[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 71 (Thursday, April 13, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 19189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3521]



[[Page 19189]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects

    Title: Court Improvement Program New Grants.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The President signed the Deficit Reduction act of 
2005, Public Law 109-171, into law on February 8, 2006. The law 
authorizes and appropriates funds for two new grants under the Court 
Improvement Program in title IV-B, section 438 of the Social Security 
Act. The highest State court in a State with an approved title IV-E 
plan is eligible to apply for either or both of the new grants. The new 
grants are for the purposes of: (1) Ensuring that the needs of children 
are met in a timely and complete manner through improved case tracking 
and analysis of child welfare cases and (2) training judges, attorneys, 
and other legal personnel in child welfare cases and conducting cross-
training with child welfare agency staff and contractors.
    The statute requires separate applications for these two new 
grants. The annual burden estimates below describe the estimated burden 
for each one of the new grants. ACF proposes to collect information 
from the States about their work under these grants (applications, 
program reports) by way of a Program Instruction, which will be issued 
by June 1, 2006. This Program Instruction will describe the 
programmatic and fiscal provisions and reporting requirements for each 
of the grants, specify the application submittal and approval 
procedures for the grants for fiscal years 2006 through 2010, and 
identify technical resources for use by State courts during the course 
of the grants. The agency will use the information received to ensure 
compliance with the statute and provide training and technical 
assistance to the grantees.
    Respondents: State Courts.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application.....................................              52               1              40           2,080
Annual Program Report...........................              52               1              36           1,872
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours.........  ..............  ..............  ..............           3,952
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    In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 
by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, 
SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. E-mail 
address: [email protected]. All requests should be identified 
by the title of the information collection.
    The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.

    Dated: April 6, 2006.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 06-3521 Filed 4-12-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M