Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 92 /Wednesday, May 13, 1998 / Proposed Rules 26561

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Fiscal Service

31 CFR Part 208

Management of Agency

Disbursements

AGENCY: Financial Management Service,

Fiscal Service, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY: On September 16, 1997, the

Department of the Treasury

(‘‘Treasury’’) published a Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking in which

Treasury proposed making available to

Federal payment recipients an account

to access their Federal payments. The

account, commonly referred to as the

Electronic Transfer Account or

‘‘ETA SM,’’ will be offered through a

Federally-insured financial institution

and will be available at a reasonable

cost and with the same consumer

protections afforded other account

holders at the same financial institution.

Treasury is hosting two meetings, open

to the public, to discuss the advantages

and disadvantages of two approaches to

offering this account. One meeting will

be for the purpose of obtaining

comments from representatives of

community-based and consumer

organizations; the other meeting will be

for the purpose of obtaining comments

from representatives of financial

institutions.

DATES: May 21, 1998. 9:30 a.m. to 11:30

a.m. (community-based and consumer

organization meeting); 2:00 p.m. to 4:00

p.m. (financial institution meeting).

ADDRESSES: Marriott Hotel at Metro

Center, 775 12th Street, NW.,

Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Persons wishing to attend and observe

either meeting are requested to contact

Martha Thomas-Mitchell at (202) 874–

6757 or Diana Shevlin at (202) 874–

7032, or send an Internet e-mail to

Martha.ThomasMitchell@fms.sprint.com or

Diana.Shevlin@fms.sprint.com, by 12:00

noon Eastern time on May 19, 1998, to

make arrangements for attendance.

Seating will be available on a first come,

first served basis.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

September 16, 1997, Treasury issued a

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (62 FR

48714) (‘‘208 NPRM’’) implementing the

electronic payment requirement of the

Debt Collection Improvement Act of

1996 (the ‘‘Act’’). The Act requires that,

subject to the authority of the Secretary

of the Treasury to grant waivers, all

Federal payments (other than payments

under the Internal Revenue Code of

1986) made after January 1, 1999, must

be made by electronic funds transfer

(‘‘EFT’’). The Act further requires that

Treasury ensure that individuals who

are required to have an account because

of the EFT mandate have access to an

account at a financial institution at a

reasonable cost and with the same

consumer protections afforded other

account holders at the same financial

institution. In the 208 NPRM, Treasury

proposed that such an account would be

provided by one or more financial

institutions designated as Treasury’s

Financial Agents for the provision of

these accounts.

In addition to reviewing comments

received on the 208 NPRM and its own

analysis of alternative approaches to

offering the account, Treasury will hold

two meetings, both of which will

include a discussion of two alternative

approaches to providing the ETA SM.

One meeting will focus on comments

from community-based and consumer

organizations. The other meeting will

focus on comments from financial

institutions.

Treasury has invited certain

commenters and other interested parties

to take part in the meetings. These

participants will comment on questions

posed by the Treasury and take part in

a discussion. Members of the public are

invited to observe.

After these meetings, Treasury

intends to publish a notice in the

Federal Register describing proposed

features of ETA SM. As indicated in the

208 NPRM, this notice will be published

for public comment.

Possible Approaches

Treasury is currently considering two

approaches to offering the ETA SM to

recipients through financial institutions.

The first approach would involve

selecting a small number of financial

institutions to Act as Treasury’s

Financial Agents in providing ETAs SM

within certain geographic areas.

Financial Agents would be selected on

a competitive basis through an

Invitation for Expressions of Interest.

Terms and conditions for providing the

accounts, including account attributes,

would be stipulated contractually in

financial agency agreements with the

selected financial institutions. The

account would be electronically

accessed by debit cards issued by the

Financial Agent. These Financial Agents

would work to sign-up local financial

institutions who would market and

originate ETAs SM in their communities.

The cost to the recipient to access funds

would be determined by the market as

a result of the competitive process.

Under the second approach, Treasury

would publish standards for providing

the ETA SM, including account

attributes, and would allow any

Federally-insured financial institution

to provide the ETA SM in accordance

with these standards. Treasury would

monitor and make available to the

public a list of financial institutions

offering the ETA SM. Under this

approach, a financial institution would

have the option of offering recipients

either electronic access to their accounts

or over-the-counter transactions or both.

Treasury would establish a price cap for

fees imposed on recipients to access

their funds.

Questions

Treasury is interested in responses to

the following questions:

(1) Which approach will most likely

provide recipients with convenient local

access at a low cost?

(2) Which approach will make an

ETA SM available to the largest number

of recipients?

Dated: May 8, 1998.

Richard L. Gregg,

Commissioner.

[FR Doc. 98–12691 Filed 5–12–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4810–35–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[NH31–1–7160b; FRL–6010–6]

Approval and Promulgation of Air

Quality Implementation Plans;

Reasonably Available Control

Technology for Nitrogen Oxides for the

State of New Hampshire

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve

a State Implementation Plan (SIP)

revision submitted by the State of New

Hampshire. This revision establishes

and requires Reasonably Available

Control Technology (RACT) at three

stationary sources of nitrogen oxides

(NOX). In the Final Rules Section of this

Federal Register, EPA is approving the

State’s SIP revision as a direct final rule

without prior proposal because the

Agency views this amendment as a

noncontroversial revision and

anticipates no adverse comments. A

detailed rationale for the approval is set

forth in the direct final rule. If no

relevant adverse comments are received

in response to the direct final rule, no