Notice2024-28152
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Performance Data Form (Office of Management and Budget #0970-0449)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 2, 2024
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentChildren and Families Administration
Abstract
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Community Services (OCS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is requesting an extension without change to the current version of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Performance Measures (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) #0970-0449) for use through June 30,2025, and for approval of a revised version to use beginning July 1, 2025.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 231 (Monday, December 2, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 231 (Monday, December 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95218-95219]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28152]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Performance Data Form (Office of Management
and Budget #0970-0449)
AGENCY: Office of Community Services, Administration for Children and
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of
Community Services (OCS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) is requesting an extension without change to the current
version of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Performance Measures (Office of Management and Budget (OMB) #0970-0449)
for use through June 30,2025, and for approval of a revised version to
use beginning July 1, 2025.
DATES: Comments due January 31, 2025. In compliance with the
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ACF is soliciting
public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection
described above.
ADDRESSES: You can obtain copies of the proposed collection of
information and submit comments by emailing <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fe979098919d9192929b9d8a979190be9f9d98d096968dd0999188"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a6cfc8c0c9c5c9cacac3c5d2cfc9c8e6c7c5c088ceced588c1c9d0">[email protected]</span></a>.
Identify all requests by the title of the information collection.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Description: OCS administers LIHEAP at the
Federal level. The LIHEAP Performance Data Form (LPDF) is an annual
report in response to section 2610(b) of the Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8629(b)(2))(LIHEAP statute), which
requires the Secretary of HHS to submit, no later than June 30 of each
Federal fiscal year, a report to Congress on LIHEAP for the prior
Federal fiscal year. The completeness, accuracy, consistency, and
timeliness of responses to data collections are needed for HHS to do
the following:
<bullet> Provide reliable and complete fiscal and household data to
Congress in the Department's LIHEAP Report to Congress for the Federal
fiscal year; and
<bullet> Respond to questions from the Congress, Department, OMB,
White House, and other interested parties in a timely manner; and
<bullet> Report LIHEAP performance results as part of the
Administration's annual Congressional Justification.
In response to the 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program--Greater Fraud
Prevention Controls are Needed (GAO-10-621), and in consideration of
the recommendations issued by the LIHEAP Performance Measures
Implementation Work Group, OCS required the collection and reporting of
these performance measures by State LIHEAP grant recipients, including
the District of Columbia. The original LPDF was approved by OMB in
November 2014 and has been in use since. The LPDF provides for the
collection of data on State grant recipients' sources and uses of
LIHEAP funds, including average benefit amounts, as well as data for
the following performance measures:
1. The benefit targeting index for high burden households receiving
LIHEAP fuel assistance;
2. The burden reduction targeting index for high burden households
receiving LIHEAP fuel assistance;
3. The number of households where LIHEAP prevented a potential home
energy crisis; and
4. The number of households where LIHEAP benefits restored home
energy.
All State LIHEAP grant recipients, including the District of
Columbia, are required to complete the LPDF on an annual basis through
ACF's web-based data collection and reporting system, the Online Data
Collection, which is available at the GrantSolutions homepage (<a href="https://home.grantsolutions.gov/home">https://home.grantsolutions.gov/home</a>). The reporting requirements will be
described through the LIHEAP Forms and Funding Applications page
(<a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/form/liheap-forms-and-funding-applications">https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/form/liheap-forms-and-funding-applications</a>) of ACF's website.
This request will (1) continue approval to collect information
using the currently approved version of the LPDF through June 30, 2025;
and (2) incorporate changes to the LPDF designed to collect performance
data on the impacts of supplemental Federal LIHEAP funds and to improve
form fields and language. The changes proposed would go into effect in
July 2025 and consist of (1) changing the name of Module 1 of the form
from ``Grantee Survey'' to ``Grant Recipient Survey''; (2) adding an
item for reporting carryover of Residential Energy Assistance Challenge
(REACH) funds to the following FY; (3) adding an item for reporting
non-administrative information technology enhancements; (4) removing
maximum income cutoffs from funding uses; (5) replacement of sources
and uses of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES
Act) funds and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funds with the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds; and (6) minor
wording and structural changes.
Module 1 Grant Recipient Survey
Module 1 of the LPDF will continue to require the following data
from each State for the Federal fiscal year:
<bullet> Grant recipient information.
<bullet> Sources and uses of LIHEAP funds, by funding type.
[[Page 95219]]
<bullet> Average LIHEAP household benefits, by funding type.
Modules 2, 2A, and 2B Required LIHEAP Performance Measures
Modules 2, 2A, and 2B of the LPDF will continue to require the
following data from each State for the Federal fiscal year:
<bullet> Grant recipient information;
<bullet> Energy burden targeting;
<bullet> Restoration of home energy service; and
<bullet> Prevention of loss of home energy.
Modules 2, 2A, and 2B require reporting on households that received
benefits from, respectively, non-supplemental funds, CARES Act funds,
and ARPA funds.
Module 3 LIHEAP Performance Measures (Optional Reporting)
Module 3 of the LIHEAP LPDF will continue to voluntarily collect
the following additional information from each interested grant
recipient for the Federal fiscal year:
<bullet> Average annual energy usage;
<bullet> Unduplicated number of households using supplemental
heating fuel and air conditioning;
<bullet> Unduplicated number of households that had restoration of
home energy service, and
<bullet> Unduplicated number of households that had prevention of
loss of home energy.
LIHEAP grant recipients will be able to compare their own results
to the results for other States, as well as to regional and national
results, through the Data Warehouse of the LIHEAP Performance
Management website as they manage their programs.
Respondents
State governments, including the District of Columbia; the largest
five electricity and natural gas vendors by State; the largest ten fuel
oil and propane vendors by State; and State sub-grant recipients.
Annual Burden Estimates
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Annual number Average burden
LIHEAP performance data form Total number of responses hours per Annual burden
of respondents per respondent response hours
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State Grant Recipients--Module I................ 51 1 30 1,530
State Grant Recipients--Modules II and III...... 51 1 158.6 8,088.6
Sub-Grant Recipients (in States with sub-grant 100 1 6.3 630
recipient managed systems)--Modules II and III.
Energy Vendors (largest 5 electric, 5 natural 1,530 1 8.5 13,005
gas, 10 fuel oil, and 10 propane vendors per
State-average)--Modules II and III.............
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 23,253.6.
Comments
The Department specifically requests comments 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) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and (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.
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted
within 60 days of this publication.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 8629(b); 42 U.S.C. 8624(b); 42 U.S.C. 8623(c).
Mary C. Jones,
ACF/OPRE Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-28152 Filed 11-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-80-P
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