[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6742-6744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02016]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living

[OMB Control No. 0985-0033]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Public Comment Request; of the State Councils on Developmental 
Disabilities

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living is announcing that the 
proposed collection of information listed above has been submitted to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance as 
required under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 30-Day notice 
collects comments on the information collection requirements related to 
the State Councils on Developmental Disabilities (Councils) OMB control 
number 0985-0033.

DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by 
March 3, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find the information collection by 
selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' 
or by using the search function. By mail to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, New Executive Office Bldg., 725 17th St. 
NW, Rm. 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACL.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara Newell-Perez, phone: 202-795-7413 
or E-Mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, The 
Administration for Community Living (ACL) has submitted the following 
proposed collection of information to OMB for review and clearance. ACL 
is requesting approval to collect data for the State Councils on 
Developmental Disabilities (Councils) OMB control number 0985-0033.
    The State Councils on Developmental Disabilities (Councils) are 
authorized by Subtitle B, of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance 
and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (DD Act), as amended, [42 U.S.C. 15001 
et seq.] (The DD Act). The DD Act requires them to submit an annual 
Program Performance Report. Section 125(c)(7) 42 U.S.C. 15025 states 
that: Beginning in fiscal year 2002, the Council shall annually prepare 
and transmit to the Secretary a report. Each report shall be in a form 
prescribed by the Secretary by regulation under section 104(b). Each 
report shall contain information about the progress made by the Council 
in achieving the goals of the Council as specified in section 
124(c)(4)).
    This is a revision of a currently approved information collection. 
While the DDC PPR remains the same and is consistent with performance 
measures previously approved in the State Plan template, the revisions 
include items for collecting information from Councils on their use of 
CDC funds to expand vaccine access and Public Health Workforce funds 
(PHWF) to strengthen the public health workforce.
    The information collected from the DD Councils is used for multiple 
purposes:
    (1) To develop and submit at least every two years a report to the 
President, Congress, and the National Council on Disability that 
describes the goals and outcomes of programs supported under the DD 
Act.
    (2) As a tool for DD Councils to measure and report on progress in 
reaching goals and identify areas for which revisions are indicated;
    (3) To enhance the Federal project officers' monitoring of DD 
Council

[[Page 6743]]

progress in reaching projected outcomes;
    (4) As a set of performance measures to comply with the GPRA 
Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) that will yield a national portrait 
of DD Council program impact; and
    (5) For making funding and appropriation decisions about the DD 
Council program.
    This IC revision adds items to ensure ACL is gathering the 
necessary and relevant demographic information in support of Executive 
Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved 
Communities Through the Federal Government and the Executive Order on 
Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and 
Intersex Individuals. The National Academies of Science, Engineering, 
and Medicine (NASEM) recently published a report on Measuring Sex, 
Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation for the National Institutes of 
Health. This report represents the culmination of years of work within 
HHS to develop sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data 
collection methodology. This IC includes the recommended NASEM SOGI 
questions in the Council PPR.

Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice

    A notice published in the Federal Register 87 FR 58356 on September 
26, 2022. There were five comments received during the 60-day FRN. 
ACL's responses to these comments are included below.

