[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 244 (Thursday, December 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72391-72392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-6090]


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MORRIS K. UDALL SCHOLARSHIP AND EXCELLENCE IN NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL 
POLICY FOUNDATION


Notice to Extend the Request for Comment on Draft Convening 
Report Regarding Negotiated Rulemaking and Bureau of Indian Affairs 
Funded School Facilities Repair, Renovation & Construction

AGENCY: United States Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, 
Morris K. Udall Foundation.

ACTION: Notice to extend the public comment period for the Draft 
Convening Report Regarding Negotiated Rulemaking and Bureau of Indian 
Affairs Funded School Facilities Repair, Renovation, & Construction.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution gives 
notice that the comment period announced in the October 22, 2007 (72 FR 
59556) on the draft convening report regarding Department of the 
Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)-funded school 
facilities construction as identified in the No Child Left Behind Act 
of 2001 (NCLB Act) will be extended to February 1, 2008. The draft 
report was prepared at the request of the DOI, BIA, and Bureau of 
Indian Education (BIE). Such a convening report is described generally 
in the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1996, Public Law 104-320, Section 
563(b).
    As a neutral, independent federal program, the U.S. Institute and 
its impartial contractor team, Consensus Building Institute (CBI) 
conducted two-hundred (200) interviews of people with an interest in 
BIA-funded school facilities construction. The purpose of the 
interviews was to explore the opportunities for, and barriers to, using 
negotiated rulemaking to develop regulations implementing the 
requirements of the NCLB Act related to BIA-funded school facilities. 
The draft report covers school facility topics identified from the NCLB 
Act:
     Methods to catalog school facilities;
     Determining formulas for priority and funding for school 
replacement construction and new construction;
     Determining formulas for priority and funding for school 
renovation and repair;
     Facilities standards for home living (dormitory) 
situations.
    In the draft report, CBI identified several key themes from its 
interviews:
     There is a strong willingness to go forward with a 
negotiated rulemaking, as it is required by statute.
     Interviewees were supportive of negotiating to improve the 
fairness, efficiency and transparency of the funding formulas for all 
aspects of school facilities funding.
     There is a need to integrate the formal negotiation with 
less formal methods of consulting with the tribes who will not have 
seats at the table. CBI suggests a national workshop for all tribes 
with school facilities as part of the preparation for the negotiation 
process. This workshop could help identify options for the negotiating 
committee to work with.
     Representation of the tribes on the negotiating committee 
is required by the NCLB Act to be roughly proportional to the percent 
of students each tribe has in the system. For the majority of tribes 
(i.e. beyond the top eleven for student population), there will need to 
be a process for sharing seats or otherwise developing representation 
structures.
    The draft convening report may be accessed at: http://www.cbuilding.org and at: http://www.ecr.gov. This notice invites 
interested individuals, organizations and governments to review and 
offer comments that focus on the findings and recommendations presented 
draft convening report.

DATES: Please submit comments on or before February 1, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 1-617-492-1919.
     Mail: Consensus Building Institute; Attn: BIE Convening 
Draft Report Comment, 238 Main Street, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02142.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Field, Consensus Building 
Institute, 238 Main Street, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 492-
1414 x118, [email protected]; Sarah Palmer, Senior Program Manager, 
U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, 130 S. Scott 
Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701, phone (520) 901-8556, fax (520) 901-8557, 
[email protected]; Michele F. Singer, Director, Office of Regulatory 
Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs, 1001 
Indian School Road, NW., Albuquerque, NM 87104, phone (505) 563-5415, 
fax (505) 563-3811, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB Act) requires the Department of 
the Interior to use procedures set out in the Negotiated Rulemaking Act 
of 1996, Pub. L. 104-320, Section 563 when developing regulations to 
implement the NCLB Act's provisions regarding schools operated or 
funded by the BIA. BIA has used negotiated rulemaking to address six 
(6) of the seven (7) regulations required under the NCLB Act. DOI and 
BIA want to assess the feasibility of using the negotiated rulemaking 
process to develop the final rule, dealing with school construction and 
repair.
    In the fall of 2006 DOI sought assistance with this effort from the 
U.S. Institute, an independent impartial government entity with 
expertise in convening, assessment and alternative dispute resolution 
processes. In accordance with its statutory authority, the 1998 
Environmental Policy and Conflict Resolution Act (Pub. L. 105-156, 
codified at 20 U.S.C. 5601, et seq.), the U.S. Institute conducted a 
convening assessment. For more information on the U.S. Institute, 
please visit http://www.ecr.gov.
    The U.S. Institute contracted with an independent, impartial 
convening team, the Consensus Building Institute (CBI), to carry out 
interviews and prepare a draft convening report. The scope of the draft 
convening report includes views on school facility topics identified 
from the NCLB Act and the opportunities of and barriers to negotiated 
rulemaking. To understand the range of perspectives on or interests in 
these topics, the convening team conducted 200 confidential interviews 
with tribal officials or their designees, representative of BIA-funded 
or grant-funded tribal schools, and others with an interest in Bureau-
funded school facilities construction on the following:
     Interviewees' views on the substantive issues listed 
above;
     Suggestions for how diverse geographic, size, and tribal 
interests can best be represented on a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee;

[[Page 72392]]

     Any concerns or barriers to the establishment of and 
successful execution of a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on these 
topics; and
     Consultative activities and potential approaches to 
consultation that the Bureau might undertake regarding these issues.
    The draft convening report reflects CBI findings and preliminary 
recommendations to DOI, BIA, and BIE based on these interviews. The 
draft report will be made available to all interviewees for comment. 
Upon receipt of comments, CBI and the U.S. Institute will consider all 
comments and prepare a final report for the Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education. All comments 
received on the draft will be made available to DOI, BIA, and BIE. The 
final report will also be made available to the interviewees, all 
interested tribes, and the general public via a Web site link.


    Authority: 20 U.S.C. 5601, et seq.

    Dated: December 13, 2007.
Christopher L. Helms,
Executive Director, Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in 
National Environmental Policy Foundation.
[FR Doc. 07-6090 Filed 12-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820-FN-M