Final TANF Rule as published in the Federal Register 4/12/1999

Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 69 / Monday, April 12, 1999 / Rules and Regulations
and certain Territories. Therefore, the
Secretary certifies that this rule will not
have a significant impact on small
entities.
C. Assessment of the Impact on Family
Well-Being
We certify that we have made an
assessment of this rule’s impact on the
well-being of families, as required under
section 654 of The Treasury and General
Government Appropriations Act of
1999. The purpose of the TANF program
is to strengthen the economic and social
stability of families, in part by
supporting the formation and
maintenance of two-parent families and
reducing out-of-wedlock child-bearing.
As required by statute, this rule gives
flexibility to States to design programs
that can best serve this purpose.
D. Paperwork Reduction Act
This rule contains information
collection requirements that have been
submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Under
this Act, no persons are required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a valid OMB control
number. If you have any comments on
these information collection
requirements, please submit them to
OMB within 30 days. The address is:
Office of Management and Budget,
Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th
Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503,
Attn: ACF/DHHS Desk Officer. The
public will have an opportunity to
provide comments before OMB makes a
final decision.
This final rule incorporates our
response to comments regarding the
reporting burden that we received in
response to the NPRM and the
Paperwork Notice we published
November 27, 1997. It requires States to
submit three quarterly reports and one
annual report. In addition, States must
provide documentation in support of or
related to caseload reduction credit, the
reasonable cause/corrective compliance
process, the Governor’s certification on
State waiver programs, and the domestic
violence good cause waiver
redetermination process.
We are publishing in this issue of the
Federal Register the quarterly data
reports and instructions (including the
specific data elements); the quarterly
financial report and instructions; and
two reporting forms: the Annual Report
on State Maintenance-of-Effort Programs
and instructions (a part of the annual
report information specified in
§ 265.9(c)) and the Caseload Reduction
Report and instructions. We discussed
the burden of the content of the latter
two reporting forms in the NPRM, but
we are publishing the report forms
themselves to facilitate compliance.
Quarterly Data and Financial Reports
The three quarterly reports required
are the TANF Data Report (Appendices
A through C), the SSP–MOE Data Report
(Appendices E through G), and the
TANF Financial Report (Appendix D)
(or, as applicable, the Territorial
Financial Report). The TANF Data
Report and SSP–MOE Data Report
consist of three sections each. Two of
the three sections of each Data Report
contain disaggregated data elements,
and one section of each Data Report
contains aggregated data elements.
We need this information collection
to meet the requirements of section
411(a) and to implement other sections
of the Act, including sections 407 (work
participation requirements), 409
(penalties), and 413 (annual rankings).
In the final rule, we have significantly
reduced the burden on States of
collecting case-record information on
current recipients and closed cases. As
discussed in the preamble section
regarding part 265, we accepted many of
the commenters’ recommendations to
reduce or eliminate burden. For
example, we reduced the number of
data elements in each Data Report;
clarified that States are not required to
track closed cases but report only data
from the month of closure; and reduced
the type of SSP–MOE programs subject
to case-record reporting under the
revised definition of assistance. At the
same time, we also modified, revised, or
expanded a very few data elements for
clarity or specificity, e.g., adding breakout
items on case closure. In deciding
which changes to make, we focused on
the statutory requirements and the
importance of the data in informing us
about what was happening to needy
families under TANF.
States are required to report MOE
expenditure data on the TANF Financial
Report; case-record reporting in the
SSP–MOE Data Report is optional.
However, if a State claims MOE
expenditures under a separate State
program and wishes to receive a high
performance bonus or qualify for
caseload reduction credit, it must file
disaggregated and aggregated
information on a separate State
program(s) that is similar to the data
reported for the TANF program.
In response to comments and as a
consequence of our more narrow
definition of ‘‘assistance,’’ we have
reduced the number of data elements in
the SSP–MOE Data Report and the
number of TANF and separate State
programs that are covered by the SSP–
17875
MOE Data Report. (See Appendices E
through G for the data elements.)
The TANF Financial Report consists
of one form. (See Appendix D.) We need
this report to meet the requirements of
sections 405(c)(2), 411(a)(2), 411(a)(3),
and 411(a)(5) and to carry out our other
financial management and oversight
responsibilities. These responsibilities
include providing information that
could be used in determining whether
States are subject to penalties under
section 409(a)(1), 409(a)(3), 409(a)(7),
409(a)(9), or 409(a)(14); tracking
expenditures under our definition of
‘‘assistance’’; learning the extent to
which recipients of benefits and
services are covered by program
requirements, and helping to validate
the disaggregated data we receive on
TANF and SSP cases.
Annual Report
Based on comments, we eliminated
the proposed Annual Program and
Performance Report (§ 275.9(c) of the
NPRM) and the Addendum to the
Fourth Quarter Financial Report
(§ 275.9(a) and (b) of the NPRM).
However, the content of the proposed
Addendum is now contained in and
required to be reported as a part of the
Annual Report in § 265.9. In addition,
§ 265.9 requires States to report more
detailed information on the State’s MOE
program(s), strategies to implement the
Family Violence Option, State diversion
programs, and other program
characteristics. (We have developed a
form for reporting the information on
State MOE programs; see Appendix I.)
Other Information Collection
Requirements
There are four other circumstances in
this rulemaking that will create a
reporting burden. The first circumstance
concerns instances in which a State
wants to qualify for caseload reduction
credit. The second addresses a situation
in which a State is subject to a penalty
under section 409 and wishes to avoid
the penalty or receive a reduced
penalty. The third is the Governor’s
certification with respect to waivers,
and the fourth is the domestic violence
good cause waiver redetermination
process.
• If a State elects to request a pro-rata
reduction in the minimum participation
rates, based on caseload reduction,
§ 261.41 requires that it must file certain
data. We have developed a form for
States to report these data at Appendix
H.
• If a State wishes to dispute a
penalty determination or wants to be
considered for a waiver of a penalty
based on ‘‘reasonable cause’’ or