[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 99 (Monday, May 24, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28009-28011]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-12999]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces the following Information 
Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for review and comment: Individual Landholder's 
Certification and Reporting Forms for Acreage Limitation, 43 CFR part 
426 and Proposed Rule 43 CFR part 428, OMB Control Number: 1006-0005. 
The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its 
expected cost and burden.

DATES: Your comments must be received on or before June 23, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any 
other aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for 
reducing the burden, to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of the Interior, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington DC 
20503. A copy of your comments should also be directed to the Bureau of 
Reclamation, Attention: D-5200, PO Box 25007, Denver, CO 80225-0007.


[[Page 28010]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or a copy of 
the proposed forms contact Marilyn Rehfeld, D-5200, PO Box 25007, 
Denver, CO 80225-007; or by telephone: (303) 445-2899.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: .
    Title: Individual Landholder's Certification and Reporting Forms 
for Acreage Limitation, 43 CFR part 426 and Proposed Rule 43 CFR part 
428.
    Abstract: This information collection requires certain landholders 
to complete forms demonstrating their compliance with the acreage 
limitation provisions of Federal reclamation law. These forms establish 
each landholder's status with respect to landownership limitations, 
full-cost pricing thresholds, lease requirements, and other provisions 
of Federal reclamation law, Title II of Public Law 97-293, and 
regulations 43 CFR part 426.
    All landholders whose entire westside landholdings total 40 acres 
or less are exempt from the requirement to submit RRA forms. This 
collection of information allows the Bureau of Reclamation (we, our, or 
us) to establish landholders' compliance with Federal reclamation law.

Changes to the RRA Forms and the Instructions to Those Forms

    We made some changes to the current RRA forms and rewrote the 
instructions to those forms in ``plain language'' to meet the 
requirements of the President's June 1, 1998, memorandum. Other changes 
to the forms and the instructions to the forms are editorial in nature 
and are designed to increase the respondents' understanding of the 
forms, instructions to the forms, and what information is required to 
be submitted with the forms to the districts. The proposed revisions to 
the RRA forms will be included starting in the 2000 water year.

Draft of a New RRA Form

    We published a notice of proposed rulemaking entitled: Information 
Requirements for Certain Farm Operations In Excess of 960 Acres and the 
Eligibility of Certain Formerly Excess Land, 43 CFR part 428, in the 
Federal Register on November 18, 1998 (63 FR 64154, Nov. 18, 1998), and 
requested comments on the proposed rule and the information collection 
to be submitted to us by January 19, 1999. This comment period was 
later extended to February 18, 1999, and then reopened to April 12, 
1999. The proposed rulemaking requires farm operators who provide 
services to more than 960 nonexempt acres westwide, held by a single 
trust or legal entity or any combination of trusts and legal entities, 
to submit RRA forms to the district(s) where such land is located. We 
requested comments from the public on whether to revise an existing RRA 
form or create a new form for farm operators to prepare should the 
proposed rule be finalized.
    Just in case, if the rule is finalized and it is determined that 
farm operators will be required to submit a separate form, we have 
prepared a draft of this form for review and comment (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT). We have included the estimated burden for the 
draft farm operator form (Form 7-21FARMOP) in this notice. Farm 
operators are not required to submit an RRA form to their district 
unless the proposed rulemaking is published as a final rule in the 
Federal Register.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Respondents: Landholders (direct or indirect landowners or lessees) 
and farm operators of certain lands in Bureau of Reclamation projects, 
whose landholdings exceed specified RRA forms submittal thresholds.
    Estimated Total Number of Respondents: 19,202.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.02.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 19,586.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 14,829 hours.
    Estimate of Burden for Each Form:

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                                                                                      Burden
                                     Estimated     Frequency of    Total annual    estimate per    Total burden
            Form No.                 number of       response        responses       form (in          hours
                                    respondents                                      minutes)
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Form 7-2180.....................           5,358            1.02           5,465              60           5,465
Form 7-2180EZ...................             537            1.02             548              45             411
Form 7-2181.....................           1,758            1.02           1,793             (1)           2,331
Form 7-2184.....................              40            1.02              41              45              31
Form 7-2190.....................           1,910            1.02           1,948              60           1,948
Form 7-2190EZ...................             113            1.02             115              45              86
Form 7-2191.....................             891            1.02             909             (1)           1,182
Form 7-2194.....................               4            1.02               4              45               3
Form 7-21PE.....................             205            1.02             209             (2)             230
Form 7-21TRUST..................           1,331            1.02           1,358              60           1,358
Form 7-21VERIFY.................           6,452            1.02           6,581              12           1,316
Form 7-21FC.....................             243            1.02             248              30             124
Form 7-21XS.....................             164            1.02             167              30              84
Form 7-21FARMOP.................             196            1.02             200             (2)             260
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    Total.......................          19,202            1.02          19,586  ..............          14,829
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\1\ 1 hr. 18 min.
2 1 hr. 6 min.

Comments

    Comments are invited on:
    (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of our functions, including whether the 
information will have practical use;
    (b) The accuracy of our burden estimate for the proposed collection 
of information;
    (c) Ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    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. Reclamation will display a valid OMB 
control number on the survey form. A Federal Register notice with a 60-
day comment period soliciting

[[Page 28011]]

comments on this collection of information was published in the Federal 
Register on January 4, 1999 (64 FR 174, Jan. 4, 1999). A list of the 
comments received and our responses to those comments is being sent to: 
(1) All districts, (2) all commenters, and (3) OMB with this ICR; it is 
also available from us upon request.
    OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove this information 
collection, but may respond after 30 days; therefore, public comment 
should be submitted to OMB within 30 days in order to assure maximum 
consideration.
Wayne O. Deason,
Acting Director, Program Analysis Office.
[FR Doc. 99-12999 Filed 5-21-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-94-M