7732 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Justice 

Statistics, Department of Justice (DOJ), 

will be submitting the following 

information collection request to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed 

information collection was previously 

published in the Federal Register, on 

November 11, 2023, allowing a 60-day 

comment period. 

DATES: Comments are encouraged and 

will be accepted for 30 days until March 

6, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have comments especially on the 

estimated public burden or associated 

response time, suggestions, or need a 

copy of the proposed information 

collection instrument with instructions 

or additional information, please 

contact: Laura Maruschak, Statistician, 

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh 

Street NW, Washington, DC 20531 

(email: laura.maruschak@usdoj.gov; 

telephone: 202–598–0802). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written 

comments and suggestions from the 

public and affected agencies concerning 

the proposed collection of information 

are encouraged. Your comments should 

address one or more of the following 

four points: 

—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/or 

—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 submission of 

responses. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for this information 

collection should be submitted within 

30 days of the publication of this notice 

on the following website 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

30-day Review—Open for Public 

Comments’’ or by using the search 

function and entering the title of the 

information collection. This information 

collection request may be viewed at 

www.reginfo.gov. Follow the 

instructions to view Department of 

Justice, information collections 

currently under review by OMB. 

DOJ seeks PRA authorization for this 

information collection for three (3) 

years. OMB authorization for an ICR 

cannot be for more than three (3) years 

without renewal. The DOJ notes that 

information collection requirements 

submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs 

receive a month-to-month extension 

while they undergo review. 

Overview of This Information 

Collection 

1. Type of Information Collection: 

New collection. 

2. Title of the Form/Collection: 

National Prisoner Statistics program: 

Maternal Health Supplement (NPSMatHealth). 

3. Agency form number, if any, and 

the applicable component of the 

Department of Justice sponsoring the 

collection: NPS-MatHealth/Bureau of 

Justice Statistics. 

4. Affected public who will be asked 

or required to respond, as well as a brief 

abstract: 

Affected Public: State and Federal 

Government. 

Abstract: In fiscal year 2021, the 

United States House Committee on 

Appropriations directed that BJS 

include statistics in its data collections 

that relate to the health needs of 

incarcerated pregnant women in the 

criminal justice system, including, but 

not limited to, the number of pregnant 

women in custody, outcomes of 

pregnancies, the provision of pregnancy 

care and services, health status of 

pregnant women, and racial and ethnic 

disparities in maternal health, at the 

Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels. 

To address the directive at the State and 

Federal level, BJS developed the NPSMatHealth survey, a 1-time supplement 

to the National Prisoners Statistics 

program. The survey will request 

information on maternal health and 

pregnancy outcomes between January 1, 

2023 and December 31, 2023, including 

provide the annual count of female 

admissions to prison tested for 

pregnancy, the number of those tests 

that were positive, and the number of 

pregnancy outcomes by outcome type. 

Additionally, the data collected will 

capture maternal health services and 

accommodations among State DOCs and 

the BOP and provide a 1-day count 

(December 31, 2023) of pregnant women 

by race/Hispanic origin, and the number 

of women residing in a nursery or 

residential program in which the infant 

resides with the mother. 

5. Obligation to Respond: Voluntary. 

6. Total Estimated Number of 

Respondents: 51. 

7. Estimated Time per Respondent: 

2.5 hours. 

8. Frequency: One-time. 

9. Total Estimated Annual Time 

Burden: 126 hours. 

10. Total Estimated Annual Other 

Costs Burden: $4,851. 

If additional information is required, 

contact: Darwin Arceo, Department 

Clearance Officer, Policy and Planning 

Staff, Justice Management Division, 

United States Department of Justice, 

Two Constitution Square, 145 N Street 

NE, 4W–218, Washington, DC 20530. 

Dated: January 31, 2024. 

John R. Carlson, 

Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. 

