[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 98 (Monday, May 23, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-12518]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 23, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing
[Docket No. N-94-3773; FR-3721-N-01]
Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB Form
Required for the Law Enforcement and Security Personnel Costs
Information Collection
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirements described
below have been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department
is soliciting public comment on the subject proposal.
DATES: Comments due date: June 22, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to the proposal by name and should be
sent to: Joseph F. Lackey, Jr., OMB Desk Officer, Office of Management
and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503; or
Joan Campion, Rules Docket Clerk, Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), 451 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20410.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kay F. Weaver, Reports Management Officer, Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), 451 7th Street SW., room 4178, Washington, DC
20410 (202) 708- 0050. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of the
documents submitted to OMB may be obtained from Ms. Weaver.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice informs the public that the
Department of HUD has submitted to OMB, for expedited processing, an
information collection package with respect to the forms and other
information required for the Law Enforcement and Security Personnel
Form. It also is requested that OMB complete its review within 30 days.
The Department has submitted the proposal for the collection of
information, as described below, to OMB for review, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
(1) Title of the information collection proposal: Law Enforcement
and Security Personnel Costs Form.
(2) Office of the agency to collect the information: Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
(3) Description of the need for the information and its proposed
use: The data that will be collected on the forms are necessary for HUD
to quantify current and future financial commitments by the Department
to increased law enforcement personnel in local communities as
requested by the Office of Domestic Policy at the White House.
(4) Agency form numbers: HUD Form 52355.
(5) Members of the public who will be affected by the proposal:
Public and Indian housing authorities.
(6) How frequently information submissions will be required:
Annually.
(7) An estimate of the total number of hours needed to prepare the
information submission including number of respondents, frequency of
response and hours of response: See attached chart with a total of
48,000 burden hours.
(8) Type of request: New.
(9) The names and telephone numbers of an agency official familiar
with the proposal: Julie B. Fagan, Office of Public and Indian Housing,
(202) 708-1197.
Authority: Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C.; Section 7(d) of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development Act, 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).
Dated: May 2, 1994.
Joseph Shuldiner,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB
Proposal: Housing Authority Law Enforcement and Security Personnel
Costs
Office: Office of Resident Initiatives
Description of The Need For The Information and Its Proposed Use: This
information collection is required in connection with Public Housing
Drug Elimination Program (PHDEP), and other public housing funding
which funds law enforcement and security personnel in public housing.
Information from this form will allow the Department to measure current
funding levels supporting law enforcement and security personnel and to
report those measurements to the Office of Domestic Policy at the White
House.
Form Number: HUD Form 52355
Respondents: Public Housing Authorities and Indian Housing Authorities
Reporting Burden:
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Number of Frequency
respondents of Hours per = Burden
responses responses Hours
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Initial reporting...................................... 1200 1 24 28,800
Annual reporting....................................... 1200 1 8 9,600
Initial record-keeping................................. 0 0 0 0
Annual record-keeping.................................. 1200 1 8 9,600
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Total annual burden.............................. 1200 1 40 48,000
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Status: New Collection
Contact: Julie B. Fagan, (202) 708-1197.
Date:
May 2, 1994.
Part A: Justification
President Clinton has pledged an additional 100,000 police officers
by 1998. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been
directed by the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to assist in fulfilling that
pledge by providing for 4,100 police-equivalent positions in 1994 and
5,000 position per year between 1995-1998 (see Attachment One).
The primary HUD programs that permit the funding of law enforcement
and security officers are the Public Housing Drug Elimination Grant
(PHDEP), Community Development Block Grant, Comprehensive Improvement
Assistance Program (CIAP), Comprehensive Grants (Comp Grant), and
operating subsidies. From those programs, HUD is expected to provide
the positions outlined above. OMB assumes that HUD will use $124
million in budget authority in FY 1994 and $150 million for FYs 1995-
1998 to fund these positions.
A1.0 Circumstances That Make Collection Of The Information Necessary
The Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) administers four of
the five programs identified above. The programs fund the activities of
only public and Indian housing authorities (HAs). PIH does not
currently have the mechanisms to measure or determine the costs or
specific number of law enforcement and security personnel our grant
monies are supporting.
The Public Housing Drug Elimination Program (PHDEP) funds a variety
of public housing anti-drug efforts, including the hiring of law
enforcement and security officers. Since program inception in 1989 the
PHDEP has funded 1762 grants totalling $532,459,075 million. According
to the plans of the FY 1991 to FY 1993 grantees, approximately $178
million of the funds were targeted to additional security or law
enforcement staff. Over the same period, the proportion of total
dollars targeted specifically to additional law enforcement and
security costs has remained about the same each year.
