30-day Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 2, 2014 / Notices
out of fairness because of the negative
budget impacts of prior Continuing
Resolutions and sequestration, which
resulted in a full year of reduced
allocations, which in turn reduced the
commenter’s ability to adequately
address vacancies during the entire
period.
One commenter stated that the notice
should be applied to fiscal year 2013
because of the effect of sequestration
cuts, which forced them to cut
maintenance staff and increased unit
turn-around time, and that if the
commenter had known that HUD would
issue the notice, it would have waited
until 2014 to institute certain policy
changes which, although good for the
future, increased its short-term vacancy
rate. The commenter stated that ‘‘We
had operating reserves recaptured in
2012 and in 2013 we were only funded
at 82 percent. We had to reduce our
maintenance staff due to the
sequestration and budget cuts. At the
same time our units are older and
require a longer ‘make ready’ time
frame. We have more vacant units than
we have ever had. We have 78
applications on our waiting list and 22
vacant units. Our maximum unit turnaround is 4 units a week. Two policy
changes contributed to our having a
much higher vacancy than usual. First
on 7/1/13 we implemented a ‘SmokeFree’ policy in our elderly high-rise and
some family units and we allowed
elderly residents to transfer to nonSmoke-Free units. We also implemented
a Prompt Rent Pay Policy in 2013,
whereby residents that are late paying
rent more than 3 times in 12 months, are
sent an eviction notice. This caused
several evictions in 2013.’’
Response: HUD has determined at this
time to neither increase the number of
fiscal year end dates nor to change the
fiscal year end dates for which all PHAs
will be awarded five points in the
Capital Fund occupancy sub-indicator
assessment. HUD declines to make an
adjustment in to the applicability date
section of the notice because of the
spending decisions of particular PHAs
in prior fiscal years even given programwide budget shortfalls. It is the decision
of each PHA, based on the funding
available in any given year, how to best
serve the families in their communities
and operate their housing agency during
that year, including how best to allocate
their funding between the most
important capital needs and other
programs given the recent funding
environment. Going forward, this notice
will provide relief to PHAs for two full
fiscal years.
Issue: Two commenters stated that,
while the notice was ‘‘appreciated’’ and

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‘‘a welcome and needed form of
regulatory relief,’’ the occupancy subindicator under the Capital Fund
Indicator should be permanently
removed from the PHAS scoring
regulations. One commenter stated that
housing agencies are already scored in
occupancy under the Management
Indicator, and the occupancy subindicator under the Capital Fund
Indicator deters housing agencies from
having vacant units necessary to
perform construction work to preserve
their public housing stock. The other
commenter stated that ‘‘as the
occupancy is already applied in the
Management Indicator,’’ this
subindicator is a double penalty.
Response: Removal of the Capital
Fund occupancy sub-indicator from
PHAS is outside the scope of this notice.
This notice is limited to the temporary
award to PHAs of the full five points for
the Capital Fund occupancy subindicator for PHA fiscal years ending
March 31, 2014, through and including
December 31, 2015. Removal of the
occupancy sub-indicator would require
a regulatory revision of 24 CFR
902.50(c).
HUD remains concerned about the
time dwelling units are in
modernization status. The scoring of the
Capital Fund occupancy sub-indicator
allows up to 4 percent of a PHA’s
dwelling units to be vacant at any one
time for non-dwelling uses and
modernization for the PHA to receive
the full 5 points and up to 7 percent to
receive partial points. To achieve a
higher occupancy rate, which in turn
results in a higher Capital Fund
occupancy score, HUD encourages
PHAs to continue ongoing proactive
capital projects, to strategize and stage
modernization projects minimizing the
number of off-line units, as well as the
time they are off-line, and, because not
all modernization requires a family to
vacate, to consider performing
modernization work in occupied units.
With the Capital Fund occupancy
measure based on data the PHA enters
in the Public and Indian Housing
Information Center (PIC) as of the last
day of the PHA’s fiscal year, HUD
believes PHAs can effectively plan
modernization projects early each fiscal
year as preparation for the calculation of
the occupancy percentage that will be
performed at the end of the PHA’s fiscal
year.
Issue: One commenter opposed the
notice, stating that ‘‘reinstatement of
this scoring sub indicator is duplicative
and unfair, and therefore should not
occur. PHAs are already rated on
occupancy as part of the scoring under
management. It makes no sense to score

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twice on exactly the same criteria,
especially since the outcomes are often
out of control of the PHA. Further,
occupancy rates are in no way linked to
the capital fund. The Capital Fund is
currently scored based on timely
obligation of funds and completion of
work. This should remain in place as
these are the only factors of any
relevance to the Capital Fund.’’
Response: It appears this commenter
misinterpreted the notice as reinstating
the Capital Fund subindicator for
occupancy. This notice does not
reinstate this subindicator, which is
established by regulation at 24 CFR
902.50(c). This notice grants relief to
scores under this subindicator. PHAs
are reminded that the remainder of the
Capital Fund Scoring Notice of February
23, 2011 remains in effect and
unchanged by this notice, and if the
PHA receives 0 points for the timeliness
of obligation subindicator, it is not
eligible for points for the occupancy
subindicator (see 76 FR 10054).
III. Action
For the foregoing reasons this notice
makes final the proposed notice issued
on December 16, 2013. Accordingly, this
notice advises that HUD is awarding an
automatic 5 points for the Capital Fund
occupancy sub-indicator for fiscal years
ending March 31, 2014, June 30, 2014,
September 30, 2014, December 31, 2014,
March 31, 2015, June 30, 2015,
September 30, 2015, and December 31,
2015.
Dated: June 26, 2014.
Sandra B. Henriquez,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing.
[FR Doc. 2014–15586 Filed 7–1–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R2–ES–2014–N136;
FRES480102200B0–XXX–FF02ENEH00]