Department of Justice. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02213 Filed 2–2–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4410–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Request for Public 

Comment 

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration (EBSA), Department of 

Labor. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the 

Department), in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, provides the 

general public and Federal agencies 

with an opportunity to comment on 

proposed and continuing collections of 

information. This helps the Department 

assess the impact of its information 

collection requirements and minimize 

the public’s reporting burden. It also 

helps the public understand the 

Department’s information collection 

requirements and provide the requested 

data in the desired format. The 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration (EBSA) is soliciting 

comments on the proposed extension of 

the information collection requests 

(ICRs) contained in the documents 

described below. A copy of the ICRs 

may be obtained by contacting the office 

listed in the ADDRESSES section of this 

notice. ICRs also are available at 

reginfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted to the office shown in the 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices 7733 

ADDRESSES section on or before April 5, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: James Butikofer, 

Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, 200 

Constitution Avenue NW, Room N– 

5718, Washington, DC 20210, or 

ebsa.opr@dol.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Current Actions 

This notice requests public comment 

on the Department’s request for 

extension of the Office of Management 

and Budget’s (OMB) approval of ICRs 

contained in the rules and prohibited 

transaction exemptions described 

below. This action is not related to any 

pending rulemakings and the 

Department is not proposing any 

changes to the existing ICRs at this time. 

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, 

and a person is not required to respond 

to, an information collection unless it 

displays a valid OMB control number. 

A summary of the ICRs and the burden 

estimates follows: 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act Section 408(b)(2) 

Regulation. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0133. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

Business or other for profits. 

Respondents: 56,891. 

Responses: 1,643,991. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

1,134,055. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $258,506. 

Description: The prohibited 

transaction described in section 

406(a)(1)(C) of ERISA generally 

prohibits the furnishing of goods, 

services, or facilities between a plan and 

a party in interest to the plan. Because 

ERISA defines any person furnishing 

services to the plan as a ‘‘party in 

interest’’ to the plan, a service 

relationship between a plan and a 

service provider would constitute a 

prohibited transaction under section 

406(a)(1)(C) in the absence of relief. 

Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA provides 

relief, however, for service contracts or 

arrangements if the contract or 

arrangement is ‘‘reasonable,’’ if the 

services are necessary for the 

establishment or operation of the plan, 

and if no more than ‘‘reasonable’’ 

compensation is paid for the services. 

The Department’s final rule under 

ERISA section 408(b)(2) (29 CFR 

2550.408b–2) requires reasonable 

contracts or arrangements between 

employee pension benefit plans and 

certain providers of services to such 

plans include specified information to 

assist plan fiduciaries in assessing the 

reasonableness of the compensation 

paid for services and the conflicts of 

interest that may affect a service 

provider’s performance of services. 

The Department also issued a class 

prohibited transaction exemption as 

part of the final rule. The class 

exemption grants plan fiduciaries relief 

from liability for a prohibited 

transaction resulting from the service 

provider’s failure to comply with the 

regulation’s disclosure requirements. 

The Department recognizes that a plan 

fiduciary may on occasion unknowingly 

enter into a contract or arrangement that 

does not meet the requirements of the 

regulation for relief under ERISA 

section 408(b)(2), in the reasonable 

belief that the service provider has 

divulged the requisite information. If 

the requirements of the rule are not 

satisfied, a prohibited transaction occurs 

for both the service provider and the 

plan fiduciary, but for the availability of 

the class exemption. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0133. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on August 31, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Mental Health Parity and 

Addiction Equity Act of 2008 Notices. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0138. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households, private sector, not-for-profit 

institutions, businesses or other forprofits. 

Respondents: 1,323,153. 

Responses: 1,323,153. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

941,555. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): 

$1,091,047. 

Description: The Paul Wellstone and 

Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and 

Addiction Equity Act of 2008 

(MHPAEA) was enacted on October 3, 

2008 as sections 511 and 512 of the Tax 

Extenders and Alternative Minimum 

Tax Relief Act of 2008 (division C of 

Pub. L. 110–343). MHPAEA amends the 

Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health 

Service Act (PHS Act), and the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). In 

1996, Congress enacted the Mental 

Health Parity Act of 1996, which 

required parity in aggregate lifetime and 

annual dollar limits for mental health 

(MH) benefits and medical/surgical 

benefits, and codified those provisions 

in section 712 of ERISA, section 2705 of 

the PHS Act, and section 9812 of the 

Code. The changes made by MHPAEA 

are codified in these same sections and 

include provisions to apply the mental 

health parity requirements to substance 

use disorder (SUD) benefits and impose 

additional requirements for financial 

requirements and treatment limitations 

for group health plans and health 

insurance coverage offered in 

connection with a group health plan. 