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             Data collection form                           Comment                        ACL response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PPR (Commenters 1, 3, 4, 5)..................  Burden hours do not accurately    Burden calculation was based on
                                                reflect the work of the Council   the average data entry
                                                and should be increased.          estimates shared by a sample
                                                                                  size of Councils. While
                                                                                  Councils range in staffing
                                                                                  size, number of goals and
                                                                                  activities they provide
                                                                                  response to in the PPR. Past
                                                                                  workgroups comprised of DD
                                                                                  Council staff developed the
                                                                                  existing PPR tool after much
                                                                                  consensus building
                                                                                  conversations and a thorough
                                                                                  vetting process. ACL will
                                                                                  continue to have conversations
                                                                                  on areas for potential
                                                                                  streamlining as part of our
                                                                                  continuous quality improvement
                                                                                  efforts. Areas where the
                                                                                  reporting platform can assist
                                                                                  in streamlining will be taken
                                                                                  under consideration.
PPR (Commenters 1, 3, 4, 5)..................  Some of the performance measure   ACL continues to work with
                                                calculations are too distinct     Councils to not only meet the
                                                to accurately collect             federal data reporting
                                                information from sub-grantees.    requirement needs, be informed
                                                The performance measures,         of program progress, but to
                                                designed to standardize data      also understand Council's use
                                                collection, often seem to         of the PPR as they share
                                                render it meaningless in that     annual reports with citizens
                                                it is difficult to begin to       and stakeholders in their
                                                assess whether another            state/territory. T/TA guidance
                                                Council's initiative might be     on ways to best collect and
                                                considered here. The policy       utilize performance measures
                                                environments in which Councils    data will be provided.
                                                operate make it unclear whether
                                                the data collection has
                                                practical utility to the
                                                public. At present, there is no
                                                public-facing easily digestible
                                                summary of the data for public
                                                review. The current PPR has no
                                                practical utility beyond ACL
                                                staff.
PPR (Commenter 1)............................  There should be a different       ACL will explore ways to gather
                                                strategy to collect and compile   grantee stories that meet the
                                                stories from DD Councils that     needs of the agency and
                                                would be more useful to ACL.      outside stakeholders in a real-
                                                Including it in PPR narrative     time, realistic way that does
                                                reporting does not seem to        not increase overall burden.
                                                address ongoing story needs.
PPR (Commenter 2)............................  The PPR only allows for           ACL will explore expanding the
                                                narrative addressing ICF and      narrative space available in
                                                HCBS updates. Councils should     the reporting platform to help
                                                be able to import initial         Councils and ACL better
                                                Comprehensive Review and          measure Council projects and
                                                Analysis on these issues from     activities that impact systems
                                                the 5-year state plan and any     change efforts across the five-
                                                subsequent update from state      year planning cycle.
                                                plan PPRs during the five-year
                                                reporting cycle.
PPR (Commenter 2)............................  There is often a wide             Through T/TA efforts, Councils
                                                discrepancy between the number    will be provided with
                                                of people with I/DD and their     additional strategies for
                                                family members who participate    capturing quantitative
                                                in Council supported activities   performance of sub-grantees,
                                                and the number of people with I/  particularly in a virtual
                                                DD and their family members who   format, improving overall
                                                respond to a survey impacting     response rates of activity
                                                the validity of Outcome and Sub-  participants.
                                                Outcome Measures.
PPR (Commenter 5)............................  It is difficult to address how    ACL continues to review all
                                                to collect data about SOGI        Federal requirements for SOGI
                                                without knowing what the          and will work to ensure T/TA
                                                federal data subcommittee is      is provided to clarify
                                                recommending. We also have        expectations and address
                                                state Data Privacy Laws that      concerns.
                                                must be considered once we
                                                receive more information about
                                                implementation of these
                                                Executive Orders. State law may
                                                prohibit collection of certain
                                                data.
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    Estimated Program Burden: Based on the Council reporting 
experience, current data and reporting efforts constitute approximately 
172 burden hours per grantee for a total of 9,632 annual burden hours. 
Councils worked with the technical assistance (TA) provider to 
establish burden reporting estimates for Centers for Disease Control 
(CDC) and Public Health Workforce (PHWF) reporting for a total of 4,874 
hours. It should be noted that not all Councils chose to accept CDC and 
PHWF funds. The total addition of burden for the CDC and PHWF reporting 
totals 4,874 annual burden hours. The overall estimated total annual 
burden hours factoring in all three reports is: 14,506.

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                                                     Number of     Responses per     Hours per     Annual burden
       Respondent/data collection activity          respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PPR.............................................              56               1             172           9,632
CDC.............................................              53               1              76           4,028
PHWF............................................              47               1              18             846
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............          14,506
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[[Page 6744]]

    Dated: January 26, 2023.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2023-02016 Filed 1-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P