42566 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2017 / Notices 

1 15 U.S.C. 80a. 

2For example, fund directors must approve 

investment advisory and distribution contracts. See 

15 U.S.C. 80a–15(a), (b), and (c). 

3 Investment Company Act Release No. 4 (Oct. 29, 

1940) (5 FR 4316 (Oct. 31, 1940)). Note that rule 0– 

1 was originally adopted as rule N–1. 

4The relevant exemptive rules are: Rule 10f–3 (17 

CFR 270.10f–3), rule 12b–1 (17 CFR 270.12b–1), 

rule 15a–4(b)(2) (17 CFR 270.15a–4(b)(2)), rule 17a– 

7 (17 CFR 270.17a–7), rule 17a–8 (17 CFR 270.17a– 

8), rule 17d–1(d)(7) (17 CFR 270.17d–1(d)(7)), rule 

17e–1(c) (17 CFR 270.17e–1(c)), rule 17g–1 (17 CFR 

270.17g–1), rule 18f–3 (17 CFR 270.18f–3), and rule 

23c–3 (17 CFR 270.23c–3). 

5See Role of Independent Directors of Investment 

Companies, Investment Company Act Release No. 

24816 (Jan. 2, 2001) (66 FR 3735 (Jan. 16, 2001)). 

6A ‘‘control person’’ is any person—other than a 

fund—directly or indirectly controlling, controlled 

by, or under common control, with any of the 

fund’s management organizations. See 17 CFR 

270.01(a)(6)(iv)(B). 

7Based on statistics compiled by Commission 

staff, we estimate that there are approximately 3,453 

funds that could rely on one or more of the 

exemptive rules (this figure reflects the three-year 

average of open-end and closed-end funds (3,349) 

and business development companies (104)). Of 

those funds, we assume that approximately 90 

percent (3,108) actually rely on at least one 

exemptive rules annually. 

the requirement will take each 

respondent approximately four hours to 

complete. The Commission staff 

estimates that compliance staff work at 

registered transfer agents to comply 

with the third party disclosure 

requirement will result in an internal 

cost of compliance, at an estimated 

hourly wage of $283, of $1,128 per year 

per transfer agent (4 hours × $283 per 

hour = $1,128 per year). Therefore, the 

aggregate annual internal cost of 

compliance for the approximately one 

registered transfer agent each year to 

comply with Rule 17Ad–3(b) is also 

$1,128. There are no external labor costs 

associated with sending the notice to 

issuers. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

under the PRA unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

The public may view background 

documentation for this information 

collection at the following Web site: 

www.reginfo.gov. Comments should be 

directed to: (i) Desk Officer for the 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Office of Management and 

Budget, Room 10102, New Executive 

Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, 

or by sending an email to: Shagufta_

Ahmed@omb.eop.gov; and (ii) Pamela 

Dyson, Director/Chief Information 

Officer, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, c/o Remi Pavlik-Simon, 

100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 

20549, or by sending an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must be 

submitted to OMB within 30 days of 

this notice. 

Dated: September 5, 2017. 

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19071 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 

20549–2736. 

Extension: 

Rule 0–1, SEC File No. 270–472, OMB 

Control No. 3235–0531 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 350l et seq.), the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) plans to submit to the 

Office of Management and Budget a 

request for extension of the previous 

approved collection of information 

discussed below. 

The Investment Company Act of 1940 

(the ‘‘Act’’) 1 establishes a 

comprehensive framework for regulating 

the organization and operation of 

investment companies (‘‘funds’’). A 

principal objective of the Act is to 

protect fund investors by addressing the 

conflicts of interest that exist between 

funds and their investment advisers and 

other affiliated persons. The Act places 

significant responsibility on the fund 

board of directors in overseeing the 

operations of the fund and policing the 

relevant conflicts of interest.2

In one of its first releases, the 

Commission exercised its rulemaking 

authority pursuant to sections 38(a) and 

40(b) of the Act by adopting rule 0–1 (17 

CFR 270.0–1).3 Rule 0–1, as 

subsequently amended on numerous 

occasions, provides definitions for the 

terms used by the Commission in the 

rules and regulations it has adopted 

pursuant to the Act. The rule also 

contains a number of rules of 

construction for terms that are defined 

either in the Act itself or elsewhere in 

the Commission’s rules and regulations. 

Finally, rule 0–1 defines terms that 

serve as conditions to the availability of 

certain of the Commission’s exemptive 

rules. More specifically, the term 

‘‘independent legal counsel,’’ as defined 

in rule 0–1, sets out conditions that 

funds must meet in order to rely on any 

of ten exemptive rules (‘‘exemptive 

rules’’) under the Act.4

The Commission amended rule 0–1 to 

include the definition of the term 

‘‘independent legal counsel’’ in 2001.5

This amendment was designed to 

enhance the effectiveness of fund boards 

of directors and to better enable 

investors to assess the independence of 

those directors. The Commission also 

amended the exemptive rules to require 

that any person who serves as legal 

counsel to the independent directors of 

any fund that relies on any of the 

exemptive rules must be an 

‘‘independent legal counsel.’’ This 

requirement was added because 

independent directors can better 

perform the responsibilities assigned to 

them under the Act and the rules if they 

have the assistance of truly independent 

legal counsel. 