MHPAEA does not apply to small 

employers that have between two and 

50 employees. 

MHPAEA and the final regulations 

(29 CFR 2590.712(d)) require plan 

administrators to provide two 

disclosures regarding MH/SUD 

benefits—one providing criteria for 

medical necessity determinations 

(medical necessity disclosure) and the 

other providing the reason for denial of 

claims reimbursement (claims denial 

disclosure). 

Section 203 of title II of division BB 

of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 

(CAA, 2021) was enacted on December 

27, 2020 and amended MHPAEA, in 

part, by requiring group health plans 

and health insurance issuers offering 

group or individual health insurance 

coverage that offer both medical/ 

surgical benefits and MH/SUD benefits 

and that impose NQTLs on MH/SUD 

benefits to perform and document their 

comparative analyses of the design and 

application of NQTLs. 

The CAA, 2021 also provides that the 

Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and 

Health and Human Services 

(collectively, the Departments) shall 

request that a group health plan or 

issuer submit the comparative analyses 

for plans that involve potential 

violations of MHPAEA or complaints 

regarding noncompliance with 

MHPAEA that concern NQTLs, and any 

other instances in which the 

Departments determine appropriate. 

The CAA, 2021 further requires the 

Departments, after review of the 

comparative analyses, to share 

information on findings of compliance 

and noncompliance with the State 

where the plan is located or the State 

where the issuer is licensed to do 

business. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0138. The 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
7734 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices 

1This request for extension of the OMB approval 

for ICR is not related to finalizing the proposed 

rules published on August 3, 2023 at 88 FR 51552. 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on October 31, 2024.1

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Pension Benefit Statement. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0166. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

businesses or other for-profits, not-forprofit institutions. 

Respondents: 721,876. 

Responses: 410,933,333. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

19,675. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): 

$498,958,393. 

Description: Section 105(a) of the 

Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act (ERISA) requires administrators of 

defined contribution plans and defined 

benefit plans to provide periodic 

pension benefit statements to 

participants and certain beneficiaries. If 

a defined contribution plan permits 

participants and beneficiaries to direct 

their own investments, benefit 

statements must be provided at least 

once each quarter. If the defined 

contribution plan does not permit 

participants and beneficiaries to direct 

their own investments, benefit 

statements must be provided at least 

once each year. In the case of defined 

benefit plans, benefit statements 

generally must be provided at least once 

every three years. Section 

105(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) requires a benefit 

statement to indicate the participant’s or 

beneficiary’s ‘‘total benefits accrued.’’ 

On December 20, 2019, ERISA section 

105 was amended by section 203 of the 

Setting Every Community Up for 

Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 

(SECURE Act). As amended, ERISA 

section 105 requires, in relevant part, 

that ‘‘a lifetime income disclosure . . . 

be included in only one pension benefit 

statement provided to participants of 

defined contribution plans during any 

one 12-month period.’’ A lifetime 

income disclosure ‘‘shall set forth the 

lifetime income stream equivalent of the 

total benefits accrued with respect to the 

participant or beneficiary.’’ A lifetime 

income stream equivalent means the 

amount of monthly payments the 

participant or beneficiary would receive 

if the total accrued benefits of such 

participant or beneficiary were used to 

provide a single life annuity and a 

qualified joint and survivor annuity. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0166. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on October 31, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act Procedure 1976–1; 

Advisory Opinion Procedure. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0066. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

Business or other for-profits, Not-forprofit institutions. 

Respondents: 18. 

Responses: 18. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 182. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $477,089. 

Description: In 1976, the Department 

issued ERISA Procedure 76–1, the 

Procedure for ERISA Advisory Opinions 

(ERISA Procedure), in order to establish 

a public process for requesting guidance 

from the Employee Benefits Security 

Administration (EBSA) on the 

application of ERISA to particular 

circumstances. The ERISA Procedure 

sets forth specific administrative 

procedures for requesting either an 

advisory opinion or an information 

letter and describes the types of 

questions that may be submitted. 

As part of the ERISA Procedure, 

requesters are instructed to provide 

information to EBSA concerning the 

circumstances governing their request. 