Information Collection Request Sent to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for Approval; Survey of Rancher
Opinions About Wildlife and Jaguar
Habitat Management
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service) have sent an Information
Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for
review and approval. We summarize the
ICR below and describe the nature of the

SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 2, 2014 / Notices

collection and the estimated burden and
cost. We may not conduct or sponsor
and a person is not required to respond
to a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
You must submit comments on
or before August 1, 2014.

DATES:

Send your comments and
suggestions on this information
collection to the Desk Officer for the
Department of the Interior at OMB–
OIRA at (202) 395–5806 (fax) or OIRAl
[email protected] (email).
Please provide a copy of your comments
to the Service Information Collection

ADDRESSES:

Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS 2042–PDM, 4401
North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA
22203 (mail), or [email protected]
(email). Please include ‘‘1018–Jaguar
Rancher’’ in the subject line of your
comments.
To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Hope Grey at hopel
[email protected] (email) or 703–358–2482
(telephone). You may review the ICR
online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow
the instructions to review Department of
the Interior collections under review by
OMB.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Number of
annual
responses

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Activity

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request
OMB Control Number: 1018–XXXX.
This is a new collection.
Title: Survey of Rancher Opinions
about Wildlife and Jaguar Habitat
Management.
Service Form Number: None.
Type of Request: Request for a new
OMB control number.
Number of Respondents: 325.
Description of Respondents: Ranchers
in southern Arizona and southwestern
New Mexico.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: One time.

Completion time per response

Total annual
burden hours

Initial Contact ................................................................
Reminders ....................................................................
Complete Survey ..........................................................

325
243
228

2.5 minutes ...................................................................
1 minute ........................................................................
30 minutes ....................................................................

14
4
114

Totals .....................................................................

796

.......................................................................................

132

Estimated Annual Nonhour Burden
Cost: None.
Abstract: We have contracted with the
University of Arizona to conduct a
survey of southern Arizona and
southwestern New Mexico ranchers to
determine their knowledge of and
attitudes toward jaguar habitat, their
level of knowledge regarding payments
for ecosystem services, and their
attitudes and interest toward a payment
for ecosystem services intended to
benefit jaguar habitat. This survey is
necessary because there is currently no
statistically significant information
available about rancher attitudes toward
jaguar habitat or their understanding of
payments for ecosystem services.
The survey will improve rancher
knowledge on these issues and will
inform our evaluation of the practicality
of a payment for ecosystem services for
the benefit of jaguar habitat in southern
Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
It will also aid in the implementation of
jaguar habitat conservation efforts by
increasing our knowledge of rancher
attitudes toward jaguars and jaguar
habitat management in southern
Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
Information collected in the survey
will include data on knowledge of
jaguar habitat attributes, opinions and
attitudes about the designation of
critical habitat in southern Arizona and
southwestern New Mexico, knowledge
of payment for ecosystem services
programs generally, and opinions and
attitudes about participation in payment
for ecosystem services programs.

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Comments Received and Our Responses
On December 17, 2013, we published
in the Federal Register (78 FR 76315) a
notice of our intent to request that OMB
approve this information collection. In
that notice, we solicited comments for
60 days, ending on February 18, 2014.
We received three comments:
Comment: One commenter objected to
the survey and stated that it is a waste
of taxpayer dollars. The commenter did
not address the information collection
requirements, and we have not made
any changes to the survey.
Comment: Two commenters requested
inclusion of New Mexico ranchers in
the survey sample.
Response: Ranchers located in
southwestern New Mexico (Hidalgo
County) will be included in the survey
sample. The survey sample will include
ranchers in Pima, Santa Cruz, and
Cochise Counties in Arizona and
Hidalgo County in New Mexico.
Request for Public Comments
We again invite comments concerning
this information collection on:
• Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary, including
whether or not the information will
have practical utility;
• The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information;
• Ways to enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be
collected; and

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• Ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on
respondents.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. Before including your
address, phone number, email address,
or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you
should be aware that your entire
comment, including your personal
identifying information, may be made
publicly available at any time. While
you can ask OMB in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that it will be done.
Dated: June 26, 2014.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy and Directives
Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2014–15482 Filed 7–1–14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS–NCR–NACA–14983; PPNCNCROL0,
PPMPSPD1Y.M000]

Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement for
the Potomac River Tunnel in the
National Capital Region
National Park Service, Interior.
Notice of Intent.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

Pursuant to Section 102 (2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy

SUMMARY:

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