[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 92 (Monday, May 13, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27880-27882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-11287]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter VI
[Docket ID ED-2012-OPE-0008]
Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Public Hearings
AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of additional hearing and extension of comment date.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In May 2012, we announced our intention to establish a
negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed regulations for the
Federal Student Aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, as amended (title IV Federal Student Aid
programs).
On April 16, 2013, we announced additional topics for consideration
by that committee and three public hearings at which interested parties
may comment.
We now announce a fourth public hearing at which interested parties
may comment on the topics suggested by the Department and may suggest
additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiated
rulemaking committee.
We extend the deadline date for the submission of written comments
to June 4, 2013.
DATES: The dates, times, and locations of the four public hearings are
listed under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
The deadline for the receipt of written comments suggesting issues
that should be considered for action by the negotiated rulemaking
committee is extended to June 4, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments by fax or by email. To ensure that we do not receive
duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition,
please include the Docket ID (listed at the beginning of this notice)
at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to
submit your comments electronically. Information on using
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents,
submitting comments, and viewing the docket is available on the site
under ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section.
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery. If you
mail or deliver your comments about these proposed regulations, address
them to Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW.,
Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is to make all comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing in
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to
include in their comments only information that they wish to make
publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the public
hearings, go to http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education,
1990 K Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202)
502-7526. Email: [email protected].
For information about negotiated rulemaking in general, see The
Negotiated Rulemaking Process for Title IV Regulations, Frequently
Asked Questions at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/hea08/neg-reg-faq.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S.
Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC
20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. Email: [email protected].
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact
disc) by contacting Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K
Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526.
Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 1, 2012, we published a notice in
the Federal Register (77 FR 25658) announcing our intent to establish a
negotiated rulemaking committee under section 492 of the HEA to develop
proposed regulations designed to prevent fraud and otherwise ensure
proper use of title IV Federal Student Aid program funds, especially
within the context of current technologies. In particular, we announced
our intent to propose regulations to address the use of debit cards and
other banking mechanisms for disbursing title IV Federal Student Aid
program funds, and to improve and streamline the campus-based Federal
Student Aid programs. That notice also announced two public hearings at
which interested parties could comment on the topics suggested by the
Department and suggest additional topics for consideration for action
by the negotiated rulemaking
[[Page 27881]]
committee. Those hearings were held on May 23, 2012, in Phoenix,
Arizona, and on May 31, 2012, in Washington, DC. We invited parties to
comment and submit topics for consideration in writing as well.
On April 16, 2013, we published a notice in the Federal Register
(78 FR 2247), as corrected at 78 FR 25235, announcing additional topics
for consideration for action by the negotiated rulemaking committee. We
announced three additional public hearings at which interested parties
could comment on the new topics suggested by the Department and suggest
additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiating
committee. We also invited parties unable to attend a public hearing to
submit written comments on the additional topics and to submit other
topics for consideration.
We now announce a fourth public hearing.
We are also extending the deadline date for the submission of
written comments from May 30, 2013, to June 4, 2013.
Public Hearings
We will hold four public hearings for interested parties to discuss
the topics suggested by the Department for consideration for action by
the negotiated rulemaking committee and to suggest additional topics
for the rulemaking agenda. The public hearings will be held on:
May 21, 2013, at the U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K
Street NW., Eighth Floor Conference Center, Washington, DC 20006.
May 23, 2013, at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities,
Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium, 301
19th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
May 30, 2013, at the University of California, San
Francisco, UC Hall, Toland Hall Auditorium (Room U142), 533 Parnassus
Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143.
June 4, 2013, at Spelman College, William and Camille
Cosby Auditorium, 350 Spelman Lane, Atlanta, GA 30314.
The public hearings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., local
time. Further information on the public hearing sites, including
directions, is available at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
Individuals desiring to present comments at the public hearing must
register by sending email to [email protected]. The email should
include the name of the presenter along with a general timeframe during
which the individual would like to speak (for example, a presenter
could indicate morning or afternoon, or before 11 a.m. or after 3
p.m.). We will attempt to accommodate each speaker's preference but, if
we are unable to do so, we will make the determination on a first-come,
first-served basis (based on the time and date the email was received).
It is likely that each participant will be limited to five minutes. The
Department will notify registrants of the location and time slot
reserved for them. An individual may make only one presentation at the
public hearings. If we receive more registrations than we are able to
accommodate, the Department reserves the right to reject the
registration of an entity or individual that is affiliated with an
entity or individual that is already scheduled to present comments and
to select among registrants to ensure that a broad range of entities
and individuals is allowed to present. We will accept walk-in
registrations for any remaining time slots on a first-come, first-
served basis beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the public hearing at
the Department's on-site registration table.
Speakers may also submit written comments. In addition, for anyone
who does not present at a public hearing, the Department will accept
written comments through June 4, 2013. (See the ADDRESSES sections of
this notice for submission information.)
Transcripts from the hearings can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html. Written comments may
be viewed through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Instructions for finding comments are available on
the site under ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section.
Individuals can enter docket ID ED-2012-OPE-0008 in the search box to
locate the appropriate docket.
After a review of the public comments presented at the public
hearings and in the written submissions, we will publish a notice in
the Federal Register announcing the specific subject areas for which we
intend to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee and requesting
nominations for individual negotiators for the committee. This notice
will also be posted on the Department's Web site at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
We intend to select participants for the negotiated rulemaking
committee from nominees of the organizations and groups that represent
the interests significantly affected by the proposed regulations. To
the extent possible, we will select individual negotiators who reflect
the diversity among program participants, in accordance with section
492(b)(1) of the HEA.
Regulatory Issues
For the convenience of the reader, we repeat the additional topics
for consideration that we published in April 2013. The topics are: cash
management of funds provided under the title IV Federal Student Aid
programs; State authorization for programs offered through distance
education or correspondence education; State authorization for foreign
locations of institutions located in a State; clock to credit hour
conversion; gainful employment; changes made by the Violence Against
Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Public Law 113-4, to the campus
safety and security reporting requirements in the HEA; and the
definition of ``adverse credit'' for borrowers in the Federal Direct
PLUS Loan Program. Descriptions of these issues are in the April 16,
2013 notice.
Schedule for Negotiations
We anticipate that any committee established after the public
hearings will begin negotiations in September 2013, with the committee
meeting for up to three sessions of approximately four days each at
roughly monthly intervals. The committee will meet in the Washington,
DC area. The dates and locations of these meetings will be published in
a subsequent document in the Federal Register, and will be posted on
the Department's Web site at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free
Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well
as all other documents of the Department published in the Federal
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the
site. You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at:
www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you
can limit your search to documents published by the Department.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1098a.
[[Page 27882]]
Delegation of Authority: The Secretary of Education has delegated
authority to Brenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary for Vocational
and Adult Education, to perform the functions and duties of the
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
Dated: May 8, 2013.
Brenda Dann-Messier,
Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, delegated the
authority to perform the functions and duties of the Assistant
Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2013-11287 Filed 5-10-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P