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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 92 (Monday, May 13, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27880-27882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-11287]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapter VI

[Docket ID ED-2012-OPE-0008]

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee; Public Hearings

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of additional hearing and extension of comment date.

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SUMMARY: In May 2012, we announced our intention to establish a 
negotiated rulemaking committee to prepare proposed regulations for the 
Federal Student Aid programs authorized under title IV of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965, as amended (title IV Federal Student Aid 
programs).
    On April 16, 2013, we announced additional topics for consideration 
by that committee and three public hearings at which interested parties 
may comment.
    We now announce a fourth public hearing at which interested parties 
may comment on the topics suggested by the Department and may suggest 
additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiated 
rulemaking committee.
    We extend the deadline date for the submission of written comments 
to June 4, 2013.

DATES: The dates, times, and locations of the four public hearings are 
listed under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
    The deadline for the receipt of written comments suggesting issues 
that should be considered for action by the negotiated rulemaking 
committee is extended to June 4, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments by fax or by email. To ensure that we do not receive 
duplicate copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition, 
please include the Docket ID (listed at the beginning of this notice) 
at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket is available on the site 
under ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section.
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery. If you 
mail or deliver your comments about these proposed regulations, address 
them to Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW., 
Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006.

    Privacy Note:  The Department's policy is to make all comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing in 
their entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters should be careful to 
include in their comments only information that they wish to make 
publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about the public 
hearings, go to http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education, 
1990 K Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202) 
502-7526. Email: wendy.macias@ed.gov.
    For information about negotiated rulemaking in general, see The 
Negotiated Rulemaking Process for Title IV Regulations, Frequently 
Asked Questions at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/hea08/neg-reg-faq.html or contact: Wendy Macias, U.S. 
Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC 
20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. Email: wendy.macias@ed.gov.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-
800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an 
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact 
disc) by contacting Wendy Macias, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street NW., Room 8017, Washington, DC 20006. Telephone: (202) 502-7526. 
Email: wendy.macias@ed.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  On May 1, 2012, we published a notice in 
the Federal Register (77 FR 25658) announcing our intent to establish a 
negotiated rulemaking committee under section 492 of the HEA to develop 
proposed regulations designed to prevent fraud and otherwise ensure 
proper use of title IV Federal Student Aid program funds, especially 
within the context of current technologies. In particular, we announced 
our intent to propose regulations to address the use of debit cards and 
other banking mechanisms for disbursing title IV Federal Student Aid 
program funds, and to improve and streamline the campus-based Federal 
Student Aid programs. That notice also announced two public hearings at 
which interested parties could comment on the topics suggested by the 
Department and suggest additional topics for consideration for action 
by the negotiated rulemaking

[[Page 27881]]

committee. Those hearings were held on May 23, 2012, in Phoenix, 
Arizona, and on May 31, 2012, in Washington, DC. We invited parties to 
comment and submit topics for consideration in writing as well.
    On April 16, 2013, we published a notice in the Federal Register 
(78 FR 2247), as corrected at 78 FR 25235, announcing additional topics 
for consideration for action by the negotiated rulemaking committee. We 
announced three additional public hearings at which interested parties 
could comment on the new topics suggested by the Department and suggest 
additional topics for consideration for action by the negotiating 
committee. We also invited parties unable to attend a public hearing to 
submit written comments on the additional topics and to submit other 
topics for consideration.
    We now announce a fourth public hearing.
    We are also extending the deadline date for the submission of 
written comments from May 30, 2013, to June 4, 2013.

