Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

Issuing agencies

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 201 (Tuesday, October 20, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 20, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66333-66335]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21416]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

[30Day-27-0057]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Agency 
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has submitted the 
information collection request titled ``APPLETREE Performance 
Measures'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
approval. ATSDR previously published a ``Proposed Data Collection 
Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations'' notice on June 26, 
2026 to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. ATSDR 
received one comment related to the previous notice. This notice serves 
to allow an additional 30 days for public and affected agency comments.
    ATSDR will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:
    (a) 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;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (d) 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 submission of responses; and
    (e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570. Comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Direct 
written comments and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in 
this notice to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management 
and Budget, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 
395-5806. Provide written comments within 30 days of notice 
publication.

Proposed Project

    APPLETREE Performance Measures (OMB Control No. 0923-0057, Exp. 10/
31/2026)--Revision--Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
(ATSDR).

Background and Brief Description

    The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) seeks 
to build and sustain the capacity to evaluate exposures to hazardous 
waste across the country. Releases from hazardous waste sites are a 
major source of harmful exposures in homes, schools, workplaces, and 
communities. These exposures are often complex and may be difficult to 
identify and control. Hazardous waste sites may involve various toxic 
substances, exposure pathways, and health impacts. ATSDR's primary goal 
is to keep communities safe from harmful exposures and related 
diseases. To accomplish this goal, the agency works closely with 
partnering agencies to evaluate exposures at hazardous waste sites, 
educate communities, and seek new ways to better protect public health.
    ATSDR's Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce 
Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE) Program is critical to ATSDR's 
success in accomplishing its mission in communities nationwide. ATSDR's 
recipients will use APPLETREE funding to advance ATSDR's primary goal 
of keeping communities safe from harmful environmental exposures and 
related diseases. APPLETREE gives recipients the resources to build 
their capacity to assess and respond to site-specific issues involving 
human exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. APPLETREE 
helps recipients identify exposure pathways at specific sites; educate 
affected communities about site contamination and potential health 
effects; make recommendations to prevent exposure; review health 
outcome data to evaluate potential links between site contaminants and 
community health outcomes. APPLETREE facilitates the implementation of 
state-level programs to ensure that potential early care and education 
facilities are in areas free from harmful environmental exposures. 
Additionally, it motivates the recipients to innovate and implement 
progressive public health interventions that can prevent exposure to 
environmental contamination. Due to the local connections and 
partnerships of APPLETREE recipients, there is an enhancement in 
community engagement and implementation of recommendations. This 
program is authorized under Sections 104(i)(15) of the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 
1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act 
(SARA) of 1986 [42 U.S.C. 9604(i)(15)].
    Under the current five-year APPLETREE cooperative agreement (NOFO 
No. CDC-RFA-TS-23-0001), eligible applicants include federally 
recognized American Indian/Alaska Native tribal governments; American 
Indian/Alaska native tribally designated organizations; political 
subdivisions of states (in consultation with states); and state and 
local governments or their bona fide agents. ATSDR technical project 
officers (TPOs) assist 30 APPLETREE recipients to address site-specific 
issues involving human exposure to hazardous substances. Key capacities 
include identification of human exposure pathways at ATSDR sites, 
education of affected communities and local health professionals about 
site contamination and potential health effects; making appropriate 
recommendations to prevent exposure; reviewing health outcome data to 
evaluate potential links between site contaminants and community 
health; and documenting the effects of environmental remediation on 
health.
    This is a Revision of an information collection request (ICR) 
titled ``APPLETREE Performance Measures,'' previously approved under 
OMB Control No. 0923-0057 (Exp. 10/31/2026). ATSDR will continue to 
collect information related to recipient activities, and the process 
and outcome performance measures outlined by the cooperative agreement 
program. Information will be used to monitor progress toward program 
goals and objectives, and for program quality improvement. All forms 
were previously approved by OMB.
    1. ATSDR Health Education (HE) Activity Form: For each 
environmental health assessment and health education activity conducted 
at ATSDR sites, APPLETREE recipients will quantitatively assess and 
report efforts to educate community members about site recommendations 
and health risks using indicators to assess community understanding of 
site findings about health risks and community

