00-19584. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to Office of Management and Budget

AGENCY:

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces that the Information Collection Request, “Documented Petitions for Federal Acknowledgment as an Indian Tribe,” is submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, for review and extension of this information collection.

DATES:

Submit comments on or before September 1, 2000.

ADDRESSES:

Send your written comments to Attention: Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102,725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503. Please send a duplicate copy to R. Lee Fleming, Chief, Branch of Acknowledgment and Research, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street, N.W., MS-4660 MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240. If you wish to submit comments by facsimile, the number is [phone]. You may submit comments by contacting R. Lee Fleming at [phone]. Please mention OMB Number 1076-0104.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or copies of the information or copies of the information collection submission should be directed to R. Lee Fleming, Chief, Branch of Acknowledgment and Research, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C Street, N.W., MS-4660 MIB, Washington, D.C. 20240. You may also call [phone].

All written comments will be available for public inspection in Room 4660 of the Main Interior Building, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The information collection is needed to establish whether a petitioning group has the characteristics necessary to be acknowledged as having a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Federal recognition makes the group eligible for benefits from the federal government. No comments were received.

II. Method of Collection

The acknowledgment regulations at 25 CFR Part 83 contain seven criteria (§ 83.7) which unrecognized groups seeking Federal acknowledgment as Indian tribes must demonstrate that they meet. Information collected from petitioning groups under these regulations provide anthropological, genealogical and historical data used by the Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs to establish whether a petitioning group has the characteristics necessary to be acknowledged as having a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Respondents are not required to retain copies of information submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs but will probably maintain copies for their own use. No periodic reports are required which would impose a recordkeeping requirement.

III. Data

Title: Collection of Information for Federal Acknowledgment Under 25 CFR Part 83.

OMB Number: 1076-0104.

Expiration Date: July 31, 2000.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Affected Entities: Groups petitioning for Federal acknowledgment as Indian tribes.

Response: Respondents are seeking to obtain a benefit.

Estimated Number of Petitioners: 10.

Estimated Time per Petition: 2,237.7 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 22,377.

Estimated Annual Costs to petitioners: $895,080 (2,237.7 hrs × $40.00 per hr × 10 petitioners).

IV. Request for Comments

You are invited to comment on:

(a) Whether the 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 the burden (including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information, including the 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 collection techniques or the forms of information technology.

Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to request that we consider withholding your name, street address, and other contact information (such as Internet address, FAX, or phone number) from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment. We will make available for public inspection in their entirety all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Dated: July 28, 2000.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.