[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 126 (Friday, July 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39523-39524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14057]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Annual Report on 
Households Assisted by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
(LIHEAP) (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) #0970-0060)

AGENCY: Office of Community Services (OCS), Administration for Children 
and Families, HHS.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: OCS, Division of Energy Assistance, is requesting a 
substantial change of the Household Report (OMB #0970-0060, expiration 
May 31, 2025). Grant recipients complete the Household Report on an 
annual basis, completing either the Long Form or the Short Form version 
of the report. Submission of the completed report is one requirement 
for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) grant recipients 
applying for federal LIHEAP block grant funds. OCS proposes substantive 
changes, including the addition of reporting requirements for assisted 
applicants and household member demographic characteristics on the 
Household Report Long Form and Short Form, and the removal of reporting 
requirements collecting counts of applicant households by assistance 
type and poverty interval on the Household Report Long Form.

DATES: Comments are due within 60 days of publication. In compliance 
with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is 
soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information 
collection described above.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed collection of information can be 
obtained and comments may be forwarded by emailing 
[email protected]. Identify all requests by the title of the 
information collection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Description: States, the District of 
Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are required to complete 
the Household Report-Long Form on an annual basis. The Long Form 
collects the following information:
     Assisted households, by type of LIHEAP assistance and 
funding source;
     Assisted households receiving bill payment assistance, by 
funding source;
     Assisted households receiving any type of LIHEAP 
assistance, by funding source;
     Assisted households by poverty interval, by type of LIHEAP 
assistance and funding source;
     Assisted households, by type of LIHEAP assistance and 
funding source, having at least one vulnerable member who is at least 
60 years or older, disabled, or 5 years old or younger;
     Assisted households receiving any type of LIHEAP 
assistance or funding source, having at least one member 60 years or 
older, disabled, or 5 years old or younger.
    Tribal grant recipients and other U.S. territory grant recipients 
are required to complete the Household Report-Short Form on an annual 
basis. The Short Form collects data only on the number of households, 
by funding source, receiving heating, cooling, energy crisis, and/or 
weatherization benefits.
    The information reported in the Household Report Long Form and 
Short Form is being collected for the Department's annual LIHEAP Report 
to Congress. The data also provides information about the need for 
LIHEAP funds. Finally, the data are used in the calculation of LIHEAP 
performance measures under the Government Performance and Results Act 
of 1993. The data elements will allow the accuracy of measuring LIHEAP 
targeting performance and LIHEAP cost efficiency.
    ACF is proposing changes to the Household Report Long Form and 
Short Form beginning with FY 2023 reporting. These changes include 
additional reporting requirements for assisted household and household 
member demographic characteristics, and the removal of reporting 
requirements collecting counts of applicant households by assistance 
type and poverty interval on the Household Report Long Form. The 
additional reporting requirements include the following:
    1. Number of Households by Owner/Renter Status (own, rent with 
utilities billed separately, rent with utilities in rental fee, other). 
[This is optional for FY 2023 reporting and required beginning with FY 
2024 reporting].
    2. Number of Assisted Applicants by Ethnicity. Grant recipients 
will report on assisted applicants by ethnicity according to standard 
census categories. [This is required beginning with FY 2023 reporting].
    3. Number of Assisted Applicants by Race. Grant recipients will 
report on assisted applicants by race according to standard census 
categories. [This is required beginning with FY 2023 reporting].
    4. Number of Assisted Applicants by Gender. Grant recipients will 
report on assisted applicants by gender. [This is required beginning 
with FY 2023 reporting].
    5. Number of Assisted Household Members by Ethnicity. Grant 
recipients will report on assisted household members by ethnicity 
according to standard census categories. [This is optional for FY 2023 
reporting and required beginning with FY 2024 reporting].
    6. Number of Assisted Household Members by Race. Grant recipients 
will report on assisted household members by race according to standard 
census categories. [This is optional for FY 2023 reporting and required 
beginning with FY 2024 reporting].
    7. Number of Assisted Household Members by Gender. Grant recipients 
will report on assisted household members by gender. [This is optional 
for FY 2023 reporting and required beginning with FY 2024 reporting].
    The proposed additions will provide OCS with critical data that is 
needed to evaluate if LIHEAP is equitably serving communities across 
the country. The collection of demographic data including owner/renter 
status, race, ethnicity, and gender will allow OCS to conduct analysis 
disaggregated by these variables to assess whether LIHEAP resources are 
equitably distributed. Therefore, this data collection aligns with the 
goals of Executive Order 13985 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for 
Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government). Additionally, 
collecting demographic data in LIHEAP will bring the program into 
alignment with other programs across OCS including the Community 
Services Block Grant, which currently collects demographic data on 
beneficiaries, and the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program 
(LIHWAP), which will collect demographic data on beneficiaries in FY 
2023.

[[Page 39524]]

    To minimize reporting burden to the greatest extent possible, and 
in recognition of the significant overlap in LIHEAP and LIHWAP grant 
recipients, OCS is proposing to use the same demographic measures 
included in the LIHWAP Annual Report in the LIHEAP Household Report. 
OCS has also removed the reporting requirements for applicant 
households by assistance type and poverty interval on the Household 
Report Long Form to offset some of the additional reporting burden 
entailed by the demographic data collection.
    Respondents: State governments, tribal governments, U.S. 
territories, and the District of Columbia.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                                   Total number   Average burden
                   Instrument                      Total number    of responses      hours per     Annual burden
                                                  of respondents  per respondent     response          hours
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Assisted Household Report-Long Form.............              56               1              67           3,752
Assisted Household Report-Short Form............             151               1              10           1,510
Household Application...........................       6,160,000               1               1       6,160,000
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 6,165,262.
    Please note that the above estimate accounts for the burden this 
data collection entails on LIHEAP applicants. In previous years, OCS 
has not included an estimate of the burden on households. While OCS 
does not mandate that LIHEAP grant recipients use a standard household 
application, we know that grant recipients collect many of the required 
Household Report data elements through their household application. The 
annual burden for the household application indicated above accounts 
for the time it will take LIHEAP applicants to provide the data 
required by the current Household Report as well as the proposed 
demographic data elements. To calculate this burden, we used an 
estimate for the annual number of LIHEAP household applicants 
multiplied by an average of an hour to provide the data required by the 
Household Report.
    Comments: The Department specifically requests comments on (a) 
whether the proposed collection of information is 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) 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. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.
    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 8629 and 45 CFR 96.92.

Mary B. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-14057 Filed 6-30-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-80-P