Published 60-day FRN (88 FR 19663)

Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 63 / Monday, April 3, 2023 / Notices
B. Solicitation of Public Comment
This notice is soliciting comments
from members of the public and affected
parties concerning the collection of
information described in Section A on
the following:
(1) Whether the proposed collection
of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected, and
(4) Ways to minimize the burden of
the collection of information on those
who are to respond; including through
the use of appropriate automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
HUD encourages interested parties to
submit comment in response to these
questions.
C. Authority
Section 3507 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507.
Todd M. Richardson,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy
Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 2023–06756 Filed 3–31–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS–HQ–ES–2023–0050;
FF09E41000–234–FXES111609C0000; OMB
Control Number 1018–0177]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Policy Regarding Voluntary
Prelisting Conservation Actions
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), are proposing to renew,
without change, an information
collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before June 2,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments on the
information collection request (ICR) by
one of the following methods (reference
‘‘1018–0177’’ in the subject line of your
comment):

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SUMMARY:

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• Internet (preferred): https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments
on Docket No. FWS–HQ–ES–2023–
0050.
• Email: [email protected].
• U.S. mail: Service Information
Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, 5275 Leesburg
Pike, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), Falls Church,
VA 22041–3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Madonna L. Baucum,
Service Information Collection
Clearance Officer, by email at Info_
[email protected], or by telephone at (703)
358–2503. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may
dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to
access telecommunications relay
services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make
international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 CFR
1320.8(d)(1), we provide the general
public and other Federal agencies with
an opportunity to comment on new,
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand our
information collection requirements and
provide the requested data in the
desired format.
As part of our continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we are again soliciting
comments from the public and other
Federal agencies on the proposed ICR
that is described below. We are
especially interested in public comment
addressing the following:
(1) Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether or not the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) How might the agency minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological

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19663

collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of response.
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
publicly available at any time. While
you can ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Abstract: The Service is charged with
implementing the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (Act; 16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.). The goal of the Act is to
provide a means to conserve the
ecosystems upon which listed species
depend and a program for listed species
conservation. Through our Candidate
Conservation program, we encourage
the public to take conservation actions
for species prior to them being listed
under the Act. Doing so may result in
precluding the need to list a species,
may result in listing a species as
threatened instead of endangered, or, if
a species becomes listed, may provide
the basis for its recovery and eventual
removal from the protections of the Act.
This policy provides incentives to
landowners, government agencies, and
others to carry out voluntary
conservation actions for unlisted
species. It allows the use of any benefits
to the species from voluntary
conservation actions undertaken prior to
listing under the Act—by the person
who undertook such actions or by third
parties—to mitigate or offset the
detrimental effects of other actions
undertaken after listing. The policy
requires participating States to track the
voluntary conservation actions and
provide this information to us on an
annual basis. We require this
information in order to provide the
entities that have taken the conservation
actions with proper credit that can later
be used to mitigate for any detrimental
actions they take after the species is
listed.
We plan to collect the following
information:
• Description of the prelisting
conservation action being taken.
• Location of the action (does not
include a specific address).
• Name of the entity taking the action
and their contact information (email
address only).
• Frequency of the action (ongoing for
X years, or one-time implementation)

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and an indication if the action is
included in a State Wildlife Action
Plan.
• Any transfer to a third party of the
mitigation or compensatory measure
rights.
Each State that chooses to participate
will collect this information from
landowners, businesses and
organizations, and Tribal, Federal, and
local governments that wish to receive
credit for voluntary prelisting
conservation actions. States may collect
this information via an Access database,
Excel spreadsheet, or other database of
their choosing and submit the
information to the Fish and Wildlife
Service (via email) annually. States will
use this information to calculate the
number of credits that the entity taking
the conservation action will receive and
will keep track of the credits and notify
the entity of how much credit they have
earned. The States will report the
number of credits to the Service, and we
will determine how many credits are
needed by the entity to mitigate or offset
the detrimental effects of other actions
they take after the species is listed
(assuming it is listed).
Additionally, on February 9, 2023, the
Service published a proposed rule (RIN
1018–BF99; 88 FR 8380) to clarify the

appropriate use of enhancement of
survival permits and incidental take
permits; clarify our authority to issue
these permits for non-listed species
without also including a listed species;
simplify the requirements for
enhancement of survival permits by
combining safe harbor agreements and
candidate conservation agreements with
assurances into one agreement type, and
include portions of our five-point
policies for safe harbor agreements,
candidate conservation agreements with
assurances, and habitat conservation
plans in the regulations to reduce
uncertainty. We also propose to make
technical and administrative revisions
to the regulations.
The goal of the rule is to reduce the
time it takes for applicants to prepare
and develop the required supporting
documents, thus accelerating
conservation implementation. The
proposed regulatory changes are
intended to reduce costs and time
associated with negotiating and
developing the required documents to
support the applications. We anticipate
that these improvements will encourage
more individuals and companies to
engage in these voluntary programs,
thereby generating greater conservation
results overall.
Average
number of
responses
each