Public Hearings

    We will hold four public hearings for interested parties to discuss 
the topics suggested by the Department for consideration for action by 
the negotiated rulemaking committee and to suggest additional topics 
for the rulemaking agenda. The public hearings will be held on:
     May 21, 2013, at the U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K 
Street NW., Eighth Floor Conference Center, Washington, DC 20006.
     May 23, 2013, at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 
Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium, 301 
19th Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
     May 30, 2013, at the University of California, San 
Francisco, UC Hall, Toland Hall Auditorium (Room U142), 533 Parnassus 
Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143.
     June 4, 2013, at Spelman College, William and Camille 
Cosby Auditorium, 350 Spelman Lane, Atlanta, GA 30314.
    The public hearings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., local 
time. Further information on the public hearing sites, including 
directions, is available at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
    Individuals desiring to present comments at the public hearing must 
register by sending email to negreghearing@ed.gov. The email should 
include the name of the presenter along with a general timeframe during 
which the individual would like to speak (for example, a presenter 
could indicate morning or afternoon, or before 11 a.m. or after 3 
p.m.). We will attempt to accommodate each speaker's preference but, if 
we are unable to do so, we will make the determination on a first-come, 
first-served basis (based on the time and date the email was received). 
It is likely that each participant will be limited to five minutes. The 
Department will notify registrants of the location and time slot 
reserved for them. An individual may make only one presentation at the 
public hearings. If we receive more registrations than we are able to 
accommodate, the Department reserves the right to reject the 
registration of an entity or individual that is affiliated with an 
entity or individual that is already scheduled to present comments and 
to select among registrants to ensure that a broad range of entities 
and individuals is allowed to present. We will accept walk-in 
registrations for any remaining time slots on a first-come, first-
served basis beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the public hearing at 
the Department's on-site registration table.
    Speakers may also submit written comments. In addition, for anyone 
who does not present at a public hearing, the Department will accept 
written comments through June 4, 2013. (See the ADDRESSES sections of 
this notice for submission information.)
    Transcripts from the hearings can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html. Written comments may 
be viewed through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. Instructions for finding comments are available on 
the site under ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' in the Help section. 
Individuals can enter docket ID ED-2012-OPE-0008 in the search box to 
locate the appropriate docket.
    After a review of the public comments presented at the public 
hearings and in the written submissions, we will publish a notice in 
the Federal Register announcing the specific subject areas for which we 
intend to establish a negotiated rulemaking committee and requesting 
nominations for individual negotiators for the committee. This notice 
will also be posted on the Department's Web site at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
    We intend to select participants for the negotiated rulemaking 
committee from nominees of the organizations and groups that represent 
the interests significantly affected by the proposed regulations. To 
the extent possible, we will select individual negotiators who reflect 
the diversity among program participants, in accordance with section 
492(b)(1) of the HEA.

Regulatory Issues

    For the convenience of the reader, we repeat the additional topics 
for consideration that we published in April 2013. The topics are: cash 
management of funds provided under the title IV Federal Student Aid 
programs; State authorization for programs offered through distance 
education or correspondence education; State authorization for foreign 
locations of institutions located in a State; clock to credit hour 
conversion; gainful employment; changes made by the Violence Against 
Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Public Law 113-4, to the campus 
safety and security reporting requirements in the HEA; and the 
definition of ``adverse credit'' for borrowers in the Federal Direct 
PLUS Loan Program. Descriptions of these issues are in the April 16, 
2013 notice.

Schedule for Negotiations

    We anticipate that any committee established after the public 
hearings will begin negotiations in September 2013, with the committee 
meeting for up to three sessions of approximately four days each at 
roughly monthly intervals. The committee will meet in the Washington, 
DC area. The dates and locations of these meetings will be published in 
a subsequent document in the Federal Register, and will be posted on 
the Department's Web site at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/index.html.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free 
Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well 
as all other documents of the Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF 
you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the 
site. You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov.
    Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you 
can limit your search to documents published by the Department.

    Program Authority:  20 U.S.C. 1098a.

[[Page 27882]]

    Delegation of Authority: The Secretary of Education has delegated 
authority to Brenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary for Vocational 
and Adult Education, to perform the functions and duties of the 
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.

    Dated: May 8, 2013.
Brenda Dann-Messier,
Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, delegated the 
authority to perform the functions and duties of the Assistant 
Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2013-11287 Filed 5-10-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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