[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32176-32178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10752]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Special Supplemental 
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program and 
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Waivers

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on a proposed information collection. This collection is a new 
information collection for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program 
for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and WIC Farmers' Market 
Nutrition Program (FMNP) which contains the reporting burden associated 
with requesting waivers of WIC and WIC FMNP Program requirements as 
authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the American 
Baby Formula Act of 2022. In order to receive waivers authorized by 
these statutes, WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies must submit a request 
that establishes that they have met the requirements for a waiver.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 18, 2023.

[[Page 32177]]


ADDRESSES: The Food and Nutrition Services, USDA, invites interested 
persons to submit written comments.
     Preferred Method: Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments electronically.
     Mail: Send comments to: Allison Post, Chief, WIC 
Administration, Benefits, and Certification Branch, Policy Division, 
Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 
Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314.
     Email: email comments to [email protected]
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed to Allison 
Post at (703) 457-7708 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Comments are invited 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, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions that were used; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Title: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, 
and Children (WIC) Program and WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program 
(FMNP) Waivers.
    Form Number: Not applicable.
    OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
    Expiration Date: Not yet determined.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Abstract: Recently, USDA received legislative authority to grant 
waivers to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, 
Infants, and Children (WIC) and WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program 
(FMNP) State agencies. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; Pub. 
L 117-2) grants temporary waiver authority to WIC and WIC FMNP for the 
purpose of outreach, modernization, and innovation and The Access to 
Baby Formula Act of 2022 (ABFA; Pub. L. 117-129) grants permanent 
waiver authority to WIC during certain emergencies and supply chain 
disruptions. This burden collection covers activities associated with 
the waiver request process.

American Rescue Plan Act of 2022

    On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American 
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; Pub. L. 117-2). ARPA amends Section 17 
of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA; Pub. L. 111-296) to provide 
WIC and WIC FMNP $390 million through FY 2024, to carry out outreach, 
innovation, and program modernization efforts, including appropriate 
waivers and flexibilities, to increase participation and redemption of 
benefits. The waiver authority provided under ARPA does not apply to 
the content of the WIC food packages, funding or regulatory 
nondiscrimination requirements. In order to request and utilize 
approved waivers under the authority of ARPA, WIC and WIC FMNP State 
agencies will be required to perform administrative tasks that will 
contribute to their reporting burden hours.
    ARPA waivers are intended to provide flexibility to WIC and WIC 
FMNP State agencies as they carry out outreach, innovation, and program 
modernization efforts. In coordination with ARPA-funded projects, FNS 
anticipates that WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies will request waivers 
that will allow them to implement the grant-funded projects. 
Additionally, FNS anticipates that WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies will 
be interested in testing modernization projects that will not require 
funding, such as extending WIC certification periods to align household 
certification periods. FNS will offer three types of waivers to State 
agencies under ARPA's authority: (1) waivers requiring additional 
information, (2) accelerated waivers, and (3) ad hoc waivers.
    Waiver requests requiring additional information are waivers 
identified and pre-cleared by FNS as allowable under ARPA's waiver 
authority for State agencies to request but require State agencies to 
provide supplemental information to support their request. These waiver 
requests are estimated to take 1 hour to complete. FNS estimates that 
all 89 WIC State agencies and 51 WIC FMNP State agencies will request 
an average of 5 waivers requiring additional information annually. Like 
waiver requests requiring additional information, accelerated waivers 
are waivers identified and pre-cleared by FNS as allowable under ARPA's 
waiver authority. Unlike waiver requests requiring additional 
information, these waivers will not require State agencies to submit 
additional information along with their request. It is estimated that 
State agencies will take 10 minutes to fill out a request form for an 
accelerated waiver. FNS estimates that all 89 WIC State agencies and 51 
WIC FMNP State agencies will request an average of 4 accelerated 
waivers annually. Finally, FNS will also offer additional, novel 
waivers at the request of the State agency that do not fall under the 
waivers requiring additional information and accelerated waivers as 
they have not already been identified and pre-cleared by FNS as 
allowable under ARPA's waiver authority. These ad hoc waivers will meet 
the specific needs of the State agency to implement innovative and 
modern WIC and WIC FMNP enhancements. It is estimated that the ad hoc 
waiver requests will take 2 hours to complete. FNS anticipates that 10 
WIC State agencies and 5 WIC FMNP State agencies will request an 
average of 1 ad hoc waiver annually. The estimated total burden for 
ARPA waiver requests is 823.52 burden hours.

Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022 Waiver Authority

    On May 21, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Access to Baby 
Formula Act of 2022 (ABFA; Pub. L. 117-129). ABFA amends section 17 of 
the CNA to establish waiver authority for the Secretary of Agriculture 
to address certain emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions 
impacting WIC.
    USDA has authority under ABFA to waive or modify any statutory 
requirement under section 17 of the CNA or any regulatory requirement, 
provided that the following two conditions are met: (1) such 
requirements cannot be met by WIC state agencies under the conditions 
that prompted either the emergency period or the supply chain 
disruption, including a supplemental food product recall, and (2) 
exercising the waiver authority is necessary to serve participants and 
does not substantially weaken the nutritional quality of supplemental 
foods. ABFA also provides USDA with the ability to issue the waiver or 
modification to multiple WIC State agencies or on a nationwide basis.
    To request and utilize approved waivers under the authority of 
ABFA, WIC State agencies will be required to perform administrative 
tasks that will contribute to their reporting burden hours. FNS 
estimates that 10 WIC State

[[Page 32178]]

agencies will request an average of three waivers each in response to 
emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions. It is estimated 
that State agencies will take 15 minutes to fill out one request form. 
The estimated total burden is 7.5 burden hours.
    Affected Public: State and Tribal government. Respondent groups 
include WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies (including Indian Tribal 
Organizations and U.S. Territories).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of 
respondents is 140 for the proposed information collection request 
associated with OMB Number 0584- NEW. This includes: 89 WIC State 
agencies and 51 WIC FMNP State agencies.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: The total estimated 
number of responses per respondent for this collection is 9.32.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: The total estimated number of 
responses is 1,305 for the proposed information collection request 
associated with OMB Number 0584-NEW.
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time per response 
averages .64 hours across waiver types. For the reporting burden, the 
estimated time per response varies from approximately 10 minutes to 2 
hours depending on the waiver type being requested.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The estimated total 
for reporting burden is 831 hours.
    See the table below for more detail on the estimated total annual 
burden.

                                                   WIC and WIC FMNP Waiver Burden Table--OMB# 0584-NEW
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                                                                                             Number of                      Est. total
              Affected public                        Instruments          Est. Number of   responses per   Total annual      hours per      Est. total
                                                                            respondents     respondent       responses       response         burden
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                                                                          ARPA
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WIC State Program Staff...................  Accelerated waivers.........              89               4             356            0.17           59.45
WIC State Program Staff...................  Waivers requiring additional              89               5             445               1          445.00
                                             information.
WIC State Program Staff...................  Ad hoc waivers..............              10               1              10               2           20.00
WIC FMNP State Program Staff..............  Accelerated waivers.........              51               4             204            0.17           34.07
WIC FMNP State Program Staff..............  Waivers requiring additional              51               5             255               1          255.00
                                             information.
WIC FMNP State Program Staff..............  Ad hoc waivers..............               5               1               5               2           10.00
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                         Subtotal ARPA Reporting                                     140            9.11           1,275            0.65          823.52
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                                                                          ABFA
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WIC State Program Staff...................  Waiver request form.........              10               3              30            0.25             7.5
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                         Subtotal ABFA Reporting                                      10               3              30            0.25             7.5
                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Grand Total Reporting Burden                                   140            9.32           1,305            0.64          831.02
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Tameka Owens,
Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-10752 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P