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understanding of agency recommendations to reduce health risks.
    2. ATSDR Technical Assistance (TA) Activity Form: Throughout the 
budget year, this form will be used to record the routine requests made 
by the recipients and their program responses. These responses do not 
evaluate environmental data and do not make health calls but are 
monitored by ATSDR as part of the recipients' performance.
    3. ATSDR Site Impact Assessment (SIA) Form: For each environmental 
health assessment and health education activity conducted at ATSDR 
sites, recipients shall estimate and report the number of people 
protected from exposure to toxic substances at each site where 
implementation of agency recommendations has taken place and at each 
childcare center where safe siting guidelines have been implemented. To 
the extent possible, recipients shall estimate and report the disease 
burden prevented due to the implementation of site recommendations and 
safe siting guidelines.
    4. ATSDR Success Story Form: Recipients will provide one success 
story per quarter (four success stories total per year) that highlights 
the impact of any of their programs. Recipients will report a summary, 
background, intervention/action taken, and accomplishment/impact for 
each story. Optionally, they may include a photo or quote.
    5. APPLETREE Annual Performance Report (APR) Template: Recipients 
will continue to provide an APR each year and at the end of the funding 
cycle, which summarizes their annual and funding cycle performances, 
respectively. APRs will be due in December of each year to coincide 
with the CDC Grants Management annual reports to reduce the overall 
reporting burden, and the final report will be due at the end of the 
funding cycle. The purpose of the performance reports will be to assess 
Partners based on performance measures and evaluation projects. The 
reports should include a summary of performance measures, results of 
any evaluation projects, an accompanying narrative of progress and 
interpretation of results, optional successes, challenges, and an 
updated work plan.
    6. Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE) 
Qualitative Narrative Form: Recipients will continue to provide a 
narrative report of their CSPECE Programs to document descriptive 
details of their state's landscape, program plan, program 
implementation, and results that cannot be captured through numbers. 
Recipients will complete and submit the narrative once a year as a 
supplement with their APRs.
    7. CSPECE Quantitative Form: Recipients will continue to provide 
data on their CSPECE Programs to quantify aspects of their program such 
as children reached, target audiences educated, early care and 
education programs referred and screened, and recommendations 
implemented. To supplement their APRs, recipients will complete and 
submit once a year as a supplement with their APRs. In addition to the 
required annual reporting, at the end of the five-year program, each 
recipient will report cumulative five-year performance measures for 
three forms: the APR, the CSPECE Qualitative Narrative Form, and the 
CSPECE Quantitative Form. This will result in six total responses in a 
five-year period for each form. The estimated annualized number of 
required responses is thus rounded to once per year for these three 
forms, as 6 hours divided by three years equals 1.2 hours per year.
    8. ATSDR SoilSHOP Form: SoilSHOPs are not a required activity; 
however, if conducted, a recipient will need to complete the ATSDR 
SoilSHOP Form. This form gathers data on the inputs, activities, 
outputs, and outcomes of the event, such as the number of soil samples 
screened, the number of elevated soil samples, the number of 
individuals receiving health consultations, and the number of 
individuals receiving referrals.
    9. ATSDR Recommendation Follow-up Form: For each environmental 
health assessment, recipients will provide an update on the status of 
acceptance and implementation of all recommendations to understand 
whether and how recommendations have been implemented, and the 
subsequent impact on communities. Recipients will report annually on 
the anniversary date of the release of each health assessment.
    10. ATSDR Requests for Certified and Non-certified Public Health 
Assessments and Health Consultations Form: For each environmental 
health assessment, recipients will provide the request, dates, and 
triage information and can associate the request with a hazardous waste 
site. Site scoping and clearance information are completed for about 
15% of environmental health assessments that complete ATSDR's clearance 
process (i.e., certified).
    ATSDR is seeking a three-year Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 
clearance for this Revision ICR. ATSDR currently funds 30 recipients, 
and recipient reporting is required to receive funding under the 
APPLETREE cooperative agreement. The total annual time burden requested 
is 336 hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
           Type of respondents                    Form name           Number of    responses per   per response
                                                                     respondents    respondent       (in hrs.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPLETREE Recipients....................  ATSDR Health Education              30              17            4/60
                                           (HE) Activity Form.
                                          ATSDR Technical                     30              17            4/60
                                           Assistance (TA)
                                           Activity Form.
                                          ATSDR Site Impact                   30               3            7/60
                                           Assessment (SIA) Form.
                                          ATSDR Success Story Form            30               4               1
                                          APPLETREE Annual                    30               1               2
                                           Performance Report
                                           (APR) Template.
                                          Choose Safe Places for              30               1               1
                                           Early Care and
                                           Education (CSPECE)
                                           Qualitative Narrative
                                           Form.
                                          CSPECE Quantitative Form            30               1           30/60
                                          ATSDR SoilSHOP Form.....            10               1            7/60
                                          ATSDR Recommendation                30               4           10/60
                                           Follow-up.
                                          ATSDR Requests..........            30               3            7/60
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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. 2026-21416 Filed 10-19-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P


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