. The OMB control number is 3206-NEW, and comments are due by December 18, 2026.

NOAA Seeks 30-Day Comment Extension on South Pacific Tuna Data Collection

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is submitting an extension of a currently approved information collection — OMB Control Number 0648-0218 — covering data gathered from U.S. purse seine vessels fishing under the Treaty on Fisheries between the Governments of Certain Pacific Island States and the Government of the United States of America. The notice, published October 19, 2026, opens a 30-day additional comment window following an earlier 60-day period that closed after a June 11, 2026 Federal Register notice.

The collection covers vessel license and registration applications (including registration of vessel monitoring system (VMS) units), periodic catch reports, and unloading and transshipment logsheets. The notice states that NOAA collects this information to meet U.S. obligations under the Treaty, which provides access for U.S. purse seine vessels to the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Pacific Island Parties (PIPs) — including Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The information is submitted to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) through NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). According to the notice, the FFA uses license and registration data to assess a vessel operator's operational capability and financial responsibility, and uses catch and unloading data to assess fishing effort and track fish caught within each PIP's EEZ. VMS maintenance data supports an FFA-administered enforcement tool. The notice states that failure to collect this information would result in the U.S. government not meeting its Treaty obligations and would result in poor management of the fishery resources. The collection covers 21 respondents and totals 222 annual burden hours. The legal authority is the South Pacific Tuna Act (16 U.S.C. 973–973r) and 50 CFR part 300, subpart D.

EPA Proposes Delegation of Air Emission Standards to Washington State's Northwest Clean Air Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to update the delegation of certain New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and approve the delegation of certain National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to the Northwest Clean Air Agency (NWCAA), a local clean air agency in Washington State with jurisdiction over Island, Skagit, and Whatcom counties. Comments on this proposed rule are due November 18, 2026. The affected regulations span 40 CFR parts 60, 61, and 63.

The document explains that NWCAA submitted updated regulations incorporating by reference certain NSPS and NESHAP as promulgated by EPA through October 18, 2023. The background provided in the notice traces the delegation authority to December 1, 1998, when EPA approved the Washington Department of Ecology's request for program approval for three local agencies — including NWCAA — to implement and enforce locally-adopted hazardous air pollutant regulations. Under the streamlined approval process established at that time, a requesting agency sends a letter to EPA seeking delegation of new or revised standards it has adopted unchanged; EPA responds by letter; and if EPA does not receive a negative response from the requesting agency within 10 days of the signature date of EPA's letter, the updated delegation becomes final. The EPA publishes a Federal Register notice periodically to inform the public. The notice specifies that the proposed delegation does not apply to sources located in Indian country.

What to Watch

• December 18, 2026 — Deadline for public comments on OPM's FPA Portal information collection request (OMB No. 3206-NEW).
• November 18, 2026 — Deadline for public comments on EPA's proposed delegation of NSPS and NESHAP authority to NWCAA (40 CFR parts 60, 61, 63).
• October 22, 2026 — The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold two closed commission meetings remotely at 12 p.m. (noon) and 1:00 p.m. covering briefing matters.
• October 22, 2026 — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a joint public meeting with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at 1:00 p.m. in the Commissioners' Hearing Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, with a webcast available; a closed joint session of the same two commissions is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. the same day. The NRC notes no additional commission meetings are currently scheduled through the week of November 23, 2026.

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