[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 80 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20567-20569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11091]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: 
Comment Request: FNS-583, Employment and Training Program Report

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on proposed information collection of the FNS-583, Employment and 
Training Program Report.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 26, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Send comments and requests for copies of this information 
collection to John Knaus, Chief, Program Design Branch, Program 
Development Division, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, VA 22302.
    Comments are invited on: (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including 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 technological collection techniques or 
other form of information technology.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for OMB approval. All comments will also become a matter of 
public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Knaus, (703) 305-2519.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Employment and Training Program Report.
    OMB Number: 0584-0339.
    Expiration Date: August 31, 1998.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.

[[Page 20568]]

    Abstract: Title 7 CFR 273.7(c)(6) requires State agencies to submit 
quarterly Employment and Training (E&T) Program reports containing 
monthly figures for participation in the program. The Food and 
Nutrition Service (FNS) has designed a form for this purpose--the 
Employment and Training Program Report, form FNS-583. The information 
contained in the FNS-583 is used by FNS to determine whether States 
have met their mandated performance standards.
    The enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Public Law 105-33 
(Balanced Budget Act), in August, 1997, amended the requirements for 
the Food Stamp Program E&T requirements so that States' efforts are now 
focused on a particular segment of the food stamp population--able-
bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). The Food Stamp Act of 1997, 
as amended by the Balanced Budget Act, permits a State to exempt each 
month up to 15 percent of its population of ABAWDs that is in danger of 
losing eligibility for the Food Stamp Program. (7 U.S.C. 
2015(o)(6)(C)). The statute also gives the Secretary the duty of 
adjusting the number of exemptions assigned for a current fiscal year 
based on the actual number of exemptions granted by the State in the 
preceding year. (7 U.S.C. 2015(o)(6)(E)).
    The law further provides supplemental funding of unmatched Federal 
E&T funds for Fiscal Years 1998 through 2002 and targets 80 percent of 
all Federal E&T funds to qualifying work activities for ABAWDs. (7 
U.S.C. 2025(h)(1)(E)). States may use up to 20 percent of their 100 
percent E&T grant allocation to provide allowable work activities for 
their non-ABAWDs population. Under the law, the Secretary must monitor 
States' expenditures of E&T funds, including the cost of individual E&T 
components, to ensure the reasonable cost of efficiently and 
economically providing these activities. (7 U.S.C. 2025(h)(5)). The law 
also gives the Secretary the authority to set maximum reimbursements 
rates for E&T components. (7 U.S.C. 2025(h)(3)).
    The Balanced Budget Act mandated implementation of these provisions 
effective October 1, 1997 without regard as to whether regulations were 
promulgated to implement them. For this reason, FNS submitted an 
emergency request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on 
February 17, 1998, to revise the information collection for the FNS-583 
form to reflect the new E&T Program requirements of the statute. OMB 
approved the total number of responses, respondents and burden hours 
described in this notice for six months, with an expiration date of 
August 31, 1998. In the meantime, FNS is preparing an interim final 
rulemaking to implement the new E&T Program provisions and is 
redesigning the FNS-583 form to include the new reporting requirements 
described in this notice.
    Because of the changes to the E&T Program created by enactment of 
the Balanced Budget Act, FNS is providing a detailed explanation about 
the new reporting requirements which must be included in the FNS-583 
and how we calculated the total number of responses, respondents and 
