[Federal Register: March 18, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 53)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 10879-10881] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18mr96-1] ======================================================================== Rules and Regulations Federal Register ________________________________________________________________________ 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. Prices of new books are listed in the first FEDERAL REGISTER issue of each week. ======================================================================== [[Page 10879]] OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AH27 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of Certain Federal Wage System Wage Areas AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Final rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a final rule to redefine several Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas for pay- setting purposes. OPM is engaged in an ongoing project to review the geographic definitions of selected FWS wage areas. Based on recent reviews of wage and survey area boundaries in a number of wage areas, OPM is redefining and/or renaming the following FWS wage areas: Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD; Biloxi, MS; Columbus-Aberdeen, MS; Jackson, MS; Meridian, MS; Great Falls, MT; Pittsburgh, PA; Eastern Tennessee; Corpus Christi, TX; San Antonio, TX; and West Virginia. Timing of the actual implementation of changes in these wage areas varies somewhat because of the varying dates for the conduct of local FWS wage surveys. EFFECTIVE DATE: April 17, 1996. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Allen, (202) 606-2848. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPM is engaged in an ongoing project to review the geographic definitions of selected FWS appropriated fund wage areas. On December 19, 1995, OPM published a proposed rule (60 FR 65245) concerning changes in several FWS wage area definitions. The proposed rule provided a 30-day period for public comment. OPM received comments regarding the definition of the Columbus-Aberdeen, MS, wage area from several FWS employees in the wage area and an attorney. The commenters recommended that OPM remove Panola, Yalobusha, and Grenada Counties, MS, from the Columbus-Aberdeen wage area and redefine the counties to the Memphis, TN, wage area. During its study of the Columbus-Aberdeen wage area, the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee carefully reviewed the wage area definitions of Grenada, Panola, and Yalobusha Counties and determined by consensus that, according to the regulatory criteria for defining FWS wage areas (section 532.211 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations), the counties should remain in the wage area to which they are currently defined, with Grenada County being added to the wage area's survey area. OPM concurs with that finding and does not, therefore, agree that Grenada, Panola, and Yalobusha Counties should be redefined to the Memphis wage area. Regulatory Flexibility Act I certify that these regulations will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they affect only Federal agencies and employees. List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 532 Administrative practice and procedure, Freedom of information, Government employees, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Wages. Office of Personnel Management. Lorraine A. Green, Deputy Director. Accordingly, OPM is amending 5 CFR Part 532 as follows: PART 532--PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS 1. The authority citation for part 532 continues to read as follows: Authority: 5 U.S.C. 5343, 5346; Sec. 532.707 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 552. Appendix A to Subpart B--[Amended] 2. Appendix A to subpart B is amended for Great Falls, MT, by removing the name ``Great Falls'' and adding in its place ``Montana'', and for Columbus-Aberdeen, MS, by removing the name ``Columbus- Aberdeen'' and adding in its place ``Northern Mississippi''. 3. Appendix C to subpart B is amended by revising the wage area listings for Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, MD and Biloxi, MS; removing ``Columbus-Aberdeen'' MS and inserting in alphabetical order a new listing for ``Northern Mississippi;'' and revising the listing for Jackson, MS; Meridian, MS; the state of Montana; Pittsburgh, PA; Eastern Tennessee; Corpus Christi, TX; San Antonio, TX; and West Virginia to read as follows: Appendix C to Subpart B of Part 532--Appropriated Fund Wage and Survey Areas * * * * * MARYLAND * * * * * HAGERSTOWN-MARTINSBURG-CHAMBERSBURG Survey Area Maryland: Washington Pennsylvania: Franklin West Virginia: Berkeley Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Maryland: Allegany Garrett Pennsylvania: Fulton (Effective as of April 17, 1996.) Virginia (cities): Harrisonburg Winchester Virginia (counties): Clarke Culpeper