While PHDEP grantees are required to submit semi-annual reports on
the status of grant activities and funding, the level of detail varies
greatly, and the information is only reviewed on a grant by grant
basis, and is not collected or concatenated on a field office, regional
office or national basis. Information from PHDEP semi-annual reports
are insufficient sources because the reports are not standardized and
several other PIH funding sources pay for police/security costs.
In FY 1993, CIAP grants totalled $326 million, and are currently
being phased out. The reports required from CIAP grantees report
``anti-drug costs'', but do not include anti-crime costs, and do not
separate labor from other related costs.
In FY 1993, Comp Grants totalled $2.5 billion. The Comp Grant
program allows costs for ``health and safety'', but none of the Comp
Grant reports capture any information on security and law enforcement
personnel costs.
Public Housing Operating Subsidy (O/S) can also be used to pay for
``Protective Services'', including labor, materials, and contract
costs. In FY 1992, nationwide, $108.2 million were spent on all
protective services costs. Of those funds, $71.9 were spent on labor,
and $32.7 on security contract costs. Since FY 1987, the dollars spent
on labor costs by all housing authorities has increased by 44 percent
from $49.8 to $71.9 million, while the dollars spend on security
contract costs has increased by 42 percent from $76.1 million to $108.2
million. HUD does not collect information at any level of greater
detail.
The Law Enforcement/Security Form for which OMB approval is sought
would be required from HAs annually. Use of this form will enable the
level of law enforcement and security support to be shown in a
consistent manner, through annual compilation of the requested data.
The planned characteristics of the form are for reporting at the agency
level. HAs will report on the funds and positions relative to the
relevant grants they are operating.
A2.0 How and by Whom the Data Will be Used
A2.1 Purpose of the Data Collection
The Department will use this information for several purposes.
Primarily the data will be used to report to the Secretary, and in turn
to the Domestic Policy Council of the White House, HUD's contribution
to the Administration's effort to increase the number of law
enforcement officers by 100,000 by 1998.
The Department will also analyze the information to better
understand the contribution of public housing funds to local law
enforcement efforts. A recent HUD technical assistance contract
addressing the issues of law enforcement and public housing show an
increasing financial commitment by HAs to pay for law enforcement and
security services.
Two major policy issues are raised by these HUD funds paying for
security and law enforcement personnel: comparable level of law
enforcement services provided by local government, and liability. Many
of the financial commitments by HAs show evidence of public housing
communities which do not receive a comparable level of law enforcement
services from local government, as required by the Annual Contributions
Contract (ACC), or HAs paying additional costs disproportionate to the
additional services received. HAs compensate for the lower level of
services by paying for additional officers or security. HUD is
interested in understanding this issue, and assisting HAs to negotiate
for the required comparable level of services, and for any additional
services.
Liability has also been raised as a major policy issue. If HUD
grantees are using HUD funds to pay for law enforcement and security
personnel, it could be incumbent upon the Department to ensure that all
legal and insurance matters are adequately addressed by grantees before
financial and contractual commitments are made for law enforcement and
security services. Without any knowledge of the extent of those
commitments, and which HAs are making those commitments, HUD cannot
develop an adequate response for technical assistance and training.
As HUD funds are increasingly targeted to law enforcement and
security costs, the Department needs to understand and develop
appropriate policies to assist HAs in the development of safe and
secure environments. Without an understanding of current commitments
and their shifts from year to year, the Department will not be able to
develop effective program or technical assistance responses to HAs with
inadequate law enforcement an security coverage.
A2.2 Consequences If the Information Was Not Collected
If the Department were not to collect this information it would be
considered unresponsive to the President's request, it would continue
to lack the necessary information to understand the nature and extent
of potential liability and to assist housing authorities in negotiating
for a comparable level of local government law enforcement services.
A3.0 Use of Improved Information Technologies
The required information can be submitted to HUD Headquarters in
two formats. The first will be a bulletin board format with direct on-
land access from HAs to HUD Headquarters. The bulletin board format
will be the same as the hard copy form seen in Attachment 2. The second
and alternative format will be a one-page hard copy form as attached in
Attachment 2. The form will be machine-readable and will be submitted
directly to the Office of Public and Indian Housing at HUD Headquarters
in Washington, D.C. where the form will be scanned electronically and
the information stored in a database for future use.
A4.0 Efforts to Identify Duplication
The Department has examined existing data sources, such as the
grant applications and semi-annual reports for public housing
competitive programs including PHDEP, CIAP, and Comp Grant, as well as
Operating Subsidy reports. The required data are not consistently
available in any of these sources because none require the reporting of
law enforcement and security expenditures specifically (see A1.0
above).
