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[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 7, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52306-52310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-26538]

[[Page 52306]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement

45 CFR Part 303

RIN 0970-AB67

Child Support Enforcement Program Quarterly Wage and Unemployment 
Compensations Claims Reporting to the National Directory of New Hires

AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would implement section 453A(g)(2)(B) of 
the Social Security Act (the Act), as added by section 313(b) of the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 
(PRWORA) and amended by section 5533 of Public Law 105-33, section 
303(h) of the Act, in part, as amended by section 316(g) of PRWORA, and 
section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by 
section 316(g) of PRWORA. These provisions require certain State 
entities to furnish quarterly wage and unemployment compensation data 
to the National Directory of New Hires or to the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services.

DATES: Consideration will be given to comments received by December 8, 
1997.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Director, Office of Child Support 
Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant 
Promenade, S.W., 4th floor, Washington, D.C. 20447. Attention: 
Director, Policy and Planning Division, Mail Stop: OCSE/DPP. Comments 
will be available for public inspection Monday through Friday, 8:30 
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Department's offices at the 
above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anne Benson, Policy Branch, OCSE (202) 
401-1467, e-mail: [email protected]. Deaf and hearing-impaired 
individuals may call the federal Dual Party Relay Service at 1-800-877-
8339 between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Statutory Authority

    This proposed regulation is published under the authority of 
section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act (the Act), 42 U.S.C. 
653A(g)(2)(B), as added by section 313(b) of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 
(PRWORA), Public Law 104-193 and amended by section 5533 of Public Law 
105-33, section 303(h) of the Act, in part, 42 U.S.C. 503(h), as 
amended by section 316(g) of PRWORA, and section 3304(a)(16) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. 3304(a)(16), as amended by 
section 316(g) of PRWORA.
    This regulation is also proposed under the authority granted to the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) by section 1102 of 
the Act, 42 U.S.C. 1302. Section 1102 of the Act authorizes the 
Secretary to publish regulations that may be necessary for the 
efficient administration of the functions for which she is responsible 
under the Act.
    Section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the Act requires the State Directory of 
New Hires to furnish, on a quarterly basis, data concerning the wages 
and unemployment compensation paid to individuals to the National 
Directory of New Hires. Pursuant to section 453A(g)(2)(B) of the Act, 
the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is 
required to publish regulations to identify the dates, format, and data 
elements necessary for the State Directory of New Hires to furnish the 
quarterly wage and unemployment compensation data to the National 
Directory of New Hires.
    Section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 contains 
requirements that must be included in State Unemployment Compensation 
laws for employers in the State to receive Federal Unemployment Tax 
credits. Section 316(g) of Public Law 104-193 amended section 
3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the 
wage and unemployment compensation information contained in the records 
of the State agency administering that program shall be furnished to 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in accordance with 
regulations promulgated by the Secretary, as may be necessary for the 
purposes of the National Directory of New Hires under section 453(i)(1) 
of the Act. The Secretary intends to maintain the quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation data reported pursuant to section 3304(a)(16) 
in the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), which is being 
established pursuant to section 453 of the Act.
    Section 303(h)(1)(A) of the Act, as amended by section 316(g) of 
Public Law 104-193, requires the State agency charged with the 
administration of the unemployment compensation program, on a 
reimbursable basis, to disclose quarterly, to the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, wage and claim information, as required pursuant to 
section 453(i)(1) of the Act, that is contained in the records of such 
agency. As is the case with information reported pursuant to section 
3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary intends 
to maintain any quarterly wage and unemployment compensation data 
reported pursuant to section 303(h) of the Act in the NDNH. Section 
303(h)(3)(A) of the Act defines ``wage information'' as ``information 
regarding wages paid to an individual, the social security account 
number of such individual, and the name, address, State, and the 
Federal employer identification number of the employer paying such 
wages to such individual.'' Section 303(h)(3)(B) defines ``claim 
information'' as ``information regarding whether an individual is 
receiving, has received, or has made application for, unemployment 
compensation, the amount of any such compensation being received (or to 
be received by such individual), and the individual's current (or most 
recent) home address.'' Title III of the Act, Grants to States for 
Unemployment Compensation Administration, is directly administered by 
the Department of Labor. We are referencing section 303(h)(1)(A) of the 
Act because this provision references information required pursuant to 
section 453(i)(1) of the Act. Section 453(i)(1) is administered by the 
Department of Health and Human Services, and the information that is 
required pursuant to that section (which in turn references information 
supplied pursuant to section 453A(g)(2)) is being established in this 
proposed rule. The Secretary also adopted the definitions included in 
section 303(h) in the proposed rule in order to enable the 
implementation of the provisions in an integrated and complementary 
manner.

