43288 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 177 / Thursday, September 14, 2017 / Notices 

Application No. Docket 

No. Applicant Regulation(s) affected Nature of the special permits thereof 

20500–N ............. ........................... California Department of 

Toxic Substances Control.

................................................. To authorize the transportation in commerce of hazardous 

materials used to support the recovery and relief operations from and within the California fire disaster areas. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19344 Filed 9–13–17; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Advisory Committee on Former 

Prisoners of War; Notice of Meeting 

Cancellation 

The Department of Veterans Affairs 

gives notice under the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act that the meeting of the 

Advisory Committee on Former 

Prisoners of War, previously scheduled 

to be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza 

Hotel, 210 Peachtree Street NW., 

Atlanta, GA 30303, on September 13– 

15, 2017, has been cancelled. 

For more information, please contact 

Leslie N. Williams, Designated Federal 

Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, 

Veterans Benefits Administration, 

Benefits Assistance Service, at (202) 

530–9219 or via email at 

Leslie.Williams1@va.gov. 

Dated: September 11, 2017. 

Jelessa M. Burney, 

Federal Advisory Committee Management 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19502 Filed 9–13–17; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Employees Whose Association With 

For-Profit Educational Institutions 

Poses No Detriment to Veterans 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice of intent and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) intends to waive the 

application of applicable Federal 

regulations (see SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION) for all VA employees who 

receive any wages, salary, dividends, 

profits, gratuities, or services from, or 

own any interest in, a for-profit 

educational institution in which an 

eligible person or veteran is pursuing a 

program of education under a VA 

education benefits program. 

DATES: This notice is applicable on 

October 16, 2017, without further 

notice, unless VA receives a significant 

adverse comment by October 16, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be 

submitted by email through http://

www.regulations.gov; by mail or handdelivery to Director, Regulations 

Management (00REG), Department of 

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue 

NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 

20420; or by fax to (202) 273–9026. 

Comments should indicate that they are 

submitted in response to ‘‘Notice of 

Intent and request for comments— 

Employees Whose Association With 

For-Profit Educational Institutions Poses 

No Detriment to Veterans.’’ Copies of 

comments received will be available for 

public inspection in the Office of 

Regulation Policy and Management, 

Room 1068, between the hours of 8:00 

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

Friday (except holidays). Please call 

(202) 461–4902 for an appointment. In 

addition, during the comment period, 

comments may be viewed online 

through the Federal Docket Management 

System (FDMS) at http://

www.regulations.gov. A significant 

adverse comment is one that explains 

why the waiver would be inappropriate, 

including challenges to the waiver’s 

underlying premise or approach, or why 

it would be ineffective or unacceptable 

without change. If significant adverse 

comments are received, VA will publish 

a notice of receipt of significant adverse 

comments in the Federal Register 

addressing the comments and 

announcing VA’s final decision on this 

action. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher Britt, Office of General 

Counsel (02–EST), Department of 

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue 

NW., Washington, DC 20420, 202–461– 

7637 (this is not a toll free number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department is committed to ensuring 

that veterans are protected from 

predatory behavior from for-profit 

educational institutions. We must also 

ensure that all employees abide by 

government ethics laws, particularly the 

laws that prohibit employees from using 

their public office for private gain. This 

is the bedrock of our ethics program: 

Placing loyalty to the Constitution, laws, 

and ethical principles above personal 

interests. 

One statute pertaining to for-profit 

educational institutions—38 U.S.C. 

3683—was passed by Congress decades 

ago, before there were conflict-ofinterest laws applicable to all Executive 

Branch employees, and was intended to 

prevent corruption in connection with 

VA’s administration of benefits under 

VA education benefits programs. In 

current practice, however, that statute 

has illogical and unintended 

consequences, in that it requires the 

removal of any VA employee who has 

any connection to a for-profit 

educational institution that students 

attend under a VA education benefits 

program. As an example, a literal 

reading of the statute would require the 

removal of a VA lab technician who 

takes a class, on her own time and using 

her own money, at a for-profit 

educational institution that is also 

attended by students using VA 

education benefits. It would also require 

the removal of a VA physician who 

teaches an introductory biology class at 

such a school. The statute applies 

retroactively, in that it requires VA to 

remove employees who have no current 

connection to a for-profit institution but 

took or taught a class at one at any time 

during their VA employment. Applying 

this statute to VA employees who have 

not engaged in any real conflict of 

interest would be unjust and 

detrimental to VA’s ability to serve 

veterans. 

