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

62090 

Vol. 70, No. 208 

Friday, October 28, 2005 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Collection, 

Comment Request—Commodity 

Supplemental Food Program, the Food 

Distribution Program on Indian 

Reservations, and the Food Stamp 

Program: Title VI Civil Rights 

Collection Reports 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is 

soliciting public comment on a 

proposed information collection. The 

proposed collection is a revision of a 

collection currently approved under 

OMB No. 0584–0025, Civil Rights Title 

VI Collection Reports—Forms FNS–191 

and FNS–101, for the Commodity 

Supplemental Food Program, the Food 

Distribution Program on Indian 

Reservations, and the Food Stamp 

Program. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by December 27, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments and 

requests for copies of this information 

collection to Barbara Hallman, Chief, 

State Administration Branch, Food 

Stamp Program, Food and Nutrition 

Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, 

Alexandria, VA 22302. Copies of the 

estimate of the information collection 

can be obtained by contacting Ms. 

Hallman. 

Comments are invited on: (a) 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; (b) 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; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to 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. 

All comments will be summarized 

and included in the request for Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

approval of the information collection. 

All comments will become a matter of 

public record. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Barbara Hallman, telephone number 

(703) 305–2383. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Civil Rights Title VI Collection 

Reports—FNS–191 and FNS–101. 

OMB Number: 0584–0025. 

Expiration Date: December 2005. 

Type of Request: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Abstract: Title VI of the Civil Rights 

Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000d to 2000d– 

7, prohibits discrimination on the basis 

of race, color, and national origin in 

programs receiving Federal financial 

assistance. Department of Justice (DOJ) 

regulations, 28 CFR 42.406, require all 

Federal agencies to provide for the 

collection of racial/ethnic data and 

information from applicants for and 

recipients of Federal assistance 

sufficient to permit effective 

enforcement of Title VI. 

For purposes of the Information 

Collection Notice only, the Food and 

Nutrition Service (FNS) employs 

program terminology in place of the 

standard Title VI terminology adopted 

by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) and codified at 7 CFR 15.2. 

Thus, ‘‘State agencies,’’ ‘‘local 

agencies,’’ and/or ‘‘operators’’ are the 

program entities responsible for 

fulfilling the data collection 

requirements associated with ‘‘primary 

recipients’’ and/or ‘‘recipients’’ as 

defined by Title VI. Moreover, the 

program terms ‘‘respondents,’’ 

‘‘applicants,’’ and/or ‘‘participants’’ 

refer to the ‘‘potential beneficiaries,’’ 

‘‘applicant beneficiaries,’’ and/or 

‘‘actual beneficiaries’’ of Federal 

financial assistance as defined by Title 

VI. 

In order to conform with the statutory 

mandates of Title VI of the Civil Rights 

Act of 1964, DOJ regulations, and USDA 

regulations on nondiscrimination in 

Federally assisted programs, the USDA’s 

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) 

requires State agencies to submit data 

on the racial/ethnic categories of 

persons receiving benefits from FNS 

food assistance programs. 

In all three programs, State and local 

agencies collect racial/ethnic 

information on the benefits application 

form that applicants may complete and 

file manually or electronically. The 

application form must clearly indicate 

that the information is voluntary and 

that the race and ethnic information will 

not affect an applicant’s eligibility or 

level of benefits. It must also state that 

the reason for the collection of the 

information is to assure that program 

benefits are distributed without regard 

to race, color or national origin. All 

three programs allow the individual to 

self-identify his or her racial/ethnic 

status on the application. Visual 

observation by a program representative 

is used to collect the data when the 

individual does not self-identify. In 

either case the information is recorded 

on the application form and entered into 

the agency’s information system. The 

Federal reporting forms do not identify 

individual participants. 

Local agencies use the two forms 

referenced above (i.e., the FNS–191 and 

FNS–101) to report data on the 

Commodity Supplemental Food 

Program (CSFP), the Food Distribution 

Program on Indian Reservations 

(FDPIR), and the Food Stamp Program 

(FSP) to FNS as explained below. FNS’ 

data collection requirement for 

operators is found in the regulations for 

the CSFP at 7 CFR part 247.29(b), and 

for the FSP at 7 CFR part 272.6(g); the 

requirement for the FDPIR is found in 

FNS Handbook 501. 

All State or local agencies must 

submit the appropriate form in order to 

receive benefits and comply with 

applicable legislation. If a State or local 

agency does not comply voluntarily, the 

State or local agency is subject to fund 

termination, suspension, or denial, or to 

judicial action. 

CSFP local agencies complete the 

FNS–191 for the CSFP. FNS requires 

local agencies to provide annually the 

actual number and racial/ethnic 

designations of women, infants, 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 208 / Friday, October 28, 2005 / Notices 62091 

children and elderly who receive CSFP 

benefits during the month of April. 

FSP and FDPIR State, local or Tribal 

agencies complete the FNS–101. FNS 

requires State, local or Tribal agencies to 

report annually the actual number and 

racial/ethnic designation of households 

who receive FDPIR and/or FSP benefits 

in the month of July. 

