[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 151 (Thursday, August 6, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47003-47004]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19286]



[[Page 47003]]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

Veterans' Employment and Training Administration

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT


Required Elements for Submission of the Unified or Combined State 
Plan and Plan Modifications Under the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, Health 
and Human Services, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development 
(Departments) are proposing a new information collection: Required 
Elements for Submission of the Unified or Combined State Plan and Plan 
Modifications under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 
(Pub. L. 113-128).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
October 5, 2015.

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 ETA-2015-0006 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. A copy of 
the proposed information collection request (ICR) with applicable 
supporting documentation, including a description of the likely 
respondents, proposed frequency of response, and estimated total burden 
may be obtained free of charge from http://www.regulations.gov or by 
contacting Heather Fleck by telephone at 202-693-2956, TTY 1-877-889-
5627 (these are not toll-free numbers), or by email at 
[email protected]. Mail and hand delivery/courier: Submit comments 
to Chief/WIOA State Plan, Division of WIOA Adult Services and Workforce 
System, Room S-4203, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210. 
Due to security-related concerns, there may be a significant delay in 
the receipt of submissions by United States Mail. You must take this 
into consideration when preparing to meet the deadline for submitting 
comments.
    Comments submitted in response to this comment request will become 
a matter of public record and will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval of the information 
collection request. In addition, regardless of the delivery method, 
comments will be posted without change on the http://www.regulations.gov Web site; consequently, the Departments recommend 
commenters not include personal information such as Social Security 
Number, personal address, telephone number, email address, or 
confidential business information, that they do not want made public. 
It is the responsibility of the commenter to determine what to include 
in the public record and to safeguard personal information.

    Authority:  44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Departments, in accordance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), 
provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to 
comment on proposed, revised, and continuing collections of 
information. The PRA helps the Departments assess the impact of their 
information collection requirements and minimizes the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Departments' 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. The Departments are soliciting comments on the 
proposed ICR that is described below. The Departments are especially 
interested in public comment addressing the following issues: (1) Is 
this collection necessary to the proper functions of the Departments; 
(2) will this information be processed and used in a timely manner; (3) 
is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) how might the Departments 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (5) how might the Departments 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, and comments 
posted are viewable by the public.
    Title of Collection: Required Elements for Submission of the 
Unified or Combined State Plan and Plan Modifications under the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
    OMB Control Number: 1205--0NEW.
    Type of Review: A new information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local and Tribal Governments.
    Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 57.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 38.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 3,278.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Cost: $141,707.00.
    Abstract: Sections 102 and 103 of the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act (WIOA) (29 U.S.C. 3112 and 3113) require a State 
Governor to submit a Unified or Combined State Plan for approval every 
four years in order to receive funds under six core workforce 
development programs, identified below. Modifications to these plans 
must be submitted at least every two years. The Unified or Combined 
State Plan requirements are designed to improve service integration and 
ensure that the State's publicly-funded workforce system helps all 
jobseekers obtain the skills needed to secure good jobs while providing 
businesses with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global 
economy. The Unified or Combined State Plan would describe how the 
State will develop and implement a unified, integrated service delivery 
system rather than discuss the State's approach to operating each 
program individually.
    Section 102(a) of WIOA requires each State, at a minimum, to submit 
a Unified State Plan that fosters strategic alignment of the core 
programs, which include the Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth 
programs (Title I); the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act program 
(Title II); the Wagner-Peyser program (Title III); and the Vocational 
Rehabilitation program (Title IV). In the alternative, Section 103 of 
WIOA permits a State to submit a Combined State Plan that includes the 
core programs plus one or more of the optional Federal programs listed 
in Section 103(b). If the State chooses to submit a Combined State 
Plan, the plan must incorporate all of the common planning elements 
required in the Unified State Plan, additional elements describing how 
the State will coordinate the optional programs with the core programs 
(WIOA Sec. 103(b)(3)), and elements required by the optional

