[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 80 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20567-20569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11091]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection:
Comment Request: FNS-583, Employment and Training Program Report
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment
on proposed information collection of the FNS-583, Employment and
Training Program Report.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 26, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Send comments and requests for copies of this information
collection to John Knaus, Chief, Program Design Branch, Program
Development Division, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22302.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden of the
proposed collection of information, including validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other form of information technology.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of
public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Knaus, (703) 305-2519.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Employment and Training Program Report.
OMB Number: 0584-0339.
Expiration Date: August 31, 1998.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
[[Page 20568]]
Abstract: Title 7 CFR 273.7(c)(6) requires State agencies to submit
quarterly Employment and Training (E&T) Program reports containing
monthly figures for participation in the program. The Food and
Nutrition Service (FNS) has designed a form for this purpose--the
Employment and Training Program Report, form FNS-583. The information
contained in the FNS-583 is used by FNS to determine whether States
have met their mandated performance standards.
The enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Public Law 105-33
(Balanced Budget Act), in August, 1997, amended the requirements for
the Food Stamp Program E&T requirements so that States' efforts are now
focused on a particular segment of the food stamp population--able-
bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The Food Stamp Act of 1997,
as amended by the Balanced Budget Act, permits a State to exempt each
month up to 15 percent of its population of ABAWDs that is in danger of
losing eligibility for the Food Stamp Program. (7 U.S.C.
2015(o)(6)(C)). The statute also gives the Secretary the duty of
adjusting the number of exemptions assigned for a current fiscal year
based on the actual number of exemptions granted by the State in the
preceding year. (7 U.S.C. 2015(o)(6)(E)).
The law further provides supplemental funding of unmatched Federal
E&T funds for Fiscal Years 1998 through 2002 and targets 80 percent of
all Federal E&T funds to qualifying work activities for ABAWDs. (7
U.S.C. 2025(h)(1)(E)). States may use up to 20 percent of their 100
percent E&T grant allocation to provide allowable work activities for
their non-ABAWDs population. Under the law, the Secretary must monitor
States' expenditures of E&T funds, including the cost of individual E&T
components, to ensure the reasonable cost of efficiently and
economically providing these activities. (7 U.S.C. 2025(h)(5)). The law
also gives the Secretary the authority to set maximum reimbursements
rates for E&T components. (7 U.S.C. 2025(h)(3)).
The Balanced Budget Act mandated implementation of these provisions
effective October 1, 1997 without regard as to whether regulations were
promulgated to implement them. For this reason, FNS submitted an
emergency request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on
February 17, 1998, to revise the information collection for the FNS-583
form to reflect the new E&T Program requirements of the statute. OMB
approved the total number of responses, respondents and burden hours
described in this notice for six months, with an expiration date of
August 31, 1998. In the meantime, FNS is preparing an interim final
rulemaking to implement the new E&T Program provisions and is
redesigning the FNS-583 form to include the new reporting requirements
described in this notice.
Because of the changes to the E&T Program created by enactment of
the Balanced Budget Act, FNS is providing a detailed explanation about
the new reporting requirements which must be included in the FNS-583
and how we calculated the total number of responses, respondents and
burden hours.
Work registration: State agencies have the option of providing
either a State-designed work registration form to each household member
required to register for work or noting the registration in the case
file. There were 4,870,489 work registrants, including ABAWDS, during
FY 1997. FNS estimates that the work registration process will take
approximately 1.5 minutes (or .025 hours) per person per year. The
total burden hours for household members participating in the work
registration process is 121,762 hours (4,870,489 x .025 = 121,762).
In preparing the FNS-583 report, States must collect and assemble
information quarterly about categories of E&T Program participants,
including ABAWDs. Many States will have already classified work
registrants into categories by annotating a computer record at the time
each participant registered for work. Therefore, FNS estimates that it
will take States an average of one half of the 1.5 minute work
registration time, or 45 seconds per record (0.0125 hours), to compile
the data for the FNS-583. With the total number of work registrants per
year of 4,870,489, the total number of burden hours per year for the
States to compile work registration data for the FNS-583 is 60,881
(4,870,489 x 0.0125 = 60,881), or 1,148.7 hours per State agency
respondent (60,881 / 53 = 1,148.7). The total annual burden hours for
the work registration process is 182,643 (121,762+60,881 = 182,643).
When FNS submitted its emergency request in February, 1998, we
originally calculated the total annual burden hours for the work
registration process as 211,867. Upon checking our calculations, we
realized that an error was made. Due to our error, the total annual
burden hours for the work registration process will show a decrease of
29,224 (211,867-182,643). The correction will be made in our next
submission.
15 percent ABAWDs exemption: State agencies must track the number
of ABAWDs exemptions used during each month and report these numbers as
an attachment to the quarterly FNS-583 report. Based on our experience,
FNS is assuming there are 42 State agencies that will need to track the
number of exemptions used on a monthly basis (including Guam and the
Virgin Islands); eleven states will not use any exemptions.
States may track the number of exemptions using information
technology that best suits the needs of their individual systems of
operations. The tracking procedure could be as simple as annotating a
file. FNS is therefore estimating that it will take 15 seconds (or .25
minutes) to note the exemption. FNS has allocated a total of 63,620
exemptions a month to all the States. However, since 11 States will not
have to track the exemptions, FNS subtracted 14,740 monthly exemptions
from the total of 63,620, to arrive at 48,880 exemptions a month that
will need to be tracked, for a total of 586,560 a year (48,880 x 12).
It will take a total of 2,444 hours per year, or an average of 58
reporting hours per respondent per year (586,560 exemptions x .25
minutes) / 60 minutes = 2,444 hours per year / 42 respondents = 58
burden hours per year per State agency respondent) to track the 15
percent ABAWDs exemption.
