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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 56 (Monday, March 24, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15928-15932]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06232]

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

34 CFR Chapter III

Proposed Priority--National Institute on Disability and 
Rehabilitation Research--Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers

    CFDA Number: 84.133B-8.
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 
Department of Education.

ACTION: Proposed priority.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and 
Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority for the Rehabilitation 
Research and Training Center (RRTC) Program administered by the 
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). 
Specifically, this notice proposes a priority for an RRTC on Family 
Support. We take this action to focus research attention on an area of 
national need. We intend the priority to contribute to improved 
outcomes in this area for individuals with disabilities and family 
members who provide assistance to them.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before April 23, 2014.

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 these proposed regulations, address 
them to Marlene Spencer, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland 
Avenue SW., Room 5133, Potomac Center Plaza (PCP), Washington, DC 
20202-2700.
    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.
    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: This notice of proposed priority is in 
concert with NIDRR's currently approved Long-Range Plan (Plan). The 
Plan, which was published in the Federal Register on April 4, 2013 (78 
FR 20299), can be accessed on the Internet at the following site: 
www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/policy.html.
    The Plan identifies a need for research and training in a number of 
areas, including the needs of families with members with disabilities. 
To address this need, NIDRR seeks to: (1) improve the quality and 
utility of disability and rehabilitation research; (2) foster an 
exchange of research findings, expertise, and other information to 
advance knowledge and understanding of the needs of individuals with 
disabilities and their family members, including those from among 
traditionally underserved populations; (3) determine effective 
practices, programs, and policies to improve community living and 
participation, employment, and health and function outcomes for 
individuals with disabilities of all ages; (4) identify research gaps 
and areas for promising research investments; (5) identify and promote 
effective mechanisms for integrating research and practice; and (6) 
disseminate research findings to all major stakeholder groups, 
including individuals with disabilities and their families in formats 
that are appropriate and meaningful to them.
    This notice proposes one priority that NIDRR intends to use for one 
or more competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and possibly later years. 
NIDRR is under no obligation to make an award under this priority. The 
decision to make an award will be based on the quality of applications 
received and available funding. NIDRR may publish additional 
priorities, as needed.
    Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding 
this notice. To ensure that your comments have maximum effect in 
developing the notice of final priority, we urge you to identify 
clearly the specific topic within the priority that each comment 
addresses.
    We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific 
requirements of Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 and their overall 
requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result from this 
proposed priority. Please let us know of any further ways we could 
reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while preserving 
the effective and efficient administration of the program.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this proposed priority by following the instructions 
found under the ``Are you new to the site?'' portion of the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Any comments sent to NIDRR 
via postal mail, commercial deliver, or hand delivery can be viewed in 
Room 5133, 550 12th Street SW., PCP, 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 provide 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 notice. 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.
    Purpose of Program: The purpose of the Disability and 
Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program is to plan and 
conduct research, demonstration projects, training, and related 
activities, including international activities, to develop methods, 
procedures, and rehabilitation technology that maximize the full 
inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, 
family support, and economic and social self-

[[Page 15929]]

sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, especially individuals 
with the most severe disabilities, and to improve the effectiveness of 
services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended 
(Rehabilitation Act).

Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers

    The purpose of the RRTCs, which are funded through the Disability 
and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program, is to achieve 
the goals of, and improve the effectiveness of, services authorized 
under the Rehabilitation Act through well-designed research, training, 
technical assistance, and dissemination activities in important topical 
areas as specified by NIDRR. These activities are designed to benefit 
rehabilitation service providers, individuals with disabilities, family 
members, policymakers and other research stakeholders. Additional 
information on the RRTC program can be found at: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/rrtc/index.html#types

    Program Authority:  29 U.S.C. 762(g) and 764(b)(2).

