Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices 41729

statements are available from the Office

of the Secretary and at the

Commission’s web site.

Participation in the reviews and

public service list.—Persons, including

industrial users of the subject

merchandise and, if the merchandise is

sold at the retail level, representative

consumer organizations, wishing to

participate in these reviews as parties

must file an entry of appearance with

the Secretary to the Commission, as

provided in § 201.11 of the

Commission’s rules, by 45 days after

publication of this notice. A party that

filed a notice of appearance following

publication of the Commission’s notice

of institution of the reviews need not

file an additional notice of appearance.

The Secretary will maintain a public

service list containing the names and

addresses of all persons, or their

representatives, who are parties to the

reviews.

Limited disclosure of business

proprietary information (BPI) under an

administrative protective order (APO)

and BPI service list.—Pursuant to

section 207.7(a) of the Commission’s

rules, the Secretary will make BPI

gathered in these reviews available to

authorized applicants under the APO

issued in the reviews, provided that the

application is made by 45 days after

publication of this notice. Authorized

applicants must represent interested

parties, as defined by 19 U.S.C. 1677(9),

who are parties to the reviews. A party

granted access to BPI following

publication of the Commission’s notice

of institution of the reviews need not

reapply for such access. A separate

service list will be maintained by the

Secretary for those parties authorized to

receive BPI under the APO.

Staff report.—The prehearing staff

report in the reviews will be placed in

the nonpublic record on January 9,

2001, and a public version will be

issued thereafter, pursuant to § 207.64 of

the Commission’s rules.

Hearing.—The Commission will hold

a hearing in connection with the

reviews beginning at 9:30 a.m. on

January 30, 2001, at the U.S.

International Trade Commission

Building. Requests to appear at the

hearing should be filed in writing with

the Secretary to the Commission on or

before January 23, 2001. A nonparty

who has testimony that may aid the

Commission’s deliberations may request

permission to present a short statement

at the hearing. All parties and

nonparties desiring to appear at the

hearing and make oral presentations

should attend a prehearing conference

to be held at 9:30 a.m. on January 26,

2001, at the U.S. International Trade

Commission Building. Oral testimony

and written materials to be submitted at

the public hearing are governed by

§§ 201.6(b)(2), 201.13(f), 207.24, and

207.66 of the Commission’s rules.

Parties must submit any request to

present a portion of their hearing

testimony in camera no later than 7

days prior to the date of the hearing.

Written submissions.—Each party to

the reviews may submit a prehearing

brief to the Commission. Prehearing

briefs must conform with the provisions

of § 207.65 of the Commission’s rules;

the deadline for filing is January 19,

2001. Parties may also file written

testimony in connection with their

presentation at the hearing, as provided

in § 207.24 of the Commission’s rules,

and posthearing briefs, which must

conform with the provisions of § 207.67

of the Commission’s rules. The deadline

for filing posthearing briefs is February

8, 2001; witness testimony must be filed

no later than three days before the

hearing. In addition, any person who

has not entered an appearance as a party

to the reviews may submit a written

statement of information pertinent to

the subject of the reviews on or before

February 8, 2001. On March 2, 2001, the

Commission will make available to

parties all information on which they

have not had an opportunity to

comment. Parties may submit final

comments on this information on or

before March 6, 2001, but such final

comments must not contain new factual

information and must otherwise comply

with § 207.68 of the Commission’s rules.

All written submissions must conform

with the provisions of § 201.8 of the

Commission’s rules; any submissions

that contain BPI must also conform with

the requirements of §§ 201.6, 207.3, and

207.7 of the Commission’s rules. The

Commission’s rules do not authorize

filing of submissions with the Secretary

by facsimile or electronic means.

In accordance with §§ 201.16(c) and

207.3 of the Commission’s rules, each

document filed by a party to the reviews

must be served on all other parties to

the reviews (as identified by either the

public or BPI service list), and a

certificate of service must be timely

filed. The Secretary will not accept a

document for filing without a certificate

of service.

Authority: These reviews are being

conducted under authority of title VII of the

Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is published

pursuant to § 207.62 of the Commission’s

rules.By order of the Commission.

Issued: June 29, 2000.

By order of the Commission.

