8646 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 37 / Thursday, February 25, 2010 / Notices 

ADDRESSES: The addresses for the 

science forum, national roundtables, 

and regional roundtables will be 

available on the planning rule Web site 

at http://www.fs.usda.gov/planningrule. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

Ecosystem Management Coordination 

(EMC) staff at 202–205–0895. 

Additional information concerning 

these meetings, including regional 

contact information, will be available on 

the planning rule Web site at http:// 

www.fs.usda.gov/planningrule. 

Individuals who use 

telecommunication devices for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., 

Eastern Standard Time, Monday 

through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 18, 2009, the Forest Service 

formally announced the intent to 

prepare a new planning rule with the 

publication of a notice of intent (NOI) to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement in the Federal Register (74 FR 

67165) (http://fs.usda.gov/Internet/ 

FSE_DOCUMENTS/ 

stelprdb5110264.pdf). In line with 

President Obama’s call for open 

government that is transparent, 

participatory and collaborative, the 

Forest Service is committed to actively 

engaging the public in the development 

of a new planning rule. The national 

science forum, three national 

roundtables, and nine regional 

roundtables are key elements in the 

agency’s plan to provide multiple 

opportunities for public dialogue and 

collaboration to develop the proposed 

planning rule and DEIS. Webcasts, the 

posting of summaries from each session, 

and the planning rule blog, all hosted on 

the Forest Service planning rule Web 

site, will provide further support for a 

dynamic, participatory, transparent and 

collaborative process. 

Science forum: The national science 

forum will provide an opportunity for 

scientists and other participants to share 

perspectives on how science can inform 

and form a strong basis for a new 

planning rule. The science forum will 

be open to the public and will be 

available over webcast. Notes from the 

forum will be posted to the planning 

rule Web site for further feedback, and 

will be used to frame the roundtable 

discussions. Further information on the 

design and agenda for the forum will be 

posted to the planning rule Web site at 

http://www.fs.usda.gov/planningrule. 

Roundtables: The U.S. Institute for 

Environmental Conflict Resolution, an 

independent federal program, is 

assisting the Forest Service in 

organizing the national and regional 

roundtables. All roundtables will be 

open to the public and will provide 

opportunities for dialogue about the 

nature and content of a new planning 

rule. Notes from each roundtable will be 

posted on the planning rule Web site for 

further feedback opportunities. The 

public will also be able to view parts of 

and provide feedback on the 

roundtables through remote access; 

details on remote access opportunties 

will be posted the planning rule Web 

site. 

The Planning Rule Blog (http:// 

blogs.usda.gov/usdablogs/planningrule) 

will provide opportunities for people 

who are unable to attend the 

roundtables to discuss the subjects 

covered and to provide feedback on the 

notes from the roundtables as they are 

posted to the planning rule Web site. 

Summaries of the presentations and 

discussions that occur during each 

session will be produced and become 

part of the public record for the rule. 

The teams writing the proposed rule 

and the draft environmental impact 

statement (DEIS) will use these 

summaries, along with the report of 

individual comments expressed during 

the 60-day formal comment period on 

the Notice of Intent, in the development 

of the proposed rule and DEIS 

alternatives. 

While public participation in the 

forum and roundtables will be a 

valuable source of information for the 

rulewriting process, we emphasize that 

this participation is not a substitute for 

the submission of written comments 

through the formal National 

Environmental Policy Act and 

Administrative Procedure Act (NEPA/ 

APA) processes. Any comments you 

wish to be considered as part of the 

formal NEPA/APA process must be 

made by you in writing during the 

appropriate comment period. 

Further information on the meetings, 

the planning rule development process, 

and general background information on 

the planning rule may be found at 

http://www.fs.usda.gov/planningrule. 

Dated: February 22, 2010. 