Section 6 of ERISA Procedure 76–1 lists 

the information that must be supplied 

by the party requesting an advisory 

opinion. This information includes 

identifying information (name, type of 

plan, EIN Number, etc.), a detailed 

description of the act(s) or transaction(s) 

with respect to which an advisory 

opinion is being requested, a discussion 

of the issues presented by the act(s) or 

transaction(s), a statement of the party’s 

views concerning the issues to be 

resolved and the legal basis for such 

views. The requesting party must also 

include copies of the relevant 

documents and may also request a 

conference with EBSA in the event that 

EBSA is considering issuing an adverse 

opinion. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0066. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974 Technical Release 

1991–1. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0084. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

business or other for-profits. 

Respondents: 6. 

Responses: 18,419. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 623. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $839. 

Description: Section 101(e) of ERISA 

establishes notice requirements that 

must be satisfied before an employer 

may transfer excess assets from a 

defined benefit pension plan to a retiree 

health benefit account, as permitted 

under the conditions set forth in section 

420 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, as amended (the Code). 

The notice requirements of ERISA 

section 101(e) are two-fold. First, 

subsection (e)(1) requires plan 

administrators to provide advance 

written notification of such transfers to 

participants and beneficiaries. Second, 

subsection (e)(2)(A) requires employers 

to provide advance written notification 

of such transfers to the Secretaries of 

Labor and the Treasury, the plan 

administrator, and each employee 

organization representing participants 

in the plan. Both notices must be given 

at least 60 days before the transfer date. 

The two subsections prescribe the 

information to be included in each type 

of notice and further give the Secretary 

of Labor the authority to prescribe how 

notice to participants and beneficiaries 

must be given, and how any additional 

reporting requirements are deemed 

necessary. 

On May 8, 1991, the Department 

published ERISA Technical Release 91– 

1, to provide guidance on how to satisfy 

the notice requirements prescribed by 

ERISA section 101(e). The Technical 

Release made two changes in the 

statutory requirements for the second 

type of notice. First, it required the 

notice to include a filing date and the 

intended asset transfer date. Second, it 

simplified the statutory filing 

requirements by providing that filing 

with the Department of Labor would be 

deemed sufficient notice to both the 

Department and the Department of the 

Treasury as required under the statute. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0084. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Disclosures by Insurers to 

General Account Policyholders. 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices 7735 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0114. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

business or other for-profits. 

Respondents: 353. 

Responses: 26,981. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

114,670. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $10,792. 

Description: Section 1460 of the Small 

Business Job Protection Act of 1996 

(Pub. L. 104–188) (SBJPA) amended 

ERISA by adding section 401(c). This 

section requires the Department to 

promulgate a regulation providing 

guidance, applicable only to insurance 

policies issued on or before December 

31, 1998, to or for the benefit of 

employee benefit plans, to clarify the 

extent to which assets held in an 

insurer’s general account under such 

contracts are ‘‘plan assets’’ within the 

meaning of ERISA, because the policies 

are not ‘‘guaranteed benefit policies’’ 

within the meaning of section 401(b) of 

ERISA. SBJPA further directed the 

Department to set standards for how 

insurers should manage the specified 

insurance policies (called Transition 

Policies). Pursuant to the authority and 

direction given under SBJPA, the 

Department promulgated a final rule on 

January 5, 2000 (65 FR 714) that is 

codified at 29 CFR 2550.401c–1. 

Regulation section 29 CFR 

2550.401(c)–1 imposes specific 

requirements on insurers that are parties 

to Transition Policies in order to ensure 

that the fiduciaries acting on behalf of 

plans have adequate information and 

understanding of how the Transition 

Policies work. This information 

collection requires that an insurer that 

issues and maintains a Transition Policy 

to or for the benefit of an employee 

benefit plan must disclose to the plan 

fiduciary, initially upon issuance of the 

policy and on an annual basis, to the 

extent that the policy is not a 

guaranteed benefit policy: (1) the 

methods by which income and expenses 

of the insurer’s general account are 

allocated to the policy, the actual 

annual return to the plan, and other 

pertinent information; (2) the extent to 

which alternative arrangements 

supported by the assets of the insurer’s 

separate accounts are available; (3) any 

rights under the policy to transfer funds 

to a separate account and the terms 

governing such right; and (4) the extent 

to which support by assets of the 

insurer’s separate accounts might pose 

differing risks to the plan. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0114. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Registration for EFAST–2 

Credentials. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0117. 