Donna R. Koehnke,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–17078 Filed 7–5–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training

Administration

Federal-State Unemployment

Compensation Program:

Unemployment Insurance Program

Letter Interpreting Federal

Unemployment Insurance Law

The Employment and Training

Administration interprets Federal law

requirements pertaining to

unemployment compensation (UC) as

part of its role in the administration of

the Federal-State UC program. These

interpretations are issued in

Unemployment Insurance Program

Letters (UIPLs) to the State Employment

Security Agencies. The UIPL described

below is published in the Federal

Register in order to inform the public.

UIPL 25–00

UIPL 25–00 advises State agencies of

two provisions of the Ticket to Work

and Work Incentives Improvement Act

of 1999, Public Law 106–170, which

affect the Federal-State Unemployment

Compensation program.

Section 405 of Public Law 106–170

permits, but does not require, States to

allow employers to submit annual wage

reports—as opposed to quarterly

reports, as required prior to enactment

of Public Law 106–170—with respect to

certain domestic service employment.

This directive informs States that they

may, at their option, permit the annual

reporting of wages from domestic

service employers. The directive

informs States of the definition of

domestic service employers used by the

Internal Revenue Service as it applies to

reporting of wages. It also discusses the

implications for experience rating if

States decide to permit annual

reporting.

Section 506 of Public Law 106–170

extended the exclusion from the FUTA

definition of wages for employerprovided educational assistance under

Section 127 of the Internal Revenue

Code for undergraduate courses from

May 31, 2000 to December 31, 2001.

This directive informs States of this

change in the expiration date.

41730 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices

Dated: June 29, 2000.

Raymond Bramucci,

Assistant Secretary of Labor.

U.S. Department of Labor

Employment and Training Administration

Washington, D.C. 20210

CLASSIFICATION: UI

CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL: TEUL

DATE: May 19, 2000.

DIRECTIVE: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

PROGRAM LETTER NO. 25–00

TO: ALL STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY

AGENCIES

FROM: GRACE KILBANE, Administrator,

Office of Workforce Security

SUBJECT: The Ticket to Work and Work

Incentives Improvement Act of 1999—

Provisions Affecting the Federal-State

UC Program

RESCISSIONS: None

EXPIRATION DATE: Continuing

1. Purpose. To advise State agencies of the

provisions of the Ticket to Work and Work

Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, P.L.

106–170, which affect the Federal-State

Unemployment Compensation (UC) program.

2. References. Sections 405 and 506 of P.L.

106–170; Sections 303(f) and 1137 of the

Social Security Act (SSA); Sections

3303(a)(1) and 3306(b)(13) of the Federal

Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA); Section 127

of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC); Section

3510, IRC; The Social Security Domestic

Employment Reform Act of 1994 (P.L. 103–

387); Unemployment Insurance Program

Letter (UIPL) 29–83; UIPL 29–83, Change 1.

3. Background. On December 17, 1999, the

President signed into law the Ticket to Work

and Work Incentives Improvement Act of

1999 (the Ticket to Work Act), P.L. 106–170,

which contains two provisions affecting the

UC program:

• States may now permit employers to

submit annual wage reports with respect to

certain domestic service employment. Prior

to the enactment of the Act, Federal law

required wage data for such employment to

be reported on a quarterly basis.

• The exclusion from the FUTA definition

of wages for employer-provided educational

assistance under Section 127, IRC, was

extended for undergraduate courses from

May 31, 2000 to December 31, 2001.

These amendments are discussed in detail

below.

4. Section 405, Annual Filing of Wage

Reports by Domestic Employers.

a. In general. The Social Security Domestic

Employment Reform Act of 1994, Pub. L.

103–387, amended Section 3510, IRC, so that

domestic service employers were no longer

required to file the annual FUTA return or

quarterly returns regarding Social Security

and Medicare taxes. Instead, domestic service

employers could file such returns for Federal

tax purposes at the same time as the filing

of their personal income tax returns.

This change to annual reporting for Federal

purposes did not change the requirement that

wage reports be submitted quarterly to States.

This quarterly wage report requirement is

found in Section 303(f), SSA, which makes

operation of an income and eligibility

verification system in accordance with

Section 1137, SSA, a condition for the receipt

of UC administrative grants. Specifically,

Section 1137(a)(3), SSA, requires that a State

must have in effect an income and eligibility

verification system under which—

employers * * * in such State are

required, effective September 30, 1988, to

make quarterly wage reports to a State agency

(which may be the agency administering the

State’s unemployment compensation law)

* * *.