Faye L. Krueger, 

Acting Associate Deputy Chief, NFS. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3904 Filed 2–24–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Agenda and Notice of Public Meeting 

of the New Hampshire Advisory 

Committee 

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to 

the provisions of the rules and 

regulations of the U.S. Commission on 

Civil Rights and the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, that the New Hampshire 

Advisory Committee will convene a 

briefing meeting and planning meeting 

at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 12, 2010, at 

the Legislative Office Building, Room 

207 Concord, New Hampshire 03301. 

The purpose of the briefing meeting is 

to receive presentations from experts on 

whether New Hampshire correctional 

facilities provide services to female 

prisoners similar to that of male 

prisoners. Experts will include 

government officials, correctional 

officials, academicians, and advocates 

on these gender disparities. The purpose 

of the planning meeting is for the 

Committee to consider its next steps. 

Members of the public are entitled to 

submit written comments; the 

comments must be received in the 

regional office by April 12, 2010. The 

address is the Eastern Regional Office, 

624 Ninth Street, NW., Suite 740, 

Washington, DC 20425. Persons wishing 

to e-mail their comments, or who desire 

additional information should contact 

Alfreda Greene, secretary, at 202–376– 

7533 or by e-mail to: ero@usccr.gov. 

Hearing-impaired persons who will 

attend the meeting and require the 

services of a sign language interpreter 

should contact the Regional Office at 

least ten (10) working days before the 

scheduled date of the meeting. 

Records generated from this meeting 

may be inspected and reproduced at the 

Eastern Regional Office, as they become 

available, both before and after the 

meeting. Persons interested in the work 

of this advisory committee are advised 

to go to the Commission’s Web site, 

http://www.usccr.gov, or to contact the 

Eastern Regional Office at the above email or street address. 

The meeting will be conducted 

pursuant to the rules and regulations of 

the Commission and FACA. 

Dated in Washington, DC, February 22, 

2010. 

Peter Minarik, 

Acting Chief, Regional Programs 

Coordination Unit. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3804 Filed 2–24–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the emergency 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 37 / Thursday, February 25, 2010 / Notices 8647 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). 

Agency: U.S. Census Bureau. 

Title: Survey of Health Insurance and 

Program Participation (SHIPP). 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number(s): The collection will 

be conducted using an automated 

instrument. There are no form numbers. 

Type of Request: Emergency Review 

of a new collection. 

Burden Hours: 1,000. 

Number of Respondents: 5,000. 

Average Hours per Response: 12 

minutes. 

Needs and Uses: The U.S. health care 

system is decentralized, thus there is no 

comprehensive database of the insured 

and no way to derive the number of 

uninsured from such a database. 

Surveys offer the only data source for 

estimating the uninsured. Measuring the 

uninsured in surveys, however, has 

proved to be a persistent challenge to 

the research community. The Census 

Bureau has been conducting research for 

more than a decade on measurement 

error in its surveys that measure health 

insurance, including the Current 

Population Survey Annual Social and 

Economic Supplement (commonly 

called the CPS ASEC), the American 

Community Survey (ACS) and the 

Survey of Income and Program 

Participation (SIPP). This research fed 

into the development of an 

experimental set of questions on health 

insurance (the Redesign), which has the 

potential to reduce measurement error. 

The next step in this line of research is 

a split-ballot experiment planned for the 

spring of 2010 called the ‘‘Survey of 

Health Insurance and Program 

Participation’’ (SHIPP), which will 

include three panels of questions on 

health insurance: One modeled on the 

CPS ASEC series, one modeled on the 

American Community Survey (ACS) 

series, and the Redesign (see attached 

questionnaire and additional lists of 

state-specific program names). 

The SHIPP is conducted by telephone 

from the Census Bureau’s telephone 

data collection center in Hagerstown, 

Md., and the field period is scheduled 

for March 22 through May 10, 2010. 

Two types of sample will be used: 

Random digit dial (RDD), and ‘‘seeded’’ 

sample of known Medicare enrollees 

from the Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services. 