On October 30, 1997, OMB issued 

revised standards for the classification 

of Federal data on race and ethnicity in 

a notice in the Federal Register (62 FR 

58782). The OMB standards revise the 

racial and ethnic categories and require 

that respondents be offered the option of 

selecting one or more racial 

designations. On November 27, 2002, 

FNS published a proposed rule (67 FR 

70861) to codify a general requirement 

for the new racial and ethnic data 

collection and reporting requirements 

and which would implement the new 

data collection and reporting for the 

FSP. On the same day, FNS published 

a Notice (67 FR 70916) on the proposed 

information collection requirements for 

CSFP, FDPIR, and FSP for public 

comment. The comment period for both 

the proposed rule and the Notice ended 

on January 27, 2003. FNS received 

comments on the proposed rule and 

considered them in writing the final 

rule. A final rule for the FSP is in the 

final stages of clearance. Once the final 

rule is published, FNS plans to 

implement the new information 

collection and reporting for all three 

programs. 

The current OMB approval of this 

information collection will expire on 

December 31, 2005. FNS had planned to 

publish the final rule in the latter half 

of 2005. However, the clearance was not 

completed within our expected 

timeframe. In order to ensure that we 

remain in compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, FNS is 

providing a comment period for 

extending the current information 

collection for CSFP, FDPIR, and FSP. 

After the final rule has been published, 

FNS will formally announce the 

effective date(s) for each of the affected 

programs through implementing 

memoranda as appropriate and will 

provide copies of the revised forms at 

that time. 

Burden Estimate 

Respondents: Local agencies that 

administer the CSFP, FDPIR, and FSP. 

Number of Respondents: 2,867 (144 

for CSFP, 110 for FDPIR, and 2,613 for 

FSP). 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: Form FNS–191: 144 local 

CSFP agencies once a year. Form FNS–

101: 110 local FDPIR agencies and 2,613 

local FSP agencies once a year. 

Estimate of Burden: Form FNS–191: 

The local CSFP agencies submit Form 

FNS–191 at an estimate of 1.92 hours 

per respondent, or 276.48 total hours. 

There is an additional recordkeeping 

burden of .08 hours per respondent for 

maintaining the responses, or 11.52 

hours. Total burden is 288 hours. 

Form FNS–101: The local FDPIR and 

FSP agencies submit Form FNS–101 at 

an estimate of 2.17 hours per 

respondent, or 5,908.91 hours. There is 

an additional burden of .08 hours per 

respondent for maintaining the 

responses, or 217.84 hours. Total 

burden is 6,126.75 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: The revised annual 

reporting and recordkeeping burden for 

OMB No. 0584–0025 is estimated to be 

6,414.75 hours, a reduction of 249.25 

hours. The burden reduction is due to 

the decrease in the number of CSFP, 

FDPIR, and FSP agencies that will 

complete a report. 

Dated: October 26, 2005. 

George A. Braley, 

Associate Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 05–21630 Filed 10–27–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. 05–031N] 

National Advisory Committee on Meat 

and Poultry Inspection 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service (FSIS), USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The National Advisory 

Committee on Meat and Poultry 

Inspection (NACMPI) will hold a public 

meeting on November 15–16, 2005. At 

this meeting, the Agency will present 

and seek input on matters it will 

address in moving to a more risk-based 

approach to inspection as well as how 

to use data to enhance the effectiveness 

and the efficiency of this approach. 

Subcommittees will also meet on 

November 15, 2005, to discuss issues 

covered during the full committee 

session. 

DATES: The full Committee will hold a 

public meeting on Tuesday, November 

15 and Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 

from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Subcommittees 

will hold open meetings on Tuesday, 

November 15, 2005, from 2 p.m. to 6 

p.m. 

ADDRESSES: All Committee meetings 

will take place in the conference room 

at the south end of the USDA cafeteria 

located in the South Building, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW. A meeting 

agenda is available on the Internet at 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/ 

NACMPI. FSIS welcomes comments on 

the topics to be discussed at the public 

meeting. Comments may be submitted 

by any of the following methods: 

Mail, including floppy disks or CD–

ROM’s, and hand- or courier-delivered 

items: Send to Docket Clerk, United 

States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA), Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, 300 12th Street, SW., Room 

102, Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 

20250. 

Electronic mail: 

fsis.regulationscomments@fsis.usda.gov. 

All submissions received must include 

the Agency name and docket number 

05–031N. All comments submitted in 

response to this notice, as well as 

research and background information 

used by FSIS in developing this 

document, will be available for public 

inspection in the FSIS Docket Room at 

the address listed above between 8:30 

a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday. The comments also will be 

posted on the Agency’s Web site at 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/ 

2005_Notices_Index/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Tynan for technical information 

at (202) 690–6522 or e-mail 

Robert.tynan@fsis.usda.gov and Sonya 

L. West for meeting information at (202) 

690–1079, FAX (202) 690–6519, or email sonya.west@fsis.usda.gov. Persons 

requiring a sign language interpreter or 

other special accommodations should 

notify Ms. West no later than November 

4, 2005, at the numbers above or by email. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On March 15, 2005, the Secretary of 

Agriculture renewed the charter for the 

NACMPI. The Committee provides 

advice and recommendations to the 

Secretary of Agriculture pertaining to 

the Federal and State meat and poultry 

inspection programs, pursuant to 

sections 7(c), 24, 205, and 301(a)(3), 

(a)(4), and (c) of the Federal Meat 

Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 607(c), 624, 

645, 661(a)(3), (a)(4), and (c)) and 

sections 5(a)(3), (a)(4), and (c), 8(b); and 

11(e) of the Poultry Products Inspection 

Act (21 U.S.C. 454(a)(3), (a)(4), and (c); 

457(b), and 460(e)). 

The Administrator of FSIS is the 

chairperson of the Committee. 

Membership of the Committee is drawn