[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 109 (Tuesday, June 8, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30451-30452]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-14456]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 990

[Docket No. FR-4425-N-04]


Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation; 
Meetings

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

ACTION: Negotiated Rulemaking Committee meetings.

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SUMMARY: This document announces the fourth, fifth, and sixth meetings 
of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation. 
These meetings are sponsored by HUD for the purpose of discussing and 
negotiating a proposed rule that would change the current method of 
determining the payment of operating subsidies to public housing 
agencies (PHAs). This document also announces two changes to the 
membership of the negotiated rulemaking committee.

DATES: The fourth committee meeting will be held on June 15 and June 
16, 1999. The fifth committee meeting will be held on July 7 and July 
8, 1999. The sixth committee meeting will be held on August 11 and 
August 12, 1999.
    On the first day of each meeting, the meeting will begin at 
approximately 9:30 am and run until completion. On the second day of 
each meeting, the meeting will begin at approximately 8:30 am and run 
until approximately 4:00 pm.

ADDRESSES: The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take 
place at the Hyatt Dulles Hotel (Concorde Ballroom), 2300 Dulles Corner 
Boulevard, Herndon, VA 22071.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joan DeWitt, Director, Funding and 
Financial Management Division, Public and Indian Housing, Room 4216, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone (202) 708-1872 ext. 4035 (this 
telephone number is not toll-free). 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

    The Secretary of HUD has established the Negotiated Rulemaking 
Committee on Operating Fund Allocation to negotiate and develop a 
proposed rule that would change the current method of determining the 
payment of operating subsidies to PHAs. The establishment of the 
committee is required by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility 
Act of 1996 (Pub.L. 105-276, approved October 21, 1998; 112 Stat. 2461) 
(the ``Public Housing Reform Act''). The Public Housing Reform Act 
makes extensive changes to HUD's public and assisted housing programs. 
These changes include the establishment of an Operating Fund for the 
purpose of making assistance available to PHAs for the operation and 
management of public housing. The Public Housing Reform Act requires 
that the assistance to be made available from the new Operating Fund be 
determined using a formula developed through negotiated rulemaking 
procedures. The general effective date for the formula (the beginning 
date of the fiscal year for which PHAs will determine their subsidy 
eligibility using the new formula) is October 1, 1999.
    On March 16, 1999 (64 FR 12920), HUD announced in the Federal 
Register the establishment of HUD's Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on 
Operating Fund Allocation. The March 16, 1999 document also announced 
the membership list of the negotiated rulemaking committee.

II. Changes in Committee Membership

    The following changes have been made to the membership of the 
negotiated rulemaking committee:
    1. The Wilmington, DE Housing Authority is no longer a member of 
the committee. The Executive Director of the Housing Authority has been 
suspended from his position by the Authority's Board of Commissioners. 
Further, the Board's need to focus on internal administrative affairs 
prevents it from devoting the necessary time to fully participate on 
the negotiated rulemaking committee. Given the committee's need to 
develop an operating fund formula by the statutory deadline of October 
1, 1999, HUD determined that it was necessary to remove the Housing 
Authority from the committee membership.
    2. The National Organization of African-Americans in Housing 
(NOAAH) has been added to the committee membership. HUD invited NOAAH 
to be a member following the membership withdrawal of the Wilmington, 
DE Housing Authority. NOAAH had advised HUD of its interest in 
membership prior to final selection of members and had been placed on a 
list of potential alternates. HUD determined that NOAAH's unique 
purpose and subject matter competencies merited an invitation for 
committee membership.

[[Page 30452]]

III. Upcoming Meetings of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee

    To date there have been three meetings of the negotiated rulemaking 
committee. The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take 
place as described in the DATES and ADDRESSES section of this document.
    The agenda planned for the committee meetings includes: (1) 
Workgroup sessions to discuss various issues related to the 
implementation of an operating fund formula; (2) full committee 
discussions of the work-products developed by the workgroups; (3) 
development of draft regulatory language; and (4) the scheduling of 
future meetings, if necessary.
    In accordance with the General Services Administration (GSA) 
regulations implementing the Federal Advisory Committee Act, HUD 
normally publishes a Federal Register meeting announcement at least 15 
calendar days before the date of an advisory committee meeting). The 
GSA regulations, however, also provide that an agency may give less 
than 15 days notice if the reasons for doing so are included in the 
Federal Register meeting notice. (See 41 CFR 10-6.1015(b).) Due to the 
difficulty in obtaining suitable hotel and conference room 
accommodations in the Washington, DC area, it has not been possible for 
HUD to announce the date and location of the fourth committee meeting 
before today. Given the strict statutory deadline for implementation of 
the Operating Fund formula, HUD believes it is imperative that the 
negotiations for development of the formula not be delayed. Failure to 
publish the Operating Fund final rule on a timely basis will delay the 
provision of operating subsidies to PHAs. Accordingly, rather than 
defer the negotiations, HUD has decided to proceed with the committee 
meeting scheduled for June 15 and June 16, 1999.
    The meetings will be open to the public without advance 
registration. Public attendance may be limited to the space available. 
Members of the public may 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 section of this notice. 
Summaries of committee meetings will be available for public inspection 
and copying at the address in the same section.

    Dated: June 2, 1999.
Deborah Vincent,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
[FR Doc. 99-14456 Filed 6-7-99; 8:45 am]
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