Background

    The Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) is a computerized network 
established pursuant to section 453 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 653, through 
which States may request information from Federal and State agencies to 
find noncustodial parents and/or their employers for purposes of 
establishing paternity and securing support. The Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 requires 
the Secretary to develop an expanded FPLS to improve States' ability to 
locate child support obligors and to establish and enforce child 
support orders, as well as for other specified purposes in Title IV-D 
of the Act. The Office of Child Support

[[Page 52307]]

Enforcement (OCSE), within the Administration for Children and Families 
(ACF), is charged with the task of developing, implementing, and 
maintaining the expanded FPLS. The Secretary will house the expanded 
FPLS in the Social Security Administration's National Computer Center, 
because locating the expanded FPLS there will provide the most 
efficient and cost-effective mechanism for developing the expanded 
FPLS, as well as ensuring state-of-the-art standards for system 
security and confidentiality of the data.
    The expanded FPLS will include the National Directory of New Hires 
(operational no later than October 1, 1997) and a Federal Case Registry 
(operational no later than October 1, 1998), and will maintain the 
capability to seek information from existing FPLS data sources, 
including, but not limited to, the Internal Revenue Service, Social 
Security Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of 
Veterans Affairs. The expanded FPLS will perform regular cross matches 
between the National Directory of New Hires and the Federal Case 
Registry. With these new FPLS resources, the interstate matching of 
child support obligors and employment, earnings, and benefits data will 
flow more efficiently and quickly between States.
    The NDNH will contain three types of information. First, the NDNH 
will maintain employment data on newly-hired employees (new hire 
reporting) submitted by State Directories of New Hires pursuant to 
section 453A(g)(2)(A) of the Act, and by federal agencies pursuant to 
section 453A(b)(1)(C) of the Act. Second, the NDNH will maintain 
quarterly wage information on individual employees received pursuant to 
sections 453A(g)(2)(B) and 303(h) of the Act, and section 3304(a)(16) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as well as quarterly wage 
information on federal employees received pursuant to 453(n) of the 
Act. Third, the NDNH will maintain unemployment compensation claims 
data received pursuant to sections 453A(g)(2)(B) and 303(h) of the Act, 
and section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. States 
will be required to transmit new hire, quarterly wage and unemployment 
compensation claims data electronically to the NDNH. This proposed rule 
addresses specifically quarterly wage and unemployment compensation 
claims reporting to the National Directory of New Hires. Policy 
guidance and program instructions on new hire reporting will be 
forthcoming (see also OCSE Action Transmittal 97-04, March 12, 1997).
    The purpose of the NDNH is to develop a repository of information 
on newly-hired employees, and on the earnings and unemployment 
compensation claims data of employees. The purpose of including 
quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims data in the NDNH is 
to provide States with the ability to quickly locate information on the 
address of, employment of, and unemployment compensation being paid to, 
parents with child support obligations who are residing or working in 
other States. States will be seeking to locate these parents and their 
employers to either establish or enforce a child support order. 
Quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims data will provide 
information on continuously employed and unemployed individuals who 
would not be located solely by new hire reporting.
    Most States have been matching their quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation claims data against their respective State 
child support caseloads since the 1980's. In addition, since 1990 the 
Federal Parent Locator Service has conducted cross-matches between 
State child support locate requests and State Employment Security 
Agencies, although such matches are currently limited to 250,000 cases 
per State per bi-weekly cross-match. The information generated from 
cross-matches between quarterly wage, claims and child support data, 
both at the State level and in the more limited FPLS context, has 
proven extremely beneficial for the location of child support obligors 
and their wages. The inclusion of quarterly wage and unemployment 
compensations claims data in the NDNH will allow for a substantially 
higher volume of interstate cross-matching than is currently possible.
    The Federal Case Registry will be a national registry of 
individuals involved in child support cases, constructed from abstracts 
of child support case and order information that State Case Registries 
will transmit to the Federal Case Registry. The expanded FPLS, through 
a matching process between NDNH and the Federal Case Registry, will be 
able to automatically provide States with information on address, 
employment, and unemployment compensation claims data on parents owing 
child support. The expanded FPLS will also alert States to other States 
that have registered the same individual.
    In an effort to be responsive to the President's Memorandum of 
March 4, 1995 to heads of Departments and Agencies which announced a 
government-wide Regulatory Reinvention Initiative to reduce or 
eliminate burdens on States, other governmental agencies or the private 
sector, OCSE formed an FPLS workgroup which held three meetings between 
September, 1996 and March, 1997. The purpose of the FPLS workgroup is 
to provide consultation regarding the design, development, and 
regulatory requirements for the expanded FPLS. This group is comprised 
of representatives from State Child Support Agencies, State Employment 
Security Agencies, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, the 
U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, the 
Interstate Conference of State Employment Security Agencies, employer 
groups, payroll associations, and other interested individuals. The 
workgroup members provided information regarding quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation claims reporting which was considered in 
developing these proposed regulations.

