[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 231 (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 71319-71320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-28377]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 12


Technical Amendment for Information Collection Regarding Designee 
for Patient Personal Property

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule will add the Office of Management and Budget 
approval number for the new collection of information in the Department 
of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulation that governs a competent veteran's 
designation of a person to receive the veteran's funds and personal 
effects in the event that such veteran was to die while in a VA field 
facility.

DATES: This final rule is effective December 15, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin J. Cunningham, Director, 
Business Policy, Chief Business Office (10NB6), Veterans Health 
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20420, (202) 382-2508. This is not a toll free number.

[[Page 71320]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a document published in the Federal 
Register at 79 FR 68127 (November 14, 2014), VA amended its regulation 
concerning the disposition of a veteran's funds and effects. The 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507) requires that VA 
consider the impact of paperwork and other information collection 
burdens imposed on the public. Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a), an agency may 
not collect or sponsor the collection of information, nor may it impose 
an information collection requirement unless it displays a currently 
valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. See also 5 
CFR 1320.8(b)(3)(vi). The rulemaking imposed a new information 
collection requirement in 38 CFR 12.1. If a veteran dies in a VA field 
facility, any funds or personal effects belonging to the veteran must 
be turned over to a person designated by the veteran. VA requests and 
encourages a veteran to name a person as a designee in order to 
facilitate the process of disposition of the veteran's funds and 
effects. VA also allows the veteran the opportunity to change or revoke 
such designee at any time. The information obtained through this 
collection eliminates some of the burden on the deceased veteran's 
survivors in the event of the veteran's death in a VA field facility.
    Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a), an agency may not collect or sponsor the 
collection of information, nor may it impose an information collection 
requirement unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) control number. See also 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3)(vi). As 
required by 44 U.S.C. 3507(d), VA submitted this information collection 
to OMB for its review. Therefore, in the final rule, we included 
language in Sec.  12.1 indicating the information collection was 
pending Office of Management and Budget approval. OMB subsequently 
approved this new information collection on November 24, 2014, and 
assigned OMB control number 2900-0817. This final rule updates Sec.  
12.1 by adding the approved OMB control number.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 12

    Estates, Veterans.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs further amends 38 CFR part 12, as amended on November 14, 2014 
(79 FR 68127), effective December 15, 2014, as follows:

PART 12--DISPOSITION OF VETERAN'S PERSONAL FUNDS AND EFFECTS

0
1. The authority citation for part 12 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 8501-8528.


Sec.  12.1  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  12.1 by removing ``(The information collection is 
pending Office of Management and Budget approval.)'' and adding in its 
place ``(The Office of Management and Budget has approved the 
information collection requirement in this section under control number 
2900-0817.)''

    Dated: November 26, 2014.
William F. Russo,
Acting Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of 
the General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2014-28377 Filed 12-1-14; 8:45 am]
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