[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19268-19269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06709]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act Programs: State 
Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on January 12, 2023 (88 FR 2071), during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce 
Department.
    Title: Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) Programs: 
State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research 
Reserves.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0661.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (revision and extension of a 
current information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 288.
    Average Hours per Response: 72 hours per CZMA program manager's

[[Page 19269]]

evaluation; 15 minutes per partner/stakeholder response.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 933.
    Needs and Uses: This request is for revision and extension of a 
currently approved information collection. A few questions will be 
rewritten to improve the usefulness of information collected. A new 
question is proposed for inclusion that will collect information from 
Coastal Zone Management Act programs about efforts in racial equity and 
engagement with underserved communities.
    The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1451 
et seq.) requires that state coastal management programs and national 
estuarine research reserves developed in accordance with the CZMA and 
approved by the Secretary of Commerce be evaluated periodically. This 
request is to collect information to accomplish those evaluations. 
NOAA's Office for Coastal Management conducts periodic evaluations of 
the 34 coastal management programs and 30 research reserves and 
produces written findings for each evaluation. The Office for Coastal 
Management has access to documents submitted in cooperative agreement 
applications, performance reports, and certain documentation required 
by the CZMA and implementing regulations. However, additional 
information from each coastal management program and research reserve, 
as well as information from the program and reserve partners and 
stakeholders with whom each works, is necessary to evaluate against 
statutory and regulatory requirements. Different information collection 
subsets are necessary for (1) coastal management programs, (2) their 
partners and stakeholders, (3) research reserves, and (4) their 
partners and stakeholders.
    As part of this submission, a few questions will be modified to 
clarify the information that should be provided as part of the 
information requests and questionnaires sent to the coastal program and 
reserve managers. One new question about efforts in diversity, 
inclusion, equity, and accessibility will be included for coastal 
program and reserve managers. A few questions will be revised to 
clarify and improve the usefulness of responses for the partners and 
stakeholders' survey.
    Given the addition of a designated research reserve since the last 
renewal of this information collection and the anticipated designation 
of additional reserves in the coming years, and an increase in Office 
for Coastal Management staff capacity to conduct evaluations, the 
number of CZMA programs to be evaluated, on average, in the next three 
years will increase from 11 to 12 programs per year. This increase in 
the number of programs to be evaluated will also increase the number of 
partner and stakeholder respondents to this information collection.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; not-
for-profit institutions; state, local, or tribal government; Federal 
government.
    Frequency: CZMA programs will complete once every five to six 
years. Program partners and stakeholders are invited to complete one 
survey for program(s) that they work with on the same schedule as that 
program(s) (once every five to six years).
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory for CZMA programs; voluntary for 
program partners and stakeholders.
    Legal Authority: Section 312 of the Coastal Zone Management Act, as 
amended (16 U.S.C. 1458).
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB 
Control Number 0648-0661.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-06709 Filed 3-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-JE-P