Description of Regulatory Provisions

    We are proposing to implement the three new statutory reporting 
requirements by adding a new section, 45 CFR 303.108, ``Quarterly Wage 
and Unemployment Compensations Claims Reporting to the National 
Directory of New Hires,'' to existing rules governing the child support 
enforcement program under Title IV-D of the Act. Although there are 
three separate reporting provisions, the information required to be 
reported is substantially the same for all three. Therefore, OCSE 
proposes to address the Secretary's responsibilities under all three 
provisions by a single regulation which will permit the data required 
to be furnished under the three provisions to be supplied in a single, 
quarterly submission. Further, OCSE will consider the reporting 
requirements to have been satisfied if any one of the required 
reporting entities submits the information in accordance with the 
provisions of the regulation. OCSE intends to leave the decision as to 
which entity will report up to the individual States. Accordingly, the 
regulation refers to the ``State'' as the entity that must transmit 
data to the NDNH. However, if data is not reported as required under 
the proposed regulation, OCSE intends to hold the State Title IV-D 
agency accountable for the failure of the State Directory of New Hires 
to report as required under section 453A(g)(2)(B). Section 454(28) of 
the Act, as added by section 313(a) of PRWORA, added a new State plan 
requirement for Title IV-D agencies to operate a State Directory of New 
Hires in accordance with section 453A of the

[[Page 52308]]

