82 FR 33921 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 139 (July 21, 2017)

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 139 (Friday, July 21, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 33921]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-15348]



[[Page 33921]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Child Support Enforcement Program Expenditure Report (Form 
OCSE-396) and the Child Support Enforcement Program Collection Report 
(Form OCSE-34).
    OMB No.: 0970-0181.
    Description: State and Tribal agencies administering the Child 
Support Enforcement Program under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act 
are required to provide information each fiscal quarter to the Office 
of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) concerning administrative 
expenditures and the receipt and disposition of child support payments 
from non-custodial parents. State title IV-D agencies report quarterly 
expenditures and collections using Forms OCSE-396 and OCSE-34, 
respectively. Tribal title IV-D agencies report quarterly expenditures 
using Form SF-425, as prescribed in program regulations, and formerly 
reported quarterly collections using only a modified version of Form 
OCSE-34. The information collected on these reporting forms is used to 
compute quarterly grant awards to States, the annual incentive payments 
to States, and provides valuable information on program finances of 
States and Tribes. The collected information is also included in a 
published annual statistical and financial report, available to the 
general public.
    In response to an earlier Federal Register Notice (77 FR 72352 
December, 2012), this agency received comments to support the minor 
changes and revisions to these forms at this time. As we continued to 
discuss improvements to these reporting forms with State and Tribal 
grantees we list a few minor revisions that have been incorporated to 
facilitate grant award operations and grantee financial reporting. 
These revisions were limited to any changes that allow Tribal grantees 
to, at least, use the same quarterly collection report submitted by 
State grantees. Additionally, further clarification was provided to 
reduce confusion over the inclusion of the Federal share of funding in 
computations of claims and to standardize treatment of claims. Finally, 
there were minor revisions in the title of the forms by reverting to 
the original designation as Form OCSE-396 and Form OCSE-34 and minor 
changes to the existing wording to improve clarity and accuracy.
    One respondent was concerned with the Tribal and State governments 
using the same OCSE-34 Form, which was perceived to lead to an added 
burden and confusion about the submission of specific data elements. 
Our sense is that the form is developed in a sufficiently clear manner 
to inform respondents on the data elements required by each type of 
grantee. Furthermore, we consistently provide outreach and technical 
assistance to all grantees to ensure that reporting burdens are clear 
and minimized.
    A few respondents provided technical and clerical edits to the 
OCSE-396 Form to increase accuracy and clarity. We have incorporated 
many of the requested edits and appreciate the detailed and thoughtful 
comments.
    One respondent was concerned that the instructions to the OCSE-396 
may be creating an additional burden by maintaining a 5 percent 
variance threshold (an increase or decease in any data element of Part 
1 compared to that same data element for the previous quarter). While 
we are understanding of this concern our position is that the form will 
be used nationally and raising the variance threshold above 5 percent 
is not justified at this time.
    Respondents: State and Tribal agencies (including New York, Texas, 
Washington, Puyallup Tribe, and Port Gamble S'klallam Tribe) 
administering a Child Support Enforcement Program.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                        Number of     responses per    hours  per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OCSE-396........................................              54               4               6           1,296
OCSE-34.........................................             114               4              14           6,384
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 7,680.

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, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: 
ACF 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, Fax: 202-395-7285, 
Email: [email protected], Attn: Desk Officer for the 
Administration for Children and Families.

Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-15348 Filed 7-20-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-01-P