[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 244 (Wednesday, December 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75117-75118]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30599]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Federal Claims Collection Methods for Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance 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 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program (SNAP) recipient debts.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before February 19, 
2013 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; (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, State Administration Branch, 
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food and Nutrition Service, 
USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 818, Alexandria, Virginia 22302. 
Comments may also be submitted via fax to the attention of Jane 
Duffield at 703-605-0795. Comments will also be accepted through the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow 
the online instructions for submitting comments electronically.
    All written comments will be open for public inspection at the 
office of the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, Room 
818.
    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: Debra Utting at (703) 305-2439.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Federal Claims Collection Methods for Supplemental Nutrition 
Assistance Program Recipient Claims
    OMB Number: 0584-0446
    Form Number: None
    Expiration Date: January 31, 2013
    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 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
(SNAP) regulations at 7 CFR 273.18 require State agencies to refer 
delinquent debtors for SNAP 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 SNAP 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 Burden

    The burden associated with the information collection involves both 
the debtors and the State agencies. The TOP 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 sent to TOP for calendar years 2009, 2010 and 2011, 
we estimate that State agencies will produce and send and that debtors 
will read 240,901 60-day notices. We estimate that the debtors will 
submit and State agencies will respond to about 16,863 phone and 
informal inquiries. Debtors will file and the States will respond to an 
estimated 1,445 appeals each. An additional 3,000 notices will be sent 
directly from FNS to Federal employees concerning the potential offset 
of their Federal salary. Historically, 30% of these notices will result 
in a phone inquiry from a debtor; and approximately 20 will result in a 
formal appeal to FNS requiring documentation from the State. Thus, the 
total number of responses for the 60-day notice and debtor inquiry is 
522,358 responses (263,129 household responses + 259,229 State Agency 
responses) per year resulting in an annual reporting burden of 
34,510.28 hours. The existing burden for activity relating to the 60-
day notice is 36,313.83 hours. The net decrease of 1,803.55 hours is 
due to a decrease in the number of 60-day notices sent to debtors by 
State agencies.

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 document is an annual 
letter to FNS certifying that all of the debts submitted in the past 
and all debts to be submitted in the upcoming calendar year by the 
State agency to TOP are valid and legally enforceable in the amount 
stated. Secondly, 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 26.5 hours per year for these State submissions. This burden 
has not changed.

TOP ADP Burden

    The 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 1.4 million 
records annually. FNS estimates that this activity takes

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12,374.82 annual reporting and 689 recordkeeping burden hours. This 
burden has not changed.

Summary of Estimated Burden

    The net aggregate change from the existing to the revised annual 
burden for this entire Information Collection is a decrease of 1,803.55 
hours from the previous submission. For the activity relating to the 
60-day notice, we are decreasing the estimated annual burden for State 
agencies and debtors from 36,313.83 hours to 34,510.28 hours to reflect 
a decrease in the number of notices and the resulting inquiries and 
appeals. The State-level submissions portion of the reporting and 
recordkeeping burden is estimated to require the same number of hours 
as the currently approved collection, 26.5 hours. The annual ADP 
portion of this burden package is also estimated to require the same 
number of hours as the currently approved collection, 12,375 reporting 
and 689 recordkeeping hours. This results in a final total of 47,600.6 
annual burden hours.
    Affected Public: State and local government, and former SNAP 
households
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 240,954
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 2.21
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 531,638
    Estimated Hours per Response: .09
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 47,600.6

    Dated: December 10, 2012.
Audrey Rowe,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-30599 Filed 12-18-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P