[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58531-58532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29054]


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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides opportunity for 
public comment on new or revised data collections, the Railroad 
Retirement Board (RRB) will publish periodic summaries of proposed data 
collections.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information 
collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information has practical utility; 
(b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection 
of the information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 
the burden related to the collection of information on respondents, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Title and purpose of information collection:
    Application for Employee Annuity Under the Railroad Retirement Act; 
OMB 3220-0002 section 2 of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA), provides 
for payment of age and service, disability and supplemental annuities 
to qualified employees. The basic requirements for a regular employee 
annuity retirement annuity under the RRA is 120 months (10 years) of 
creditable railroad service. Benefits then become payable after the 
employee meets certain other requirements, which depend, in turn, on 
the type of annuity payable. The requirements relating to the annuities 
are prescribed in 20 CFR parts 216, and 220.
    The forms currently used by the RRB to collect information needed 
for determining entitlement to and the amount of, an employee 
retirement annuity follow: Form AA-1, Application for Employee Annuity 
Under the Railroad Retirement Act, is completed by an applicant for 
either an age and service or disability annuity. It obtains information 
about an applicant's marital history, work history, military service, 
benefits from other governmental agencies and railroad pensions. Form 
AA-1d, Application for Determination of Employee Disability, is 
completed by an employee who is filing for a disability annuity under 
the RRA, or a disability freeze under the Social Security Act for early 
Medicare based on a disability. Form G-204, Verification of Workers 
Compensation/Public Disability Benefit Information, is used to obtain 
and verify information concerning worker's compensation or

[[Page 58532]]

public disability benefits that are or will be paid by a public agency 
to a disabled railroad employee.
    The RRB is proposing the addition of an electronic equivalent of 
Form AA-1 to the collection. The information collected will include all 
information obtained on the current form AA-1. The electronic 
equivalent, which will be available for completion over the Internet 
through the RRB's web-site, will also, depending on circumstances, 
incorporate information currently collected on RRB Form AA-6, Employee 
Application for Medicare, Form AA-7, Spouse/Divorce Spouse Application 
for Medicare, Form AA-8, Widow/Widower Application for Medicare, (OMB 
approved 3220-0082), Form G-19L, Annual Earnings Questionnaire, Last 
Pre-Retirement Non-Railroad Employment (OMB approved 3220-0179), and 
Form G-208, Public Service Pension Questionnaire (OMB approved 3220-
0136). Future plans will include the incorporation of information 
currently collected on RRB Forms AA-4, Self-Employment and Substantial 
Service Questionnaire (OMB approved 3220-0138) G-209, Employee Non-
Covered Service Pension Questionnaire (OMB approved 3220-0154) and G-
319 Statement Regarding Family and Earnings for Special Guaranty 
Computation and G-320, Statement By Employee Annuitant Regarding 
Student Age 18-19 (OMB approved (3220-0083) into the process.
    Upon completion of the electronic AA-1 process, the applicant will 
receive Form AA-1cert for review and signature. The AA-1cert will 
summarize information provided by/or verified by the applicant during 
the application process. Implementation of the AA-1cert will largely 
eliminate the need for the manual version of Form AA-1. However, the 
RRB will continue to use the manual version of the AA-1 in instances 
where the RRB representative is unable to contact the applicant in-
person or by telephone i.e., the applicant lives in another country 
and/or does not wish to use the Internet.
    The RRB estimates the burden for the collection as follows:

                                                Estimated Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Estimated        Estimated        Estimated
                            Form #                                  annual      completion time   annual burden
                                                                  responses      (per response)      (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AA-1 manual (without assistance).............................              100               62              103
AA-1cert (Internet without assistance).......................              650               62              672
AA-1cert (with assistance)...................................           12,650               37            7,801
AA-1d (manual without assistance)............................               50               60               50
AA-1d (manual) (with assistance).............................            5,650               35            3,296
G-204........................................................               50               15               13
                                                              --------------------------------------------------
    Total....................................................           19,100  ...............           11,935
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    The RRB proposes no changes to manual Form AA-1, Form AA-1d and 
Form G-204. Completion is required to obtain a benefit. One response is 
requested of each respondent.

Additional Information or Comments

    To request more information or to obtain a copy of the information 
collection justification, forms, and/or supporting material, please 
call the RRB Clearance Officer at (312) 751-3363. Comments regarding 
the information collection should be addressed to Ronald J. Hodapp, 
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 N. Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-
2092. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this 
notice.

Chuck Mierzwa,
Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-29054 Filed 11-20-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-M