78792 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

with 8 of these 60 grants is $559,552. 

With this final rule, these baseline costs 

would not apply and are therefore cost 

savings in this analysis. 

With this final rule, those eight 

grantees that would have been required 

to compete in FY 2022 would instead 

need to complete an annual grant 

application for a new annual award. 

ACF assumes it takes approximately 33 

hours of staff time to complete a noncompetitive application. Using the same 

assumptions as above for hourly wage, 

ACF estimates it costs approximately 

$1,703 per grant to complete a noncompetitive application. ACF multiplies 

this by eight grants, which results in a 

total cost of approximately $13,624 for 

these grantees to complete a noncompetitive continuation application in 

FY 2022. Taking this cost into account, 

the total cost savings associated with 

this final rule is approximately 

$545,928. This includes cost savings to 

those entities that are not existing Head 

Start grantees as there would be no 

funding opportunity to which they 

would submit a competitive application. 

A qualitative opportunity cost for this 

new rule is fewer opportunities for 

entities that are not existing Head Start 

grantees to be able to compete and 

potentially grow as an early childhood 

provider in their community, for the 

eight communities where grants were 

not designated for competition due to 

potentially low CLASS scores. There is 

also the qualitative cost of children 

continuing to be served by grantees 

which may be providing lower quality 

classroom learning environments that 

would have led to competition. 

However, ACF believes there is an 

added benefit of existing grantees still 

receiving DRS determinations in a 

timely manner and not experiencing 

undue stress around the status of their 

grant, particularly in the midst of 

COVID–19 when continuity of Head 

Start services for children and families 

is critically important. Additionally, 

these grantees would be able to continue 

to access and receive support from OHS 

through OHS’ extensive training and 

technical assistance system, to facilitate 

continued quality improvement in 

classroom quality care and service 

provision for children and families. 

ACF does not believe there will be a 

significant economic impact from this 

regulatory action since the flexibility in 

this interim final rule will only be 

exercised when necessary. A federally 

declared major disaster, emergency, or 

PHE that limits the ability of ACF to 

collect all data necessary to assess 

programs for DRS determinations, such 

as the COVID–19 PHE, are rare and, 

therefore, ACF anticipates this 

flexibility will rarely be exercised. ACF 

also anticipates that this flexibility will 

be exercised in more localized disasters 

in the future that affect a very small 

subset of grantees. 

This RIA analyzes a one-year time 

horizon covering FY 2022. In the 

coming years, ACF anticipates very few 

grants being impacted by the provision 

in this interim final rule. However, ACF 

also recognizes it is difficult to predict 

future potential emergencies or disasters 

when ACF may need to again exercise 

the flexibility laid out in this regulatory 

provision, resulting in uncertainty 

around potential costs and cost savings. 

ACF invites public comment on the 

reasonableness of the assumptions in 

this regulatory impact analysis. 

Tribal Consultation Statement 

ACF conducts an average of five tribal 

consultations each year for those tribes 

operating Head Start and Early Head 

Start. The consultations are held in four 

geographic areas across the country: 

Southwest, Northwest, Midwest 

(Northern and Southern), and Eastern. 

The consultations are often held in 

conjunction with other tribal meetings 

or conferences, to ensure the 

opportunity for most of the 150 tribes 

that operate Head Start and Early Head 

Start programs are be able to attend and 

voice their concerns about issues 

regarding service delivery. ACF 

completes a report after each 

consultation, and then compiles a final 

report that summarizes the 

consultations and submits the report to 

the Secretary at the end of the year. ACF 

invites public comment on this interim 

final rule if there are concerns specific 

to Native communities and programs. 

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1304 

Designation Renewal System, 

Classroom Assessment Scoring System 

(CLASS), COVID–19, Education of 

disadvantaged, Grant programs—social 

programs, Head Start, Monitoring. 

Dated: November 11, 2020. 

Lynn A. Johnson, 

Assistant Secretary for Children and Families. 

Approved: November 13, 2020. 

Alex M. Azar, II, 

Secretary. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, ACF amends 45 CFR part 

1304 as follows: 

PART 1304—FEDERAL 

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1304 

continues to read as: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq. 

■ 2. Add § 1304.17 to Subpart B to read 

as follows: 

Subpart B—Designation Renewal 

§ 1304.17 Flexibility for Head Start 

Designation Renewal Determinations in 

Certain Emergencies. 

(a) In reviewing the relevant data as 

described in § 1304.15(b), if ACF 

determines that one or more data 

elements described in the conditions in 

section § 1304.11 is not available due to 

an emergency described in paragraph (b) 

of this section, ACF may make a 

designation renewal determination 

based on the data elements that are 

available. 

(b) The emergencies are: 

(1) A major disaster declared by the 

President under section 401 of the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5170). 

(2) An emergency declared by the 

President under section 501 of the 

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5191). 

(3) A public health emergency 

declared by the Secretary pursuant to 

section 319 of the Public Health Service 

Act (42 U.S.C. 247d). 

[FR Doc. 2020–26033 Filed 12–4–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4184–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 200124–0029; RTID 0648– 

XA680] 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; 2021 

Red Snapper Private Angling 

Component Closures in Federal 

Waters off Texas 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces closures for 

the 2021 fishing season for the red 

snapper private angling component in 

the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off 

Texas in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) 

through this temporary rule. The red 

snapper recreational private angling 

component in the Gulf EEZ off Texas 

will close on January 1, 2021, until 

12:01 a.m., local time, on June 1, 2021. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 235 / Monday, December 7, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 78793 

This closure is necessary to prevent the 

private angling component from 

exceeding the Texas regional 

management area annual catch limit 

(ACL) and to prevent overfishing of the 

Gulf red snapper resource. 