With regard to the circumstances 

necessitating an emergency clearance, 

on January 21, 2010, we submitted a 

request to conduct this survey under the 

Statistical Research Division’s (SRD) 

generic clearance, which covers basic 

methodological research on 

questionnaire design and evaluation 

(split-ballot field tests, respondent 

debriefings, interviewer evaluations, 

etc.). Turnaround time for generic 

clearance is generally 10 days, and since 

1999 SRD has conducted several similar 

(and related) studies under this generic 

clearance. Results from some of these 

studies are documented in the list of 

references in Question 8 below. In early 

February 2010, however, we were 

informed by OMB that this particular 

study did not fall under the generic 

clearance but required a separate 

package because of the increased 

visibility of health insurance 

measurement issues which arose in the 

context of recent high-profile efforts to 

evaluate various health system reform 

proposals. 

Given the timing of this determination 

that a separate OMB clearance package 

is needed, the choice is either to delay 

the survey by about six months or to 

pursue an emergency clearance. 

Delaying the survey has several negative 

consequences. In the short run, 

significant resources have been 

dedicated to running this survey in the 

spring of 2010, and shifting the timing 

would not only squander those 

resources, but it is unlikely that 

sufficient staff would be available later. 

Related to this, beginning in May 2010 

and running through September 2010, 

several decennial followup operations 

will be conducted out of the Hagerstown 

telephone facility, and the SHIPP study 

would directly conflict with resources 

dedicated to those efforts. But perhaps 

the most compelling reason the survey 

cannot be delayed is due to the nature 

of the research questions. The Redesign 

is aimed at reducing measurement 

associated with the calendar year 

reference period, in tandem with the 

approximate three-month lag time 

between the end of the reference period 

and the interview date. Thus, as noted 

in Question 6 below, to evaluate the 

effectiveness of the questions on 

retrospective coverage in the Redesign, 

it is essential that the field study be 

carried out in parallel with the timing 

of producing CPS ASEC data collection 

as closely as possible. A 6-month delay 

would seriously threaten the 

applicability of the results. 

The primary purpose of the field 

study is to evaluate the Redesign and 

assess any improvements over the CPS 

ASEC design. A secondary purpose is to 

compare estimates from the CPS and 

ACS test panels. Evaluations will be 

carried out by HHES and SRD staff and 

will involve a range of different 

methods, including an analysis of: (1) 

The point estimates of the uninsured, 

and also those insured by various types 

of coverage (such as employersponsored plans, Medicare and 

Medicaid); (2) the accuracy of the 

survey data (as compared to 

administrative records on health 

coverage); (3) interview administration 

time; (4) interviewer feedback; (5) 

analysis of interviewer-respondent 

interaction (through behavior coding); 

and (6) respondent debriefings (scripted 

in questionnaire). The evaluation will 

be used to help interpret estimates from 

CPS ASEC and ACS production data, 

and to determine whether particular 

survey design features of the CPS ASEC 

would benefit by modifications based 

on the Redesign. One particular survey 

design feature—the calendar year 

reference period—has been 

demonstrated to result in underreported coverage. The Redesign, 

therefore, collects data on current 

coverage (a much less problematic 

reference period) and then uses this 

information as an anchor in order to ask 

about retrospective coverage during the 

past calendar year. If results show that 

this alternative method does in fact 

reduce under-reporting of past coverage, 

the CPS ASEC could adapt this type of 

question sequence in order to (1) 

produce statistics on current coverage 

and (2) produce past calendar year 

statistics that are more accurate. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Frequency: One-time. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 

Section 182; Title 42 U.S.C. Section 

285e–1. 

OMB Desk Officer: Brian HarrisKojetin, (202) 395–7314. 

Copies of the above information 

collection proposal can be obtained by 

calling or writing Diana Hynek, 

Departmental Paperwork Clearance 

Officer, (202) 482–0266, Department of 

Commerce, Room 6625, 14th and 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 

dhynek@doc.gov). 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent in 

by March 12, 2010 to Brian HarrisKojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax 

(202–395–7245) or e-mail 

(bharrisk@omb.eop.gov). 

Dated: February 19, 2010. 

Glenna Mickelson, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–3761 Filed 2–24–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES