Notice2026-07762
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations
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
April 21, 2026
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network). The Tracking Network involves ongoing collection, integration, analysis, and dissemination of health, exposure, and hazard data designed to drive public health actions that protect the population from harm resulting from exposure to environmental contaminants.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 76 (Tuesday, April 21, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 76 (Tuesday, April 21, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21292-21294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07762]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-26-1175; Docket No. CDC-2026-0662]
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 effort to reduce public burden and maximize the
utility of government information, invites the general public and other
federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing information
collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This
notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project
titled Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network).
The Tracking Network involves ongoing collection, integration,
analysis, and dissemination of health, exposure, and hazard data
designed to drive public health actions that protect the population
from harm resulting from exposure to environmental contaminants.
DATES: CDC must receive written comments on or before June 22, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2026-
0662 by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow
the instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road
NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and Docket Number. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments
to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking
portal (<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>) 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 Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton
Road NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; Telephone: 404-639-7570;
Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2a4547486a494e49044d455c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8be4e6e9cbe8efe8a5ece4fd">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
[[Page 21293]]
previously approved information collection before submitting the
collection to the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we
are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described
below.
The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
1. 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;
2. 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;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected;
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses; and
5. Assess information collection costs.
Proposed Project
Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network)
(OMB Control No. 0920-1175, Exp. 8/31/2026)--Extension--National Center
for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
The CDC is submitting a 3-year Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
Extension information collection request (ICR) for Environmental Public
Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network) (OMB Control No. 0920-1175,
Exp. 8/31/2026). This ICR is sponsored by the Environmental Public
Health Tracking Branch (Tracking Branch), Division of Environmental
Health Science and Practice (DEHSP), National Center for Environmental
Health (NCEH) at CDC.
In September 2000, the Pew Environmental Health Commission issued a
report entitled America's Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country
Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network. The Commission documented a
critical gap in ``knowledge that hinders our national efforts to reduce
or eliminate diseases that might be prevented by better managing
environmental factors'' due largely to the fact that existing
environmental health systems were inadequate and fragmented. They
described a lack of data for the leading causes of mortality and
morbidity, a lack of data on exposure to hazards, a lack of
environmental data with applicability to public health, and barriers to
integrating and linking existing data. To address this critical gap,
the Commission recommended a ``Nationwide Health Tracking Network'' for
disease and exposures. In response to the report and this critical gap,
Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2002 budget for the CDC
to establish the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
(Tracking Program) and Tracking Network and has appropriated funds each
year thereafter to continue this effort.
The Tracking Program includes SLHD and other partners which
collaborate to: (1) build and maintain the Tracking Network; (2)
advance the practice and science of environmental public health
tracking; (3) communicate information to guide environmental health
policies and actions; (4) enhance tracking workforce and
infrastructure; and (5) foster collaborations between health and
environmental programs.
In spring of 2022, under Notice of Funding Opportunity CDC-RFA-
EH22-2202, the CDC's Tracking Program funded 33 state and local public
health programs (funded SLHDs). These recipients were selected through
a competitive objective review process and are managed as CDC
cooperative agreements. Awards are for five years and are renewed
through an Annual Performance Report (APR)/Continuation Application.
The Tracking Program collects data from recipients about their
activities and progress for the purposes of program evaluation and
monitoring (hereafter referenced as program data). The Tracking Program
also collects data from radon testing labs to integrate into the
Tracking Network.
Environmental public health tracking is the ongoing collection,
integration, analysis, and dissemination of health, exposure, and
hazard data (hereinafter referenced as Tracking Network data) to inform
public health actions that protect the population from harm resulting
from exposure to environmental contaminants. The Tracking Network
provides data from existing health, exposure, and hazard surveillance
systems and supports ongoing efforts within the public health and
environmental sectors to improve data collection, accessibility, and
dissemination as well as analytic and response capacity. Data that were
previously collected for different purposes and stored in separate
state and local systems are now available in a nationally standardized
format allowing programs to begin bridging the gap between health and
the environment.
CDC is requesting approval for an Extension of the previously
approved ICR. This request has an increase in the number of annual
respondents, from 37 to 47, with a decrease in overall responses (599
to 522) and overall burden hours (14,041 to 12,348). In spring of 2022,
under the new 5-year NOFO No. CDC-RFA-EH22-2202, CDC's Tracking Program
funded 33 state and local public health programs (funded SLHD). The
approval number reflects the current 33 SLHD respondents plus four to
allow for future funding of new SLHD or to collect voluntary responses
from unfunded SLHD as well as radon testing labs.
Data from recipients or other SLHD are submitted annually following
standardized procedures. Tracking Network data submitted annually by
recipients and other SLHD to the Tracking Program include six datasets
and the metadata form, specifically (1) birth defects prevalence, (2)
drinking water monitoring, (3) emergency department visits, (4)
hospitalizations, (5) radon testing for SLHD and radon labs, (6)
biomonitoring, and (7) metadata. The Tracking Program uses Research
Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) for its Electronic Data Capture System
(EDCS) needs, which is an easy-to-use, free software tool useful for
programmatic deliverable management and data capture. Using an EDCS
significantly reduces the burden by optimizing the data capture method
to eliminate the need for personnel to complete manual data cleaning
and organization before using data for analysis and evaluation upon
submission.
Based on the above changes, we are requesting to decrease the
annualized number of responses from 599 to 522 and the annualized time
burden from 14,041 to 12,348 hours.
[[Page 21294]]
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden
Type of respondent Form name Number of responses per per response Total burden
respondents respondent (in hrs.) (in hrs.)
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State and local health Birth Defects 30 1 40 1,200
department (SLHD). Prevalence Form.
Drinking Water 37 1 50 1,850
Monitoring Form.
Emergency 37 1 40 1,480
Department
Visits Form.
Hospitalizations 37 1 40 1,480
Form.
Radon Testing 25 1 50 1,250
Form (combined
form).
Biomonitoring 8 1 40 320
Form.
Metadata Records 37 2 20 1,480
Environmental 33 1 21 693
Public Health
Tracking Work
Plan--REDCap.
Program 33 2 20 1,320
Accomplishments
and Public
Health Actions
Report--REDCap.
Performance 33 1 20 660
Measures
Report--REDCap.
PHA Impact 33 2 15/60 16
Follow-up--
REDCap.
Communications 33 1 2 66
Plan Template.
Web Stats 33 1 1 33
Template.
Radon Testing Labs............ Radon Testing 10 1 50 500
Form (combined
form).
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 12,348
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Public Health
Ethics and Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2026-07762 Filed 4-20-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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