2011-25954. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Title: State Court Improvement Program.

OMB No.: 0970-0307.

Description

The Court Improvement Program (CIP) is composed of three grants, the basic, data, and training grants, governed by two separate Program Instructions (PIs). The training and data grants are governed by the “new grant” PI and the basic grant is governed by the “basic grant” PI. Current PIs require separate applications and program assessment reports for each grant. Every State applies for at least two of the grants annually and most States apply for all three. As many of the application requirements are the same for all three grants, this results in duplicative work and high degrees of repetition for State courts applying for more than one CIP grant.

The purpose of this Program Instruction is to streamline and simplify the application and reporting processes by consolidating the PIs into one single PI and requiring one single, consolidated application (App) package and program assessment report (PAR) per State court annually. These revisions will satisfy statutory programmatic requirements and reduce both the number of required responses and associated total burden hours for State courts.

This new PI also describes programmatic and fiscal provisions and reporting requirements for the grants, specifies the application submittal and approval procedures for the grants for fiscal years 2012 through 2015, and identifies technical resources for use by State courts during the course of the grants. The agency uses the information received to ensure compliance with the statute and provide training and technical assistance to the grantees.

Respondents: Highest State Courts of Appeal.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
App	52	1	92	4784
PAR	52	1	86	4472
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:				9256

Additional Information

Copies of the proposed collection may be obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection. E-mail address: [e-mail].

OMB Comment

OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project. Fax: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail]. Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.