State Bank Parity

under § 708.36, or it will remand the matter to the Administrative Judge for further proceedings regarding the appropriate relief. (c) The OHA Director will send an appeal decision to all parties and to the Head of Field Element or ECP Director having jurisdiction over the contract under which the complainant was employed when the alleged retaliation occurred.

• 30. Revise § 708.35 to read as follows:
      § 708.35 Review by the Secretary of Energy of an appeal decision. (a) By the 30th day after receiving an appeal decision from the OHA Director, any party may file a notice indicating he or she is petitioning for Secretarial review with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, subject to the limitations set forth in § 708.34(d). (b) By the 15th day after filing a notice of intent to petition for Secretarial review, the petitioner must file a statement identifying the issues that the petitioner wishes the Secretary to consider. A copy of the statement must be served on the other parties, who may file a response by the 20th day after receipt of the statement. Any response must also be served on the other parties. (c) All submissions permitted under this section must be filed with the Office of Hearings and Appeals. (d) The Secretary (or the Secretary’s designee) will reverse or revise an appeal decision by the OHA Director only under extraordinary circumstances. In the event the Secretary determines that a revision in the appeal decision is appropriate, the Secretary will direct the OHA Director to issue a revised decision, which is the final agency action on the complaint. In the event the Secretary determines to reverse an appeal decision dismissing the complaint, the Secretary may, as appropriate, direct the OHA Director to issue a revised decision ordering further processing of the complaint. If no further processing is ordered, the Secretary’s decision is the final agency action on the complaint.
• 31. Amend § 708.36 by revising
      paragraph (a)(4) to read as follows:
      § 708.36 Remedies.
      (a) * * *
      (4) Reimbursement of the complainant’s reasonable costs and expenses incurred in pursuing the complaint, including attorney and expert-witness fees reasonably incurred to prepare for and participate in proceedings leading to the initial or final agency decision; or

• 32. Revise § 708.40 to read as follows:
      § 708.40 Notice of program requirements. Employers who are covered by this
      part must inform their employees about
      these regulations by posting notices in conspicuous places at the work site. These notices must include the name, address, telephone number, and website or email address of the DOE office where employees can obtain information about filing and file complaints under this part.
• 33. Revise § 708.42 to read as follows:
      § 708.42 Extension of deadlines. The Secretary of Energy (or the Secretary’s designee) may approve the extension of any deadline established by this part, and the OHA Director may approve the extension of any deadline under § 708.22 through § 708.34 of this subpart (relating to the investigation, hearing, and appeal process). Failure by DOE to comply with timing requirements does not create a substantive right for any party to overturn a DOE decision on a complaint.
• 34. Revise § 708.43 to read as follows:
      § 708.43 Affirmative duty not to retaliate. DOE contractors will not retaliate against any employee because the employee (or any person acting at the request of the employee) has taken an action listed in § 708.5. [FR Doc. 2026–19332 Filed 9–21–26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450–01–P FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION 12 CFR Part 331 RIN 3064–AG34 State Bank Parity AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: The FDIC is proposing amendments to its regulations to recognize parity between out-of-State State banks and national banks concerning the application of host State laws when State banks provide services outside of their chartering State. Under the proposed rule, when host State laws do not apply to a national bank, those laws would similarly not apply to an out-of-State State bank providing services in the host State with or without a branch. Specifically, the amendments would provide that, for purposes of section 24(j) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the laws of a host State apply to any branch in the host State of, or any services provided in the host State by, an out-of-State State bank to the same extent such State laws apply to a branch in the host State of, or any services provided in the host State by, an out-of-State national bank. DATES: Comments must be received no later than November 23, 2026. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the notice of proposed rulemaking, identified by RIN 3064–AG34, using any of the following methods:
• FDIC website: https://www.fdic.gov/
  federal-register-publications. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the agency website.
• Email: Comments@fdic.gov. Include
  RIN 3064–AG34 on the subject line of the message.
• Mail: Jennifer M. Jones, Deputy
  Executive Secretary, Attention:
  Comments—RIN 3064–AG34, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 550 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20429.
• Hand Delivery to FDIC: Comments
  may be hand-delivered to the guard station at the rear of the 550 17th Street NW building (located on F Street NW) on business days between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
• Public Inspection: Comments
  received, including any personal information provided, may be posted without change to https://www.fdic.gov/ federal-register-publications. Commenters should submit only information that the commenter wishes to make available publicly. The FDIC may review, redact, or refrain from posting all or any portion of any comment that it may deem to be inappropriate for publication, such as irrelevant or obscene material. The FDIC may post only a single representative example of identical or substantially identical comments, and in such cases will generally identify the number of identical or substantially identical comments represented by the posted example. All comments that have been redacted, as well as those that have not been posted, that contain comments on the merits of the proposed rule will be retained in the public comment file and will be considered as required under all applicable laws. All comments may be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act. This proposal, all comments received, and a summary of not more than 100 words of the proposed rule pursuant to the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2023 are available at https://www.fdic.gov/federal-register￾publications.