    Applicable Program Regulations: 34 CFR part 350.
    Proposed Priority:
    This notice contains one proposed priority.
    RRTC on Family Support.
    Background:
    For the purpose of this notice, ``family support'' is defined as a 
range of formal and informal support, assistance or nurturing provided 
to a family member with a disability by one or more other family 
members in response to disability-related needs, including needs for 
self-determination, integration, and inclusion in community life. 
Family support may include any disability-related support, assistance, 
or nurturing provided to a child by a parent, to a parent by a child, 
by a spouse to a husband or wife, by a sibling to another sibling, or 
within some other family relationship. ``Family caregiver'' refers to 
an individual who provides support, assistance, or nurturing to a 
family member with a disability. ``Family support services'' refers to 
services and cash payments provided to a family caregiver who is 
providing support, assistance, or nurturing to a family member with 
disability.
    Family support is the predominant source of long-term services and 
supports for persons with disabilities in the United States (Thompson, 
2004). Without the contributions of family members, the public costs 
and demand for paid personal assistance would increase dramatically and 
become unsustainable. Estimates of the annual cost of services provided 
by family members to individuals with disabilities range from about 
$335 billion (Feinberg, Reinhart, Houser & Choula, 2011), to $450 
billion (White-Means & Dong, 2012), or roughly three times the total 
State and Federal Medicaid expenditures for compensated long-term 
services and supports (Eiken, et al., 2013).
    In addition to the value of the uncompensated hours of family 
direct support, families routinely incur substantial out-of-pocket 
expenses associated with a family member's disability (Lewis & Johnson, 
2005; Mitra et al., 2009). Furthermore, families that include at least 
one individual with a disability often experience substantial economic 
and career losses (Anderson, Larson, Lakin & Kwak, 2002; Parish, 
Seltzer, Greenberg & Floyd 2004; Stabile & Allin, 2012). Family 
caregivers experience stresses other than economic, including 
psychological (Traute & Heibert-Murphy, 2002), social (Baxter, Cummins 
& Yiolitis (2000), and health (Gallagher & Whitely, 2012) stresses.
    Family support is essential to the viability of the U.S. system of 
long-term services and supports for persons with disabilities. Family 
support services may include information services, person and family-
centered planning, counseling, assistive devices, home modifications, 
respite care, training, personal care attendant and homemaker 
recruitment and training, meal services, cash assistance, and other 
supports as needed.
    In March 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS) launched a new Community Living Council in support of the 
``Secretary's Strategic Initiative to Promote Community Living for 
Older Adults and People with Disabilities'' (Initiative) (U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The Initiative engages 
multiple HHS agencies and partners from other Departments to assist 
States in making their systems of Long-Term Services and Supports 
(LTSS) more community-based, consumer-directed, and outcome-focused. 
The Initiative includes major efforts to provide factual, accessible, 
and easily understood information to individuals with disabilities and 
their families. The intent of the Initiative corresponds directly with 
NIDRR's mission to generate new knowledge and promote its effective use 
to improve the abilities of individuals with disabilities to perform 
activities of their choice in the community.
    To further the central goals of the Initiative, NIDRR is partnering 
with the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in HHS to create a 
national RRTC on Family Support. ACL will support the engagement of its 
356 Aging and Disability Resource Centers to serve as a conduit for 
information generated by the RRTC. The purpose of this RRTC will be to 
engage in research, data analysis, knowledge translation, and 
development and dissemination of informational products to improve 
supports and services for individuals who provide assistance to their 
family members with disabilities.
    References:

Anderson, L., Larson, S., Lakin, K.C., & Kwak, N. (2002). Children 
with disabilities: Social roles and family impacts in the NHIS-D. DD 
Data Brief, 4(1).
Baxter, C., Cummins, R., & Yiolitis, L. (2000). Parental stress 
attribute to family members with and without disability. Journal of 
Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 25(2), 105-118.
Feinberg, L., Reinhart, S., Houser, A., & Choula, R. (2011). Valuing 
the invaluable: 2011 update, the growing contributions and costs of 
family caregiving. Washington, DC: AARP Policy Institute.
Gallagher, S., & Whiteley, J. (2012). Social support is associated 
with blood pressure responses in parents caring for children with 
developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 
33(6), 2099-2105.
Houtenville, A., Ruiz, T., Brucker, D., Gould, P., Guntz, N., 
Gianino, M., Goodrich, J., & Laurer, E. (2012). 2012 Annual 
disability statistics compendium. Durham, NH: University of New 
Hampshire, Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics.
Lewis, D., & Johnson, D. (2005). Costs of family care for 
individuals with disabilities. In R. Stancliffe & K. Lakin (Eds.), 
Costs and outcomes of community services for people with 
intellectual disabilities (pp. 63-89). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Mitra, S., Findley, P., & Sambamoorthi, U. (2009). Health care 
expenses of living with a disability: Total expenditures, out-of-
pocket expenses, and burden. Archives of Physical Medicine and 
Rehabilitation, 90, 1532-1540.
Parish, S., Seltzer, M., Greenberg, J., & Floyd, F. (2004). Economic 
implications of caregiving at midlife: Comparing parents with and 
without children with developmental disabilities. Mental 
Retardation, 42(6), 413-426.
Stabile, M., & Allin, S. (2012). The economic costs of childhood 
disability. The Future of Children, 22(1), 66-96.
Thompson, L. (2004). Long-term care: Support for family caregivers. 
Georgetown University, Health Policy Institute.

[[Page 15930]]

Traute, B., & Hiebert-Murphy, D. (2002). Family adjustment to 
childhood developmental disability. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 
27(3), 271-280.
White-Means, S., & Dong, Z. (2012). Valuing the costs of family 
caregiving: Time and motion survey estimates. Consumer Interests 
Annual, 58(1), 1-6.

