[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17810-17811]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05168]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Revolving Loan Fund Financial Report, Form ED-209

    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 12/11/2023 during a 60-day comment period. This 
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: Economic Development Administration (EDA), Department of 
Commerce.
    Title: Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Financial Report.
    OMB Control Number: 0610-0095.
    Form Number(s): ED-209.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 1,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 3 hours.
    Burden Hours: 3,000 hours.
    Needs and Uses: The EDA Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Program, 
authorized under section 209 of the Public Works and Economic 
Development Act of 1965, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3149), has served as an 
important pillar of EDA investment programs since the establishment of 
the RLF Program in 1975. The purpose of the RLF Program is to provide 
regions with a flexible and continuing source of capital, to be used 
with other economic development tools, for creating and retaining jobs 
and inducing private investment that will contribute to long-term 
economic stability and growth. EDA provides RLF grants to eligible 
recipients (RLF recipients), which include State and local governments, 
Indian Tribes, and non-profit organizations, to operate a lending 
program that offers loans with flexible repayment terms, primarily to 
small businesses in distressed communities that are unable to obtain 
traditional bank financing. These loans enable small businesses to 
expand and lead to new employment opportunities that pay competitive 
wages and benefits.
    RLF recipients must submit to EDA RLF Financial Report (Form ED-
209), which collects limited performance information that EDA uses to 
oversee and monitor RLF awards (13 CFR 307.14(a)) and monitor the 
health of their lending portfolio. EDA currently requires Form ED-209 
to be submitted on an annual basis for high-performing RLF awards and 
on a semi-annual basis for other RLF awards.
    Since 2020, when PRA approval for Form ED-209 was last extended, 
the number of RLF recipients required to report to EDA changed 
substantially resulting in a net decrease in respondents and hour 
burden associated with Form ED-209. On March 27, 2020, Congress enacted 
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-
136), appropriating $1,500,000,000 in supplemental funds to EDA to 
``prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus . . . including for 
necessary expenses for responding to economic injury as a result of 
coronavirus.'' EDA used a significant portion of those funds to fund 
over 350 RLF grants. As a result, the number of respondents required to 
submit Form ED-209 increased substantially. However, the RLF Act 
enacted on October 30, 2020, allowed for EDA to release the Federal 
interest in awards 7 years after final disbursement. The RLF Act has 
allowed over 380 RLFs to be released from their Federal reporting 
requirements. Although Form ED-209 is being extended without change, 
and the estimated amount of time required to complete Form ED-209 
remains unchanged at three hours, while the estimated annual burden 
hours for Form ED-209 is decreasing because of the number of RLF grants 
and respondents no longer required to complete Form ED-209 following 
the release of EDA oversight.
    Affected Public: EDA RLF grant recipients: State and local 
governments, Indian Tribes, and non-profit organizations.
    Frequency: Semi-annual and Annual.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    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.

[[Page 17811]]

    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 0610-0095.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-05168 Filed 3-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-24-P