[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 81 (Monday, April 27, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23270-23272]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08172]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter III
[Docket ID ED-2019-OSERS-0044]
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period for a Grant
That Provides Rehabilitation Short-Term Training to the Client
Assistance Program (CAP)
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
(OSERS), Department of Education.
ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of project period.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally
prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period
extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. The
proposed waiver and extension would enable the Rehabilitation Short-
Term Training to the CAP under Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
(CFDA) number 84.246K to receive funding for an additional performance
period of one year, not to exceed September 30, 2021.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 27, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies,
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to
submit your comments electronically. Information on using
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents,
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site
under ``How to use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section.
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you
mail or deliver
[[Page 23271]]
your comments about the proposed waiver and extension, address them to
Felipe Lulli, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW,
Room 5101, Potomac Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202-2800.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing in
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly
available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Felipe Lulli, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5101, Potomac Center Plaza,
Washington, DC 20202-2800. Telephone: 202-245-7425. Email:
[email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
this proposed waiver and extension.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 13771 and their
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result
from this proposed waiver and extension. Please let us know of any
further ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential
benefits while preserving the effective and efficient administration of
the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this proposed waiver and extension in Room 5059, 550
12th Street SW, Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00
p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday of each week, except Federal
holidays.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for this proposed waiver and extension. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please contact
the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background
We are proposing to extend the Rehabilitation Short-Term Training--
Client Assistance Program (CAP) for an additional year to assess and
enhance the Department's CAP training and technical assistance
approaches in light of (a) the expanded quality employment
opportunities for individuals with disabilities promoted by the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (29 U.S.C. 3101 et
seq.); (b) promising employment initiatives advanced by the
Rehabilitation Service Administration's (RSA's) Vocational
Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Centers, consistent with WIOA; and
(c) new training delivery platforms and methodologies that could be
applied to this CAP training program. In short, the waiver and
extension will allow RSA to design a new, innovative training program
that, consistent with WIOA, would maximize the capacity of CAP
personnel to inform, advise, and advocate for individuals with
disabilities and facilitate their access to expanded quality employment
opportunities in their States through services and supports available
under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA
(Rehabilitation Act). These services and supports may include (a) pre-
employment transition services and the limitations on the use of
subminimum wages under sections 113 and 511 of the Rehabilitation Act;
(b) career-focused credentials attainment and measurable skill gains;
and (c) career exploration and career advancement strategies such as
work-based learning, apprenticeships, customized employment, and career
pathways.
The Rehabilitation Act authorizes the Short-Term Training Program
under section 302 (29 U.S.C. 772) to train CAP personnel authorized
under section 112 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 732).
In September 2015, RSA awarded a 60-month grant to the National
Disability Rights Network under the Rehabilitation Short-Term Training
to the CAP to provide training and technical instruction to the 57 CAP
grantees on the statutory and regulatory requirements governing the
provision of vocational rehabilitation (VR) and other services under
the Rehabilitation Act. The National Disability Rights Network's
capacity-building activities address CAP management and operations,
individual and systems advocacy, data collection and reporting, and
specific provisions such as pre-employment transition services and
limitations on the use of subminimum wages. Its training and technical
instruction vehicles include an annual VR orientation meeting, a fiscal
management conference, webinars, on-site visits, ongoing web resources
and alerts, specialized institutes, and an annual conference, among
other activities. The current project period ends on September 30,
2020.
Waivers and Extensions
The Department will not be running a Rehabilitation Short-Term
Training to the CAP competition in FY 2020. Rather, the Department will
be including the CAP as one of the topic areas under the Innovative
Rehabilitation Training program. The Department has concluded that it
would not be in the public interest to have a lapse in the critically
needed resources currently provided by the Rehabilitation Short-Term
Training to the CAP. Allowing training and technical instruction to
lapse while the Department establishes its innovative CAP training
program would reduce the capacity of the 57 CAP grantees nationwide to
provide information to, and advocate on behalf of, individuals with
disabilities seeking or receiving services from the VR and other
programs under the Rehabilitation Act critical to their achievement of
high-quality employment, independent living, and self-sufficiency.
For these reasons, the Secretary proposes to waive the requirements
in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods exceeding five years,
and the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2), which allow the
extension of a project period only if the extension does not involve
the obligation of additional Federal funds. The waiver would allow the
Department to issue a one-time FY 2020 continuation award to the
Rehabilitation Short-Term Training to the CAP, as follows.
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84.246K.................. Rehabilitation Short-Term $200,000
Training to the CAP.
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Any activities carried out during the year of this continuation
award must be consistent with the scope, goals, and objectives of the
grantee's application as approved in the FY 2015 competition.
[[Page 23272]]
The requirements for continuation awards are set forth in 34 CFR
75.253.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The only entity that would be
affected by the proposed waiver and extension of the project period is
the current grantee and any other potential applicant.
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension
would not have a significant economic impact on these entities because
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require
unnecessary Federal supervision.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period
does not contain any information collection requirements.
Intergovernmental Review
This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies on processes developed by State
and local governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal
financial assistance. This document provides early notification of our
specific plans and actions for this program.
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Mark Schultz,
Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration, Delegated the
authority to perform the functions and duties of the Assistant
Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-08172 Filed 4-22-20; 4:15 pm]
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