If the board’s counsel has represented 

the fund’s investment adviser, principal 

underwriter, administrator (collectively, 

‘‘management organizations’’) or their 

‘‘control persons’’ 6 during the past two 

years, rule 0–1 requires that the board’s 

independent directors make a 

determination about the adequacy of the 

counsel’s independence. A majority of 

the board’s independent directors are 

required to reasonably determine, in the 

exercise of their judgment, that the 

counsel’s prior or current representation 

of the management organizations or 

their control persons was sufficiently 

limited to conclude that it is unlikely to 

adversely affect the counsel’s 

professional judgment and legal 

representation. Rule 0–1 also requires 

that a record for the basis of this 

determination is made in the minutes of 

the directors’ meeting. In addition, the 

independent directors must have 

obtained an undertaking from the 

counsel to provide them with the 

information necessary to make their 

determination and to update promptly 

that information when the person begins 

to represent a management organization 

or control person, or when he or she 

materially increases his or her 

representation. Generally, the 

independent directors must re-evaluate 

their determination no less frequently 

than annually. 

Any fund that relies on one of the 

exemptive rules must comply with the 

requirements in the definition of 

‘‘independent legal counsel’’ under rule 

0–1. We assume that approximately 

3,108 funds rely on at least one of the 

exemptive rules annually.7 We further 

assume that the independent directors 

of approximately one-third (1,036) of 

those funds would need to make the 

required determination in order for their 

counsel to meet the definition of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2017 / Notices 42567 

8We assume that the independent directors of the 

remaining two-thirds of those funds will choose not 

to have counsel, or will rely on counsel who has 

not recently represented the fund’s management 

organizations or control persons. In both 

circumstances, it would not be necessary for the 

fund’s independent directors to make a 

determination about their counsel’s independence. 

9The estimated hourly wages used in this PRA 

analysis were derived from the Securities Industry 

and Financial Markets Association’s Reports on 

Management and Professional Earnings in the 

Securities Industry (2013) (modified to account for 

an 1800-hour work year and multiplied by 5.35 to 

account for bonuses, firm size, employee benefits 

and overhead) (adjusted for inflation), and Office 

Salaries in the Securities Industry (2013) (modified 

to account for an 1800-hour work year and 

multiplied by 2.93 to account for bonuses, firm size, 

employee benefits and overhead) (adjusted for 

inflation). 

10 (518 × $292/hour) + (259 × $66/hour) = 

$168,350. 

independent legal counsel.8 We 

estimate that each of these 1,036 funds 

would be required to spend, on average, 

0.75 hours annually to comply with the 

recordkeeping requirement associated 

with this determination, for a total 

annual burden of approximately 777 

hours. Based on this estimate, the total 

annual cost for all funds’ compliance 

with this rule is approximately 

$168,350. To calculate this total annual 

cost, the Commission staff assumed that 

approximately two-thirds of the total 

annual hour burden (518 hours) would 

be incurred by a compliance manager 

with an average hourly wage rate of 

$292 per hour,9 and one-third of the 

annual hour burden (259 hours) would 

be incurred by compliance clerk with an 

average hourly wage rate of $66 per 

hour.10

These burden hour estimates are 

based upon the Commission staff’s 

experience and discussions with the 

fund industry. The estimates of average 

burden hours are made solely for the 

purposes of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act. These estimates are not derived 

from a comprehensive or even a 

representative survey or study of the 

costs of Commission rules. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the collection of information is 

necessary for the proper performance of 

the functions of the Commission, 

including whether the information has 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

Commission’s estimate of the burdens of 

the collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information collected; and (d) 

ways to minimize the burdens of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Consideration will be given to 

comments and suggestions submitted in 

writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to Pamela Dyson, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, C/O Remi 

Pavlik-Simon, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549; or send an email 

to: PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. 

Dated: September 5, 2017. 

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19072 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #15276; California 

Disaster Number CA–00276 Declaration of 

Economic Injury] 

Administrative Declaration of an 

Economic Injury Disaster for the State 

of California 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This is a notice of an 

Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) 

declaration for the State of California, 

dated 08/30/2017. 

Incident: Flooding Due to Extreme 

Snow Melt. 

Incident Period: 06/17/2017 through 

06/29/2017. 

DATES: Issued on 08/30/2017. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 05/30/2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A. 

Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050, 

Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given that as a result of the 

Administrator’s EIDL declaration, 

applications for economic injury 

disaster loans may be filed at the 

address listed above or other locally 

announced locations. 

The following areas have been 

determined to be adversely affected by 

the disaster: 

Primary Counties: Fresno, Tulare 

Contiguous Counties: 

California: Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, 

Merced, Mono, Monterey, San 

Benito 

The Interest Rates are: 

Percent 

Businesses and Small Agricultural 

Cooperatives without Credit 

Available Elsewhere .................. 3.215 

Non-Profit Organizations without 

Credit Available Elsewhere ....... 2.500 

The number assigned to this disaster 

for economic injury is 152760. 

The State which received an EIDL 

Declaration # is California. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

Dated: August 30, 2017. 

Linda E. McMahon, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19079 Filed 9–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #15274 and #15275; 

Texas Disaster Number TX–00487] 

Presidential Declaration Amendment of 

a Major Disaster for the State of Texas 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Amendment 2. 

SUMMARY: This is an amendment of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for the State of Texas (FEMA– 

4332–DR), dated 08/25/2017. 

Incident: Hurricane Harvey. 

Incident Period: 08/23/2017 and 

continuing. 

DATES: Issued on 08/30/2017. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 10/24/2017. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 05/25/2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A. 

Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050, 

Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice 

of the President’s major disaster 

declaration for the State of Texas, dated 

08/25/2017, is hereby amended to 

include the following areas as adversely 

affected by the disaster: 

Primary Counties (Physical Damage and 

Economic Injury Loans): 

Colorado, Fayette, Hardin, Jasper, 

Jefferson, Montgomery, Newton, 

Orange, Sabine, San Jacinto, Waller 

Contiguous Counties (Economic Injury 

Loans Only): 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES