[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 36 (Thursday, February 22, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6791-6793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-3931]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Part 1370
RIN 0970-AB21
Family Violence Prevention and Services Programs
AGENCY: Administration for Children and Families (ACF), HHS.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This final rule establishes requirements for sections 303,
308, 311, and 314 of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act,
as amended, and provides States, Indian tribes and other grantees with
information on grants available under these sections of the statute.
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 25, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Administration for Children and Families, Office of
Community Services, Fifth Floor, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW.,
Washington, DC 20447.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William D. Riley, (202) 401-5529.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sections 311(h) and 312(a) of the Family
Violence Prevention and Services Act, as amended, require the Secretary
to publish regulations implementing sections 303, 308, 311, and 314, of
the Act. These final regulations address this requirement.
Program Description
The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (the Act)
authorizes formula and discretionary grant programs which fund a range
of activities designed to both prevent family violence and provide
services to victims of family violence. Enacted as title III of the
Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, the Act was amended and reauthorized by
Public Law 102-295, the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Adoption, and
Family Services Act of 1992. The Act was further amended by Public Law
103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,
also known as the ``Crime Bill''.
Under section 303 of the Act, funds are awarded as formula grants
to States and Indian tribes and tribal organizations to assist in
supporting activities to prevent incidents of family violence and to
provide immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family
violence and their dependents. These grants have supplemented many
already established community-based family violence prevention and
service activities. They also have allowed States and tribes to expand
current service programs and establish additional new shelters in rural
and underserved areas, on reservations, and in Alaskan Native Villages
and Regional Corporation Areas. In most areas, there is private sector
as well as State and local funding for these emergency shelters.
Under section 311 of the Act, added by the 1992 amendments, formula
grants are available to private non-profit State domestic violence
coalitions to conduct domestic violence intervention and prevention
activities and to increase public awareness of domestic violence
issues. Grant funds support training and technical assistance
activities as well as public education services.
The 1992 amendments also added a new section 308 to the Act which
requires the Secretary to establish and maintain a national resource
center for family violence prevention and services and up to six
special issue resource centers. The Crime Bill increased the allowed
number of special issue resource centers to seven. The purpose of the
national resource center and the special issue resource centers is to
offer resource, policy, and technical assistance and training
assistance to Federal, State, and local government agencies, to
domestic violence service providers, and to other professionals and
interested parties on issues pertaining to domestic violence.
Currently, the national resource center maintains a central
resource library to collect and disseminate information relating to the
incidence and prevention of family violence and the provision of
immediate shelter and related assistance. The special interest resource
centers provide a specialization, on a nationwide basis, in at least
one area of domestic violence service, prevention, or law.
Discretionary grants also are awarded under section 314 of the Act
to public and private non-profit agencies, including Indian tribes and
tribal organizations to assist in the development of public information
and community awareness campaign activities that will serve as
information models for the prevention of family violence.
Approach to Writing the Final Rule
A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was published in the Federal
Register on December 10, 1993 (58 FR 64920). Two letters containing
comments were received in response to the NPRM. Later in the preamble,
we summarize the comments and respond to them. No changes have been
made to the regulation in response to comments received.
In February of 1995, the President announced a Regulatory
Reinvention Initiative as part of the National Performance Review,
calling for more immediate, comprehensive regulatory reform. As part of
this initiative, he directed all agencies to undertake an exhaustive
review of all regulations--with an eye toward eliminating or modifying
those that are obsolete or which are otherwise in need of reform. With
this in mind, we reexamined the language in the NPRM to see whether the
final regulation could achieve the same objectives in a simpler, more
consistent, and more flexible manner.
The NPRM generally did not reiterate the statute or list all
applicable regulations. Rather, it stated broadly that grantees must
meet the statutory requirements of the Act as well as all applicable
regulations, and it referenced the pertinent program funding
announcements in each of the four sections of the proposed rule. The
program funding announcements, which are published in the Federal
Register, describe the relevant statutory and regulatory requirements,
as well as
[[Page 6792]]
information about funding availability and the grant application
process.