Act. The failure to report as required pursuant to section 303(h) of 
the Act or section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 may 
also result in actions being taken by the Secretary of Labor.
    The proposed 45 CFR 303.108(a) contains definitions designed to 
clarify quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims reporting. 
Paragraph (a)(1) defines ``Reporting period'' as the time elapsed 
during a calendar quarter, e.g. January-March, April-June, July-
September, October-December. ``Wage information'' is defined in 
paragraph (a)(2) as: (1) the name of the employee; (2) the employee's 
social security number; (3) aggregate wages of the employee during the 
reporting period; and (4) the name and address (and optionally, any 
second address for wage withholding purposes) and Federal employer 
identification number of the employer reporting wages. In the event 
that an individual is working more than one job, the State must 
transmit separate quarterly records containing the ``wage information'' 
for each job an individual has held. The information being included as 
wage information is the minimal amount of data needed to meet the 
purposes of the NDNH. OCSE is requesting data on the names of employees 
in order to meet the requirements of section 453(j)(1) of the Act, 42 
U.S.C. 653(j)(1). Section 453(j)(1) requires the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services to transmit the information in the NDNH to the 
Social Security Administration to verify the accuracy of the name, 
social security number, and birth date of each individual. 
``Unemployment compensation or claim information'' is defined in 
paragraph (a)(3) as: (1) Whether an individual is receiving, has 
received or has applied for unemployment compensation; (2) the 
individual's name and current (or most recent) home address; (3) the 
individual's social security number; and 4) the aggregate gross amount 
of compensation the claimant received during the reporting quarter.
    The proposed paragraph (b) of 45 CFR 303.108 contains the 
requirements for quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims 
reporting. Under proposed paragraph (b), the State would be required to 
disclose quarterly, to the National Directory of New Hires, wage and 
claim information, as defined in paragraph (a), that is collected 
pursuant to a State's unemployment compensation program referenced in 
Title III of the Act or pursuant to section 1137 of the Act. OCSE does 
not propose to require the collection or reporting of any additional 
wage information for purposes of the NDNH beyond that which is 
currently being collected. Wage and unemployment claim information is 
currently reported to agencies administering unemployment compensation 
laws under title III of the Act or to other agencies pursuant to 
section 1137(a) of the Act as part of the income and eligibility 
verification program, so proposed paragraph (b) will not impose an 
additional information requirement. OCSE is also aware that some 
States' compensation records either do not include employee names or 
record only a partial set of the letters in the employee's name. 
Similarly, OCSE is aware that State unemployment compensation laws do 
not require all employers to report information. In the proposed 
regulation, the State is only required to supply wage information which 
is already contained in the records of the State. Therefore, in the 
case of employee names or wages, a State is required to send us as much 
information on employee names or wages as exists in the unemployment 
compensation records, or in the records maintained for purposes of 
section 1137 of the Act if the information is maintained by another 
agency. The reference to section 1137 has been included to cover those 
situations where States have alternate data collection systems to make 
it clear that the data in such alternate systems would be covered by 
the regulation.
    Similarly, the State is only required to supply claim information 
which is already contained in the records of the State agency 
administering the unemployment compensation program or the records 
maintained for purposes of section 1137 of the Act. There is no 
requirement being imposed to collect additional claim information for 
purposes of the NDNH. In addition, the State is only being required to 
furnish the NDNH with claim information that is processed 
electronically. OCSE believes that it is neither feasible nor cost 
effective to require that States transmit claims data for those 
relatively few benefit programs which are processed manually. State 
Employment Security Agencies and the Department of Labor have indicated 
that manually processed claims comprise a very small portion of total 
claims. We understand that the unemployment compensation programs being 
administered by States cover any compensation payable under State 
unemployment compensation law (including amounts payable in accordance 
with agreements under any Federal unemployment compensation law) and 
extended benefits, unemployment compensation for Federal employees, 
unemployment compensation for ex-servicemen, trade readjustment 
allowances, and disaster unemployment assistance. We invite comment 
regarding the regulatory language and whether it appropriately covers 
these benefits.
    The proposed 45 CFR 303.108(c) sets the time frames for quarterly 
wage and claims reporting. The State would be required to report wage 
information for the reporting period no later than the end of the 
fourth month following the reporting period. For the reporting period 
of July-September, 1997, the first period for which wage reporting 
would be required, the State would be required to furnish wage 
information to the Secretary no later than January 31, 1998. Currently, 
State laws generally allow employers one month following the reporting 
period to report quarterly wages to the State agency administering the 
unemployment compensation program. We believe that the time frame for 
States to report wage information to the Secretary for the purposes of 
the NDNH will ensure that States have adequate time to enter, edit, and 
transmit wage information to the Secretary. Given the necessity and 
importance of maintaining accurate wage data in the NDNH, the proposed 
schedule for reporting allows States ample time to work with employers 
to correct inaccurate wage reports and to submit complete and 
comprehensive wage information on employees within a State.
    The State would be required to report claim information for the 
reporting period no later than the end of the first month following the 
end of the reporting period. The State would be required to begin the 
reporting of claim information for the reporting period of October-
December, 1997. We believe that a shorter time frame for submitting 
claim information, as opposed to wage information, is appropriate 
because the State agency charged with administering the unemployment 
compensation program maintains this data on an ongoing basis. Also, as 
noted above, the collection of wage information lags behind the 
collection of claim information because of the time required to ensure 
that wage information submitted is accurate.
    In order to ensure the effective implementation of the NDNH, the 
Secretary is planning a staggered schedule for initial data submissions 
to the NDNH. The reporting of new hire data will begin on October 1, 
1997, followed by initial quarterly wage and claims information 
submissions on January 31, 1998. For this reason, the Secretary will 
require that claims

