[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 248 (Friday, December 28, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67233-67234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-28209]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    Title: Coastal Zone Management Program Administration.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0119.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular (revision and extension of a currently 
approved) information collection.

[[Page 67234]]

    Number of Respondents: 34.
    Average Hours per Response: Performance reports, 27 hours; 
assessment and strategy documents, 240 hours; Section 306A 
questionnaire and documentation, 15 hours; amendments and routine 
program changes, 16 hours; CNP documentation, 320 hours; CZMA 
Performance Management System, 24 hours.
    Burden Hours: 6,280.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for revision and extension of a 
currently approved information.
    In 1972, in response to intense pressure on United States (U.S.) 
coastal resources, and because of the importance of U.S. coastal areas, 
the U.S. Congress passed the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 
(CZMA), 16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq. The CZMA authorized a federal program to 
encourage coastal states and territories to develop comprehensive 
coastal management programs. The CZMA has been reauthorized on several 
occasions, most recently with the enactment of the Coastal Zone 
Protection Act of 1996. (CZMA as amended). The program is administered 
by the Secretary of Commerce, who in turn has delegated this 
responsibility to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 
(NOAA) National Ocean Services (NOS).
    The coastal zone management grants provide funds to states and 
territories to: Implement federally-approved coastal management 
programs; complete information for the Coastal Zone Management Program 
(CZMP) Performance Management System; develop multi-year program 
assessments and strategies to enhance their programs within priority 
areas under Section 309 of the CZMA; submit documentation as described 
in the CZMA Section 306A on the approved coastal zone management 
programs; submit requests to update their federally-approved programs 
through amendments or program changes; and develop and submit state 
coastal nonpoint pollution control programs (CNP) as required under 
Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments.

Revisions

    1. The CZMA Section 306A guidance and project questionnaire have 
been updated to reduce confusion. The 306A Guidance and project 
questionnaire currently in use were developed in 1999 and need to be 
updated to ensure consistency with NOAA/NOS environmental compliance 
policies or grants requirements, and CZMA national strategic 
priorities, such as community resilience. The revised 306A guidance and 
questionnaire will provide clarification on the collection of project 
information and resolve confusion over grants management timelines. The 
current guidance and proposed revisions can be found at https://coast.noaa.gov/czm/guidance/. Based on recent experience, the time 
estimate for completing the questionnaire and collecting the necessary 
documentation is being increased from 5 hours to 15 hours per project.
    An electronic system is being developed to improve the routine 
program change submission process and will replace the current paper-
only submission process. The new site will provide the following 
functionalities: Make active program change documents electronically 
available to the public, states and federal agencies; Provide 
electronic notices to state agencies, federal agencies and the public 
of state program change submissions, OCM decision deadlines and OCM 
decisions; Automatically notify federal agencies, states and members of 
the public who request such notifications via email; Allow federal 
agencies and the public to submit comments to OCM on individual state 
program change submissions; Allow ability of OCM staff to upload text-
searchable PDF documents that are part of program changes. These 
uploads need to be allowable on a daily basis, and need to be uploaded 
into a publicly available database. The database should have the 
ability to contain information for each program change (as in what is 
currently included in the Microsoft Access database) and to hold 
associated program change documents; Allow the ability to provide 
electronic notices to state agencies, federal agencies and the public 
by adding the notices to the online database and also automatically 
sending them to a particular list of contacts; and Provide an area on 
the website/database interface for interested parties to request to be 
added to the automatic notification contact list. The system is 
currently being designed and will undergo beta testing later this year. 
Respondents will have the ability to make their submissions using the 
new system or by paper until the system is fully operational and 
accurate, which is expected to be within one year.
    Affected Public: State, local or tribal governments.
    Frequency: Annually, semi-annually and on occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    This information collection request may be viewed at reginfo.gov. 
Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce collections 
currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

    Dated: December 21, 2018.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-28209 Filed 12-27-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-08-P