Section 405 of the Ticket to Work Act

amended Section 1137(a)(3), SSA, by adding

the following new exception to the quarterly

reporting requirement—

in the case of wage reports with respect to

domestic service employment, a State may

permit employers (as so defined) that make

returns with respect to such employment on

a calendar year basis pursuant to section

3510 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

to make such reports on an annual basis.

As a result of this change, States may, at

their option, permit annual wage reporting of

domestic service employment by employers

making returns under Section 3510, IRC.

(Section 3510, IRC, permits returns with

respect to domestic service employment

taxes to be made on a calendar year rather

than a quarterly basis.) This amendment

applies only to domestic service employers.

Because the amendments to the SSA refer

to Section 3510, IRC, the Internal Revenue

Service (IRS) has authority for determining

what constitutes domestic service. IRS

guidance is found in the instructions for

Schedule H, which refers to individuals

performing domestic service as ‘‘household

employees.’’ The Schedule H for tax year

1999 gives the following examples of

household employees: Babysitters,

caretakers, cleaning people, drivers, health

aides, housekeepers, nannies, private nurses,

and yard workers.

States electing to use annual wage

reporting are not required to grant annual

reporting status to all domestic service

employers. States may be more restrictive

and offer the annual reporting option only to

certain domestic service employers. For

example, a State could permit annual

reporting only for services by nannies while

making all other domestic services subject to

a quarterly reporting basis.

States also may condition approval of

annual filing status on a domestic service

employer’s compliance with safeguards or

other conditions required by State law. For

example, a State may require domestic

service employers to file ‘‘change reports’’

indicating when wages are increased or

decreased, or when a domestic employee is

hired or separated. States may also limit

annual reporting to domestic service

employers who timely pay contributions or

make reports.

b. Experience Rating. States that choose to

permit annual reporting must ensure that

domestic service employers are not treated

differently from other employers for

experience rating purposes. A domestic

service employer may not report wage

information or pay contributions with respect

to the calendar year until April 15 of the

following year. However, all other employers

would report wage information and make

payments throughout the calendar year. As a

result, if a State’s computation date for a tax

year is July 1, information would be available

up to the computation date with respect to

non-domestic service employers, but it

would not be available up to the computation

date for domestic service employers, simply

because it had not yet been reported or

because contributions had not yet been paid.

As a result, the non-domestic service

employer might have its rate based on

current information, while the domestic

service employer would have its rate based

on older information, simply because State

law provides for two different sets of dates

for submitting wage data or paying

contributions.

Section 3303(a)(1), FUTA, provides, as a

condition of receipt of the additional credit

by employers in a State, that ‘‘no reduced

rate of contributions * * * is permitted to a

person (or group of persons) * * * except on

the basis of his (or their) experience with

respect to unemployment or other factors

bearing a direct relation to unemployment

risk during not less than the three

consecutive years immediately preceding the

computation date.’’ The Department of Labor

interprets this section to require that the

‘‘experience

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices 41731

of all employers subject to contributions

under a State law must be measured by the

same factor throughout the same period of

time.’’ This interpretation is referred to as the

‘‘uniform method’’ requirement. See UIPLs

29–83 (56 FR 54891 (1991)) and 29–83,

Change 1 (56 FR 54896 (1991)).

A ‘‘uniform method’’ issue is raised if a

State has different criteria for including wage

and payment data for one group of employers

than another group. This will occur if a State

grants one group of employers a different

filing and payment status than others. States

may avoid ‘‘uniform method’’ issues through

a variety of means. As they do with other

employers where current information is

missing, States may provide estimated tax

rates which are subject to recomputation

once the necessary data has been received.

Alternatively, States may delay mailing tax

rate notices to domestic service employers

filing annually until the necessary

information has been obtained.

c. Effective date. Under Section 405 of the

Ticket to Work Act, this amendment applies

to wage reports required to be submitted on

and after the date of enactment. The Ticket

to Work Act was effective on the signing

date, December 17, 1999.