The final rule retains the approach outlined in the NPRM while
removing several unnecessary paragraphs to improve regulatory
flexibility and consistency. The NPRM listed financial and program
reporting requirements for grantees under paragraphs (b) and (c) of
section 1370.2, paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 1370.3, paragraphs
(b) and (c) of section 1370.4, and paragraphs (b) and (c) of section
1370.5. After careful reexamination, we have removed these paragraphs
from the NPRM. Also, we have added clarifying language in sections
1370.2, 1370.3, 1370.4, and 1370.5 of the final rule which makes clear
that all applicable reporting requirements are to be found in the
program funding announcements.
For similar reasons, we have removed paragraphs (d) and (e) of
Sec. 1370.2 of the NPRM to be consistent with the way in which the
final rule treats other statutory requirements. Paragraphs (d) and (e),
which concern State and Indian Tribal formula grants, spelled out
certain statutorily-related provisions concerning confidentiality of
records and tribal authorization requirements. Because they are
described in the funding announcement for the State and Indian Tribal
formula grant program, they do not need to be repeated in the
regulatory text. We have added clarifying language that applicable
statutory requirements are described in the program funding
announcements.
No other changes have been made to the notice of proposed
rulemaking.
Discussion of Part 1370--Family Violence Prevention and Services
Programs
Purpose (Sec. 1370.1)
This section states that sections 303, 308, 311, and 314 of the
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act are addressed in 45 CFR
Part 1370 and states that all programs authorized under the Act are
funded subject to the availability of funds.
State and Indian Tribal Grants (Sec. 1370.2)
This section establishes requirements for formula grants to States
and Indian tribes and tribal organizations under section 303 of the
Act.
Information and Technical Assistance Center Grants (Sec. 1370.3)
This section establishes requirements to support a national
resource center and up to seven special issue resource centers under
section 308 of the Act.
State Domestic Violence Coalition Grants (Sec. 1370.4)
This section establishes requirements for formula grants to State
domestic violence coalitions under section 311 of the Act.
Public Information Campaign Grants (Sec. 1370.5)
This section establishes requirements to fund discretionary grants
for public information campaigns under section 314 of the Act.
Discussion of Comments Received
Two letters containing comments were received in response to the
notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on
December 10, 1993. One commenter represented a State program and the
other represented a national association.
The comments are summarized below and are followed by the
Department's response.
Comment: One commenter, representing a State program, concurred
with the rules and procedures proposed in the NPRM. The commenter also
stressed the need for State and Indian tribal grantees to have an
active, collaborative relationship with recipients of grants under
those sections of the Act covered by the regulation and recommended
that the Federal government establish guidelines for such
collaboration.
Response: We agree with the commenter about the importance of
collaboration among grantees, other governmental agencies,
organizations, and individuals involved in family violence prevention
and service activities. Currently, recipients of the State Domestic
Violence Coalition grants participate with the State family violence
grantees in monitoring and compliance activities. In addition, the
national resource center and the three special issue resource centers
we have funded have formed collaborative and participatory
relationships not only with State and tribal grantees but with other
organizations, scholars, practitioners, and individuals in the areas of
domestic violence prevention and services. We believe that, rather than
enacting a single set of Federal guidelines for collaboration, it is
preferable to retain the option of promoting collaboration through a
variety of methods which can be periodically reviewed and easily
refined or augmented where necessary.
Comment: A commenter from a national association noted that family
violence programs have the potential to offer needed services,
information and support to older persons who are the victims of
violence occurring in the context of family relationships. The
commenter encouraged the Department of Health and Human Services to
obtain information from grantees concerning the extent to which older
people are served through the programs and to seek information about
good practices regarding services to older victims and prevention
activities targeted to older persons.
