[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 126 (Friday, July 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39525-39526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14078]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Public Comment Request; of the Review of the National Standards for 
Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) at ACL [OMB 
#0985-New]

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 an 
opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed collection of 
information listed above. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA), Federal agencies are required to publish a notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and 
to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This IC 
solicits comments on the information collection requirements relating 
to the Review of the National Standards for Culturally and 
Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) at ACL.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information must be submitted 
electronically by 11:59 p.m. (EST) or postmarked by August 30, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments on the collection of information 
to: Kristen Hudgins, [email protected], 202-795-7732. Submit 
written comments on the collection of information to Administration for 
Community Living, 330 C Street SW, Washington, DC 20201, Attention: 
Kristen Hudgins.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Hudgins, 
[email protected], 202-795-7732

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

[[Page 39526]]

provide information to a third party. The PRA requires Federal agencies 
to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each 
proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension 
of an existing collection of information, before submitting the 
collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, ACL is 
publishing a notice of the proposed collection of information set forth 
in this document.
    With respect to the following collection of information, ACL 
invites comments on our burden estimates or any other aspect of this 
collection of information, including:
    (1) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of ACL's functions, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) the accuracy of ACL's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used to determine burden estimates;
    (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.
    The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is currently engaged 
in an effort to better understand how ACL programs support grantees to 
apply CLAS Standards and related diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) 
priorities in their programming. While the previous research effort 
focused on the perspective of ACL staff and national associations and 
advocacy organizations; this new IC will focus on a broader scope of 
respondents. In this IC, ACL will be reaching out to ACL-funded 
grantees. By capturing the perspectives of these grantees, this 
research aims to build on both our current knowledge of the CLAS 
Standards and DEI landscape at ACL, as well as to enhance our 
understanding of how to support the aging and disability networks to 
strengthen their CLAS Standards and DEI practices and priorities.
    The IC, as well as analyses of available NSOAAP, Annual Performance 
data or other ACL data, would help address the following key research 
questions:
    1. Who does ACL serve?
    a. How do ACL clients differ by demographic characteristics and/or 
social determinants of health (e.g., language, culture, race/ethnicity, 
age, disability status)?
    b. Are there any gaps in the types of people (or clients) served?
    2. How are ACL program grantees meeting the needs of these diverse 
people (or clients)?
    a. What data do they collect that would help ensure they meet 
diverse client needs?
    b. What resources do grantee organizations need to support the 
cultural and linguistic needs of their clients?
    Five focus groups with ACL grantees, comprised of 8-10 participants 
each (with each participant representing one grantee entity), would be 
conducted to help ACL better understand the current service provider 
grantee landscape related to cultural and linguistic needs and other 
DEI activities. Data gathered from these focus groups would also help 
refine a web-based survey that would be administered to a minimum of 
400 service provider grantees. The survey would allow for broader reach 
to help ACL understand both how provider grantees address diverse 
client needs and what additional resources provider grantee 
organizations may need to support the cultural, linguistic, and DEI 
needs of the people they serve. Together, these data will help ACL 
better understand how grantees are meeting the needs of their clients, 
as well as the extent of unmet CLAS/DEI needs that exist for clients 
and the extent to which those unmet needs may limit service access. The 
proposed data collection tools may be found on the ACL website for 
review at: https://www.acl.gov/about-acl/public-input.
    Estimated Program Burden: ACL estimates the burden of this 
collection of information as follows:
    The grantee focus groups will include no more than 50 individuals 
representing grantee organizations across the US. The burden for their 
participation is estimated at 1.5 hours per participant, for a total of 
75 hours.
    A minimum of 400 grantees are expected to respond to the web-based 
survey. The approximate burden for survey completion may be ten minutes 
per respondent for a total estimate of 4,000 minutes. The estimated 
survey completion burden includes time to review the instructions, read 
the questions and complete the responses.

                                                 IC Burden Chart
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                                                     Number of     Responses per     Hours per     Annual burden
       Respondent/data collection activity          respondents     respondent       response          hours
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Grantee focus groups............................              50               1            1.50           75.00
Web-based grantee survey........................             400               1            0.16           66.67
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             480               1            1.66          141.67
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    Dated: June 27, 2022.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2022-14078 Filed 6-30-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P