[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 109 (Tuesday, June 8, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30451-30452]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-14456]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
24 CFR Part 990
[Docket No. FR-4425-N-04]
Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation;
Meetings
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing, HUD.
ACTION: Negotiated Rulemaking Committee meetings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This document announces the fourth, fifth, and sixth meetings
of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation.
These meetings are sponsored by HUD for the purpose of discussing and
negotiating a proposed rule that would change the current method of
determining the payment of operating subsidies to public housing
agencies (PHAs). This document also announces two changes to the
membership of the negotiated rulemaking committee.
DATES: The fourth committee meeting will be held on June 15 and June
16, 1999. The fifth committee meeting will be held on July 7 and July
8, 1999. The sixth committee meeting will be held on August 11 and
August 12, 1999.
On the first day of each meeting, the meeting will begin at
approximately 9:30 am and run until completion. On the second day of
each meeting, the meeting will begin at approximately 8:30 am and run
until approximately 4:00 pm.
ADDRESSES: The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take
place at the Hyatt Dulles Hotel (Concorde Ballroom), 2300 Dulles Corner
Boulevard, Herndon, VA 22071.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joan DeWitt, Director, Funding and
Financial Management Division, Public and Indian Housing, Room 4216,
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone (202) 708-1872 ext. 4035 (this
telephone number is not toll-free). Hearing or speech-impaired
individuals may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-free
Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Secretary of HUD has established the Negotiated Rulemaking
Committee on Operating Fund Allocation to negotiate and develop a
proposed rule that would change the current method of determining the
payment of operating subsidies to PHAs. The establishment of the
committee is required by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility
Act of 1996 (Pub.L. 105-276, approved October 21, 1998; 112 Stat. 2461)
(the ``Public Housing Reform Act''). The Public Housing Reform Act
makes extensive changes to HUD's public and assisted housing programs.
These changes include the establishment of an Operating Fund for the
purpose of making assistance available to PHAs for the operation and
management of public housing. The Public Housing Reform Act requires
that the assistance to be made available from the new Operating Fund be
determined using a formula developed through negotiated rulemaking
procedures. The general effective date for the formula (the beginning
date of the fiscal year for which PHAs will determine their subsidy
eligibility using the new formula) is October 1, 1999.
On March 16, 1999 (64 FR 12920), HUD announced in the Federal
Register the establishment of HUD's Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on
Operating Fund Allocation. The March 16, 1999 document also announced
the membership list of the negotiated rulemaking committee.
II. Changes in Committee Membership
The following changes have been made to the membership of the
negotiated rulemaking committee:
1. The Wilmington, DE Housing Authority is no longer a member of
the committee. The Executive Director of the Housing Authority has been
suspended from his position by the Authority's Board of Commissioners.
Further, the Board's need to focus on internal administrative affairs
prevents it from devoting the necessary time to fully participate on
the negotiated rulemaking committee. Given the committee's need to
develop an operating fund formula by the statutory deadline of October
1, 1999, HUD determined that it was necessary to remove the Housing
Authority from the committee membership.
2. The National Organization of African-Americans in Housing
(NOAAH) has been added to the committee membership. HUD invited NOAAH
to be a member following the membership withdrawal of the Wilmington,
DE Housing Authority. NOAAH had advised HUD of its interest in
membership prior to final selection of members and had been placed on a
list of potential alternates. HUD determined that NOAAH's unique
purpose and subject matter competencies merited an invitation for
committee membership.
[[Page 30452]]
III. Upcoming Meetings of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee
To date there have been three meetings of the negotiated rulemaking
committee. The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take
place as described in the DATES and ADDRESSES section of this document.
The agenda planned for the committee meetings includes: (1)
Workgroup sessions to discuss various issues related to the
implementation of an operating fund formula; (2) full committee
discussions of the work-products developed by the workgroups; (3)
development of draft regulatory language; and (4) the scheduling of
future meetings, if necessary.
In accordance with the General Services Administration (GSA)
regulations implementing the Federal Advisory Committee Act, HUD
normally publishes a Federal Register meeting announcement at least 15
calendar days before the date of an advisory committee meeting). The
GSA regulations, however, also provide that an agency may give less
than 15 days notice if the reasons for doing so are included in the
Federal Register meeting notice. (See 41 CFR 10-6.1015(b).) Due to the
difficulty in obtaining suitable hotel and conference room
accommodations in the Washington, DC area, it has not been possible for
HUD to announce the date and location of the fourth committee meeting
before today. Given the strict statutory deadline for implementation of
the Operating Fund formula, HUD believes it is imperative that the
negotiations for development of the formula not be delayed. Failure to
publish the Operating Fund final rule on a timely basis will delay the
provision of operating subsidies to PHAs. Accordingly, rather than
defer the negotiations, HUD has decided to proceed with the committee
meeting scheduled for June 15 and June 16, 1999.
The meetings will be open to the public without advance
registration. Public attendance may be limited to the space available.
Members of the public may make statements during the meeting, to the
extent time permits, and file written statements with the committee for
its consideration. Written statements should be submitted to the
address listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION section of this notice.
Summaries of committee meetings will be available for public inspection
and copying at the address in the same section.
Dated: June 2, 1999.
Deborah Vincent,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
[FR Doc. 99-14456 Filed 6-7-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-P