DATES: This closure is effective at 12:01 

a.m., local time, on January 1, 2021, 

until 12:01 a.m., local time, on June 1, 

2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kelli O’Donnell, NMFS Southeast 

Regional Office, telephone: 727–824– 

5305, email: Kelli.ODonnell@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf 

reef fish fishery, which includes red 

snapper, is managed under the Fishery 

Management Plan for the Reef Fish 

Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP). 

The FMP was prepared by the Gulf of 

Mexico Fishery Management Council 

and is implemented by NMFS under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) by 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622. 

The final rule implementing 

Amendment 40 to the FMP established 

two components within the recreational 

sector fishing for Gulf red snapper: The 

private angling component, and the 

Federal for-hire component (80 FR 

22422, April 22, 2015). Amendment 40 

also allocated the red snapper 

recreational ACL (recreational quota) 

between the components and 

established separate seasonal closures 

for the two components. On February 6, 

2020, NMFS implemented Amendments 

50 A–F to the FMP, which delegated 

authority to the Gulf states (Louisiana, 

Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and 

Texas) to establish specific management 

measures for the harvest of red snapper 

in Federal waters of the Gulf by the 

private angling component of the 

recreational sector (85 FR 6819, 

February 6, 2020). These amendments 

allocate a portion of the private angling 

ACL to each state, and each state is 

required to constrain landings to its 

allocation. 

As described at 50 CFR 622.23(c), a 

Gulf state with an active delegation may 

request that NMFS close all, or an area 

of, Federal waters off that state to the 

harvest and possession of red snapper 

by private anglers. The state is required 

to request the closure by letter to NMFS, 

providing dates and geographic 

coordinates for the closure. If the 

request is within the scope of the 

analysis in Amendment 50A, NMFS 

publishes a notice in the Federal 

Register implementing the closure for 

the fishing year. Based on the analysis 

in Amendment 50A, Texas may request 

a closure of all Federal waters off the 

state to allow a year-round fishing 

season in state waters. As described at 

50 CFR 622.2, ‘‘off Texas’’ is defined as 

the waters in the Gulf west of a rhumb 

line from 29°32.1′ N Lat., 93°47.7′ W 

long. to 26°11.4′ N Lat., 92°53′ W long., 

which line is an extension of the 

boundary between Louisiana and Texas. 

On November 20, 2020, NMFS 

received a request from the Texas Parks 

and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to 

close the EEZ off Texas to the red 

snapper private angling component 

during the 2021 fishing year. Texas 

requested that the closure be effective 

from January 1 through May 31, 2021. 

NMFS has determined that this request 

is within the scope of analysis 

contained within Amendment 50A, 

which analyzed the potential impacts of 

a closure of all Federal waters off Texas 

when a portion of the Texas quota may 

still be landed and is consistent with the 

Reef Fish FMP. As explained in 

Amendment 50A, Texas intends to 

maintain a year-round fishing season in 

state waters during which a part of 

Texas’ ACL could be caught. 

Therefore, the red snapper 

recreational private angling component 

in the Gulf EEZ off Texas will close at 

12:01 a.m., local time, on January 1, 

2021, until 12:01 a.m., local time, on 

June 1, 2021. This closure applies to all 

private-anglers (those on board vessels 

that have not been issued a valid charter 

vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef 

fish) regardless of which state they are 

from or where they intend to land. Once 

the EEZ off Texas opens on June 1, 

2021, TPWD will continue to monitor 

private recreational landings, and if 

necessary, will request that NMFS again 

close the EEZ in 2021 to ensure the 

Texas regional management area ACL is 

not exceeded. 

On and after the effective dates of 

these closures in the EEZ off Texas, the 

harvest and possession red snapper in 

the EEZ off Texas by the private angling 

component is prohibited and the bag 

and possession limits for the red 

snapper private angling component in 

the closed area is zero. 

Classification 

The Regional Administrator for the 

NMFS Southeast Region has determined 

this temporary rule is necessary for the 

conservation and management of Gulf 

red snapper and is consistent with the 

FMP, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and 

other applicable laws. 

This action is taken under 50 CFR 

622.23(c) and is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

These measures are exempt from the 

procedures of the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act because the temporary rule is issued 

without opportunity for prior notice and 

comment. 

This action is based on the best 

scientific information available. The 

Assistant Administrator for NOAA 

Fisheries (AA) finds that the need to 

implement this action to close the 

Federal private angling component of 

the red snapper recreational sector in 

the EEZ off Texas constitute good cause 

to waive the requirements to provide 

prior notice and opportunity for public 

comment on this temporary rule 

pursuant to the authority set forth in 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B), because such 

procedures are unnecessary and 

contrary to the public interest. Such 

procedures are unnecessary because the 

rule implementing the area closure 

authority and the state-specific private 

angling ACLs has already been subject 

to notice and comment, and all that 

remains is to notify the public of the 

closure. Such procedures are contrary to 

the public interest because a failure to 

implement the closure immediately may 

result an overage of the Texas ACL and 

less access to red snapper in state 

waters. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: December 1, 2020. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26797 Filed 12–4–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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