[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 125 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35105-35106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-16656]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Part 694
Office of Postsecondary Education; Gaining Early Awareness and
Readiness for Undergraduate Programs; Negotiated Rulemaking Committee
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of negotiated rulemaking on GEAR UP.
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SUMMARY: We announce our intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking
committee to draft proposed regulations to implement chapter 2 of
subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(HEA), ``Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate
Programs'' (GEAR UP). The committee will be balanced and representative
of the significantly affected interests. We request nominations for
participants from anyone who believes that his or her organization or
group should participate in the negotiated rulemaking process for the
development of the GEAR UP proposed regulations.
DATES: We will consider all nominations for membership on the committee
received by Friday, July 9, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Please send your nomination to Philip Schulz, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 4020, ROB-3,
Washington D.C. 20202-5243, or fax to Philip Schulz at (202) 260-5872.
You may also email your nominations to: philip__schulz@ed.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Philip Schulz, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 4020, ROB-3, Washington, DC
20202-5243. Telephone: (202) 708-8429. If you use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) you may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 492 of the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended (HEA) requires that, before publishing any proposed
regulations to implement programs under Title IV of the HEA, the
Secretary obtain public involvement in the development of the proposed
regulations. After obtaining advice and recommendations, the Secretary
must conduct a negotiated rulemaking process to develop the proposed
regulations.
On March 2, 1999, we published in the Federal Register (64 FR
10184) final regulations (applicable only to the fiscal year 1999
competition) to implement GEAR UP. Section 437(d) of the General
Education Provisions Act exempts from the rulemaking requirements in
the Administrative Procedure Act regulations governing the first grant
competition under a new or substantially revised program authority (20
U.S.C. 1232(d)(1)). In order to make awards on a timely basis, we
published the regulations for the fiscal year 1999 competition in final
under the authority of section 437(d). Further, we determined that, to
make grants under the competition before the funds expired, the use of
negotiated rulemaking for the fiscal year 1999 competition would be
impracticable and contrary to the public interest under section
492(b)(2) of the HEA.
We will develop the regulations that will apply to subsequent
competitions for GEAR UP funding by following the negotiated rulemaking
procedures in section 492 of the HEA. We intend to select participants
for the negotiated rulemaking process from nominees of the
organizations or groups that represent the interests significantly
affected by the proposed regulations. To the extent possible, we will
select from the nominations individuals reflecting the diversity in the
industry, representing both large and small participants, as well as
individuals serving local areas and national markets, in accordance
with section 492(b)(1) of the HEA.
Structure of Committees
The ultimate goal of negotiated rulemaking is to reach a consensus
on the proposed regulations through discussion and negotiation among
interested and affected parties, including the Department of Education.
With this in mind, we will conduct these negotiations within a
structure that is designed to meet this goal fairly and efficiently. We
expect to keep the committee to somewhere between 15-18 members. We
believe this is an appropriate number to allow significantly affected
parties to be represented, without making the committee so large as to
be unmanageable and potentially unsuccessful. We therefore encourage
organizations and groups to work together to nominate someone that
would represent a coalition of organizations or groups. The meetings
will be open to the public.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at either of the
following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you
have questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing
Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, D.C.
area, at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number does not apply.)
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1090a.
[[Page 35106]]
Dated: June 25, 1999.
Claudio R. Prieto,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-16656 Filed 6-29-99; 8:45 am]
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