[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30113-30114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-8036]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Federal Claims Collection Methods for Food Stamp 
Program Recipient Claims

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on proposed information collections. This Notice of Proposed 
Information Collection announces the intent of the Food and Nutrition 
Service to revise and extend the information collection requirements 
associated with initiating and conducting Federal collection actions 
against households with delinquent food stamp recipient debts.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 24, 2006 to 
be assured consideration.

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;

[[Page 30114]]

(b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on those who are to 
respond, including through the use of appropriate, automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Send comments to Jane Duffield, Chief, Payment Accuracy Branch, 
Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 818, 
Alexandria, Virginia, 22302.
    All comments will be summarized and included in the request for 
Office of Management and Budget approval of the information collection. 
All comments will become a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leslie Byrd at (703) 305-2472.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Federal Claims Collection Methods for Food Stamp Program 
Recipient Claims.
    OMB Number: 0584-0446.
    Form Number: None.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2006.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: Section 13(b) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended 
(7 U.S.C. 2022(b)), and Food Stamp Program (FSP) regulations at 7 CFR 
273.18 require State agencies to refer debtors for food stamp benefit 
over-issuance to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collection. 
The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, 31 U.S.C. 3701, et seq., 
requires these debts to be referred to Treasury for collection when 
they are 180 days or more delinquent. Through the Treasury Offset 
Program (TOP), 31 CFR Part 285, payments such as Federal income tax 
refunds, Federal salaries and other Federal payments payable to these 
delinquent debtors will be offset and the amount applied to the 
delinquent debt. TOP places a burden on States agencies and/or former 
food stamp recipients who owe delinquent debts in three areas: 60-day 
notices from State agencies to debtors that their debt will be referred 
to TOP; State-level submissions; and automated data processing (ADP).

TOP 60-Day Notice Proposed Burden

    The proposed burden associated with the 60-day notice involves both 
the debtors and the State agencies. The 60-day notice notifies the 
debtor of the proposed referral to TOP and provides the right for 
review and appeal. The State agency prepares and mails the notices as 
well as responds to inquiries and appeals. The debtor, in turn, 
receives and reads the notice and may make an inquiry or appeal the 
impending action. Based on an average of the number of records for 
claims the States proposed to send to TOP for calendar years 2003, 2004 
and 2005, we estimate that State agencies will send out and that 
debtors will read 291,336 notices. In addition, we estimate that the 
debtors will submit and State agencies will respond to about 2,900 
inquiries and appeals. The total number of responses being proposed for 
the 60-day notice portion of the proposed burden is 588,472 respondents 
(291,336 notices + 2,900 follow-up inquiries and appeals times 2) per 
year resulting in an annual reporting and recordkeeping burden of 
41,745 hours. The existing burden for activity relating to the 60-day 
notice is 39,549 hours based on 558,132 respondents. The net increase 
of 2,196 hours is due to the fact that State agencies have increased 
the number of debts they are adding to TOP and this is increasing the 
number of 60 day notices sent to debtors.

TOP State-Level Submissions

    Treasury prescribes specific processes and file formats for FNS to 
use to send debts to TOP. FNS provides guidance and file formats to 
State agencies and monitors their compliance with such. State agencies 
must submit specified documents and/or information to FNS and FNS sends 
required information to Treasury. The first such document is an annual 
letter to FNS certifying that all of the debts submitted by the State 
agency to TOP are valid and legally enforceable in the amount stated. 
The second document certifies that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 
information is safeguarded in accordance with IRS instructions. Lastly, 
State agencies report TOP collections on the FNS-209 Status of Claims 
against Households report. (The burden for the remainder of the FNS-209 
report is already covered under OMB burden number 0584-0069).
    FNS estimates that it will take State agencies a total of 135 hours 
per year for these State submissions. There is no change in the number 
of hours required for these reports from the previous submission.

TOP ADP Proposed Burden

    The proposed burden for ADP includes weekly file processing, 
monthly address requests and system maintenance. Weekly and monthly 
file processing includes requesting addresses to use to send out 60-day 
notices, adding and maintaining debts in TOP, correcting errors on 
unprocessable records, and posting weekly collection files. Much of 
this activity is completed using automation and involves an estimated 
1.9 million records annually. FNS estimates that this activity takes 
17,017 annual reporting and recordkeeping burden hours. This is an 
increase of 578 hours over the previous submission because of the 
increased number of records.

Summary of Estimated Burden

    The net aggregate change from the existing to the proposed annual 
burden for this entire Proposed Collection is an increase of 2,773 
hours over the previous submission. For the activity relating to the 
60-day notice, we are increasing the estimated annual burden for State 
agencies and debtors from 39,549 hours to 41,745 hours to reflect an 
increase in the number of notices sent to debtors. The State-level 
submissions portion of the reporting and recordkeeping burden is 
estimated to require the same number of hours as the previous 
submission. The annual ADP portion of this burden package is being 
increased from 16,439 to 17,017 hours primarily to reflect the 
processing associated with the additional 60 day notices and associated 
records.
    Affected Public: State and local government, and food stamp 
households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 294,236.
    Number of Responses per Respondent: 6.08.
    Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,790,109.
    Estimated Hours per Response: 0.03.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 58,896 hours.

    Dated: May 18, 2006.
George A. Braley,
Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. E6-8036 Filed 5-24-06; 8:45 am]
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