    Proposed Priority:
    The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services proposes a priority for an RRTC on Family Support. The RRTC's 
work is intended to inform the design, implementation, and continuous 
improvement of Federal and State policies and programs related to 
assisting families in support, assistance, and nurturing of family 
members with disabilities. The RRTC would also identify and develop 
information for individuals with disabilities and their family members 
to guide their informed choice of community and family-based service 
and support options that best meet their needs.
    The RRTC must be designed to contribute to better understanding of 
the phenomenon of family support; to improved community living and 
participation, health and function, and employment outcomes of 
individuals with disabilities supported by family members; and to 
effective support of family caregivers by--
    (a) Developing and implementing a project research plan to identify 
the key elements of family support and family support programs and 
policy. This plan, once implemented by the grantee, must contribute to 
identification or development of relevant and high quality data and 
information that will serve as an empirical foundation for improving 
assistance to families in support roles and to family support policies 
and programs. This task includes:
    (i) Developing a conceptual framework for research on family 
support that includes both individual and societal level 
characteristics that influence provision of family support, considering 
existing knowledge about family support barriers in other populations.
    (ii) Developing and prioritizing a list of research questions and 
evaluation topics that, when addressed, would lead to research-based 
information that can be used to improve family support policies, 
practices, programs, communications, and outcomes.
    (iii) Working with NIDRR and ACL to identify relevant data sets and 
informational resources that can be analyzed to address the questions 
and topics in the research plan; and
    (iv) Working with NIDRR and ACL to identify gaps in data and 
information resources that are available to address the questions and 
topics in the research plan and to identify strategies to fill those 
gaps;
    (b) Conducting research and research syntheses to describe the 
nature and extent of support that is being provided to individuals with 
disabilities by family members, and the extent to which the family 
caregivers themselves receive assistance in the form of education/
training, counseling/psychosocial support, personal care, homemaker 
services, respite care and other relevant supports, as well as the 
amounts of assistance received and the private and public sources of 
payment for such assistance;
    (c) Conducting research and research syntheses to identify and 
evaluate promising practices that States have used and could be adopted 
in other States to improve long-term services and supports for families 
of individuals with disabilities. This task includes--
    (i) Identifying components of well-designed, effective State or 
local family support programs; and
    (ii) Identifying and assessing methods for monitoring, tracking and 
evaluating States' approaches to supporting families, which may 
include, but are not limited to, methods for monitoring the experiences 
of individuals and costs for recipients of family support services 
within broader existing LTSS evaluation programs, such as the National 
Core Indicators or Participant Experience Survey; methods for 
understanding, monitoring and responding to the unique needs of 
individual families, including the family members with and without 
disabilities; and methods for evaluating the outcomes for individuals 
and families receiving family support services;
    (d) Identifying and involving key stakeholders in the research and 
research planning activities conducted under paragraphs (a), (b) and 
(c) to maximize the relevance and usefulness of the research products 
being developed. Stakeholders must include, but are not limited to, 
individuals with disabilities and their families (including parents, 
siblings, and sons/daughters); national, State and local-level 
policymakers; service providers; and relevant researchers in the field 
of disability and rehabilitation research;
    (e) Identifying, evaluating, and disseminating accessible 
information at the national, State, service provider, and individual 
levels on topics of importance to sustaining and developing appropriate 
and effective family support services, practices, policies, and 
programs. These topics include, but are not limited to: usefulness and 
effectiveness of current family support resources for families of 
differing circumstances; the roles of, and impact upon, families in the 
transitions from fee-for-service to integrated/managed long-term 
service and support systems; the roles and responsibilities of 
individuals with disabilities and their family members in the 
transition from agency-directed to consumer-directed services; best 
practices in supporting families both within and outside of disability 
services; accessing and coordinating community supports; the role of 
family-to-family and peer-to-peer support systems and other social 
networks; and other topics to be determined in collaboration with key 
stakeholders, NIDRR, and ACL representatives;
    (f) Establishing a network of technical assistance providers and 
advocacy entities to assist in synthesizing and disseminating 
information related to implementing high quality family support 
policies, programs and practices for individuals with disabilities. 
Network members should include, but are not limited to: the Aging and 
Disability Resource Centers, the State Councils on Developmental 
Disabilities; Parent Training and Information Centers; Protection and 
Advocacy Client Assistance Programs; Centers for Independent Living, 
and private sector organizations that are recognized as national 
leaders in promoting family support policies, programs and research; 
and
    (g) Serving as a national resource center related to family support 
by--
    (i) Providing information and technical assistance to individuals 
with disabilities, family members, service providers, policymakers and 
other key stakeholders;
    (ii) Providing training to facilitate understanding of the 
effective use of private and public options for the provision of 
supports to families, including training at the graduate, pre-service, 
and in-service levels, and to individuals with disabilities, families, 
and rehabilitation and other service providers. This training may be 
provided through conferences, workshops, public education programs, in-
service training programs, and similar activities; and
    (iii) Collaborating as appropriate with NIDRR's RRTC on Community 
Living Policy.
    Types of Priorities:
    When inviting applications for a competition using one or more 
priorities, we designate the type of each priority as absolute, 
competitive