Every State that is allocated exemptions has to comply with the
reporting requirements, even if a State uses no exemptions. This
information will be used for calculating exemption allocations for the
following year. FNS is assuming there will be 53 respondents and it
will take 6 hours per year per State to track the total ABAWDs
exemptions, for a total of 318 hours per year (6 x 53 = 318). Thus, the
total annual burden hours to track and report the 15 percent ABAWDs
exemptions is 2,762 (2,444+318 = 2,762).
E&T funding requirements for ABAWDs activities. States must report
the following information as an attachment to the quarterly FNS-583
report: (1) The number of filled and offered (unfilled) workfare slots;
(2) the number of filled and offered education and training slots; (3)
the amount of Federal 100 percent E&T funding spent on workfare slots
that meet the requirements of Section 6(o)(2)(C) of the Act. This
information must be broken out to show the amount of money spent on
qualifying workfare slots in areas of a State that have received a
waiver in accordance with section 6(o)(4) of the Act and money spent in
non-waived areas. (4) The amount of Federal 100 percent E&T funding
spent on education
[[Page 20569]]
and training slots that meet the requirements of section 6(o)(2)(B) of
the Act. This information must be broken out to show the amount of
money spent on qualifying education and training slots in areas of a
State that have received a waiver in accordance with section 6(o)(4) of
the Act and money spent in non-waived areas.
In consultation with OMB, FNS established one reimbursement rate
for both workfare and 20-hour a week education and training components.
The rates established are $30 for an offered work slot and $175 for a
filled work slot. (A slot is ``filled'' when an E&T participant reports
to a work or training site to begin his/her work activities; a slot is
``offered'' when an E&T participant either refuses a bona fide workfare
or training opportunity or does not report.) FNS estimates these
reimbursement rates will create 140,000 E&T slots for eligible ABAWDs,
with the number evenly divided between filled and offered education and
training component slots and filled and offered workfare component
slots. Thus, each State will create 2,642 E&T slots annually for ABAWDs
(140,000/53 = 2,642), with an average 660 E&T slots created each
quarter (2,642/4 = 660), evenly divided between filled and unfilled.
We estimate that it will take States 3 minutes (3/60 = .05 hours)
to note in an ABAWDs' food stamp case record (or other record) if she/
he was offered one of the two types of E&T slots and whether he/she
filled the slot. The total time involved for this E&T activity is 7,000
hours per year (140,000 x .05 = 7,000), or 132 hours per year per State
(7000/53 = 132).
Section 6(o)(4) of the Food Stamp Act gives the Secretary the
authority to waive the ABAWD work requirements if an area of a State
has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent or does not have a
sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for ABAWDs. (7 U.S.C.
2015(o)(4)). States have already submitted requests to FNS for waivers
of the ABAWDs work requirements and know which areas are waived and
which are not waived. For the quarterly FNS-583, States will have to
review the food stamp case records of 660 ABAWDs to determine if the
individual filled or was offered an E&T slot, and then place him/her in
the appropriate category. Since States will know ahead of time which
areas are waived and non-waived, States can separate the slots
accordingly, multiply each slot in each area by the amount of funds
spent, and then total up the figures for the waived and non-waived
areas. These figures would then be reported on the FNS-583.
Based on the average of 660 slots per quarter per State, FNS
estimates that it will take States 4 hours per quarter, or 16 hours per
year, to track this information. The total time burden for tracking is
848 hours (16 hours annually per State x 53 states). The total burden
hours for tracking this information is 7,848 (7,000 + 848) or 148 hours
per year per State respondent.
Compiling E&T funding information for the quarterly FNS-583 report:
FNS calculates it takes 8.5 hours per quarter for each of the 42
automated States to prepare their FNS-583s, for a total of 1,428 hours
per year (8.5 x 42 = 357 per quarter; 357 x 4 = 1,428 total annually).
The remaining 11 non-automated States used 15.5 hours each quarter to
prepare their FNS-583s, for a total of 682 hours per year (15.5 x 11 =
170.5 quarterly, 170.5 x 4 = 682 annually). Adding the two figures
(1,428 + 682), we calculate it takes States a total of 2,110 total
hours per year to prepare the quarterly FNS-583s or approximately 39.8
hours per respondent per year. The total burden hours (excluding the
work registration process) for the new E&T funding requirements of the
Balanced Budget Act is 9,958 (7,000 + 848+ 2,110).
Summary:
Number of individuals registered for work.................. 4,870,489
Number of State agencies registering individuals for work.. 53
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Total Number of Respondents............................ 4,870,542
Number of individuals annually registering for work........ \1\ 4,870,4
89
Number of annual State agencies' responses................. \2\ 212
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Total Number of Responses.............................. 4,870,701
\1\ (4,870,489 x 1)
\2\ (53 x 4)
In calculating the total annual burden hours, FNS added all the
burden hours for the work registration process, the 15 percent ABAWDs
exemptions, and the E&T funding requirements (which includes the
preparation time for the FNS-583).
Burden hours for work registration......................... 182,643
Burden hours for 15 percent ABAWDs exemptions.............. 2,762
Burden hours for E&T funding requirements.................. 9,958
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Total Annual Burden Hours.............................. 195,363
Frequency: The FNS-583 report must be completed and submitted to
FNS on a quarterly basis by the 45th day following the end
of the quarter.
Affected Public: Individual households and State and local
governments.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,870,542.
Estimated Number of Responses: 4,870,701.
Estimated Time per Response: .025 hours per individual; 347.17
hours per State agency.
Estimated Total Annual Burden: 195,363 hours.
Dated April 21,1998.
Yvette S. Jackson,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 98-11091 Filed 4-24-98; 8:45 am]
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