In the pretest conducted by the Office of Public and Indian Housing
with nine housing authorities, most respondents indicated that housing
authorities have the necessary information, but do not keep the
information in a central location.
A5.0 Why Similar Already Available Data Cannot Be Used
As discussed in Section A1.0 above, similar, already available data
does not exist. Current HUD-required reports from HAs do not capture
security and law enforcement personnel information as required by the
department.
A6.0 Effort to Minimize the Burden for Small Entities
The set of indicators in the form represents funding sources and
budgets most commonly used by housing authorities, including small
housing authorities. Review of the drug elimination grants (DEGs) by
the Office of Public and Indian Housing shows that smaller housing
authorities with DEGs are just as likely to have DEG funds targeted to
law enforcement or security costs. The likelihood of smaller housing
authorities using other HUD grant fund to support law enforcement or
security costs is unknown because of the lack of information as
outlined in Section A1.0.
A7.0 Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
Because the Domestic Policy Council has asked the Department to
report on its annual contribution to the President's pledge of 100,000
more law enforcement officers, annual reporting should be sufficient,
and less frequent reporting would not allow the Department to report as
required.
A8.0 Circumstances Requiring Deviation From Guidelines In 5 CFR 1310.6
The proposed monitoring system is consistent with the guidelines
set forth in 5 CFR 1310.6 (Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the
Public--General Information Collection Guidelines). There are not
circumstances that require deviation from these guidelines.
A9.0 Consultations Outside of the Agency
To aid in the preparation of the PHDEP Outcome Monitoring System,
the Department has conferred with Carroll Buracker of Fredericksburg,
VA, leading authority in law enforcement services. Mr. Buracker
provided valuable comments in the definition of different types of
security and law enforcement officers more suitable for public housing
authorities, and those changes have been incorporated into the
document. The Department has also conferred with several public housing
authorities, receiving suggestions for clearer instructions and use of
terms including definitions of FTE, time frames, and local government.
These have been incorporated into the document, and will be
incorporated into the instructions.
A10.0 Arrangements and Assurances Regarding Confidentiality
The Department will develop a HUD Notice to accompany the form
explaining that the information reported will be used by HUD to measure
HUD support of national law enforcement and security personnel costs.
A11.0 Sensitive Questions
No questions of a sensitive nature are included in the proposed
report.
A12.0 Estimated Costs to the Federal Government
Staff of the Department of Housing and Urban Development developed
the form and will collect and concatenate the data. There will be no
additional contractual cost to the government.
A13.0 Respondent Burden
All public and Indian housing authorities which expend HUD funds on
law enforcement or security staff will be required to collect the data
and submit the report annually. Currently HUD does not anticipate more
than 1200 HAs to have to complete more than the first part of the form.
The initial set-up or modification of one housing agency's data
collection system is estimated to take three working days (24 hours).
Once the collection system is in place, the annual burden for one
grantee, including time to prepare data and complete the form is 8
hours. The total annual burden program-wide will vary based on the
number of housing authorities which use HUD funds to pay for law
enforcement or security staff, which is not anticipated to be more than
1200 HAs.
Name of Reporting Form: Public Housing Law Enforcement/Security Form
Respondent: All public and Indian housing authorities
Number of Respondents: 3300
Estimated Time in Hours: Initial set-up: 24 hours; subsequent reporting
8 hours/year.
Frequency in Reporting: Annual.
Annual Burden (In Hours): For 1200 housing authorities, 28,800 hours
for initial setup plus 9,600 hours/year for subsequent reporting.
Note: The reporting requirements for small housing agencies
(under 1,250 units) are somewhat less, as they are less likely to
have used more than one HUD funding source to pay for law
enforcement and security activities.
A14.0 Reasons For Change In Burden
This is a new reporting form and therefore this section is not
applicable.
A15.0 Tabulation Plans, Statistical Analysis, Study Schedule and
Publication
The concatenation and analysis of the results is intended for use
by the program staff at the Department to monitor shifts.
The concatenation and analysis of the results is intended for use
by the program staff at the Department to monitor shifts in the use of
funds and to report to Congress and the White House. As part of ongoing
program monitoring, the data gathered may be tabulated and used
periodically to assess the overall effectiveness of HUD funds in
national efforts at increased law enforcement. Currently, there are no
plans for such a formal assessment based on this report.
PART B. Sampling and Response
The Public Housing Law Enforcement and Security Form (PHLESF) is
designed to collect information from the universe of public and Indian
housing authorities. No sampling will be done.
Attachment 1: Memo Outlining 100,000 Officers
Attachment 2: Public Housing Law Enforcement and Security Form
BILLING CODE 4120-33-M
TN23MY94.002
[FR Doc. 94-12518 Filed 5-20-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-C