Affected Public: Private sector, notfor-profit institutions, businesses or 

other for-profits. 

Respondents: 248,985. 

Responses: 248,985. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

82,995. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $0. 

Description: The Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

(ERISA) section 104 requires 

administrators of employee benefits 

plans (pension and welfare plans) and 

employers sponsoring certain fringe 

benefit plans and other plans of deferred 

compensation to file returns/reports 

annually with the Secretary of Labor 

concerning the financial condition and 

operation of plans. Reporting 

requirements are satisfied by filing the 

Form 5500 in accordance with its 

instructions and the related regulations. 

Form 5500 filings are processed under 

the ERISA Filing Acceptance System 2 

(EFAST–2), which is designed to 

simplify and expedite the receipt and 

processing of the Form 5500 by relying 

on internet-based forms and electronic 

filing technologies. 

In order to file electronically, 

employee benefit plan Filing authors, 

Schedule authors, Filing signers, Form 

5500 transmitters, and entities 

developing software to complete and/or 

transmit the Form 5500 are required to 

register for EFAST–2 credentials 

through the EFAST2 website. The 

information requested for registration 

includes: Applicant type (Filing Author, 

Filing Signer, Schedule Author, 

Transmitter, or software developer); 

mailing address; fax number (optional); 

email address; company name, contact 

person; and daytime telephone number. 

Registrants must also provide an answer 

to a challenge question (‘‘What is your 

date of birth?’’ or ‘‘Where is your place 

of birth?’’), which enables users to 

retrieve forgotten credentials. In 

addition, registrants must accept a 

Privacy Agreement; PIN Agreement; 

and, under penalty of perjury, a 

Signature Agreement. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0117. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act Blackout Period Notice. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0122. 

Affected Public: Private sector, 

businesses or other for-profits, not-forprofit institutions. 

Respondents: 47,250. 

Responses: 7,409,220. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 

88,905. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $324,524. 

Description: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 

(SOA), enacted on July 30, 2002, 

amended ERISA to include a blackout 

period disclosure requirement in 

subsection 101(i). This information 

collection requires administrators of 

individual account pension plans (e.g., 

a profit sharing plan, 401(k) type plan 

or money purchase pension plan) to 

provide at least 30 days advance written 

notice to the affected participants and 

beneficiaries in advance of any 

‘‘blackout period’’ during which their 

existing rights to direct or diversify their 

investments under the plan, or obtain a 

loan or distribution from the plan will 

be temporarily suspended. The term 

‘‘blackout period’’ is generally defined 

as any period of more than three 

consecutive business days during which 

time the ability of plan participants and 

beneficiaries to direct or diversify 

investments or to obtain loans or 

distributions is suspended, limited or 

restricted. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0122. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: Coverage of Certain Preventive 

Services under the Affordable Care 

Act—Private Sector. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0150. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households, private sector, businesses 

or other for-profits, not-for-profit 

institutions. 

Respondents: 114. 

Responses: 777,363. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 181. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $194,963. 

Description: The Patient Protection 

and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
7736 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices 

2This request for extension of the OMB approval 

for ICR is not related to finalizing the proposed 

rules published on February 2, 2023 at 88 FR 7236. 

111–148, (the Affordable Care Act) was 

enacted on March 23, 2010 and 

amended by the Health Care and 

Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, 

Public Law 111–152 on March 30, 2010. 

The Affordable Care Act added section 

2713 to the Public Health Service (PHS) 

Act and incorporated this provision into 

ERISA and the Code. The Departments 

of Health and Human Services, Labor, 

and Treasury first published interim 

final rules on July 19, 2010, which 

implements the requirements of PHS 

Act section 2713, including the 

requirement that non-grandfathered 

group health insurance coverage to 

provide benefits for certain preventive 

services without cost sharing, including 

benefits for certain women’s preventive 

health services as provided for in 

comprehensive guidelines supported by 

the Health Resources and Services 

Administration. The Departments 

subsequently published regulations 

establishing an exemption for certain 

religious objectors with respect to the 

requirement to cover contraception 

pursuant to comprehensive guidelines 

supported by HRSA. 

