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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 235
Friday, December 10, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains regulatory documents having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Docket No. RUS19Agency0030

Thomas P. Dickson, Regulations Management Division, Rural Development Innovation Center, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, 1400
Independence Ave. SW, Stop 1522, Washington, DC 20250; telephone 202
6904492; email thomas.dickson@
usda.gov.

RIN 0572AC56

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OneRD Guaranteed Loan Regulation
I. Background
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, Rural Housing Service, Rural Utilities Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule; request for comments.

The Rural Housing Service RHS, the Rural Business-Cooperative Service RBCS, and the Rural Utilities Service RUS, agencies of the USDA Rural Development mission area, hereinafter collectively referred to as the Agency, published a final rule with comment on July 14, 2020 85 FR 42494 that created a unified guaranteed loan platform for enhanced delivery of four existing guaranteed loan programs: Community Facilities CF administered by RHS;
Water and Waste Disposal WWD
administered by RUS; and Business and Industry B&I and Rural Energy for America REAP administered by RBCS.
The final rule was effective on October 1, 2020, and Rural Development began operating under the new guarantee loan platform on that date.
Collectively, Rural Developments guaranteed loan programs work to assist in building and maintaining sustainable rural communities. Through the public comment period and monthly office hours with lenders and staff, the Agency has solicited feedback on the requirements and policies contained in the rule implemented on October 1, 2020. The Agency has identified areas for revision or clarification that are amended with this final rule with comment. This oneRD final rule with comment incorporates revisions intended to simplify, clarify, improve, expand, and enhance the delivery of the four guaranteed loan programs.

Rural Utilities Service Rural Housing Service Rural Business-Cooperative Service 7 CFR Part 5001

AGENCY:

Rural Developments Rural Business-Cooperative Service, Rural Housing Service, and Rural Utilities Service, agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture USDA, are publishing this final rule for the oneRD
Guarantee Loan Program oneRD. The intent of this rule is to make necessary revisions to the policy and procedures which will strengthen oversight and management of the growing Community Facilities CF, Water and Waste Disposal WWD, Business and Industry B&I, and Rural Energy for America REAP guarantee portfolios. This action is part of a continuing effort by the Agency to improve customer service for its lenders and create a more efficient work process for its staff.
DATES:
Effective date: This final rule is effective December 10, 2021.
Comment date: Comments are due February 8, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number RUS19
Agency0030 and Regulatory Information Number RIN number 0572AC56 through https
www.regulations.gov.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Agency name and SUMMARY:

jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with RULES1

docket number or RIN for this rulemaking. All comments received will be posted without change to https
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to https
www.regulations.gov.

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II. Summary of Comments and Responses Through the public comment period and monthly office hours with lenders and staff, the Agency has solicited feedback on the requirements and policies contained in the rule implemented on October 1, 2020. The Agency has identified needed revisions and clarification based on the comments received.
Rural Development received 87
comments from 24 commenters on the final rule with comment issued on July 14, 2020. Five commenters were private citizens, 10 commentors were anonymous and 9 comments were from lenders.
The following discusses each comment and the Agencys response, organized by section with the comment paragraph and then Agency response paragraph. Sections with multiple comments will continue the comment/
response paragraph pairing format until all comments for that section are addressed.
Section 5001.3

Definitions
Comment: Four commenters requested additional definitions to be included in the regulation.
Agency Response: The Agency has reviewed the request and has determined the additional definitions would not add additional clarity to the regulation. However during our review it came to our attention that the definition of affiliate needed some additional clarification and two definitions needed updating to conform with changes made to those definitions in 7 CFR 4280. Additionally, due to the COVID pandemic the Agency has extended the timeline some businesses need for start-up; this has highlighted a potential loophole in the regulation and definitions for new businesses and existing businesses. We thought the 12month timeline to be adequate for full ramp-up, but we are seeing issues with this, thus we made technical revisions to the definition of Existing business as well as New business as enumerated in Section III, Summary of Changes.
Section 5001.104
Requirements
WWD Projects and
Agency Comment: The Agency has identified a revision needed to improve consistency and clarity of Section 5001.104; this revision is included in
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