[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 122 (Wednesday, June 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34258-34260]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16652]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5847-3]


Agency Information Collection Request: Measuring Success of 
Compliance Assistance Centers

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit the 
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): Measuring the Success of Compliance 
Assistance Centers. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review, EPA is 
soliciting comments on specific aspects of the collection as described 
below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 25, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Lynn Vendinello (2224A) Office of Compliance, US EPA, 401 M 
St. SW., Washington, DC 20460. Interested persons may obtain a copy of 
the ICR without charge by calling Lynn Vendinello at 202-564-7066 or 
vie e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lynn Vendinello, 202-564-7066 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
those small businesses and technical assistance providers who are 
current users of the

[[Page 34259]]

compliance assistance Centers as well as potential users of the 
Centers. Technical assistance providers are comprised of such groups 
as: state pollution prevention programs, state small business 
assistance programs, small business development centers, manufacturing 
extension partnership programs, and trade associations. The request for 
information from these affected entities will be voluntary.
    Title: Program Evaluation for the Compliance Assistance Centers. 
(OMB Control No. XXXX-XXXX: EPA ICR No. 1758.02). This is a new 
collection.
    Abstract: This will be a voluntary collection of information to 
gather feedback on the Presidential Regulatory Reinvention Initiative: 
Small Business Compliance Assistance Centers. This effort complies with 
the mandate of the ``Government Performance and Results Act of 1997'', 
the goal of which is to ``improve Federal program effectiveness and 
public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service 
quality, and customer satisfaction.'' The Compliance Assistance Centers 
are a regulatory reinvention initiative that aims to improve small 
businesses' environmental performance by facilitating their access to 
easily-understandable compliance information, enabling them to make 
educated business decisions towards improving their compliance status. 
EPA has adopted this approach as part of its expansion of compliance 
assistance, as a complement to its ongoing strong enforcement program; 
as such, it is critically important to learn if these Centers do 
improve small businesses' environmental performance.
    The Centers are communications-based rather than physical 
locations. Via the Internet, toll-free numbers, computer-based list 
servers, training, videoconference downlinks and other communications 
methods, the Centers provide easy access to: (1) Industry-specific 
multi-media environmental regulatory information; (2) compliance 
assessment tools; (3) a place to ask questions and get answers about 
compliance obligations; and (4) searchable databases on technologies 
that can help small businesses comply. The Centers serve two clients: 
small businesses themselves and their assistance providers. They are 
run, using cooperative assistance agreements between EPA, industry, 
states, universities, trade associations and other partners that small 
businesses trust to go to for compliance and technical information. 
Currently there are four operating Centers which serve the following 
sectors: printing, auto service and repair, metal finishing, and the 
agriculture community. Over the next year, the program will be expanded 
to include Centers for printed wiring board manufacturers, small 
chemical manufacturers, local governments, and transportation 
facilities.
    In order to comply with GPRA, the Office of Compliance needs to 
collect certain information that is currently not collected and which 
does not exist in our current databases. In accordance with Government 
Performance and Results Act, which ask that Federal Agencies determine 
the outcomes of their activities, EPA would like to determine if the 
Centers are achieving the goal of facilitating small businesses' 
understanding of their federal regulatory requirements as well as 
improving technical assistance providers' understanding of the 
industries they serve. In order to determine the extent to which the 
small business community are being reached, the users of our web sites 
would be asked to identify themselves by name or by category (e.g. 
printer, trade association, government agency). In order to adjust the 
Centers' services to best fit their clients' needs, Center users would 
be asked to provide feedback on the services of the Centers that are 
most useful to them. Moreover, although awareness and usefulness are 
important measures of effectiveness, the most critical measure of 
effectiveness is what actions Center users take to improve their 
compliance status and environmental performance.
    The EPA is soliciting comments to:
    (i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of 
the methodology and assumptions used;
    (iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and
    (iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    Burden Statement: EPA is interested in three types of voluntary 
information collections: (1) User identification of Centers' web sites 
and toll-free numbers by type of user (e.g. shop owner, technician, 
consultant, state agency, etc. * * *) to determine the reach of the 
Centers within their respective small business and assistance provider 
communities. (2) 5-minute phone-surveys of a random sample of the 
target audiences for each Center to determine their awareness of the 
Centers program. This survey will be administered once for each of the 
four existing Centers and once for each of the new Centers six months 
after they are operational. (3) On-line/fax-back 5-minute surveys of 
Center web site and toll free number users to get feedback on the 
program and to determine what Center users do as a next step with the 
information they acquire from a compliance assistance Center. This 
survey will be administered twice a year for each of the Centers.
    The Census Bureau, who is likely to conduct the phone surveys, has 
calculated the necessary sample size for each of the Centers for each 
type of survey. For the phone surveys, Census will need to make 500 
calls for each of the Centers to obtain the necessary 400 responses. 
For the chemical Center, local government Center and transportation 
Center, where the sectors represented are quite diverse, a larger 
sample size is needed in order to differentiate between the different 
types of users (e.g. pharmaceutical versus inorganic chemical 
manufacturer). For the on-line/fax-back surveys, the survey will be 
taken off-line upon receipt of 500 respondents (EPA will not be able to 
differentiate among respondents since EPA will not know who the users 
are). In both cases, the identity of the respondents will be kept 
confidential. Only aggregate data will be supplied to the Agency by 
Census and the Center grantees who will administer the on-line/fax-back 
surveys. The amount of time necessary to record the type of new user on 
the web site is negligible so no separate burden estimate is 
calculated.
    In addition to small business users, the Centers also aim to better 
familiarize state and local technical assistance providers with 
industry-specific processes. EPA estimates that each state has about 10 
technical assistance programs or 500 nationwide. Census has determined 
that the required sample size for this population would be 150. This 
Center audience will receive one annual phone-survey that covers all of 
the Centers, since many are interested in more than one industry 
sector. The annual public reporting burden for this overall collection 
is estimated to be 503 hours. The total annual estimated number of 
respondents is 6050.
    The average annual burden per respondent for both the on-line and 
phoned survey is .08 hours or 5 minutes. The frequency of response for 
the phone surveys is annual. The

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frequency of response for the on-line/fax-back survey is biannually. 
The total annual cost burden is $16,626. No person is required to 
respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations 
are displayed in 40 CFR Part 9.
    Send comments regarding these matters, or any other aspect of the 
information collection, including suggestions for reducing the burden, 
to the address listed above.

    Dated: June 12, 1997
Elaine Stanley,
Director.
[FR Doc. 97-16652 Filed 6-24-97; 8:45 am]
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