[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 156 (Wednesday, August 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47443-47444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-19067]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No. ED-2014-ICCD-0113]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Annual 
Progress Report for the Access to Telework Program Under the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services 
(OSERS), Department of Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. chapter 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing an extension of an 
existing information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
October 14, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice should be 
submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov by selecting Docket ID number ED-2014-ICCD-
0113 or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the 
regulations.gov site is not available to the public for any reason, ED 
will temporarily accept comments at [email protected]. Please note 
that comments submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the 
comment period will not be accepted; ED will ONLY accept comments 
during the comment period in this mailbox when the regulations.gov site 
is not available. Written requests for information or comments 
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the 
Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S. 
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., LBJ, Mailstop L-OM-2-
2E319, Room 2E115, Washington, DC 20202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Robert Groenendaal, 202-245-7393.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed 
information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The 
Department of Education is especially interested in public comment 
addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to 
the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be 
processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden 
accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the 
Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, 
including through the use of information technology. Please note that 
written comments received in response to this notice will be considered 
public records.
    Title of Collection: Annual Progress Report for the Access to 
Telework Program under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended.
    OMB Control Number: 1820-0687.
    Type of Review: An extension of an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 19.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 219.
    Abstract: Nineteen states currently have Access to Telework 
programs that provide financial loans to individuals

[[Page 47444]]

with disabilities for the purchase of computers and other equipment 
that support teleworking for an employer or self-employment on a full 
or part-time basis. These grantees are required to report annual data 
on their programs to the Rehabilitation Services Administration. This 
information collection provides a standard format for the submission of 
those annual performance reports and a follow-up survey to be 
administered to individuals who receive loans.
    The proposed instrument eliminates an entire section of optional 
information that is not required for submission by the Telework 
grantees, further reducing the burden from approximately 12.5 hours to 
11 hours per state. Section C. Telework Optional Data Elements, which 
are not annual reporting requirements for the Telework grantees, has 
been proposed for removal from the current instrument. The information 
collected in this optional data section includes: 1. Types of Telework 
programs (partnership loans or revolving loans), 2. Interest Rates 
(lowest and highest interest rates established by policy), 3. Loan 
Amounts (lowest and highest loan amounts established by policy), 4. 
Repayment Terms (shortest and longest repayment terms established by 
policy), and Loan Guarantee Requirement, the percentage of the loans 
that must be repaid by the alternative financing program (AFP) to the 
lender in case of default as established by the agreement with the 
lender. Since the data reported under C. Telework Optional Data 
Elements of the current instrument is not required, grantees did not 
report this information uniformly across programs. If every grantee 
doesn't report in this section, then the data can't be reported in 
aggregate form. This optional section contains information about 
program features and descriptions that may or may not change on an 
annual basis. Since there is limited utility to the annual reporting of 
this optional information, the decision was made to further reduce the 
burden to all grantees by eliminating this section from the current 
instrument in the Management Information System (MIS).

    Dated: August 7, 2014.
Tomakie Washington,
Acting Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, 
Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management.
[FR Doc. 2014-19067 Filed 8-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P