This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

69907

Vol. 65, No. 225

Tuesday, November 21, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Joint Institute for Food Safety

Research; Public Meeting

AGENCIES: United States Department of

Agriculture (USDA), Department of

Health and Human Services (DHHS).

ACTION: Notice; public meeting;

establishment of public docket.

SUMMARY: On July 8, 1998, President

Clinton directed the Secretaries of

Agriculture and Health and Human

Services to develop a plan to create the

Joint Institute for Food Safety Research

(JIFSR). On July 3, 1999, following

extensive public consultations, DHHS

and USDA submitted the requested plan

to the President. The report can be

obtained at http://www.Foodsafety.gov/.

USDA and DHHS are now soliciting

public comments on food research

needs via a public meeting. The

purposes of the meeting are to listen to

the overall food safety research

priorities and agenda from the JIFSR

Policy and Budget Committee members

and have an opportunity to ask

questions and/or make comments on

their views on priorities and important

priorities for food safety research.

The meeting is open to the public.

Written comments and suggestions on

issues that may be considered in the

meeting may be submitted to the

CSREES Docket Clerk at the address

below.

DATES: The meeting will be held on

December 1, 2000, from 9 a.m. to 12

p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

Room 107A, Jamie L. Whitten Building,

United States Department of

Agriculture, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250–

0110.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Maureen Wood, (202) 720–5887 or by email to maureen.wood@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Persons

wishing to present comments orally at

this meeting are requested to preregister by contacting Ms. Maureen

Wood at (202) 720–5887, by fax at (202)

690–2842, or by e-mail to

maureen.wood@usda.gov. Participants

may reserve a 5-minute comment period

when they register. More time may be

available, depending on the number of

people wishing to make a presentation

and the time needed for questions

following the presentations.

Reservations will be confirmed on a

first-come, first-serve basis. All other

attendees may register at the meeting.

Written comments may also be

submitted for the record at the meeting

or may be mailed to Ms. Maureen Wood,

USDA/REE, Room 217W, Jamie L.

Whitten Federal Building, 1400

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–0110. Please

provide five copies of the comments.

Written comments must be postmarked

by December 18, 2000 to be considered.

All comments and the official transcript

of the meeting when it becomes

available, will be available for review

for six months at the address listed

above from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,

Monday through Friday.

Participants who require a sign

language interpreter or other special

accommodations should contact Ms.

Wood by Friday, November 24, 2000 as

directed above.

Done in Washington, DC, on this 13th day

of November, 2000.

Eileen Kennedy,

Deputy Under Secretary, Research,

Education, and Economics Department of

Agriculture.

William Raub,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science Policy,

Department of Health and Human Services.

[FR Doc. 00–29750 Filed 11–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

Maximum Portion of Guarantee

Authority Available for Fiscal Year

2001

AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: As set forth in 7 CFR part

4279, subpart B, each fiscal year the

Agency shall establish a limit on the

maximum portion of guarantee

authority available for that fiscal year

that may be used to guarantee loans

with a guarantee fee of 1 percent or

guaranteed loans with a guarantee

percentage exceeding 80 percent.

Allowing the guarantee fee to be

reduced to 1 percent or exceeding the 80

percent guarantee on certain guaranteed

loans that meet the conditions set forth

in 7 CFR 4279.107 and 4279.119 will

increase the Agency’s ability to focus

guarantee assistance on projects which

the Agency has found particularly

meritorious, such as projects in rural

communities that remain persistently

poor, experience long-term population

decline and job deterioration, are

experiencing trauma as a result of

natural disaster or are experiencing

fundamental structural changes in the

economic base.

Not more than 12 percent of the

Agency quarterly apportioned guarantee

authority will be reserved for loan

requests with a guarantee fee of 1

percent, and not more than 15 percent

of the Agency quarterly apportioned

guarantee authority will be reserved for

guaranteed loan requests with a

guaranteed percentage exceeding 80

percent. Once the above quarterly limits

have been reached, all additional loans

guaranteed during the remainder of that

quarter will require a 2 percent

guarantee fee and not exceed an 80

percent guarantee limit. As an exception

to this paragraph and for the purposes

of this notice, loans developed by the

North American Development Bank

(NADBANK) Community Adjustment

and Investment Program (CAIP) will not

count against the 15 percent limit. CAIP

loans are subject to a 50 percent limit

of the overall CAIP loan program.

Written requests by the Rural

Development State Office for approval

of a guaranteed loan with a 1 percent

69908 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 21, 2000 / Notices

guarantee fee or a guaranteed loan

exceeding 80 percent must be forwarded

to the National Office, Attn: Director,

Business Programs Processing Division,

for review and consideration prior to

obligation of the guaranteed loan. The

Administrator will provide a written

response to the State Office confirming

approval or disapproval of the request.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 21, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kenneth E. Hennings, Senior Loan

Specialist, Business Programs

Processing Division, Rural BusinessCooperative Service, USDA, Stop 3221,

1400 Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3221, telephone

(202) 690–3809.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

action has been reviewed and

determined not to be a rule or regulation

as defined in Executive Order 12866.