[[Page 47004]]

program(s) that are included in the Combined State Plan.
    This consolidated ICR for the Unified or Combined State Plan will 
replace existing planning information collections for the core 
programs. For States that choose to submit a Combined State Plan, the 
existing information collections for the program-specific State plans 
for the optional programs will continue to exist under their current 
control numbers. If the Combined State Plan is approved, the State is 
not required to submit any other plan to receive Federal funding for 
any optional program covered under that Combined State Plan (WIOA sec. 
103(b)(2)). If a State plan for an optional program changes from the 
one approved under the Combined State Plan, the State may have to 
submit additional plans to the appropriate Department--such additional 
plans will be counted under the optional programs' existing information 
collection requirements.
    Some of the optional programs that a State may include in the 
Combined State Plan currently fulfill their program-specific State 
planning requirements through a broader information collection 
administered by the program's appropriate Department. For example, 
section 103(b)(2) of WIOA specifically allows the employment and 
training activities carried out under the Community Services Block 
Grant (CSBG) Act administered by the Department of Health and Human 
Services and employment and training activities under the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development to be included in a WIOA Combined State 
Plan. However, the existing CSBG information collection, for example, 
includes planning elements for the employment and training activities 
along with planning elements for other activities under CSBG. 
Therefore, if States choose to include programs such as these in the 
Combined Plan, only the portion of the existing planning requirements 
that address the employment and training activities are included in the 
Combined State Plan (WIOA sec. 103), and States are still required to 
separately submit all other required elements of a complete CSBG State 
Plan directly to the Federal agency that administers the program.
    Departmental program-specific State Plan requirements for the 
optional programs that may be included in the Combined State Plan will 
continue collecting data under the information collections currently 
approved by OMB. This Notice is not soliciting comments about these 
currently approved information collections.
    As mentioned above, this ICR is intended to cover the State 
planning information collection requirements in sections 102 and 103 of 
WIOA. The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing regulations 
that would implement those sections was published on April 16, 2015, at 
80 FR 20573. The comment period closed on June 15, 2015. The proposed 
regulations that correspond to these information collection 
requirements are: 20 CFR part 676 (WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and 
Youth programs and Wagner-Peyser Act programs); 34 CFR part 361, 
subpart D (State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program); and 34 
CFR part 463, subpart H (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 
programs).
    Sec. 102(c)(1)(A) of WIOA requires States to submit their first 
Unified State Plan to the Secretary of Labor not later than 120 days 
prior to the commencement of the second full program year after the 
date of enactment of WIOA, which was July 22, 2014. Therefore, the 
second full program year commences on July 1, 2016, and the State plans 
must be submitted no later than March 3, 2016. Approval of this ICR is 
required so that the States can begin working to develop their plans, a 
process that requires months of coordination among State agencies and 
other stakeholders.
    The Departments have all worked together to develop this 
information collection; however, this information collection will 
initially be approved under a Department of Labor, Employment and 
Training Administration (ETA) account using the common forms clearance 
process that allows several agencies to use a single information 
collection instrument. Burden estimates for all the partner agencies 
have been included in this Notice, in order to facilitate an 
understanding of the full impact of the collection; however, in 
accordance with OMB guidance for common forms, the ICR submitted to OMB 
will initially identify only the ETA burdens. OMB approval of the ICR 
will trigger the ability for the other Federal agencies to formally 
submit requests to sign on the collection; those actions would not 
require additional notice or public comment. This ICR may receive OMB 
approval before Final Rules implementing WIOA are published. If this 
occurs, the Departments will submit another ICR for this collection to 
OMB to incorporate the Final Rule citations, as required by 5 CFR 
1320.11(h). Those citations currently do not exist and, therefore, 
cannot be included at this time. Additionally, the Departments will 
review, analyze, and incorporate any comments received on the NPRM that 
are relevant to this ICR together with comments we receive in response 
to this Federal Register Notice in order to finalize the substantive 
information collection requirements to the extent legally possible.

Portia Wu,
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, U.S. Department of 
Labor.
Johan E. Uvin,
Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and 
Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education.
Michael K. Yudin,
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and 
Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education.
Mark H. Greenberg,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services.
Teresa W. Gerton,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training, U.S. 
Department of Labor.
Kevin Concannon,
Under Secretary, Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.
Clifford Taffet,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Community Planning and 
Development, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Jemine A. Bryon,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
[FR Doc. 2015-19286 Filed 8-5-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P