03-23330. Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Meeting

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, HUD.

ACTION:

Notice of Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meeting.

SUMMARY:

This document announces a meeting of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The purpose of the Committee is to discuss and negotiate a proposed rule that would change the regulations for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program allocation formula, and other regulatory issues that arise out of the allocation or reallocation of IHBG funds.

DATES:

The committee meeting will be held on Monday, September 22, 2003, Tuesday, September 23, 2003, Wednesday, September 24, 2003, and Thursday, September 25, 2003. The committee meeting will begin at approximately 9 a.m. on Monday, September 23, 2003, and is scheduled to adjourn at 3 p.m. on Thursday, September 25, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will take place at the Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20009; telephone [phone] (this is not a toll-free number).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Rodger J. Boyd, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs, Room 4126, Office of Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410-5000, telephone, [phone] (this is not a toll-free number). 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

HUD has established the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Negotiated Rulemaking Committee for the purposes of discussing and negotiating a proposed rule that would change the regulations for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program allocation formula, and other IHBG program regulations that arise out of the allocation or reallocation of IHBG funds.

The IHBG program was established under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.) (NAHASDA). NAHASDA reorganized housing assistance to Native Americans by eliminating and consolidating a number of HUD assistance programs in a single block grant program. In addition, NAHASDA provides federal assistance for Indian tribes in a manner that recognizes the right of Indian self-determination and tribal self-government. Following the procedures of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 (5 U.S.C. 561-570), HUD and its tribal partners negotiated the March 12, 1998 (63 FR 12349) final rule, which created a new 24 CFR part 1000 containing the IHBG program regulations.

II. Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Meeting

This document announces a meeting of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The committee meeting will take place as described in the DATES and ADDRESSES section of this document. The agenda planned for the meeting includes discussion of work group reports by the full committee and the development of draft regulatory language. The meeting will be open to the public without advance registration. Public attendance may be limited to the space available. Members of the public may be allowed to 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 CONTACT section of this document.

Dated: September 9, 2003.

Rodger J. Boyd,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Programs.