The VA Inspector General (IG) 

recently issued a report finding that two 

VA employees violated 38 U.S.C. 3683 

when they taught as adjunct faculty at 

for-profit educational institutions that 

have students using VA education 

benefits. Fortunately, that IG report 

recommended that VA issue waivers, as 

the statute specifically allows, for 

employees whose connection with forprofit institutions creates no actual 

conflict of interest and poses no harm to 

veterans. 

Therefore, under the authority granted 

by 38 U.S.C. 3683(d) and 38 CFR 

21.4005, the Secretary intends to waive 

the application of 38 U.S.C. 3683(a) for 

all VA employees who receive any 

wages, salary, dividends, profits, 

gratuities, or services from, or own any 

interest in, a for-profit educational 

institution in which an eligible person 

or veteran is pursuing a program of 

education using VA education benefits, 

as long as employees abide by the 

conflict of interest laws discussed in the 

following paragraph, as the Secretary 

has determined that no detriment will 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 177 / Thursday, September 14, 2017 / Notices 43289 

result to the United States, veterans, or 

eligible persons from such activities. 

The Secretary will reserve his authority 

to remove an employee under section 

3683(a) if the employee has committed, 

in relation to a for-profit educational 

institution, a violation of the conflict of 

interest laws discussed in the following 

paragraph. This waiver will apply to all 

employees who previously had a 

connection to a for-profit educational 

institution, who currently have a 

connection to a for-profit educational 

institution, and who in the future will 

have a connection to a for-profit 

educational institution. This includes, 

but is not limited to, employees whose 

only connection to a for-profit 

educational institution is that they have 

taken, are taking, or will take classes, 

regardless of how the classes were paid 

for. 

Employees covered by this waiver 

must continue to abide by 18 U.S.C. 

208, which prohibits an employee from 

participating personally and 

substantially in VA particular matters 

that will directly and predictably affect 

the employee’s financial interests. Such 

financial interests include owning a 

share of, being employed by, negotiating 

for employment with, or having an 

arrangement for future employment 

with an outside entity. Employees must 

also continue to abide by 5 CFR 

2635.502, which requires employees to 

recuse themselves from VA matters 

when an employee’s participation 

would cause a reasonable person to 

question the employee’s impartiality. 

Specifically, if an employee has a 

‘‘covered relationship’’ with a for-profit 

educational institution (for example, as 

a consultant or contractor), that 

employee must not participate in any 

VA matters to which the for-profit 

educational institution is a party, if such 

participation would cause a reasonable 

person to question the employee’s 

impartiality. 

The provisions of 38 U.S.C. 3683 

apply to VA employees who have a 

connection to a for-profit institution in 

which an eligible person or veteran was 

pursuing a program of education or 

course ‘‘under this chapter [i.e., chapter 

36] or chapter 34 or 35 of this title [i.e., 

title 38, United States Code].’’ In 38 

U.S.C. 3034(a)(1), 3241(a)(1), and 

3323(a)(1), Congress generally has made 

the provisions of chapter 36, including 

section 3683, applicable also to VA 

education benefits under chapters 30, 

32, and 33 or title 38, United States 

Code. Accordingly, the requirements of 

section 3683 apply to for-profit 

institutions in which an eligible person 

or veteran was pursuing a program of 

education or course under chapter 30, 

32, 33, 34, 35, or 36 of title 38. The 

waiver discussed in this notice would 

apply in circumstances in which the 

eligible person(s) or veteran(s) were 

receiving benefits under any of those 

chapters. 

Signing Authority 

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or 

designee, approved this document and 

authorized the undersigned to sign and 

submit the document to the Office of the 

Federal Register for publication 

electronically as an official document of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Vivieca Wright Simpson, Chief of Staff, 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 

approved this document on September 

8, 2017, for publication. 

Dated: September 8, 2017. 

Jeffrey Martin, 

Office Program Manager, Office of Regulation 

Policy & Management, Office of the Secretary, 

Department of Veterans Affairs. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19480 Filed 9–13–17; 8:45 am] 

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