Response: Recipients of State and Indian tribal formula grants are
asked to submit annual program activity reports which contain, among
other things, a description of the characteristics and demographics of
the persons served by service or activity. The reports also describe
the major activities supported by the Family Violence Prevention and
Services Act funds and the specific priorities addressed by the State,
tribe or tribal organization as well as describing the prevention
activities supported during the program year. We expect the annual
reports to provide information on the numbers of elderly served and on
the types of activities and services which affect this population. In
addition, the Administration on Aging, in cooperation with the
Administration for Children and Families, in the Department of Health
and Human Services is currently funding a study of elder abuse in
domestic settings. The study is being carried out by the National
Center on Elder Abuse.
Regulatory Procedures
Executive Order 12866
Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be reviewed to
ensure that they are consistent with the priorities and principles set
forth in the Executive Order. The Department has determined that this
rule is consistent with these priorities and principles. No costs are
associated with this rule.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354) requires the
Federal government to anticipate and reduce the impact of regulations
and paperwork requirements on small entities. The primary impact of
these rules is on State governments, non-profit organizations and
individuals. We certify that these rules will not have a significant
impact on a substantial number of small entities because they simply
establish procedures for grant applications and include no standards or
requirements which would burden small entities. Thus, a regulatory
flexibility analysis is not required.
[[Page 6793]]
Paperwork Reduction Act
The regulation contains no information collection requirements
which are subject to review and approval by OMB under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1370
Aged, Child welfare, Grant programs--Social programs, Domestic
violence, Family violence, Spouse abuse, Elder abuse and neglect.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs: 93.671, Family
Violence Prevention and Services Program)
Dated: January 31, 1996.
Mary Jo Bane,
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, Title 45, Chapter XIII,
of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended by adding a new
subchapter H consisting of part 1370 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER H--FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SERVICES
PART 1370--FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SERVICES PROGRAMS
Sec.
1370.1 Purpose.
1370.2 State and Indian tribal grants.
1370.3 Information and technical assistance center grants.
1370.4 State domestic violence coalition grants.
1370.5 Public information campaign grants.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 10401 et seq.
Sec. 1370.1 Purpose.
This part addresses sections 303, 308, 311, and 314 of the Family
Violence Prevention and Services Act (the Act), as amended (42 U.S.C.
10401 et seq.). The Act authorizes the Secretary to implement programs
for the purposes of increasing public awareness about and preventing
family violence; providing immediate shelter and related assistance for
victims of family violence and their dependents; and providing for
technical assistance and training relating to family violence programs
to States, tribes, local public agencies (including law enforcement
agencies, courts, legal, social service, and health care
professionals), non-profit private organizations and other persons
seeking such assistance. All programs authorized under the Act are
funded subject to the availability of funds.
Sec. 1370.2 State and Indian tribal grants.
Each grantee awarded funds under section 303 of the Act must meet
the statutory requirements of the Act and all applicable regulations.
An announcement which describes the application process, including
information on statutory requirements, other applicable regulations,
and any required financial and program reports, is published in the
Federal Register.
Sec. 1370.3 Information and technical assistance center grants.
Each grantee awarded funds under section 308 of the Act must meet
the statutory requirements of the Act and all applicable regulations.
An announcement which describes the application process, including
information on statutory requirements, other applicable regulations,
and any required financial and program reports, is published in the
Federal Register.
Sec. 1370.4 State domestic violence coalition grants.
Each grantee awarded funds under section 311 of the Act must meet
the statutory requirements of the Act and all applicable regulations.
An announcement which describes the application process, including
information on statutory requirements, other applicable regulations,
and any required financial and program reports, is published in the
Federal Register.
Sec. 1370.5 Public information campaign grants.
Each grantee awarded funds under section 314 of the Act must meet
the statutory requirements of the Act and all applicable regulations.
An announcement which describes the application process, including
information on statutory requirements, other applicable regulations,
and any required financial and program reports, is published in the
Federal Register.
[FR Doc. 96-3931 Filed 2-21-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P
