[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32176-32178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10752]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Agency Information Collection Activities: Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program and
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) Waivers
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment
on a proposed information collection. This collection is a new
information collection for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and WIC Farmers' Market
Nutrition Program (FMNP) which contains the reporting burden associated
with requesting waivers of WIC and WIC FMNP Program requirements as
authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the American
Baby Formula Act of 2022. In order to receive waivers authorized by
these statutes, WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies must submit a request
that establishes that they have met the requirements for a waiver.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 18, 2023.
[[Page 32177]]
ADDRESSES: The Food and Nutrition Services, USDA, invites interested
persons to submit written comments.
Preferred Method: Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments electronically.
Mail: Send comments to: Allison Post, Chief, WIC
Administration, Benefits, and Certification Branch, Policy Division,
Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320
Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Email: email comments to [email protected]
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will
be a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of this information collection should be directed to Allison
Post at (703) 457-7708 or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions that were used; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Title: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children (WIC) Program and WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program
(FMNP) Waivers.
Form Number: Not applicable.
OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
Expiration Date: Not yet determined.
Type of Request: New collection.
Abstract: Recently, USDA received legislative authority to grant
waivers to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC) and WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program
(FMNP) State agencies. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; Pub.
L 117-2) grants temporary waiver authority to WIC and WIC FMNP for the
purpose of outreach, modernization, and innovation and The Access to
Baby Formula Act of 2022 (ABFA; Pub. L. 117-129) grants permanent
waiver authority to WIC during certain emergencies and supply chain
disruptions. This burden collection covers activities associated with
the waiver request process.
American Rescue Plan Act of 2022
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; Pub. L. 117-2). ARPA amends Section 17
of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA; Pub. L. 111-296) to provide
WIC and WIC FMNP $390 million through FY 2024, to carry out outreach,
innovation, and program modernization efforts, including appropriate
waivers and flexibilities, to increase participation and redemption of
benefits. The waiver authority provided under ARPA does not apply to
the content of the WIC food packages, funding or regulatory
nondiscrimination requirements. In order to request and utilize
approved waivers under the authority of ARPA, WIC and WIC FMNP State
agencies will be required to perform administrative tasks that will
contribute to their reporting burden hours.
ARPA waivers are intended to provide flexibility to WIC and WIC
FMNP State agencies as they carry out outreach, innovation, and program
modernization efforts. In coordination with ARPA-funded projects, FNS
anticipates that WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies will request waivers
that will allow them to implement the grant-funded projects.
Additionally, FNS anticipates that WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies will
be interested in testing modernization projects that will not require
funding, such as extending WIC certification periods to align household
certification periods. FNS will offer three types of waivers to State
agencies under ARPA's authority: (1) waivers requiring additional
information, (2) accelerated waivers, and (3) ad hoc waivers.
Waiver requests requiring additional information are waivers
identified and pre-cleared by FNS as allowable under ARPA's waiver
authority for State agencies to request but require State agencies to
provide supplemental information to support their request. These waiver
requests are estimated to take 1 hour to complete. FNS estimates that
all 89 WIC State agencies and 51 WIC FMNP State agencies will request
an average of 5 waivers requiring additional information annually. Like
waiver requests requiring additional information, accelerated waivers
are waivers identified and pre-cleared by FNS as allowable under ARPA's
waiver authority. Unlike waiver requests requiring additional
information, these waivers will not require State agencies to submit
additional information along with their request. It is estimated that
State agencies will take 10 minutes to fill out a request form for an
accelerated waiver. FNS estimates that all 89 WIC State agencies and 51
WIC FMNP State agencies will request an average of 4 accelerated
waivers annually. Finally, FNS will also offer additional, novel
waivers at the request of the State agency that do not fall under the
waivers requiring additional information and accelerated waivers as
they have not already been identified and pre-cleared by FNS as
allowable under ARPA's waiver authority. These ad hoc waivers will meet
the specific needs of the State agency to implement innovative and
modern WIC and WIC FMNP enhancements. It is estimated that the ad hoc
waiver requests will take 2 hours to complete. FNS anticipates that 10
WIC State agencies and 5 WIC FMNP State agencies will request an
average of 1 ad hoc waiver annually. The estimated total burden for
ARPA waiver requests is 823.52 burden hours.
Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022 Waiver Authority
On May 21, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Access to Baby
Formula Act of 2022 (ABFA; Pub. L. 117-129). ABFA amends section 17 of
the CNA to establish waiver authority for the Secretary of Agriculture
to address certain emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions
impacting WIC.
USDA has authority under ABFA to waive or modify any statutory
requirement under section 17 of the CNA or any regulatory requirement,
provided that the following two conditions are met: (1) such
requirements cannot be met by WIC state agencies under the conditions
that prompted either the emergency period or the supply chain
disruption, including a supplemental food product recall, and (2)
exercising the waiver authority is necessary to serve participants and
does not substantially weaken the nutritional quality of supplemental
foods. ABFA also provides USDA with the ability to issue the waiver or
modification to multiple WIC State agencies or on a nationwide basis.
To request and utilize approved waivers under the authority of
ABFA, WIC State agencies will be required to perform administrative
tasks that will contribute to their reporting burden hours. FNS
estimates that 10 WIC State
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agencies will request an average of three waivers each in response to
emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions. It is estimated
that State agencies will take 15 minutes to fill out one request form.
The estimated total burden is 7.5 burden hours.
Affected Public: State and Tribal government. Respondent groups
include WIC and WIC FMNP State agencies (including Indian Tribal
Organizations and U.S. Territories).
Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of
respondents is 140 for the proposed information collection request
associated with OMB Number 0584- NEW. This includes: 89 WIC State
agencies and 51 WIC FMNP State agencies.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: The total estimated
number of responses per respondent for this collection is 9.32.
Estimated Total Annual Responses: The total estimated number of
responses is 1,305 for the proposed information collection request
associated with OMB Number 0584-NEW.
Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time per response
averages .64 hours across waiver types. For the reporting burden, the
estimated time per response varies from approximately 10 minutes to 2
hours depending on the waiver type being requested.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The estimated total
for reporting burden is 831 hours.
See the table below for more detail on the estimated total annual
burden.
WIC and WIC FMNP Waiver Burden Table--OMB# 0584-NEW
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Number of Est. total
Affected public Instruments Est. Number of responses per Total annual hours per Est. total
respondents respondent responses response burden
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ARPA
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WIC State Program Staff................... Accelerated waivers......... 89 4 356 0.17 59.45
WIC State Program Staff................... Waivers requiring additional 89 5 445 1 445.00
information.
WIC State Program Staff................... Ad hoc waivers.............. 10 1 10 2 20.00
WIC FMNP State Program Staff.............. Accelerated waivers......... 51 4 204 0.17 34.07
WIC FMNP State Program Staff.............. Waivers requiring additional 51 5 255 1 255.00
information.
WIC FMNP State Program Staff.............. Ad hoc waivers.............. 5 1 5 2 10.00
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Subtotal ARPA Reporting 140 9.11 1,275 0.65 823.52
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ABFA
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WIC State Program Staff................... Waiver request form......... 10 3 30 0.25 7.5
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Subtotal ABFA Reporting 10 3 30 0.25 7.5
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Grand Total Reporting Burden 140 9.32 1,305 0.64 831.02
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Tameka Owens,
Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-10752 Filed 5-18-23; 8:45 am]
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