[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10217-10219]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-3985]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60-Day 07-0639]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call 404-639-5960 
and send comments to Joan Karr, CDC Acting Reports Clearance Officer, 
1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance

[[Page 10218]]

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) 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 respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Written 
comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Special Exposure Cohort Petitions--Extension--National Institute 
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    On October 30, 2000, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. 7384-7385 [1994, 
supp. 2001] was enacted. It established a compensation program to 
provide a lump sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits as 
compensation to covered employees suffering from designated illnesses 
incurred as a result of their exposure to radiation, beryllium, or 
silica while in the performance of duty for the Department of Energy 
and certain of its vendors, contractors and subcontractors. This 
legislation also provided for payment of compensation for certain 
survivors of these covered employees. The only change to the collection 
is an increase in burden hours because more petitioners are requesting 
to have their work site named as a special exposure cohort. This 
program has been mandated to be in effect until Congress ends the 
funding.
    EEOICPA instructed the President to designate one or more Federal 
Agencies to carry out the compensation program. Accordingly, the 
President issued Executive Order 13179 (``Providing Compensation to 
America's Nuclear Weapons Workers'') on December 7, 2000 (65 FR 77487), 
assigning primary responsibility for administration of the compensation 
program to the Department of Labor (DOL). The executive order directed 
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to perform several 
technical and policymaking roles in support of the DOL program.
    Among other duties, the executive order directed HHS to establish 
and implement procedures for considering petitions by classes of 
nuclear weapons workers to be added to the ``Special Exposure Cohort'' 
(the ``Cohort''), various groups of workers whose claims for cancer 
under EEOICPA can be adjudicated without demonstrating that their 
cancer was ``at least as likely as not'' caused by radiation doses they 
incurred in the performance of duty. In brief, EEOICPA authorizes HHS 
to designate such classes of employees for addition to the Cohort when 
NIOSH lacks sufficient information to estimate with sufficient accuracy 
the radiation doses of the employees, if HHS also finds that the health 
of members of the class may have been endangered by the radiation dose 
the class potentially incurred. HHS must also obtain the advice of the 
Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (the ``Board'') in 
establishing such findings. On March 7, 2003, HHS proposed procedures 
for adding such classes to the Cohort in a notice of proposed 
rulemaking at 42 CFR Part 83.
    The HHS procedures authorize a variety of individuals and entities 
to submit petitions, as specified under Sec.  83.7. Petitioners are 
required to provide the information specified in Sec.  83.9 to qualify 
their petitions for a complete evaluation by HHS and the Board. HHS has 
developed two petition forms to assist the petitioners in providing 
this required information efficiently and completely. Petition Form A 
is a one-page form to be used by EEOICPA claimants for whom NIOSH will 
have attempted to conduct dose reconstructions and will have determined 
that available information is not sufficient to complete the dose 
reconstruction. The form addresses the informational requirements 
specified under Sec.  83.9(a) and (b). Petition Form B, accompanied by 
separate instructions, is intended for all other petitioners. The form 
addresses the informational requirements specified under Sec.  83.9(a) 
and (c). Forms A and B can be submitted electronically as well as in 
hard copy. Petitioners should be aware that HHS is not requiring 
petitioners to use the forms. Petitioners can choose to submit 
petitions as letters or in other formats, but petitions must meet the 
informational requirements referenced above. NIOSH expects, however, 
that all petitioners for whom Form A would be appropriate will actually 
use the form, since NIOSH will provide it to them upon determining that 
their dose reconstruction cannot be completed and encourage them to 
submit the petition. NIOSH expects the large majority of petitioners 
for whom Form B would be appropriate will also use the form, since it 
provides a simple, organized format for addressing the informational 
requirements of a petition.
    NIOSH will use the information obtained through the petition for 
the following purposes: (a) Identify the petitioner(s), obtain their 
contact information, and establish that the petitioner(s) is qualified 
and intends to petition HHS; (b) establish an initial definition of the 
class of employees being proposed to be considered for addition to the 
Cohort; (c) determine whether there is justification to require HHS to 
evaluate whether or not to designate the proposed class as an addition 
to the Cohort (such an evaluation involves potentially extensive data 
collection, analysis, and related deliberations by NIOSH, the Board, 
and HHS); and, (d) target an evaluation by HHS to examine relevant 
potential limitations of radiation monitoring and/or dosimetry-relevant 
records and to examine the potential for related radiation exposures 
that might have endangered the health of members of the class.
    Finally, under Sec.  83.18, petitioners may contest the proposed 
decision of the Secretary to add or deny adding classes of employees to 
the cohort by submitting evidence that the proposed decision relies on 
a record of either factual or procedural errors in the implementation 
of these procedures. NIOSH estimates that the time to prepare and 
submit such a challenge is 45 minutes. Because of the uniqueness of 
this submission, NIOSH is not providing a form. The submission should 
be in a letter format.
    There are no costs to petitioners unless a petitioner chooses to 
purchase the services of a expert in dose reconstruction, an option 
provided for under 42 CFR 83.9(c)(2)(iii). The petitioner would assume 
the financial burden of purchasing such services at their option. In 
such cases, HHS estimates a report by such an expert may cost between 
$640 and $6,400, depending on the scope of the petition and access to 
relevant information. This is based on an estimate of costs of $80 per 
hour for contractual services by a health physicist, who NIOSH 
estimates would be employed within a range of eight to eighty hours to 
conduct and prepare a report on the required assessment.
    Estimate of Annualized Burden Hours

[[Page 10219]]



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                                                                                      Average
  Form name & number (CFR                            Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
        reference)               Respondents        respondents    responses per  respondent (in    (in hours)
                                                                    respondent        hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
83.9......................  Petitioners using                 30               1            3/60            1.5
                             Form A.
83.9......................  Petitioners using                 40               1               5          200
                             Form B.
83.9......................  Petitioners not                    5               1             5.5           27.5
                             using Form B.
83.18.....................  Petitioners                        5               1           45/60            3.75
                             Appealing proposed
                             decisions.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.................  ....................              80  ..............  ..............          233
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    Dated: February 28, 2007.
Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. E7-3985 Filed 3-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P