[[Page 52309]]

information be submitted for the period beginning October-December, 
1997, rather than July-September, 1997.
    The proposed 45 CFR 303.108(d) provides that the Secretary will 
establish standardized formats for reporting quarterly wage and claim 
information and that the States will be required to adhere to such 
formats for reporting purposes. The formats identify the data elements, 
descriptions and tape specifications for reporting quarterly wage and 
claim information. These formats were published in the Federal Register 
for comment on July 25, 1997 (62 FR 40092).

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

    Sections 453A(g)(2)(B) and 303(h) of the Act and section 
3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 contain information 
collection requirements. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)), the Administration for Children and Families 
has submitted a copy of this section to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for its review.
    As discussed earlier, sections 453A(g)(2)(B) and 303(h) of the Act, 
and section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, require 
various State entities to furnish to the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services or the National Directory of New Hires, on a quarterly basis, 
data concerning the wages and unemployment compensation paid to 
individuals. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human 
Services is required to publish regulations to identify the dates, 
format, and data elements necessary for States to furnish this data. 
The purpose of these requirements is to develop a repository of 
information on the earnings and unemployment compensation claims data 
on all employees to provide the necessary information to locate 
individuals for child support purposes, as well as for other specified 
purposes in Title IV-D of the Act. This data will be combined with new 
hire data to be reported to the NDNH pursuant to section 453A of the 
Act. Quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims data will 
provide for the location of continuously employed and unemployed 
individuals who would not be located by new hire reporting.
    All 50 States, as well as the District of Columbia, the Virgin 
Islands, and Puerto Rico, will be required to report quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation claims data to the NDNH. The proposed 
regulation requires the State to disclose quarterly, to the NDNH, wage 
and claim information that is currently being collected pursuant to a 
State's unemployment compensation program referenced in Title III of 
the Act or pursuant to section 1137 of the Act. Wage information is 
defined to include: (1) the name of the employee; (2) the employee's 
social security number; (3) aggregate wages of the employee during the 
reported period; and, (4) the name, address (and optionally, any second 
address for wage withholding purposes), and Federal employer 
identification number of the employer reporting wages under a State 
unemployment compensation law. Claim information is defined as: (1) The 
status of an individual's claim for unemployment compensation (i.e., is 
receiving, has received, or has made application for benefits); (2) The 
individual's name and current (or most recent) home address; (3) the 
individual's social security number; and, (4) the aggregate gross 
amount of compensation the claimant received during the reporting 
quarter. To ensure that public comments have maximum effect in 
developing the final regulations, ACF urges that each commenter clearly 
identify the specific section or sections of the regulations that the 
comment addresses and that comments be in the same order as the 
regulations.
    Because all quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims 
data will be reported from the State to the NDNH electronically and 
will be limited to data already being collected, the burden on the 
States will be minimal. The average burden per response is estimated to 
be 2 minutes (.03 hours). States may also have a one-time initial 
start-up burden of two weeks (80 hours) for reprogramming their systems 
to comply with Federal reporting requirements. The total annual 
reporting and recordkeeping burden that will result from the collection 
of information is estimated to be 7.13 hours.
    The Administration for Children and Families will consider comments 
by the public on this proposed collection of information in:
     Evaluating whether the proposed collection is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of ACF, including whether 
the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluating the accuracy of ACF's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhancing the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimizing the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technology, e.g., 
permitting non-electronic submission of responses.
    OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of 
information contained in these proposed regulations between 30 and 60 
days after publication of this document in the Federal Register. 
Therefore, a comment is best assured of having its full effect if OMB 
receives it within 30 days of publication. This does not affect the 
deadline for the public to comment to the Department on the proposed 
regulations. Written comments to OMB for the proposed information 
collection should be sent directly to the following: Office of 
Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, 725 17th Street, 
N.W., Washington D.C. 20503, Attn: Ms. Wendy Taylor.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    The Secretary certifies, under 5 U.S.C. 605(b), as enacted by the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354), that this proposed 
regulation will not result in a significant impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. The primary impact is on State governments 
and individuals. State governments are not considered small entities 
under the Act.

