81 FR 17168 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 59 (March 28, 2016)

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 59 (Monday, March 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17168-17169]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06915]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program 2015 RECS LIHEAP 
Administrative Data Matching.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) 
block grant (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.) was established under Title XXVI 
of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, 97. The Office of 
Community Services (OCS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) 
administers LIHEAP at the federal level.
    The LIHEAP statute requires HHS to report to Congress annually on 
program impacts on recipient and eligible households. The primary 
program goals, as articulated in the statute, are to ensure that 
benefits are targeted to those households where the greatest program 
impacts are expected, and to assure that timely resources are available 
to households experiencing home energy crises.
    OCS is seeking authorization to collect data from all State LIHEAP 
grantees and the District of Columbia that will allow OCS to identify 
LIHEAP recipients that responded to the Residential Energy Consumption 
Survey (RECS). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 
conducts this survey to provide periodic national and regional data on 
residential energy use in the United States. OCS uses RECS data to 
furnish Congress and the Administration with important national and 
regional descriptive data on the energy needs of low-income households. 
Specific data elements OCS is seeking to collect are detailed below.
    State LIHEAP grantees will be asked to furnish data for LIHEAP 
recipient households that reside in areas included in the RECS sample.
    For each household, report the following:

 Name
 Address (including ZIP code)
 Household or Client ID
 Telephone Number
 Household Size
 Gross Income
 Heating assistance awarded?
 Amount of heating assistance
 Date of heating assistance
 Cooling assistance awarded?
 Amount of cooling assistance
 Date of cooling assistance
 Crisis Assistance awarded?
 Amount of crisis assistance
 Date of crisis assistance
 Other Assistance awarded?
 Amount of other assistance
 Date of other assistance
 Presence of children 5 or younger
 Presence of adult 60 or older
 Presence of disabled

    The following are additional optional data items that grantees can 
provide if the data are available in your database:

 Tenancy (i.e., own or rent)
 Type(s) of fuel used
 Heat included in rent
    This data will help ACF to analyze specific information for the 
LIHEAP recipient population, including information related to benefits 
targeting, energy usage, and energy insecurity, and it will support 
analysis of LIHEAP data for the annual Report to Congress and the 
annual LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook.
    Respondents: ACF published a Federal Register notice on December 
23, 2015 soliciting 60 days of public comment on requiring State 
grantees to provide household-level data for this effort. ACF didn't 
receive comments on this notice.

Annual Burden Estimates

    The table below shows the estimated reporting burden for the RECS 
LIHEAP administrative data matching effort. These estimates are based 
on a small number of interviews with grantees.

[[Page 17169]]



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                                                                  Number of     Average  burden
                 Instrument                      Number of      responses per      hours  per      Total burden
                                                respondents       respondent        response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrative data request.................              49                1               24            1,176
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,176.

Additional Information

    Copies of the proposed collection may be obtained by writing to the 
Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research 
and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., Washington, DC 20201. Attention 
Reports Clearance Officer. All requests should be identified by the 
title of the information collection. Email address: 
[email protected].

OMB Comment

    OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of 
information between 30 and 60 days after publication of this document 
in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best assured of having 
its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication. 
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent directly to the following: Office of 
Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Email: 
[email protected], Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration 
for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-06915 Filed 3-25-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-01-P