Frederick Greene Madison Page Rappahannock Rockingham Shenandoah Warren West Virginia: Hampshire Hardy Jefferson Mineral Morgan * * * * * MISSISSIPPI BILOXI Survey Area Mississippi: Hancock Harrison Jackson [[Page 10880]] Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Mississippi: George Pearl River Stone (Effective as of November 1, 1997.) JACKSON Survey area Mississippi: Hinds Rankin Warren Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Mississippi: Adams (Effective as of February 1, 1997.) Amite Attala Claiborne (Effective as of February 1, 1997.) Copiah Covington Franklin Holmes Humphreys Issaquena Jefferson (Effective as of February 1, 1997.) Jefferson Davis Lawrence Lincoln Madison Marion Pike Scott Sharkey Simpson Smith Walthall Wilkinson Yazoo MERIDIAN Survey Area Mississippi: Forest Lamar (Effective as of February 1, 1997.) Lauderdale Alabama: Choctaw Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Mississippi: Clarke Greene Jasper Jones Kemper Leake Neshoba Newton Perry Wayne Alabama: Sumter NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI Survey Area Mississippi: Clay Grenada (Effective as of February 1, 1996.) Leflore (Effective as of February 1, 1996.) Lee Lowndes Monroe Oktibbeha Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Mississippi: Alcorn Bolivar Calhoun Carroll Chickasaw Choctaw Coahoma Itawamba Layfayette (Excluding Holly Springs National Forest.) Montgomery Noxubee Panola Pontotoc (Excluding Holly Springs National Forest.) Prentiss Quitman Sunflower Tallahatchie Tishomingo Union (Excluding Holly Springs National Forest.) Washington Webster Winston Yalobusha * * * * * MONTANA Survey Area Montana: Cascade Lewis and Clark Yellowstone Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Montana: Beaverhead Big Horn Blaine Broadwater Carbon Carter Chouteau Custer Daniels Dawson Deer Lodge Fallon Fergus Flathead Gallatin Garfield Glacier Golden Valley Granite Hill Jefferson Judith Basin Lake Liberty Lincoln McCone Madison Meagher Mineral Missoula Musselshell Park Petroleum Phillips Pondera Powder River Powell Prairie Ravalli Richland Roosevelt Rosebud Sanders Sheridan Silver Bow Stillwater Sweet Grass Teton Toole Treasure Valley Wheatland Wibaux Wyoming: Big Horn Park * * * * * PENNSYLVANIA * * * * * PITTSBURGH Survey Area Pennsylvania: Allegheny Beaver Butler (Effective as of the first day of the month of the first full-scale wage survey in the Pittsburgh wage area following April 17, 1996.) Washington Westmoreland Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Pennsylvania: Armstrong Bedford Blair Cambria Cameron Centre Clarion Clearfield Clinton Crawford Elk Erie Fayette Forest Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Lawrence McKean Mercer Potter Somerset Venango Warren Ohio: Belmont Carroll Harrison Jefferson Tuscarawas West Virginia: Brooke Hancock Marshall Ohio * * * * * [[Page 10881]] TENNESSEE EASTERN TENNESSEE Survey Area Tennessee: Carter Hawkins Sullivan Unicoi Washington Virginia (city): Bristol Virginia (counties): Scott Washington Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Tennessee: Cocke Greene Hancock Johnson Virginia: Buchanan Grayson Lee Russell Smyth Tazewell North Carolina: Alleghany Ashe Watauga Kentucky: Harlan Letcher * * * * * TEXAS * * * * * CORPUS CHRISTI Survey Area Texas: Nueces San Patricio Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Texas: Aransas Bee Brooks (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. Calhoun Cameron (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. Goliad Hidalgo (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. Jim Wells Kenedy (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. Kleberg Live Oak Refugio Starr (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. Victoria Willacy (Effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after April 17, 1996. * * * * * SAN ANTONIO Survey Area Texas: Bexar Comal Guadalupe Area of Application--Survey Area Plus Texas: Atascosa Bandera De Witt Dimmit Duval Edwards Frio Gillespie Gonzales Jim Hogg Karnes Kendall Kerr Kinney La Salle McMullen Maverick Medina Real Uvalde Val Verde Webb Wilson Zapata Zavala * * * * * WEST VIRGINIA Survey Area West Virginia: Cabell Harrison Kanawha Marion Monongalia Putnam Wayne Ohio: Lawrence Kentucky: Boyd Greenup Area of Application--Survey Area Plus West Virginia: Barbour Boone Braxton Calhoun Clay Doddridge Fayette Gilmer Grant Greenbrier Jackson Lewis Lincoln Logan McDowell Mason Mercer Mingo Monroe Nicholas Pendleton Pleasants Pocahontas Preston Raleigh Randolph Ritchie Roane Summers Taylor Tucker Tyler Upshur Webster Wetzel Wirt Wood Wyoming Ohio: Athens Gallia Jackson Meigs Monroe Morgan Noble Pike Scioto Vinton Washington Kentucky: Carter Elliott Floyd Johnson Lawrence Lewis Magoffin Martin Pike Virginia (city): Norton (Effective as of April 17, 1996. Virginia (counties): Dickenson Wise * * * * * FR Doc. 96-6268 Filed 3-15-96; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325-01-M