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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21195-21196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-08912]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Part 396

[Docket ID ED-2015-OSERS-0024]

Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period; Regional 
Interpreter Education Centers for the Training of Interpreters for 
Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Individuals Who Are 
Deaf-Blind

AGENCY: Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), Office of Special 
Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Department of Education.

ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of the project period.

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Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.160A.

SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements that 
generally prohibit project periods exceeding five years and extensions 
of project periods involving the obligation of additional Federal funds 
for five 60-month projects initially funded in fiscal year (FY) 2010. 
The Secretary also proposes to extend the project period for these 
projects for one year. The proposed waiver and extension would enable 
the currently funded Regional Interpreter Education Centers for the 
training of interpreters for individuals who are deaf or hard of 
hearing and individuals who are deaf-blind to receive funding through 
September 30, 2016.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 18, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID 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 ``Are you new to the site?''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this proposed waiver and extension 
of the project period, address them to Kristen Rhinehart-Fernandez, 
U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., Room 5027, 
Potomac Center Plaza (PCP), Washington, DC 20202-2800.
    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: Kristen Rhinehart-Fernandez. 
Telephone: (202) 245-6103 or by email: Kristen.rhinehart@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: 
    Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments about this 
proposed waiver and extension of the project period. During and after 
the comment period, you may inspect all public comments about this 
proposed waiver and extension of the project period by accessing 
Regulations.gov. You may also inspect all public comments in Room 5027, 
Potomac Center Plaza, 550 12th Street SW., Washington, DC, between the 
hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, Monday through 
Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
    Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the 
Rulemaking Record: On request we will supply an appropriate 
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who 
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the 
public rulemaking record for this proposed waiver and extension of the 
project period. If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of 
accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Background

    On June 7, 2010, the Department published a notice inviting 
applications for new awards for FY 2010 (75 FR 32164) for Regional 
Interpreter Education Centers (Regional Centers) to be funded under the 
Rehabilitation Training Program, authorized under section 302 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Rehabilitation Act). The 
purpose of the Regional Centers is to establish regional interpreter 
training programs that will train a sufficient number of qualified 
interpreters to meet the communications needs of individuals who are 
deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are deaf-blind. The 
Department awarded grants to five Regional Centers in FY 2010 for a 
period of 60 months. All five projects are scheduled to end on 
September 30, 2015.
    We have determined that it would not be in the public interest to 
run a competition under this program in FY 2015 for new Regional 
Centers. RSA has funded interpreter training programs since 1964 to 
meet the needs of its vocational rehabilitation (VR) consumers who are 
deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind. At each critical juncture RSA 
has re-evaluated its interpreter training program to determine how to 
best meet the evolving needs of consumers of interpreting services. In 
the course of this ongoing re-evaluation, we have concluded that, since 
2005, when the current priorities were established for the Regional 
Centers, the training needs of interpreters have changed as a result of 
new and emerging issues facing VR consumers who are deaf, hard of 
hearing, and deaf-blind.
    Conducting a competition before the Department has had an 
opportunity to engage in strategic planning activities for the current 
program could result in (1) an ineffective or poorly targeted 
investment that would not meet the training needs of qualified 
interpreters and (2) the inability to sufficiently meet the 
communication needs of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and 
individuals who are deaf-blind. We intend to use the remainder of FY 
2015 and part of FY 2016 to consider how Regional Centers can employ 
promising

[[Page 21196]]

practices in their pedagogy and skill development training in order to 
meet the current and future needs of VR consumers who are deaf, hard of 
hearing, or deaf-blind so that they can obtain competitive integrated 
employment. We also plan to use online forums to collect input and 
feedback from local and national partner networks, including consumer 
and professional organizations for interpreting and interpreter 
training. These activities will inform our development of new funding 
priorities for publication in FY 2016.
    We have also concluded that it would be contrary to the public 
interest to have a lapse in the provision of the training currently 
provided by the Regional Centers. Allowing funding to lapse before a 
new interpreter education delivery system can be implemented would 
leave individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who 
are deaf-blind without necessary supports in the event that critical 
needs arise.
    For these reasons, the Secretary proposes to waive the requirements 
in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods exceeding five years, 
and the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(c)(2), which limits the extension 
of a project period if the extension involves the obligation of 
additional Federal funds, and to issue continuation awards to the five 
current grantees. Under this proposal, the five current grantees with 
project periods ending on September 30, 2015, would receive funding to 
operate for an additional 12 months. Consequently, the expiration date 
for all five grants would be September 30, 2016. With this proposed 
waiver and extension of the project period, each Regional Center will 
be required to develop a plan to demonstrate how it will continue to 
carry out activities during the year of the continuation award 
consistent with the scope, goals, and objectives of the grantee's 
application as approved in the 2010 competition. Such plans should be 
submitted to RSA for review and approval by September 1, 2015.
    If the proposed waiver and extension of the project period are 
announced in a final notice in the Federal Register, the requirements 
applicable to continuation awards for this competition set forth in the 
2010 notice inviting applications and the requirements in 34 CFR 75.253 
would apply to any continuation awards sought by the current grantees. 
If we announce the waiver and extension as final, we will base our 
decisions regarding continuation awards on the program narratives, 
budgets, budget narratives, and program performance reports submitted 
by the current grantees, and the requirements in 34 CFR 75.253.

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    The Secretary certifies that this proposed waiver and extension of 
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. The only entities that would be 
affected are the five current grantees receiving Federal funds to serve 
as the Regional Centers and any other potential applicants.
    The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension 
would not have a significant economic impact on these entities because 
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance 
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of 
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require 
unnecessary Federal supervision.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period 
does not contain any information collection requirements.
    Intergovernmental Review: This program is subject to the 
requirements of Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 
part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive order is to foster an 
intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened federalism. The 
Executive order relies on processes developed by State and local 
governments for coordination and review of proposed Federal financial 
assistance. This document provides early notification of our specific 
plans and actions for this program.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    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 this 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.

    Dated: April 13, 2015.
Sue Swenson,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services.
[FR Doc. 2015-08912 Filed 4-16-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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