Request for Emergency Review

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Development

United State. Department of Agriculture

Rural Development

December 17, 2010

TO: Nicholas Fraser
Desk Officer
Office of Management Budget
THROUGH: Charlene Parker
Office of the Chief Information Officer
FROM: JONATHAN ADELSTEIN
Administrator
Rural Utilities Service
SUBJECT:

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Request for Emergency Review of a
Revised Information Collection Package

Abstract of Program and Implementation
Section 6110, Access to Broadband Telecommunications Services in Rural Areas, of the
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of2008 (the Farm Bill), amended title VI of the
Rural Electrification Act of 1936, revising programmatic requirements in place since the
creation of the Broadband Program. Since the Broadband Pro
'lion, the
Agency has faced significant challenges in administering the
the
fiercely competitive nature of the broadband market, the fact
proposing to offer broadband service are start-up organizations
constantly changing technology, and economic factors such as tbi
rural communities. Because of these challenges, the Agency review
the Broadband Program and determined that modifications werereq
the deployment of broadband servicetOJ7!llral areas of the coun
Agency published a proposed ~~~
ati
~ttempt to address the challe
considering the proposed rul
Bill. In response to the F
interim rule that implements
deemed necessary by the Ag

Jtowingareas:

fining Mal

'lJing. incurn
3) Establishing new requiremerlts
4) EstablishiD;g new equity and additional cas

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5) Modifying market survey requirements;

6) Revising public notice requirements;

7) Setting time limits for build-out; and

8) Establishing new standards for data transmission rates and bandwidth.

Reason for Emergency Clearance
As one of the Secretary of Agriculture's five "pillars," it is in the public interest to have a
Broadband Program in place to quickly address the needs of the hundreds of applications
that were not funded under the Recovery Act (the Broadband Program was on "hold"
pending the administration of the Recovery Act's Broadband Initiatives Program loans
and grants). In addition, the majority of changes to the regulation are mandated by the
2008 Farm Bill, or have been proposed in RUS's prior rule, put out for comment, and
subsequently adopted by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill itself. Therefore, RUS is
moving forward with certain changes to the Broadband Program by publishing an interim
rule. This approach is consistent with Congressional intent, given that in section 6011(b)
of the 2008 Farm Bill, Congress authorized RUS to publish this regulation as an interim
rule. The agency submitted a paperwork burden package for review to OMB at the
proposed rulemaking stage and the package was filed with comment. The public was
given the opportunity to review and comment on the proposed rule burden package
during the initial comment period. As the agency is issuing an Interim Rule with request
for comment, we are again providing the public another chance to review the paperwork
package and provide comment before finalizing the paperwork package. However, in
order to begin accepting applications, the agency needs a revised paperwork package in
place to cover the collection of applications. Therefore, for the reasons stated above, the
agency is requesting emergency clearance of this information collection request.

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