81 FR 15722 - Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 57 (March 24, 2016)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on an extension of the information collection request entitled ``Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort Petitions''. Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to designate such classes of employees for addition to the Cohort when NIOSH lacks sufficient information to estimate with sufficient accuracy the radiation doses of the employees Program Act.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 57 (Thursday, March 24, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15722-15723]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06708]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-16-0639; Docket No. CDC-2016-0033]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on an extension of 
the information collection request entitled ``Energy Employees 
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) Special 
Exposure Cohort Petitions''. Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS) to designate such classes of employees for addition to the Cohort 
when NIOSH lacks sufficient information to estimate with sufficient 
accuracy the radiation doses of the employees Program Act.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 23, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-
0033 by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments.
    Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    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; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

    EEOICPA Special Exposure Cohort Petitions (OMB Control No. 0920-
0639 exp. 7/31/2016)--Extension--National Institute for Occupational 
Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    On October 30, 2000, the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 
Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA), 42 U.S.C. 7384-7385 [1994, 
supp. 2001] was enacted. The Act established a compensation program to 
provide a lump sum payment of $150,000 and medical benefits as 
compensation to covered employees suffering from designated illnesses 
incurred as a result of their exposure to radiation, beryllium, or 
silica while in the performance of duty for the Department of Energy 
and certain of its vendors, contractors and subcontractors. This 
legislation also provided for payment of compensation for certain 
survivors of these covered employees.

[[Page 15723]]

This program has been mandated to be in effect until Congress ends the 
funding.
    Among other duties, the Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS) was directed to establish and implement procedures for 
considering petitions by classes of nuclear weapons workers to be added 
to the ``Special Exposure Cohort'' (the ``Cohort''). In brief, EEOICPA 
authorizes HHS to designate such classes of employees for addition to 
the Cohort when NIOSH lacks sufficient information to estimate with 
sufficient accuracy the radiation doses of the employees, and if HHS 
also finds that the health of members of the class may have been 
endangered by the radiation dose the class potentially incurred. HHS 
must also obtain the advice of the Advisory Board on Radiation and 
Worker Health (the ``Board'') in establishing such findings. On May 28, 
2004, HHS issued a rule that established procedures for adding such 
classes to the Cohort (42 CFR part 83). The rule was amended on July 
10, 2007.
    The HHS rule authorizes a variety of respondents to submit 
petitions. Petitioners are required to provide the information 
specified in the rule to qualify their petitions for a complete 
evaluation by HHS and the Board. HHS has developed two forms to assist 
the petitioners in providing this required information efficiently and 
completely. Form A is a one-page form to be used by EEOICPA claimants 
for whom NIOSH has attempted to conduct dose reconstructions and has 
determined that available information is not sufficient to complete the 
dose reconstruction. Form B, accompanied by separate instructions, is 
intended for all other petitioners. Forms A and B can be submitted 
electronically as well as in hard copy.
    Respondent/petitioners should be aware that HHS is not requiring 
respondents to use the forms. Respondents can choose to submit 
petitions as letters or in other formats, but petitions must meet the 
informational requirements stated in the rule. NIOSH expects, however, 
that all petitioners for whom Form A would be appropriate will actually 
use the form, since NIOSH will provide it to them upon determining that 
their dose reconstruction cannot be completed and encourage them to 
submit the petition. NIOSH expects the large majority of petitioners 
for whom Form B would be appropriate will also use the form, since it 
provides a simple, organized format for addressing the informational 
requirements of a petition.
    NIOSH will use the information obtained through the petition for 
the following purposes: (a) Identify the petitioner(s), obtain their 
contact information, and establish that the petitioner(s) is qualified 
and intends to petition HHS; (b) establish an initial definition of the 
class of employees being proposed to be considered for addition to the 
Cohort; (c) determine whether there is justification to require HHS to 
evaluate whether or not to designate the proposed class as an addition 
to the Cohort (such an evaluation involves potentially extensive data 
collection, analysis, and related deliberations by NIOSH, the Board, 
and HHS); and, (d) target an evaluation by HHS to examine relevant 
potential limitations of radiation monitoring and/or dosimetry-relevant 
records and to examine the potential for related radiation exposures 
that might have endangered the health of members of the class.
    Finally, under the rule, petitioners may contest the proposed 
decision of the Secretary to add or deny adding classes of employees to 
the cohort by submitting evidence that the proposed decision relies on 
a record of either factual or procedural errors in the implementation 
of these procedures. NIOSH estimates that the time to prepare and 
submit such a challenge is 45 minutes. Because of the uniqueness of 
this submission, NIOSH is not providing a form. The submission will 
typically be in the form of a letter to the Secretary.
    There are no costs to respondents unless a respondent/petitioner 
chooses to purchase the services of an expert in dose reconstruction, 
an option provided for under the rule.

                                       Estimate of Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
     Type of  respondents           Form name       respondents    responses per   response  (in    (in hours)
                                                                    respondent        hours)
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Petitioners...................  Form A 42 CFR                  2               1            3/60               1
                                 83.9.
                                Form B 42 CFR                  5               1               5              25
                                 83.9.
Petitioners using a submission  42 CFR 83.9.....               1               1               6               6
 format other than Form B (as
 permitted by rule).
Petitioners Appealing final     42 CFR 83.18....               2               1           45/60               2
 HHS decision (no specific
 form is required).
Claimant authorizing a party    Authorization                  3               1            3/60               1
 to submit petition on his/her   Form 42 CFR
 behalf.                         83.7.
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              35
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Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2016-06708 Filed 3-23-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P