03-31379. Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects:

Title: National Directory of New Hires.

OMB No.: 0970-0166.

Description: Public Law 104-193, the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996,” requires the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to operate a National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) to improve the ability of state child support enforcement agencies to locate noncustodial parents and collect child support across state lines. The law requires employers to report newly hired employees to states. States are then required to periodically transmit new hire data received from employers to the NDNH, and to transmit wage and unemployment compensation claims data to the NDNH on a quarterly basis. Federal agencies are required to report new hires and quarterly wage data directly to the NDNH. All data is transmitted to the NDNH electronically.

Respondents: Employers, State Child Support Enforcement Agencies, State Employment Security Agencies, Federal Agencies.

Annual Burden Estimates:

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
New Hire: Employers Reporting Manually	5,166,000	3.484	.0417 hours (2.5 minutes)	750,531
New Hire: Employers Reporting Electronically	1,134,000	37.037	.00028 hours (1 second)	11,760
New Hire: States	54	83.333	266.668 hours	1,200,001
Quarterly Wage and Unemployment Compensation	54	8	.033 hours (2 minutes)	14
Multistate Employers' Notification Form	2508	1	.050 hours (3 minutes)	125

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,962,431 hours.

In compliance with the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described above. Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 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. E-mail address: [e-mail]. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection.

The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted within 60 days of this publication.

Dated: December 10, 2003.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.