[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 11, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15588-15590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07438]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish periodic summaries of 
proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects 
or to obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the 
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer at (240) 276-1243.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (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 respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

Proposed Project: Survey of State Underage Drinking Prevention Policies 
and Practices--(OMB No. 0930-0316)--Revision

    The Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (the ``STOP 
Act'') (Pub. L. 109-422, reauthorized in 2016 by Pub. L. 114-255) 
states that the ``Secretary [of Health and Human Services] shall . . . 
annually issue a report on each state's performance in enacting, 
enforcing, and creating laws, regulations, and programs to prevent or 
reduce underage drinking.'' The Secretary has delegated responsibility 
for this report to SAMHSA. Therefore, SAMHSA has developed a Survey of 
State Underage Drinking Prevention Policies and Practices (the ``State 
Survey'') to provide input for the state-by-state report on prevention 
and enforcement activities related to underage drinking component of 
the Annual Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of 
Underage Drinking (``Report to Congress'').
    The STOP Act also requires the Secretary to develop ``a set of 
measures to be used in preparing the report on best practices'' and to 
consider categories including but not limited to the following:
    Category #1: Sixteen specific underage drinking laws/regulations 
enacted at the state level (e.g., laws prohibiting sales to minors; 
laws related to minors in possession of alcohol). Note that ten 
additional policies have been added to the Report to Congress pursuant 
to Congressional appropriations language or the Secretary's authority 
granted by the STOP Act;
    Category #2: Enforcement and educational programs to promote 
compliance with these laws/regulations;
    Category #3: Programs targeted to youths, parents, and caregivers 
to deter underage drinking and the number of individuals served by 
these programs;
    Category #4: The amount that each state invests, per youth capita, 
on the prevention of underage drinking broken into five categories: (a) 
Compliance check programs in retail outlets; (b) Checkpoints and 
saturation patrols that include the goal of reducing and deterring 
underage drinking; (c) Community-based, school-based, and higher-
education-based programs to prevent underage drinking; (d) Underage 
drinking prevention programs that target youth within the juvenile 
justice and child welfare systems; and (e) Any other state efforts or 
programs that target underage drinking.
    Congress' purpose in mandating the collection of data on state 
policies and programs through the State Survey is to provide 
policymakers and the public with otherwise unavailable but much needed 
information regarding state underage drinking prevention policies and 
programs. SAMHSA and other Federal agencies that have underage drinking 
prevention as part of their mandate use the results of the State Survey 
to inform federal programmatic priorities, as do other stakeholders, 
including community organizations. The information gathered by the 
State Survey has established a resource for state agencies and the 
general public for assessing policies and programs in their own state 
and for becoming familiar with the programs, policies, and funding 
priorities of other states.
    Because of the broad scope of data required by the STOP Act, SAMHSA 
relies on existing data sources where possible to minimize the survey 
burden on the states. SAMHSA uses data on state underage drinking 
policies from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's 
Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS), an authoritative compendium 
of state alcohol-related laws. The APIS data is augmented by SAMHSA 
with original legal research on state laws and policies addressing 
underage drinking to include all of the STOP Act's requested laws and 
regulations (Category #1 of the four categories included in the STOP 
Act, as described above, page 2).
    The STOP Act mandates that the State Survey assess ``best 
practices'' and emphasize the importance of building collaborations 
with federally recognized tribal governments (``tribal governments''). 
It also emphasizes the importance at the federal level of promoting 
interagency collaboration and to that end established the Interagency 
Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD). 
SAMHSA has determined that to fulfill the Congressional intent, it is 
critical that the State Survey gather information from the states 
regarding the best practices standards that they apply to their 
underage drinking programs, collaborations between states and tribal 
governments, and the development of state-level interagency 
collaborations similar to ICCPUD.
    SAMHSA has determined that data on Categories #2, #3, and #4 
mandated in the STOP Act (as listed on page 2) (enforcement and 
educational programs;

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programs targeting youth, parents, and caregivers; and state 
expenditures) as well as states' best practices standards, 
collaborations with tribal governments, and state-level interagency 
collaborations are not available from secondary sources and therefore 
must be collected from the states themselves. The State Survey is 
therefore necessary to fulfill the Congressional mandate found in the 
STOP Act. Furthermore, the uniform collection of these data from the 
states over the last seven years has created a valuable longitudinal 
dataset, and the State Survey's renewal is vital to maintaining this 
resource.
    The State Survey is a single document that is divided into four 
sections, as follows:
    (1) Enforcement programs to promote compliance with underage 
drinking laws and regulations (as described in Category #2 above, page 
2);
    (2) Programs and media campaigns targeted to youth, parents, and 
caregivers to deter underage drinking (as described in Category #3 
above, page 2);
    (3) State interagency collaboration to implement prevention 
programs and media campaigns, state best-practice standards, and 
collaborations with tribal governments (as described above, page 4);
    (4) The amount that each state invests on the prevention of 
underage drinking in the categories specified in the STOP Act (see 
description of Category #4, above, page 2) and descriptions of any 
dedicated fees, taxes, or fines used to raise these funds.
    The number of questions in each section is as follows:

Section 1:                            38 questions
Section 2A:                           15 questions
Section 2B:                           12 questions
Section 2C:                           10 questions
Section 2D:                           10 questions
TOTAL:                                85 questions
 

    Note that the number of questions in Section 2A is an estimate. 
This section asks states to identify up to 10 programs that are 
specific to underage drinking prevention. For each program identified 
there are three follow-up questions. Based on the average number of 
programs per state reported in the Survey's seven year history, it is 
anticipated that states will report an average of five programs for a 
total of 15 questions.
    It is anticipated that most respondents will actually respond to 
only a subset of this total. The Survey is designed with ``skip 
logic,'' which means that many questions will only be directed to a 
subset of respondents who report the existence of particular programs 
or activities.
    This latest version of the Survey has been revised as follows:

1. Part 2, Section A: Programs

    a. A question about underage drinking prevention programs has been 
eliminated. Previously, states were asked to define each program by 
whether it was aimed at the ``general population'' or a ``specific 
countable population (e.g., at-risk high school students).'' This 
question was not misinterpreted by some respondents, leading to 
inconsistent data. It was not uncommon for states to provide specific 
population numbers for a program they had previously defined as being 
aimed at the general population. For this reason, it is being 
eliminated.
    b. Questions about the specific number of different populations 
(youth, parents, and caregivers) served by each prevention program have 
been reformatted as follows:
    i. Definitions of each population category have been deleted from 
the introduction to Part 2, Section A and have been incorporated into 
the subsequent questions about each program, making it easier for 
respondents to answer these questions without referring back to the 
introduction.
    ii. For the sake of efficiency, three separate questions about type 
of population served by each program have been collapsed into one 
question.
    c. References to ``media campaigns'' have been added to the 
introduction of this section to encourage respondents to include these 
among the prevention programs listed in their responses. As noted in 
the following description to changes in Part 2, Section B, the survey 
is being amended to evaluate awareness of, and participation in the 
national media campaign mandated by the STOP Act.

2. Part 2. Section B: Collaborations and Best Practices

    a. New questions about the national media campaign to reduce 
underage drinking aimed at adults (as mandated by the STOP Act) have 
been added. The questions are intended to:
    i. Evaluate awareness of and participation in the national media 
campaign, ``Talk. They Hear You.'' (TTHY), including questions about 
the commitment of state resources and funding to this effort. The STOP 
Act requires evaluation of the national media campaign, which is 
largely conducted by other survey instruments. However, adding a 
question on the campaign here is an efficient way to gather state-level 
data for the analysis.
    ii. Determine whether the states participate in other media 
campaigns intended to reduce underage drinking.
    iii. Expand the scope of the Survey to include social marketing or 
counter-advertising efforts in the effort to reduce underage drinking. 
Currently, the Survey includes a question about whether states have 
programs to measure or reduce youth exposure to alcohol advertising and 
marketing. This question will remain, but the new questions will 
capture proactive efforts to counter this advertising and marketing.
    No additional time burden should be placed on the respondents, as 
the added questions are balanced by the deletion of others, with a 
small net reduction in the total number of questions. All questions 
continue to ask only for readily available data.
    To ensure that the State Survey obtains the necessary data while 
minimizing the burden on the states, SAMHSA has conducted a lengthy and 
comprehensive planning process. It sought advice from key stakeholders 
(as mandated by the STOP Act) including hosting multiple stakeholders 
meetings, conducting two field tests with state officials likely to be 
responsible for completing the State Survey, and investigating and 
testing various State Survey formats, online delivery systems, and data 
collection methodologies.
    Based on these investigations, SAMHSA collects the required data 
using an online survey data collection platform (SurveyMonkey). Links 
to the four sections of the survey are distributed to states via email. 
The State Survey is sent to each state governor's office and the Office 
of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Based on the experience from 
the last seven years of administering the State Survey, it is 
anticipated that the state governors will designate staff from state 
agencies that have access to the requested data (typically state 
Alcohol Beverage Control [ABC] agencies and state Substance Abuse 
Program agencies). SAMHSA provides both telephone and electronic 
technical support to state agency staff and emphasizes that the states 
are only expected to provide data that is readily available and are not 
required to provide data that has not already been collected. The 
burden estimate below takes into account these assumptions.
    The estimated annual response burden to collect this information is 
as follows:

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                                                 Number of        Responses/        Burden/       Annual burden
                 Instrument                     respondents       respondent     response (hrs)       (hrs)
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State Questionnaire.........................              51                1             17.7            902.7
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    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 15E57-B, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857 or email her a 
copy at [email protected]. Written comments should be received 
by June 11, 2018.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2018-07438 Filed 4-10-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4162-20-P