ASA Emergency Letter for Medical Exemption Information

United States Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for
Administration
Departmental
Administration
1400 Independence
Avenue, SW
Washington, DC
20250-9600

Sharon Block
Acting Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503
Dear Dr. Block,
Pursuant to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5
C.F.R. Part 1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, I request that the
proposed information collection, the Agency Medical Exemption Form, OMB
Control No. 0503-NEW, be processed as an Emergency Clearance Request in
accordance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.13, Emergency Processing.
We have determined that this information must be collected prior to the time periods
established under Part 1320 of the regulations and that this information is essential to
implement agencies’ health and safety measures regarding the Federal Employee
medical and religious exemptions to the vaccination requirement included within
recent Safer Federal Workforce Task Force Guidance for COVID-19 Mandatory
Vaccinations. Government agencies have an urgent need to request medical
exemption information with input from medical providers from federal employees.
Applying regular Paperwork Reduction Act clearance procedures is likely to cause
harm because of the threat of COVID-19 exposure and transmission (5 C.F.R §
1320.13(c)).
Therefore, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requests a 180-day
emergency clearance to establish the Agency Medical Exemption Form, allowing
individuals to request medical exemption with medical provider input from COVID19 Mandatory Vaccinations. During the 180-day emergency approval, the
Department of Agriculture will work to establish a regular clearance submission of
this information collection request under the Paperwork Reduction Act procedures.
As this request for approval concerns an urgent safety need, USDA is also seeking
OMB’s approval to waive the need for the Federal Register Notices otherwise
required by 5 C.F.R. §§ 1320.5(a)(1)(iv) and 1320.8(d)(1) prior to publication and
implementation of this disclosure.
We would appreciate if you could provide an approval/disapproval determination of
this request to collect information under an emergency clearance by December 16,
2021.
Sincerely,
Digitally signed by MALCOM

MALCOM SHORTER SHORTER

Date: 2021.12.16 15:45:28 -05'00'

Oscar Gonzales
Assistant Secretary for Administratio

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

REV 1.12.10.2021