April 1, 2022, FR Notice (60-Day)

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 63 / Friday, April 1, 2022 / Notices

Willard Drysdale (MN)
William Edwards (NY)
Francisco Garcia (NJ)
The applicants have, prior to this
notice, received a letter of final
disposition regarding their exemption
request. The decision letter fully
outlined the basis for the denial and
constitute final action by the Agency.
The names of these individuals
published in this notice summarizes the
Agency’s recent denials as required
under 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(4).
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2022–06863 Filed 3–31–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Railroad Administration
[Docket No. FRA–2022–0002–N–4]

Proposed Agency Information
Collection Activities; Comment
Request
Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA), U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

Under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and its
implementing regulations, FRA seeks
approval of the Information Collection
Request (ICR) abstracted below. Before
submitting this ICR to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
approval, FRA is soliciting public
comment on specific aspects of the
activities identified in the ICR.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before May 31,
2022.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed ICR
should be submitted on regulations.gov
to the docket, Docket No. FRA–2022–
0002. All comments received will be
posted without change to the docket,
including any personal information
provided. Please refer to the assigned
OMB control number in any
correspondence submitted. FRA will
summarize comments received in
response to this notice in a subsequent
notice and include them in its
information collection submission to
OMB for approval.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Hodan Wells, Information Collection
Clearance Officer, at email:
[email protected] or telephone: (202)
493–0440.

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SUMMARY:

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The PRA,
44 U.S.C. 3501–3520, and its
implementing regulations, 5 CFR part
1320, require Federal agencies to
provide 60-days’ notice to the public to
allow comment on information
collection activities before seeking OMB
approval of the activities. See 44 U.S.C.
3506, 3507; 5 CFR 1320.8 through
1320.12. Specifically, FRA invites
interested parties to comment on the
following ICR regarding: (1) Whether the
information collection activities are
necessary for FRA to properly execute
its functions, including whether the
activities will have practical utility; (2)
the accuracy of FRA’s estimates of the
burden of the information collection
activities, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used to
determine the estimates; (3) ways for
FRA to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information being
collected; and (4) ways for FRA to
minimize the burden of information
collection activities on the public,
including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology. See 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A); 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1).
FRA believes that soliciting public
comment may reduce the administrative
and paperwork burdens associated with
the collection of information that
Federal regulations mandate. In
summary, FRA reasons that comments
received will advance three objectives:
(1) Reduce reporting burdens; (2)
organize information collection
requirements in a ‘‘user-friendly’’ format
to improve the use of such information;
and (3) accurately assess the resources
expended to retrieve and produce
information requested. See 44 U.S.C.
3501.
The summary below describes the ICR
that FRA will submit for OMB clearance
as the PRA requires:
Title: Inquiry into Blocked HighwayRail Grade Crossings throughout the
United States.
OMB Control Number: 2130–0630.
Abstract: In 2020, FRA created a
dedicated website allowing the public
and law enforcement personnel to use
web-based forms to voluntarily submit
information about blocked crossings to
FRA.1 Under the currently approved
information collection request, users
provide information regarding the
location, date, time, duration, and
immediate impacts of highway-rail
grade crossings blocked by slow-moving
or stationary trains. FRA uses the data
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1 Access to the web-based form used by the public
is unrestricted. Access to the web-based form used
by law enforcement personnel is restricted to law
enforcement personnel with usernames and
passwords managed by FRA.

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collected to gain a more complete
picture of where, when, for how long,
and what impacts result from reported
blocked crossing incidents.2
Additionally, FRA uses the information
to respond to congressional inquiries so
that congressional staff can respond to
their constituents. Furthermore, FRA
uses the information gathered to
facilitate meetings, outreach, and other
solutions for stakeholders to reduce or
eliminate blocked crossing concerns.
Upon accessing these web-based
forms, users are notified there are no
Federal laws or regulations that
specifically address the length of time a
train may occupy a highway-rail grade
crossing. Users are also notified that
information submitted will not be
forwarded to a railroad, State, or local
agency, and will only being used for
data collection purposes to determine
the locations, times, and impacts of
blocked crossings.
On November 15, 2021, the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
of 2021 (Pub. L. 117–58) ‘‘Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law (BIL)’’ was enacted.
In addition to mandating that FRA
establish an online portal and
corresponding database to receive
information regarding blocked highwayrail grade crossings, section 22404 of
BIL ‘‘encourages each complainant to
report the blocked crossing to the
relevant railroad.’’ Therefore, in
preparation for this new statutory
mandate, FRA proposes to modify the
existing web-based forms by adding one
question, ‘‘have you contacted the
railroad?’’ Otherwise, the rest of the
questions on the web-based forms will
remain the same.3
Currently, there are no Federal laws
or regulations that specifically address
how long a train may occupy a crossing,
whether stationary or operating at slow
speeds. Some States and local
municipalities have laws that vary in
how long trains are permitted to occupy
crossings.
There are potential safety concerns
with crossings that are blocked by
trains. For instance, pedestrians may
crawl under or through stationary trains.
Also, emergency response vehicles and
first responders may be delayed when
responding to an incident or
transporting persons to a hospital. In
addition, drivers may take more risks,
such as driving around lowered gates at
2 The data collection is not designed to provide
a representative sample or create generalizable
statistics. Additionally, the data gathered from this
collection is not suitable for use in budgetary
requests or regulatory proposals.
3 The average time per response will be remain at
3 minutes per response since the modification made
under BIL requirement is de minimis.