[[Page 15931]]

preference, or invitational through a notice in the Federal Register. 
The effect of each type of priority follows:
    Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, we consider only 
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
    Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference 
priority, we give competitive preference to an application by (1) 
awarding additional points, depending on the extent to which the 
application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or (2) 
selecting an application that meets the priority over an application of 
comparable merit that does not meet the priority (34 CFR 
75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
    Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority, we are 
particularly interested in applications that meet the priority. 
However, we do not give an application that meets the priority a 
preference over other applications (34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).
    Final Priority:
    We will announce the final priority in a notice in the Federal 
Register. We will determine the final priority after considering 
responses to this notice and other information available to the 
Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing additional 
priorities, requirements, definitions, or selection criteria, subject 
to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.

    Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in 
which we choose to use this priority, we invite applications through 
a notice in the Federal Register.

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563

Regulatory Impact Analysis

    Under Executive Order 12866, the Secretary must determine whether 
this regulatory action is ``significant'' and, therefore, subject to 
the requirements of the Executive order and subject to review by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Section 3(f) of Executive Order 
12866 defines a ``significant regulatory action'' as an action likely 
to result in a rule that may--
    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, 
or adversely affect a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, 
jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or 
tribal governments or communities in a material way (also referred to 
as an ``economically significant'' rule);
    (2) Create serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, 
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles stated in the 
Executive order.
    This proposed regulatory action is not a significant regulatory 
action subject to review by OMB under section 3(f) of Executive Order 
12866.
    We have also reviewed this regulatory action under Executive Order 
13563, which supplements and explicitly reaffirms the principles, 
structures, and definitions governing regulatory review established in 
Executive Order 12866. To the extent permitted by law, Executive Order 
13563 requires that an agency--
    (1) Propose or adopt regulations only upon a reasoned determination 
that their benefits justify their costs (recognizing that some benefits 
and costs are difficult to quantify);
    (2) Tailor its regulations to impose the least burden on society, 
consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives and taking into 
account--among other things and to the extent practicable--the costs of 
cumulative regulations;
    (3) In choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, select 
those approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential 
economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other 
advantages; distributive impacts; and equity);
    (4) To the extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather 
than the behavior or manner of compliance a regulated entity must 
adopt; and
    (5) Identify and assess available alternatives to direct 
regulation, including economic incentives--such as user fees or 
marketable permits--to encourage the desired behavior, or provide 
information that enables the public to make choices.
    Executive Order 13563 also requires an agency ``to use the best 
available techniques to quantify anticipated present and future 
benefits and costs as accurately as possible.'' The Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB has emphasized that these 
techniques may include ``identifying changing future compliance costs 
that might result from technological innovation or anticipated 
behavioral changes.''
    We are issuing this proposed priority only upon a reasoned 
determination that its benefits would justify its costs. In choosing 
among alternative regulatory approaches, we selected those approaches 
that would maximize net benefits. Based on the analysis that follows, 
the Department believes that this proposed priority is consistent with 
the principles in Executive Order 13563.
    We also have determined that this regulatory action would not 
unduly interfere with State, local, and tribal governments in the 
exercise of their governmental functions.
    In accordance with both Executive orders, the Department has 
assessed the potential costs and benefits, both quantitative and 
qualitative, of this regulatory action. The potential costs are those 
resulting from statutory requirements and those we have determined as 
necessary for administering the Department's programs and activities.
    The benefits of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects 
and Centers Program have been well established over the years. Projects 
similar to one envisioned by the proposed priority have been completed 
successfully, and the proposed priority would generate new knowledge 
through research. The new RRTC would generate, disseminate, and promote 
the use of new information that would improve outcomes for individuals 
with disabilities in the areas of community living and participation, 
employment, and health and function.
    Intergovernmental Review: This program is not subject to Executive 
Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the Grants and Contracts 
Services Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 
Room 5075, PCP, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: (202) 245-7363. 
If you use a TDD or TTY, call the FRS, toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
    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

[[Page 15932]]

your search to documents published by the Department.

    Dated: March 18, 2014.
Michael K. Yudin,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative 
Services.
[FR Doc. 2014-06232 Filed 3-21-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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