Dated: November 13, 2000.

Judith A. Canales,

Acting Associate Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–29704 Filed 11–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–XY–U

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau

Survey of Income and Program

Participation (SIPP) Wave 2 of the 2001

Panel

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment

request.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Commerce, as part of its continuing

effort to reduce paperwork and

respondent burden, invites the general

public and other federal agencies to take

this opportunity to comment on

proposed or continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C.

3506(c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before January 22, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to Madeleine Clayton, Departmental

Forms Clearance Officer, Department of

Commerce, Room 6086, 14th and

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at

MClayton@doc.gov).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the information collection

instrument(s) and instructions should

be directed to Judith H. Eargle, Census

Bureau, FOB 3, Room 3379,

Washington, DC 20233–0001, (301) 457–

3819.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

The Census Bureau conducts the SIPP

which is a household-based survey

designed as a continuous series of

national panels. New panels are

introduced every few years with each

panel usually having durations of one to

four years. Respondents are interviewed

at 4-month intervals or ‘‘waves’’ over

the life of the panel. The survey is

molded around a central ‘‘core’’ of labor

force and income questions that remain

fixed throughout the life of the panel.

The core is supplemented with

questions designed to address specific

needs, such as obtaining information on

taxes, the ownership and contributions

made to an Individual Retirement

Account, Keogh, and 401K plans,

examining patterns in respondent work

schedules, and child care arrangements.

These supplemental questions are

included with the core and are referred

to as ‘‘topical modules.’’

The SIPP represents a source of

information for a wide variety of topics

and allows information for separate

topics to be integrated to form a single,

unified database so that the interaction

between tax, transfer, and other

government and private policies can be

examined. Government domestic-policy

formulators depend heavily upon the

SIPP information concerning the

distribution of income received directly

as money or indirectly as in-kind

benefits and the effect of tax and

transfer programs on this distribution.

They also need improved and expanded

data on the income and general

economic and financial situation of the

U.S. population. The SIPP has provided

these kinds of data on a continuing basis

since 1983 permitting levels of

economic well-being and changes in

these levels to be measured over time.

The 2001 Panel is currently scheduled

for three years and will include nine

waves of interviewing beginning

February 2001. Approximately 50,000

households will be selected for the 2001

Panel, of which 37,500 are expected to

be interviewed. We estimate that each

household will contain 2.1 persons,

yielding 78,750 interviews in Wave 1

and subsequent waves. Interviews take

30 minutes on average. Two waves of

interviewing will occur in the 2001 SIPP

Panel during FY 2001. The total annual

burden for 2001 Panel SIPP interviews

would be 78,750 hours in FY 2001.

The topical modules for the 2001

Panel Wave 2 collect the following

information about:

• Work Disability History

• Education and Training History

• Marital History

• Fertility History

• Migration History

• Household Relationships

Wave 2 interviews will be conducted

from June 2001 through September

2001.

A 10-minute reinterview of 2,500

persons is conducted at each wave to

ensure accuracy of responses.

Reinterviews would require an

additional 835 burden hours in FY

2001.

An additional 1,050 burden hours is

requested in order to continue the SIPP

Methods Panel testing which will be

conducted during the period of Wave 2

interviewing. The test targets SIPP Wave

1 items and sections that require

thorough and rigorous testing in order to

improve the quality of core data.

II. Method of Collection

The SIPP is designed as a continuing

series of national panels of interviewed

households that are introduced every

few years with each panel having

durations of one to four years. All

household members 15 years old or over

are interviewed using regular proxyrespondent rules. During the 2001

Panel, respondents are interviewed a

total of nine times (nine waves) at 4-

month intervals making the SIPP a

longitudinal survey. Sample people (all

household members present at the time

of the first interview) who move within

the country and reasonably close to a

SIPP primary sampling unit will be

followed and interviewed at their new

address. Individuals 15 years old or over

who enter the household after Wave 1

will be interviewed; however, if these

individuals move, they are not followed

unless they happen to move along with

a Wave 1 sample individual.

III. Data

OMB Number: 0607–0875

Form Number: SIPP/CAPI Automated

Instrument

Type of Review: Regular

Affected Public: Individuals or

Households

Estimated Number of Respondents:

78,750 persons per wave

Estimated Time Per Response: 30

minutes per person on average

Estimated Total Annual Burden

Hours: 80,635

Estimated Total Annual Cost: The

only cost to respondents is their time.

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary

Legal Authority: Title 13, United

States Code, Section 182

IV. Request for Comments

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether

the proposed collection of information