Agency Information Collection Activities; Measuring Success of EPA Compliance Assistance

Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are businesses and other members of the regulated community, technical assistance providers that receive or access EPA compliance assistance tools, regulating agencies and state/local committees that are recipients of required compliance reports. Technical assistance providers are comprised of such groups as: state pollution prevention programs, state small business assistance programs, small business development centers, manufacturing extension partnership programs, and trade associations. The request for information from these affected entities will be voluntary. Title: Measuring Success of EPA Compliance Assistance. Abstract: This will be a voluntary collection of information to gather

customer satisfaction and behavioral change feedback on EPA compliance assistance, as well as data on the resulting impact on compliance. This effort complies with the mandate of the ``Government Performance and Results Act of 1997'' (GPRA), the goal of which is to ``improve Federal program effectiveness and public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction.'' EPA provides compliance assistance to help the regulated community understand and comply with federal environmental requirements. Through the development of compliance assistance tools and initiatives, EPA strives to build the capacity for more effective compliance within the regulated community. To accomplish this goal, EPA must target resources to the development of compliance assistance tools and initiatives that meet the needs of the regulated community and are effective in helping the regulated community achieve compliance. In order to comply with GPRA, the Office of Compliance needs to collect certain information that is currently not collected and which does not exist in our current databases. In accordance with the GPRA, which asks that Federal Agencies determine the outcome of their activities, EPA would like to determine if the compliance assistance it provides is achieving the goal of helping members of the regulated community understand and comply with federal regulatory requirements, as well as improving technical assistance providers' understanding of the industries they serve. In order to target EPA resources to implement the most effective compliance assistance activities, it is necessary to request voluntary feedback from members of the regulated community, compliance assistance providers, and state co-regulators. There are four components to this voluntary collection of information. First, EPA proposes to include a brief customer satisfaction survey with compliance assistance material developed by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance to enable recipients of the material to readily provide the Agency with feedback on the material's usefulness. Moreover, survey respondents will be asked what actions they took or intend to take to improve their compliance status and environmental performance, in whole or in part, as a result of the compliance assistance provided by EPA. The survey will likely take the form of a post-card which can be readily returned to the Agency. Compliance assistance material received through the Internet will also include this survey tool that can be completed electronically and E- mailed to the appropriate Agency contact. Secondly, EPA proposes to seek feedback on compliance assistance seminars and workshops delivered to the regulated community. A seminar evaluation form will be developed to voluntarily obtain this feedback from seminar participants. The feedback will focus on the compliance assistance seminar's usefulness and whether it will impact actions which the seminar participants intend to take to improve their compliance. Thirdly, EPA proposes to seek information from state/local regulating agencies and committees regarding the impact of EPA's compliance assistance activities on the state of compliance. The regulating agencies and state/local committees will be asked whether EPA's compliance assistance initiatives resulted in improved compliance. The fourth component involves questions which will be asked of technical assistance providers and state/local agencies to obtain feedback on how well EPA is performing its role as a wholesaler of compliance assistance. The survey instruments will provide options for responses to facilitate quick completion of the survey. The survey responses will be taken into account in revising compliance assistance materials, seminars, and in developing new tools or initiatives which better address customer needs. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. The EPA is soliciting comments to: (i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses. Burden Statement: It is estimated that approximately 4,780 members of the regulated community and 100 regulating agencies and/or committees may voluntarily complete and return EPA's customer satisfaction survey on an annual basis. EPA estimates that participating members of the regulated community may need to spend three minutes to complete either the complete compliance assistance or seminar/workshop customer satisfaction survey. Therefore, a total of 239 person hours within the regulated community may be expended to provide EPA with data to evaluate the effectiveness of its compliance assistance activities. This burden hour estimate translates to a cost of $1.05 per facility who voluntarily completes the survey and a total cost to industry of $5,019. The facility costs were calculated based on $21.00 per hour, plus 110 percent overhead. EPA estimates that participating regulating agencies and or committees may need to spend 45 minutes to complete the survey (30 minutes of staff time and 15 minutes of a supervisor's time). Therefore, a total of 4500 person hours within the regulating agencies and/or committees may be expended to provide EPA with data to evaluate the effectiveness of its compliance assistance activities. This burden hour estimate translates to a cost of $16.53 per regulating agency and/ or committees that voluntarily completes the survey and a total cost of $1653. for the regulating agencies. The costs to the regulating agencies were calculated based on labor rates of $17.48 per hour, plus $30.34 supervisory time from the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 1998, Table 4: Employment Costs of State and Local Government. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Dated: July 27, 1999. Elaine Stanley, Director, Office of Compliance. [FR Doc. 99-20549 Filed 8-9-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P