[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3975-3976]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01136]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Arbitration Panel Decisions Under the Randolph-Sheppard Act

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 
Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice lists arbitration panel decisions under the 
Randolph-Sheppard Act that the Department of Education (Department) 
made publicly available in accessible electronic format during the 
fourth quarter of 2022. All decisions are available on the Department's 
website and by request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James McCarthy, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 5064D, Potomac Center Plaza, 
Washington, DC 20202-2800. Telephone: (202) 245-6703. Email: 
[email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For the purpose of providing individuals who 
are blind with remunerative employment, enlarging their economic 
opportunities, and stimulating greater efforts to make themselves self-
supporting, the Randolph-Sheppard Act, 20 U.S.C. 107 et seq. (Act), 
authorizes individuals who are blind to operate vending facilities on 
Federal property and provides them with a priority for doing so. The 
vending facilities include, among other things, cafeterias, snack bars, 
and automatic vending machines. The Department administers the Act and 
designates an agency in each participating State--the State licensing 
agency (SLA)--to license individuals who are blind to operate vending 
facilities on Federal and other property in the State.
    The Act provides for arbitration of disputes between SLAs and 
vendors who are blind and between SLAs and Federal agencies before 
three-person panels, convened by the Department, whose decisions 
constitute final agency action. 20 U.S.C. 107d-1. The Act also makes 
these decisions matters of public record and requires their publication 
in the Federal Register. 20 U.S.C. 107d-2(c).
    The Department publishes lists of Randolph-Sheppard Act arbitration 
panel decisions in the Federal Register. The full texts of the 
decisions listed are available on the Department's website (see below) 
or by request (see 82 FR 41941 (Sept. 5, 2017)). Older, archived 
decisions are also added to the Department's website as they are 
digitized.
    Throughout 2022, the Department received and posted four new 
decisions issued by Randolph-Sheppard arbitration panels. In addition, 
the Department posted seven older decisions issued between March 2016 
and December 2021. The following table lists these 11 decisions from 
most recent to oldest based on their decision dates.

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                Case name                         Docket No.               Date                  State
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South Carolina Commission for the Blind   R-S/19-01.................       8/31/2022  South Carolina
 v. United States Marine Corps.
Balani et al. v. California Department    R-S/19-05.................        8/8/2022  California.
 of Rehabilitation.
Bechtel v. Washington State Services for  R-S/20-02.................        4/4/2022  Washington.
 the Blind.

[[Page 3976]]

 
Utah Services for the Blind and Visually  R-S/20-04.................       2/14/2022  Utah.
 Impaired v. United States Department of
 the Air Force, Hill Air Force Base.
Kneip v. Idaho Commission for the Blind   R-S/16-03.................      11/10/2021  Idaho.
 and Visually Impaired.
Mitchell v. Louisiana Workforce           R-S/16-11.................       4/30/2021  Louisiana.
 Commission.
Missouri Department of Social Services,   R-S/16-13.................        5/1/2019  Missouri.
 Rehabilitation Services for the Blind
 v. United States Department of the
 Army, Fort Leonard Wood.
Henderson v. Missouri Department of       R-S/15-02.................      10/13/2016  Missouri.
 Social Services, Rehabilitation
 Services for the Blind.
Crocker v. California Department of       R-S/13-11.................       8/10/2016  California.
 Rehabilitation.
Brown v. Illinois Department of Human     R-S/13-10.................        4/5/2016  Illinois.
 Services.
Oregon Commission for the Blind and       R-S/13-12.................        3/2/2016  Oregon.
 Visually Impaired v. General Services
 Administration.
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    These decisions and other decisions that we have already posted are 
searchable by key terms, are accessible under Section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act, and are available in Portable Document Format (PDF) 
on the Department's website at https://rsa.ed.gov/about/programs/randolph-sheppard-vending-facility-program/decisions-of-arbitration-panels or by request to the person listed under FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    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 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.

Katherine Neas,
Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and 
Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2023-01136 Filed 1-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P