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 63 / Friday, April 1, 2022 / Notices
a crossing or attempting to beat a train
through a crossing without gates, in
order to avoid a lengthy delay if they are
aware that trains routinely block a
crossing for extended periods of time.
There are also potential economic
impacts that affect businesses, such as
stores or restaurants not being accessible
to a customer base for an extended

period of time. Finally, highway-rail
grade crossings that are blocked for
extended periods of time may create
societal nuisances, such as roadway
congestion, delayed mail service and
deliveries, disrupted school and work
arrival and dismissal, or missed
appointments.
Type of Request: Revision of a
currently approved collection.

Form 4

Total annual
responses

Average time
per response
(minutes)

Total annual
burden hours

Total cost
equivalent

(A)

(B)

(C) = A * B

(D) = C *
wage rate 5

General Public via the unrestricted form on the FRA website ........................
Law Enforcement Personnel via the limited access form on the FRA
website .........................................................................................................

15,500

3

775

$20,925

350

3

18

486

Total ..........................................................................................................

15,850

N/A

793

21,411

Total Estimated Annual Responses:
15,850.
Total Estimated Annual Burden: 793
hours.
Total Estimated Annual Burden Hour
Dollar Cost Equivalent: $21,411.
Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR
1320.5(b) and 1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FRA
informs all interested parties that a
respondent is not required to respond
to, conduct, or sponsor a collection of
information that does not display a
currently valid OMB control number.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520.

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Affected Public: Public individuals
and law enforcement personnel.
Form(s): FRA F 6180.175.
Respondent Universe: Public
individuals and law enforcement
personnel.
Frequency of Submission: On
occasion.
Reporting Burden:

entitled ‘‘Disclosure of Information to
Support the Veterans Affairs’ Seek to
Prevent Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
Initiative.’’

Comments on this matching
program must be received no later than
May 2, 2022. If no public comment is
received during the period allowed for
comment or unless otherwise published
in the Federal Register by VA, the new
agreement will become effective a
minimum of 30 days after date of
publication in the Federal Register. If
VA receives public comments, VA shall
review the comments to determine
Brett A. Jortland,
whether any changes to the notice are
Deputy Chief Counsel.
necessary. This matching program will
[FR Doc. 2022–06944 Filed 3–31–22; 8:45 am]
be valid for 18 months from the effective
BILLING CODE 4910–06–P
date of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be
submitted through www.Regulations.gov
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
or mailed to VA Privacy Service, 810
AFFAIRS
Vermont Avenue NW, (005R1A),
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program Washington, DC 20420. Comments
should indicate that they are submitted
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs
in response to ‘‘Disclosure of
(VA).
Information to Support the Veteran
ACTION: Notice of a re-established
Affairs’ Seek to Prevent Fraud, Waste,
matching program.
and Abuse Initiative.’’ Comments
received will be available at
SUMMARY: In accordance with subsection regulations.gov for public viewing,
(e)(12) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as
inspection or copies.
amended, VA is providing notice of a reFOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
established matching program between
Maggie Drye, Director, VA Office of
VA and the Department of Health and
Business Oversight Program Integrity
Human Services (HHS) Centers for
Office, 1615 Woodward Street, Austin,
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
TX 78772, (512) 386–2218.
SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION: This
4 The current inventory exhibits a total burden of
Agreement establishes the terms,
250 hours while the total burden of this notice is
793 hours. The increase in burden hours is due to
conditions, and procedures under
an anticipated increase in the number of responses.
which CMS will provide certain data to
5 FRA used an hourly rate of $27 per hour for the
VA that supports the VA’s Seek to
value of the public’s time. FRA obtained this data
Prevent Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
from the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
initiative. The data will be provided

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DATES:

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from CMS’ database of enrolled
Medicare providers and suppliers
(System of Records Notice [SORN] No.
09–70–0532, Provider Enrollment,
Chain, and Ownership System
[PECOS]). Using PECOS data in a
matching program for this purpose will
provide VA prompt access to extant
information, using an efficient process
that both eliminates the need to
manually compare substantial numbers
of data-intensive files and enables VA to
leverage, instead of duplicating, the
costly Advance Provider Screening
process that CMS uses to check
suitability of Medicare providers and
generate the data in PECOS.
Participating Agencies: VA and CMS.
Authority for Conducting the
Matching Program: This Agreement is
executed pursuant to the Privacy Act (5
United States Code [U.S.C.] § 552a) and
the regulations and guidance
promulgated thereunder; Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
Circular A–108, Federal Agency
Responsibilities for Review, Reporting,
and Publication under the Privacy Act,
published at 81 FR 94424 (December 23,
2016); and OMB guidelines pertaining
to computer matching published at 54
FR 25818 (June 19, 1989). Title 38
U.S.C. 7301(b) states that the primary
function of VA is to provide a complete
medical and hospital service for the care
of eligible Veterans. In carrying out this
function, including through contracts
with external entities and providers, VA
has an obligation to (1) ensure providers
furnish care that is appropriate and safe
and meets or exceeds professional
standards for quality and (2), in the case
of external providers, maintain billing
integrity and compliance with
contractual terms. The VA

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