[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 231 (Monday, December 4, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57278-57279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26018]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Public Comment Request; Revision of a Currently Approved Information 
Collection (OMB Approval Number 0985-0048); State Grants for Assistive 
Technology Program State Plan for Assistive Technology

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and 
Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is announcing 
that the proposed collection of information listed above has been 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
clearance as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the 
PRA). This 30-day notice requests comments on the information 
collection requirements related to a proposed Revision of a Currently 
Approved Information Collection (ICR-Rev). The revision will allow ACL 
to continue to collect information necessary to determine grantee 
compliance with Section 4 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as 
Amended (AT Act).

DATES: Submit written or electronic comments on the collection of 
information by January 3, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on the collection of information: by 
fax at (202) 395-5806 or by email to [email protected], Attn: 
OMB Desk Officer for ACL.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Groenendaal at (202) 795-7356 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes agency requests or requirements that members of 
the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a 
third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)) 
requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension or update of an existing collection of 
information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. The 
proposed data collection represents a revision of a currently approved 
collection (ICR-Rev). In order to comply with the above requirement, 
ACL is requesting approval of a revision of a previously approved 
collection, the State Grants for Assistive Technology Program State 
Plan for AT, formerly known as the 664 report (0985-0048).
    The State Plan for AT is submitted every three years and updated 
annually by all State Grants for AT programs receiving formula funds 
under Section 4 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as Amended (AT 
Act). The State Plan for AT is used by ACL to assess grantees' 
compliance with Section 4 of the AT Act and enables ACL to analyze 
qualitative and quantitative information to track performance outcomes 
and efficiency measures of the State Grants for AT programs; support 
budget requests; comply with the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 
(GPRAMA) reporting requirements; provide national benchmark 
information; and inform program development and management activities. 
The burden table below identifies the data collection activities for 
the instrument as well as the estimates for record keeping and entry of 
aggregate data. In addition to submitting a State Plan every three 
years, states and outlying areas are required to submit annual progress 
reports on their activities. The data required for these progress 
reports is specified in Section 4(f) of the AT Act. The State Grants 
for AT program conduct the following state-level and state leadership 
activities: device demonstration, device loans, device reutilization, 
state financing, training and technical assistance, public awareness, 
and information and referral.

Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice

    A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register in Vol. 82, 
No. 178, pg. 43379 on September 15th, 2017. ACL received one comment 
from the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP), which 
represents 54 State Grant for AT programs. The comment noted that the 
proposed changes to the currently approved information collection were 
developed with extensive input of those it directly impacts, the State 
AT Program grantees. The revision process began almost two years ago 
and grantees had multiple opportunities to discuss and make 
recommendations on the proposed changes, which were reviewed during 
numerous meetings with ATAP membership at national conferences and 
during online events. There is uniform support within the ATAP 
membership for the revisions.

Burden Estimates

    The proposed State Plan for Assistive Technology Information 
Collection Program may be found on the ACL Web site at: https://www.acl.gov/about-acl/public-input.
    The total estimated hour burden per respondent for the proposed 
State Plan for AT will decrease from the 74 hours per respondent 
estimated in FY 2015 to 73 hours estimated for FY 2018, an estimated 
reduction of one hour per respondent or 56 hours in total. The proposed 
State Plan for AT changes focus on a streamline of drop down choice 
lists in the current instrument. Actual expenditure data elements for 
state-level and state leadership tracking replaces the budget 
projections to provide more accurate fiscal data to ACL and to ensure 
compliance with AT Act requirements for expenditures. The proposed 
instrument simplifies the coordination and collaboration items to focus 
on activities conducted through a formal written agreement to ensure 
consistency and usefulness of data reported. The revised instrument 
aligns demographic data elements with the AT Annual Performance Report 
(APR), so

[[Page 57279]]

that the data will be: Entered once, then only updated from that point 
on; used for both the State Plan and APR; updated quarterly with 
reminders; and used to populate the online State AT Program listing to 
ensure currency and accuracy. The reduction in burden is a result of a 
data collection workgroup composed of State AT program staff that met 
to suggest revisions to the current instrument. The workgroup solicited 
feedback from all of the grantees through face-to-face meetings and 
webinar presentations. The number of hours is multiplied by 56 AT State 
Grants programs, resulting in a total estimated hour burden of 4,088 
hours.

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                                                Number of       Responses per      Hours per      Annual burden
    Respondent/data collection activity        respondents       respondent         response          hours
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State Plan for AT Annual Progress Report                 56                 1             73.0            4,088
 (AT APR)..................................
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    Dated: November 24, 2017.
Mary Lazare,
Principal Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017-26018 Filed 12-1-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P