[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 57 (Thursday, March 24, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15722-15723]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[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.
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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]
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