[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 125 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35105-35106]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-16656]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 694


Office of Postsecondary Education; Gaining Early Awareness and 
Readiness for Undergraduate Programs; Negotiated Rulemaking Committee

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of negotiated rulemaking on GEAR UP.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: We announce our intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking 
committee to draft proposed regulations to implement chapter 2 of 
subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(HEA), ``Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate 
Programs'' (GEAR UP). The committee will be balanced and representative 
of the significantly affected interests. We request nominations for 
participants from anyone who believes that his or her organization or 
group should participate in the negotiated rulemaking process for the 
development of the GEAR UP proposed regulations.

DATES: We will consider all nominations for membership on the committee 
received by Friday, July 9, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Please send your nomination to Philip Schulz, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 4020, ROB-3, 
Washington D.C. 20202-5243, or fax to Philip Schulz at (202) 260-5872. 
You may also email your nominations to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Philip Schulz, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 4020, ROB-3, Washington, DC 
20202-5243. Telephone: (202) 708-8429. If you use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) you may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding 
paragraph.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 492 of the Higher Education Act of 
1965, as amended (HEA) requires that, before publishing any proposed 
regulations to implement programs under Title IV of the HEA, the 
Secretary obtain public involvement in the development of the proposed 
regulations. After obtaining advice and recommendations, the Secretary 
must conduct a negotiated rulemaking process to develop the proposed 
regulations.
    On March 2, 1999, we published in the Federal Register (64 FR 
10184) final regulations (applicable only to the fiscal year 1999 
competition) to implement GEAR UP. Section 437(d) of the General 
Education Provisions Act exempts from the rulemaking requirements in 
the Administrative Procedure Act regulations governing the first grant 
competition under a new or substantially revised program authority (20 
U.S.C. 1232(d)(1)). In order to make awards on a timely basis, we 
published the regulations for the fiscal year 1999 competition in final 
under the authority of section 437(d). Further, we determined that, to 
make grants under the competition before the funds expired, the use of 
negotiated rulemaking for the fiscal year 1999 competition would be 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest under section 
492(b)(2) of the HEA.
    We will develop the regulations that will apply to subsequent 
competitions for GEAR UP funding by following the negotiated rulemaking 
procedures in section 492 of the HEA. We intend to select participants 
for the negotiated rulemaking process from nominees of the 
organizations or groups that represent the interests significantly 
affected by the proposed regulations. To the extent possible, we will 
select from the nominations individuals reflecting the diversity in the 
industry, representing both large and small participants, as well as 
individuals serving local areas and national markets, in accordance 
with section 492(b)(1) of the HEA.

Structure of Committees

    The ultimate goal of negotiated rulemaking is to reach a consensus 
on the proposed regulations through discussion and negotiation among 
interested and affected parties, including the Department of Education. 
With this in mind, we will conduct these negotiations within a 
structure that is designed to meet this goal fairly and efficiently. We 
expect to keep the committee to somewhere between 15-18 members. We 
believe this is an appropriate number to allow significantly affected 
parties to be represented, without making the committee so large as to 
be unmanageable and potentially unsuccessful. We therefore encourage 
organizations and groups to work together to nominate someone that 
would represent a coalition of organizations or groups. The meetings 
will be open to the public.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document, as well as all other Department of 
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe 
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at either of the 
following sites:

http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html

To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with 
Search, which is available free at either of the previous sites. If you 
have questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing 
Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, D.C. 
area, at (202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the 
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal 
Regulations is available on GPO Access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number does not apply.)

    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1090a.


[[Page 35106]]


    Dated: June 25, 1999.
Claudio R. Prieto,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 99-16656 Filed 6-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P