[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 128 (Thursday, July 6, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43069-43070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14329]


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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 128 / Thursday, July 6, 2023 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 43069]]



DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapter VI

[Docket ID ED-2023-OPE-0123]


Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Public Hearing

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Intent to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee.

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SUMMARY: We announce our intention to establish a negotiated rulemaking 
committee to prepare proposed regulations for the Federal Student Aid 
programs authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, 
as amended (HEA). The committee will include representatives of 
organizations or groups with interests that are significantly affected 
by the subject matter of the proposed regulations. We also announce one 
public hearing at which interested parties may comment on the topic 
suggested by the Department and may suggest additional topics that we 
should consider for action by the negotiating committee. In addition, 
we announce that the Department will accept written comments on the 
topics suggested by the Department and suggestions for additional 
topics that we should consider for action by the negotiating committee.

DATES: The date, time, and location of the public hearing are listed 
under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. We must 
receive written comments on the topics suggested by the Department and 
additional topics that you believe we should consider for action by the 
negotiating committee(s) on or before July 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at regulations.gov. Information on using Regulations.gov, 
including instructions for submitting comments, is available on the 
site under ``FAQ.'' If you require an accommodation or cannot otherwise 
submit your comments via regulations.gov, please contact the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or comments submitted 
after the comment period closes. To ensure that we do not receive 
duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. Additionally, 
please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to generally make comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to include 
in their comments only information that they wish to make publicly 
available. Commenters should not include in their comments any 
information that identifies other individuals or that permits readers 
to identify other individuals. The Department reserves the right to 
redact at any time any information in comments that identifies other 
individuals, includes information that would allow readers to identify 
other individuals, or includes threats of harm to another person.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about negotiated 
rulemaking, see The Negotiated Rulemaking Process for Title IV 
Regulations, Frequently Asked Questions at: www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/hea08/neg-reg-faq.html. For information 
about the public hearing, or for additional information about 
negotiated rulemaking, contact: Vanessa Gomez, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Room 2C179, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 987-0750. 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: Section 492 of the HEA requires that, before 
publishing any proposed regulations to implement programs authorized 
under title IV of the HEA, the Secretary must obtain public involvement 
in the development of the proposed regulations. After obtaining advice 
and recommendations from the public, the Secretary conducts negotiated 
rulemaking to develop the proposed regulations. We announce our intent 
to develop proposed title IV regulations by following the negotiated 
rulemaking procedures in section 492 of the HEA.
    We intend to select negotiators from nominees of the organizations 
and groups that represent the interests significantly affected by the 
proposed regulations. To the extent possible, we will select individual 
negotiators from the nominees who reflect the diversity among program 
participants, in accordance with section 492(b)(1) of the HEA.

Regulatory Issue

    We intend to convene a committee to develop proposed regulations 
pertaining to topics in the title IV, HEA programs. Those topics are 
the authorities granted to the Secretary in HEA Section 432(a), which 
relate to the modification, waiver, or compromise of Federal student 
loans.
    After reviewing the public comments presented at the public hearing 
and in the written submissions, we will publish a document (or 
documents) in the Federal Register announcing the specific topics for 
which we intend to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee and a 
request for nominations for individual negotiators for the committee 
who represent the communities of interest that would be significantly 
affected by the proposed regulations. This document will also be posted 
on the Department's website at: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.

Public Hearing

    We will hold a virtual public hearing for interested parties to 
discuss the rulemaking agenda from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 
p.m., Eastern time, on July 18, 2023. Further information on the public 
hearing is available at: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.
    Individuals who would like to present comments at the public 
hearing must register by sending an email message to 
[email protected] no later than noon, Eastern time, on the business 
day prior to the public hearing. The message should include the name of 
the presenter, the general topic(s) the individual would like to 
address, and one or more dates and times during which the individual 
would be available

[[Page 43070]]

to speak. We will attempt to accommodate each speaker's preference, 
but, if we are unable to do so, we will select speakers on a first-
come, first-served basis, based on the date and time we received the 
message. We will limit each participant to four minutes.
    The Department will notify speakers of the time slot reserved for 
them and provide information on how to log in to the hearing as a 
speaker. An individual may make only one presentation at the public 
hearing. If we receive more registrations than we can accommodate, we 
reserve the right to reject or cancel the registration of an entity or 
individual affiliated with an entity or individual that is already 
scheduled to present comments to ensure that a broad range of entities 
and individuals are able to present. Registration is required to view 
the virtual public hearing. We will post links for attendees who wish 
to observe on our website at https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html. The Department will also post 
transcripts of the hearing on that site.
    The Department will accept written comments via the Federal 
eRulemaking portal through July 20, 2023. See the ADDRESSES section of 
this document for submission information.

Schedule for Negotiations

    We will announce dates for negotiations of any committee 
established after the public hearing through a notice published in the 
Federal Register. We anticipate holding three sessions of no less than 
2 days each at roughly 4-week intervals. The dates and locations of 
these virtual meetings will be published in a subsequent Federal 
Register document and posted online at: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2023/index.html.
    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 portable document format (PDF). To 
use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available for 
free on 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.
    Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1098a.

Nasser H. Paydar,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-14329 Filed 7-5-23; 8:45 am]
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