burden hours.
    Work registration: State agencies have the option of providing 
either a State-designed work registration form to each household member 
required to register for work or noting the registration in the case 
file. There were 4,870,489 work registrants, including ABAWDS, during 
FY 1997. FNS estimates that the work registration process will take 
approximately 1.5 minutes (or .025 hours) per person per year. The 
total burden hours for household members participating in the work 
registration process is 121,762 hours (4,870,489  x  .025 = 121,762).
    In preparing the FNS-583 report, States must collect and assemble 
information quarterly about categories of E&T Program participants, 
including ABAWDs. Many States will have already classified work 
registrants into categories by annotating a computer record at the time 
each participant registered for work. Therefore, FNS estimates that it 
will take States an average of one half of the 1.5 minute work 
registration time, or 45 seconds per record (0.0125 hours), to compile 
the data for the FNS-583. With the total number of work registrants per 
year of 4,870,489, the total number of burden hours per year for the 
States to compile work registration data for the FNS-583 is 60,881 
(4,870,489 x 0.0125 = 60,881), or 1,148.7 hours per State agency 
respondent (60,881 / 53 = 1,148.7). The total annual burden hours for 
the work registration process is 182,643 (121,762+60,881 = 182,643). 
When FNS submitted its emergency request in February, 1998, we 
originally calculated the total annual burden hours for the work 
registration process as 211,867. Upon checking our calculations, we 
realized that an error was made. Due to our error, the total annual 
burden hours for the work registration process will show a decrease of 
29,224 (211,867-182,643). The correction will be made in our next 
submission.
    15 percent ABAWDs exemption: State agencies must track the number 
of ABAWDs exemptions used during each month and report these numbers as 
an attachment to the quarterly FNS-583 report. Based on our experience, 
FNS is assuming there are 42 State agencies that will need to track the 
number of exemptions used on a monthly basis (including Guam and the 
Virgin Islands); eleven states will not use any exemptions.
    States may track the number of exemptions using information 
technology that best suits the needs of their individual systems of 
operations. The tracking procedure could be as simple as annotating a 
file. FNS is therefore estimating that it will take 15 seconds (or .25 
minutes) to note the exemption. FNS has allocated a total of 63,620 
exemptions a month to all the States. However, since 11 States will not 
have to track the exemptions, FNS subtracted 14,740 monthly exemptions 
from the total of 63,620, to arrive at 48,880 exemptions a month that 
will need to be tracked, for a total of 586,560 a year (48,880 x 12). 
It will take a total of 2,444 hours per year, or an average of 58 
reporting hours per respondent per year (586,560 exemptions  x  .25 
minutes) / 60 minutes = 2,444 hours per year / 42 respondents = 58 
burden hours per year per State agency respondent) to track the 15 
percent ABAWDs exemption.
    Every State that is allocated exemptions has to comply with the 
reporting requirements, even if a State uses no exemptions. This 
information will be used for calculating exemption allocations for the 
following year. FNS is assuming there will be 53 respondents and it 
will take 6 hours per year per State to track the total ABAWDs 
exemptions, for a total of 318 hours per year (6 x 53 = 318). Thus, the 
total annual burden hours to track and report the 15 percent ABAWDs 
exemptions is 2,762 (2,444+318 = 2,762).
    E&T funding requirements for ABAWDs activities. States must report 
the following information as an attachment to the quarterly FNS-583 
report: (1) The number of filled and offered (unfilled) workfare slots; 
(2) the number of filled and offered education and training slots; (3) 
the amount of Federal 100 percent E&T funding spent on workfare slots 
that meet the requirements of Section 6(o)(2)(C) of the Act. This 
information must be broken out to show the amount of money spent on 
qualifying workfare slots in areas of a State that have received a 
waiver in accordance with section 6(o)(4) of the Act and money spent in 
non-waived areas. (4) The amount of Federal 100 percent E&T funding 
spent on education