5. Section 506, Employer-Provided

Educational Assistance. Section 3306(b)(13),

FUTA, excludes from the definition of wages

‘‘any payment made, or benefit furnished, to

or for the benefit of an employee if at the

time of such payment or such furnishing it

is reasonable to believe that the employee

will be able to exclude such payment or

benefit from income under section 127 or

129.’’ Under Section 127, IRC, employer-paid

educational expenses are excludable from the

gross income and wages of an employee if

provided under an educational assistance

plan. The exclusion for such employerprovided educational assistance expired with

respect to graduate courses beginning after

June 30, 1996. For undergraduate courses, the

exclusion from gross income for employerprovided educational assistance previously

had been scheduled to expire with respect to

courses beginning after May 31, 2000.

Section 506 of the Ticket to Work Act,

entitled Employer-Provided Educational

Assistance, amended the IRC, to extend the

expiration date for employer-provided

educational assistance for undergraduate

courses. Due to the extension, the expiration

of the exclusion is now with respect to

courses beginning after December 31, 2001.

Thus, the FUTA definition of wages does not

exclude employer-provided educational

assistance for undergraduate courses

beginning after December 31, 2001.

6. Action Required. State Administrators

should provide this information to the

appropriate staff.

7. Inquiries. Inquiries should be directed to

the appropriate Regional Office.

[FR Doc. 00–17036 Filed 7–5–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510–30–M

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment Standards Administration

Proposed Collection; Comment

Request

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as

part of its continuing effort to reduce

paperwork and respondent burden,

conducts a preclearance consultation

program to provide the general public

and Federal agencies with an

opportunity to comment on proposed

and/or continuing collections of

information in accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This

program helps to ensure that requested

data can be provided in the desired

format, reporting burden (time and

financial resources) is minimized,

collection instruments are clearly

understood, and the impact of collection

requirements on respondents can be

properly assessed. Currently, the

Employment Standards Administration

is soliciting comments concerning the

proposed extension collection of the

following information collection:

Uniform Health Insurance Claim Form

(UB–92). Copies of the proposed

information collection request can be

obtained by contacting the office listed

below in the addressee section of this

Notice.

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted to the office listed in the

addressee section below on or before

September 5, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Ms. Patricia A. Forkel, U.S.

Department of Labor, 200 Constitution

Ave., NW., Room S–3201, Washington,

DC 20210, telephone (202) 693–0339

(this is not a toll-free number), fax (202)

693–1451.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Office of Workers’ Compensation

Programs (OWCP) administers the

Federal Employees’ Compensation Act

(FECA) (5 U.S.C. 8101, et seq.) and the

Federal Black Lung Benefits Act

(FBLBA) ( 30 U.S.C. 901 et seq). These

statutes provide, in addition to

compensation for employment-related

injury and/or disability, payment to

provider institutions for certain medical

treatment and diagnostic services

related to the injury or disability. The

Uniform Health Insurance Claim Form

(UB–92), has been approved by the

American Hospital Association, the

Health Care Financing Administration,

and the Civilian Health and Medical

Program of the Uniformed Services

(CHAMPUS), by various other

government health care programs, and

the private sector, for the purpose of

payment to institutional providers of

medical services. The UB–92 has

detailed instructions developed by

OWCP that provide the information

necessary to providers who file claims

for services that may be payable under

FECA or FBLA.

II. Review Focus

The Department of Labor is

particularly interested in comments

which:

• Evaluate whether the proposed

collection of information is necessary

for the proper performance of the

functions of the agency, including

whether the information will have

practical utility;

• Evaluate the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information,

including the validity of the

methodology and assumptions used;

• Enhance the quality, utility and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and

• Minimize the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including through the

use of appropriate automated,

electronic, mechanical, or other

technological collection techniques or

other forms of information technology,

e.g., permitting electronic submissions

of responses.

III. Current Action

The Department of Labor seeks the

extension of approval to collect this

information in order to carry out its

rersponsibility to provide payment for

certain covered medical services to

injured employees who are covered

under the FECA and the FBLBA.

Type of Review: Extension.

Agency: Employment Standards

Administration.

Title: Uniform Health Insurance Claim

Form.

OMB Number: 1215–0176.

Agency Number: UB–92.

Affected Public: Individuals or

households, Businesses or other forVerDate 11<MAY>2000 23:48 Jul 05, 2000 Jkt 190000 PO 00000 Frm 00108 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\06JYN1.SGM pfrm08 PsN: 06JYN1