86544 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 30, 2020 / Notices 

small number of individuals potentially 

impacted in this manner, no impacts on 

annual rates of recruitment or survival 

are likely to result. 

Separately, as described previously, 

the increase in Level A harassment take 

corresponds to a commensurate 

decrease in the predicted number of 

Level B harassment and the total 

number of takes remains unchanged. 

Therefore, we re-affirm that small 

numbers of harbor seals will be taken 

relative to the population size of the 

Hood Canal stock of harbor seal. 

In conclusion, there is no new 

information suggesting that our effects 

analysis or negligible impact finding for 

harbor seals should change. 

Based on the information contained 

here and in the referenced documents, 

NMFS has reaffirmed the following: (1) 

The required mitigation measures will 

effect the least practicable impact on 

marine mammal species or stocks and 

their habitat; (2) the proposed 

authorized takes will have a negligible 

impact on the affected marine mammal 

species or stocks; (3) the proposed 

authorized takes represent small 

numbers of marine mammals relative to 

the affected stock abundances; and (4) 

the Navy’s activities will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on taking 

for subsistence purposes as no relevant 

subsistence uses of marine mammals are 

implicated by this action, and (5) 

appropriate monitoring and reporting 

requirements are included. 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) 

No incidental take of ESA-listed 

species is authorized or expected to 

result from this activity. Therefore, 

NMFS has determined that formal 

consultation under section 7 of the ESA 

is not required for this action. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

To comply with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 

216–6A, NMFS must review our 

proposed action (i.e., the modification 

of an IHA) with respect to potential 

impacts on the human environment. 

This action is consistent with 

categories of activities identified in 

Categorical Exclusion B4 (IHAs with no 

anticipated serious injury or mortality) 

of the Companion Manual for NOAA 

Administrative Order 216–6A, which do 

not individually or cumulatively have 

the potential for significant impacts on 

the quality of the human environment 

and for which we have not identified 

any extraordinary circumstances that 

would preclude this categorical 

exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has 

determined that the issuance of the 

modified IHA qualifies to be 

categorically excluded from further 

NEPA review. 

Authorization 

NMFS has issued a modified IHA to 

the for in-water construction associated 

with the SPE project on Naval Base 

Kitsap Bangor, Washington effective 

until July 15, 2021. The only change is 

an increase in the authorized take of 

harbor seal take by Level A harassment 

from 125 to 509. 

Dated: December 21, 2020. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28850 Filed 12–29–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Patent Examiner Employment 

Application 

The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (USPTO) will submit 

the following information collection 

request to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and clearance 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the 

date of publication of this notice. The 

USPTO invites comment on this 

information collection renewal, which 

helps the USPTO assess the impact of 

its information collection requirements 

and minimize the public’s reporting 

burden. Public comments were 

previously requested via the Federal 

Register on October 23, 2020 during a 

60-day comment period. This notice 

allows for an additional 30 days for 

public comments. 

Agency: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

Title: Patent Examiner Employment 

Application. 

OMB Control Number: 0651–0042. 

Forms: None. 

Type of Request: Extension and 

revision of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Number of Respondents: 8,386 

respondents per year. 

Average Hours per Response: The 

USPTO estimates that it will take the 

public approximately 30 minutes (0.5 

hours) to complete the patent examiner 

application questions. This includes the 

time to gather the necessary 

information, respond to the system 

prompts, and submit the completed 

request to the USPTO. 

Estimated Total Annual Respondent 

Burden Hours: 4,193 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Non-Hour 

Cost Burden: $0. 

Needs and Uses: USPTO uses the 

Monster Hiring Management (MHM) 

system to rapidly review applications 

for employment of entry-level patent 

examiners. The use of such automated 

online systems during recruitment 

allows USPTO to remain competitive, 

meet hiring goals, and fulfill the 

Agency’s Congressional commitment to 

reduce the pendency rate for the 

examination of patent applications. 

Given the time sensitive hiring needs of 

the Patent Examining Corps, the MHM 

system provides increased speed and 

accuracy during the employment 

process. 

This information collection covers 

respondent data gathered through the 

MHM system. The MHM online 

application collects supplemental 

information to a candidate’s USAJOBS 

application. This information assists 

USPTO Human Resource Specialists 

and Hiring Managers in determining 

whether an applicant possesses the 

basic qualification requirements for a 

patent examiner position. From the 

information collected, the MHM system 

creates an electronic real-time candidate 

inventory on applicants’ expertise and 

technical knowledge, which allows 

USPTO to immediately review 

applications from multiple applicants. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. 

Follow the instructions to view 

Department of Commerce, USPTO 

information collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for this information 

collection should be submitted within 

30 days of the publication of this notice 

on the following website 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

30-day Review—Open for Public 

Comments’’ or by using the search 

function and entering either the title of 

the information collection or the OMB 

Control Number 0651–0042. 

Further information can be obtained 

by: 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 30, 2020 / Notices 86545 

• Email: InformationCollection@

uspto.gov. Include ‘‘0651–0042 

information request’’ in the subject line 

of the message. 

• Mail: Kimberly Hardy, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, 

P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313– 

1450. 

Kimberly Hardy, 

Information Collections Officer, Office of the 

Chief Administrative Officer, United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2020–28869 Filed 12–29–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

[Docket ID ED–2020–OPEPD–0096] 

Administrative Priority and Definitions 

for Discretionary Grant Programs 

AGENCY: Office of Planning, Evaluation 

and Policy Development, Department of 

Education. 