[[Page 20569]]

and training slots that meet the requirements of section 6(o)(2)(B) of 
the Act. This information must be broken out to show the amount of 
money spent on qualifying education and training slots in areas of a 
State that have received a waiver in accordance with section 6(o)(4) of 
the Act and money spent in non-waived areas.
    In consultation with OMB, FNS established one reimbursement rate 
for both workfare and 20-hour a week education and training components. 
The rates established are $30 for an offered work slot and $175 for a 
filled work slot. (A slot is ``filled'' when an E&T participant reports 
to a work or training site to begin his/her work activities; a slot is 
``offered'' when an E&T participant either refuses a bona fide workfare 
or training opportunity or does not report.) FNS estimates these 
reimbursement rates will create 140,000 E&T slots for eligible ABAWDs, 
with the number evenly divided between filled and offered education and 
training component slots and filled and offered workfare component 
slots. Thus, each State will create 2,642 E&T slots annually for ABAWDs 
(140,000/53 = 2,642), with an average 660 E&T slots created each 
quarter (2,642/4 = 660), evenly divided between filled and unfilled.
    We estimate that it will take States 3 minutes (3/60 = .05 hours) 
to note in an ABAWDs' food stamp case record (or other record) if she/
he was offered one of the two types of E&T slots and whether he/she 
filled the slot. The total time involved for this E&T activity is 7,000 
hours per year (140,000 x .05 = 7,000), or 132 hours per year per State 
(7000/53 = 132).
    Section 6(o)(4) of the Food Stamp Act gives the Secretary the 
authority to waive the ABAWD work requirements if an area of a State 
has an unemployment rate of over 10 percent or does not have a 
sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for ABAWDs. (7 U.S.C. 
2015(o)(4)). States have already submitted requests to FNS for waivers 
of the ABAWDs work requirements and know which areas are waived and 
which are not waived. For the quarterly FNS-583, States will have to 
review the food stamp case records of 660 ABAWDs to determine if the 
individual filled or was offered an E&T slot, and then place him/her in 
the appropriate category. Since States will know ahead of time which 
areas are waived and non-waived, States can separate the slots 
accordingly, multiply each slot in each area by the amount of funds 
spent, and then total up the figures for the waived and non-waived 
areas. These figures would then be reported on the FNS-583.
    Based on the average of 660 slots per quarter per State, FNS 
estimates that it will take States 4 hours per quarter, or 16 hours per 
year, to track this information. The total time burden for tracking is 
848 hours (16 hours annually per State  x  53 states). The total burden 
hours for tracking this information is 7,848 (7,000 + 848) or 148 hours 
per year per State respondent.
    Compiling E&T funding information for the quarterly FNS-583 report: 
FNS calculates it takes 8.5 hours per quarter for each of the 42 
automated States to prepare their FNS-583s, for a total of 1,428 hours 
per year (8.5 x 42 = 357 per quarter; 357 x 4 = 1,428 total annually). 
The remaining 11 non-automated States used 15.5 hours each quarter to 
prepare their FNS-583s, for a total of 682 hours per year (15.5 x 11 = 
170.5 quarterly, 170.5 x 4 = 682 annually). Adding the two figures 
(1,428 + 682), we calculate it takes States a total of 2,110 total 
hours per year to prepare the quarterly FNS-583s or approximately 39.8 
hours per respondent per year. The total burden hours (excluding the 
work registration process) for the new E&T funding requirements of the 
Balanced Budget Act is 9,958 (7,000 + 848+ 2,110).
    Summary:


Number of individuals registered for work..................    4,870,489
Number of State agencies registering individuals for work..           53
                                                            ------------
    Total Number of Respondents............................    4,870,542
                                                                        


Number of individuals annually registering for work........  \1\ 4,870,4
                                                                      89
Number of annual State agencies' responses.................      \2\ 212
                                                            ------------
    Total Number of Responses..............................   4,870,701 
                                                                        
\1\ (4,870,489 x 1)                                                     
\2\ (53 x 4)                                                            

    In calculating the total annual burden hours, FNS added all the 
burden hours for the work registration process, the 15 percent ABAWDs 
exemptions, and the E&T funding requirements (which includes the 
preparation time for the FNS-583).

Burden hours for work registration.........................      182,643
Burden hours for 15 percent ABAWDs exemptions..............        2,762
Burden hours for E&T funding requirements..................        9,958
                                                            ------------
    Total Annual Burden Hours..............................      195,363
                                                                        

    Frequency: The FNS-583 report must be completed and submitted to 
FNS on a quarterly basis by the 45th day following the end 
of the quarter.
    Affected Public: Individual households and State and local 
governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,870,542.
    Estimated Number of Responses: 4,870,701.
    Estimated Time per Response: .025 hours per individual; 347.17 
hours per State agency.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 195,363 hours.

    Dated April 21,1998.
Yvette S. Jackson,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 98-11091 Filed 4-24-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-U