In 2013, the Department issued final 

rules, which clarified the definition of 

religious employer for purposes of the 

religious employer exemption and also 

provided accommodations for health 

coverage established or maintained or 

arranged by certain nonprofit religious 

organizations with religious objections 

to contraceptive services (eligible 

organizations). The 2018 final rules 

expanded the exemption to include 

additional entities (any kind of 

employer) and persons that object based 

on religious beliefs or moral convictions 

objecting to contraceptive or 

sterilization coverage, and by making 

the accommodation compliance process 

optional for eligible organizations 

instead of mandatory. The regulations 

contain the following collections of 

information. First, each organization 

seeking to be treated as an eligible 

organization for the optional 

accommodation process offered under 

the regulation must either notify an 

issuer or third-party administrator using 

the EBSA Form 700 method of selfcertification or provide notice to HHS of 

its religious or moral objection to 

coverage of all or a subset of 

contraceptive services. Second, a health 

insurance issuer or third-party 

administrator providing or arranging 

separate payments for contraceptive 

services for participants and 

beneficiaries in insured plans (or 

student enrollees and covered 

dependents in student health insurance 

coverage) of eligible organizations is 

required to provide a written notice to 

plan participants and beneficiaries (or 

student enrollees and covered 

dependents) informing them of the 

availability of such payments. The 

notice must be separate from but, 

contemporaneous with (to the extent 

possible) any application materials 

distributed in connection with 

enrollment (or re-enrollment) in group 

or student coverage of the eligible 

organization in any plan year to which 

the accommodation is to apply and will 

be provided annually. To satisfy the 

notice requirement, issuers may, but are 

not required to, use the model language 

set forth in the 2018 final rules or 

substantially similar language. Third, an 

eligible organization may also revoke its 

use of the accommodation process and 

must provide participants and 

beneficiaries written notice of such 

revocation as soon as possible. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0150. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024.2

Agency: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

Title: EBSA Participant Assistance 

Program Customer Survey. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection of 

information. 

OMB Number: 1210–0161. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Respondents: 11,200. 

Responses: 11,200. 

Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,867. 

Estimated Total Burden Cost 

(Operating and Maintenance): $0. 

Description: EBSA conducts the 

surveys to evaluate the Participant 

Assistance Program (PAP) provided by 

the benefits advisor staff nationwide to 

understand how well the Agency is 

meeting service delivery goals by; (1) 

assessing EBSA’s customers’ perception 

of the services provided by the EBSA 

benefit advisors, and (2) determining 

what actions the performance data 

indicate could enable each regional 

office to provide the best possible 

participant assistance service; and (3) 

establishing a current baseline for 

EBSA’s (Government Performance and 

Accountability Act GPRA) 

measurement. EBSA will use the data 

from the survey to track the agency’s 

progress on accomplishing it’s GPRA 

measurement goal. 

The PAP Customer Survey collects 

customer satisfaction data for a sample 

of private citizens who call into the 

participant assistance program to ask 

about their private sector employer 

provided benefits such as pensions, 

retirement savings, and health benefits. 

Three types of callers are queried: (1) 

those who need benefit claim assistance, 

(2) those who have a valid benefit claim, 

and (3) those who have an invalid 

benefit claim will be queried. The 

results of the survey will be analyzed to 

provide actionable data that could be 

used to improve program performance. 

The study includes data from the EBSA 

regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, 

Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Kansas City, 

Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, 

and San Francisco, as well as the 

District offices in Miami, Seattle, and 

Washington. 

The Department has received 

approval from OMB for this ICR under 

OMB Control No. 1210–0161. The 

current approval is scheduled to expire 

on November 30, 2024. 

II. Focus of Comments 

The Department is particularly 

interested in comments that: 

• Evaluate whether the collections of 

information are 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 collections 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., by permitting electronic 

submissions of responses. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the ICR for OMB approval 

of the information collection; they will 

also become a matter of public record. 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 29th day of 

January 2024. 

Lisa M. Gomez, 

Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02176 Filed 2–2–24; 8:45 am] 

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