ACTION: Final priority and definitions. 

SUMMARY: The Secretary of Education 

announces a priority and definitions for 

discretionary grant programs that the 

Secretary may use in fiscal year (FY) 

2021 and later years to promote the use 

of the Department of Education’s (the 

Department’s) discretionary grants 

funds to support remote learning. 

DATES: The priority and definitions are 

effective January 29, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kelly Terpak, U.S. Department of 

Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, 

Room 4W312, Washington, DC 20202. 

Telephone: (202) 205–5231. Email: 

kelly.terpak@ed.gov. 

If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 

telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay 

Service (FRS), toll-free, at 1–800–877– 

8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1221e– 

3. 

We published a notice of proposed 

priority and definitions (NPP) in the 

Federal Register on September 8, 2020 

(85 FR 55439). That notice contained 

background information and our reasons 

for proposing the particular 

administrative priority and definitions. 

We have made minor revisions to 

paragraphs (b) and (f) of the priority and 

to the definition of ‘‘interoperable 

credentials,’’ which we explain in the 

Analysis of Comments and Changes 

section of this document. 

Public Comment: In response to our 

invitation in the NPP, 16 parties 

submitted comments. 

We group major issues according to 

subject. Generally, we do not address 

technical and other minor changes. In 

addition, we do not address general 

comments that raised concerns not 

directly related to the proposed priority 

and definitions. 

Analysis of the Comments and 

Changes: An analysis of the comments 

and of any changes in the priority and 

definitions since publication of the NPP 

follows. 

Comments: A few commenters asked 

for clarity on how the priority would be 

used and encouraged the Department to 

prioritize certain applicants, such as 

institutions of higher education, for 

eligibility. 

Discussion: As discussed in the NPP, 

the priority is intended to build State 

and local capacity to support remote 

learning and instruction. The 

Department may elect to use this 

priority when inviting applications for a 

discretionary grant program. The 

Department has the discretion to choose 

whether the priority and definitions are 

appropriate for the competition after 

considering program purpose, 

feasibility, and scope. The Department 

also has the discretion to choose how 

the priority would apply; for example, 

the priority may be used as an absolute 

priority (applicants must address the 

priority in order to be eligible to receive 

grant funds) or a competitive preference 

priority (applicants may receive 

additional points depending on how 

well they address the priority). We will 

only use the priority and definitions for 

a particular grant competition when it is 

relevant and appropriate. Furthermore, 

the Department is not required to use 

the priority and definitions for any 

particular program. 

In any competition in which this 

priority and definitions are used, 

eligible entities are determined by the 

program statute; therefore, we cannot 

specify eligibility for a particular type of 

entity as part of the final priority. 

Changes: None. 

Comments: A few commenters 

proposed revisions to, or additional 

language for, the background section 

that accompanied the proposed priority 

to emphasize the impact of school 

closures for in-person instruction on 

different populations, such as students 

with disabilities, as well as specifics 

related to learning losses discussed in 

the cited study. 

Discussion: We appreciate the 

feedback we received on the NPP 

background section, which explains our 

rationale for this priority and 

definitions. We agree with comments 

that emphasized the impact of school 

closures for in-person instruction on 

students with disabilities and other 

groups of students and believe the 

commenters’ concerns are sufficiently 

addressed through paragraph (f) of the 

priority. Moreover, we are revising 

paragraph (f) so that a program may 

choose to focus on a specific subgroup. 

Additionally, we added language in 

parentheticals clarifying that where the 

commonly used terms used for the 

subgroups of students in paragraph (f) or 

similar terms are defined in the 

applicable authorizing program statute, 

these terms take on the statutory 

definition that applies to the particular 

program. For example, this priority 

could be used in the Alaska Native 

Education (ANE) program to encourage 

projects that provide high-quality 

remote learning to students who are 

Alaska Natives, as defined in the 

Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act, as amended (ESEA), through the 

use of paragraph (f)(iv) of the priority, 

pertaining to Native American students. 

Changes: We are modifying paragraph 

(f) so that a program may choose to 

focus on specific subgroups and have 

clarified that the definitions of listed 

subgroups may be based on the 

program’s statutory authority, as 

applicable. 

Comments: Multiple commenters 

requested that we reference Section 508 

of the Rehabilitation Act in the 

accessibility requirement paragraph that 

concludes the priority. 

Discussion: We agree that accessibility 

is important in ensuring all students can 

access remote learning effectively, and 

we have indicated so in various 

paragraphs of the priority. Section 508 

of the Rehabilitation Act applies only to 

Federal agencies, so recipients of 

Federal financial assistance are not 

required to comply with that law; 

consequently, inclusion of Section 508 

in the accessibility requirement has 

limited applicability and is therefore 

unnecessary. 

Changes: None. 

Comments: Multiple commenters 

expressed concerns about the impact of 

remote learning for students with 

disabilities, including a concern that the 

priority did not take into account the 

individual needs of students identified 

for services pursuant to the Individuals 

with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). 

In addition, multiple commenters 

expressed support for paragraph (f) of 

the priority to target the needs of 

specific subgroups, including students 

with disabilities. However, one 

commenter recommended the 

Department remove the requirement 

that paragraph (f) of the priority be used 

only in conjunction with another 

paragraph of the priority.