Executive Order 12866

    Executive Order 12866 requires that regulations be reviewed to 
ensure that they are consistent with the priorities and principles set 
forth in the Executive Order. The Department has determined that this 
proposed rule is consistent with these priorities and principles. The 
proposed rule implements the statutory provisions by specifying the 
wage and unemployment compensation claims information that must be 
reported to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Unfunded Mandates Act

    The Department has determined that this proposed rule is not a 
significant regulatory action within the meaning of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4).

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 303

    Child support, Grant programs/social programs, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs No. 93.563, Child 
Support Enforcement Program)

[[Page 52310]]

    Dated: July 8, 1997.
Olivia A. Golden,
Principal Deputy Assistant, Secretary for Children and Families.

    Approved: August 14, 1997.
Donna E. Shalala,
Secretary, Department of Health Human Services.

    For the reasons discussed above, we propose to amend title 45 CFR 
Chapter III of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 303--STANDARDS FOR PROGRAM OPERATIONS

    1. The authority citation of Part 303 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 651 through 658, 660, 663, 664, 666, 667, 
1302, 1396a(a)(25), 1396(d)(2), 1396b(o), 1396b(p) and 1396(k).

    2. A new 303.108 is added to read as follows:

Sec. 303.108  Quarterly wage and unemployment compensation claims 
reporting to the national directory of new hires.

    (a) What definitions apply to quarterly wage and unemployment 
compensation claims reporting? When used in this section:
    (1) Reporting period means time elapsed during a calendar quarter, 
e.g. January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December.
    (2) Wage information means:
    (i) The name of the employee;
    (ii) The social security number of the employee;
    (iii) The aggregate wages of the employee during the reporting 
period; and
    (iv) The name, address (and optionally, any second address for wage 
withholding purposes), and Federal employer identification number of an 
employer reporting wages.
    (3) Unemployment compensation or claim information means:
    (i) Whether an individual is receiving, has received or has applied 
for unemployment compensation;
    (ii) The individual's name and current (or most recent) home 
address;
    (iii) The individual's social security number; and
    (iv) The aggregate gross amount of compensation the claimant 
received during the reporting quarter.
    (b) What data must be transmitted to the National Directory of New 
Hires? The State shall disclose quarterly, to the National Directory of 
New Hires, wage and claim information as defined in paragraph (a) that 
is collected pursuant to a State's unemployment compensation program 
referenced in Title III of the Act or pursuant to section 1137 of the 
Act.
    (c) What time frames apply for reporting quarterly wage and 
unemployment compensation claims data? The State shall report wage 
information for the reporting period no later than the end of the 
fourth month following the reporting period. The State shall report 
claim information for the reporting period no later than the end of the 
first month following the reporting period.
    (d) What reporting formats will be used for reporting data? The 
State must use standardized formats established by the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services for reporting wage and claim information.

[FR Doc. 97-26538 Filed 10-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-U
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