Annual
number of
respondents

Information collection requirement

When the Service finalizes this rule,
anticipated in late 2023, candidate
conservation agreements with
assurances (CCAAs) and safe harbor
agreements will no longer be in place,
and will be combined into one
agreement type––conservation benefit
agreements (CBAs). We will update the
Policy Regarding Voluntary Prelisting
Conservation Actions to replace all
references to CCAAs with references to
CBAs (for non-listed species). We do not
anticipate this update to the policy to
impact currently approved information
collections.
Title of Collection: Policy Regarding
Voluntary Prelisting Conservation
Actions.
OMB Control Number: 1018–0177.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection.
Respondents/Affected Public: State
governments.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain a benefit.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion
for new submissions, ongoing for
recordkeeping requirements, and
annually for reporting requirements.
Total Estimated Annual Nonhour
Burden Cost: None.
Average
completion
time per
response
(hours)

Annual
number of
responses

Estimated
annual burden
hours *

Amendments to Conservation Strategy
Government .........................................................................

1

1

1

16

16

1

1

20

20

1

80

80

1

1

200

200

1

1

4

4

1

1

120

120

1

1

24

24

1

1

100

100

Annual Reports
Government .........................................................................

1

Credit Agreement/Transfer of Credits
Government .........................................................................

1

1

Development of Conservation Strategy
Government .........................................................................

1
Formal Agreements

Government .........................................................................

1
Management Plans

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Government .........................................................................

1
Monitoring Reports

Government .........................................................................

1
Site-Level Agreements

Government .........................................................................

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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 63 / Monday, April 3, 2023 / Notices
Average
number of
responses
each

Annual
number of
respondents

Information collection requirement

Average
completion
time per
response
(hours)

Annual
number of
responses

Estimated
annual burden
hours *

Site-Level Reports
Government .........................................................................

1

1

1

24

24

1

1

320

320

1

1

240

240

State Developed Voluntary Conservation-Action Program
Government .........................................................................

1

State Recordkeeping Requirements
Government .........................................................................

1

State Reports—Voluntary Prelisting Conservation Actions Taken Under Program
Government .........................................................................

1

1

1

.25

0

Totals: ...........................................................................

12

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

12

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

1,148

* Rounded to match ROCIS.

An agency 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.
The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Madonna Baucum,
Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2023–06759 Filed 3–31–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
[234A2100DD/AAKC001030/
A0A501010.999900]

HEARTH Act Approval of Southern Ute
Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute
Reservation, Colorado Leasing
Ordinance
Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) approved the Southern Ute Indian
Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation,
Colorado Leasing Ordinance under the
Helping Expedite and Advance
Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act
of 2012 (HEARTH Act). With this
approval, the Tribe is authorized to
enter into agriculture, business,
residential, and wind and solar leases
without further BIA approval.
DATES: BIA issued the approval on
March 28, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Carla Clark, Bureau of Indian Affairs,

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Division of Real Estate Services, 1001
Indian School Road NW, Albuquerque,
NM 87104, [email protected], (702)
484–3233.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Summary of the HEARTH Act
The HEARTH Act makes a voluntary,
alternative land leasing process
available to Tribes, by amending the
Indian Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955,
25 U.S.C. 415. The HEARTH Act
authorizes Tribes to negotiate and enter
into business leases of Tribal trust lands
with a primary term of 25 years, and up
to two renewal terms of 25 years each,
without the approval of the Secretary of
the Interior (Secretary). The HEARTH
Act also authorizes Tribes to enter into
leases for residential, recreational,
religious or educational purposes for a
primary term of up to 75 years without
the approval of the Secretary.
Participating Tribes develop Tribal
Leasing regulations, including an
environmental review process, and then
must obtain the Secretary’s approval of
those regulations prior to entering into
leases. The HEARTH Act requires the
Secretary to approve Tribal regulations
if the Tribal regulations are consistent
with the Department of the Interior’s
(Department) leasing regulations at 25
CFR part 162 and provide for an
environmental review process that
meets requirements set forth in the
HEARTH Act. This notice announces
that the Secretary, through the Assistant
Secretary—Indian Affairs, has approved
the Tribal regulations for the Southern
Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute
Reservation, Colorado.

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II. Federal Preemption of State and
Local Taxes
The Department’s regulations
governing the surface leasing of trust
and restricted Indian lands specify that,
subject to applicable Federal law,
permanent improvements on leased
land, leasehold or possessory interests,
and activities under the lease are not
subject to State and local taxation and
may be subject to taxation by the Indian
Tribe with jurisdiction. See 25 CFR
162.017. As explained further in the
preamble to the final regulations, the
Federal government has a strong interest
in promoting economic development,
self-determination, and Tribal
sovereignty. 77 FR 72440, 72447–48
(December 5, 2012). The principles
supporting the Federal preemption of
State law in the field of Indian leasing
and the taxation of lease-related
interests and activities applies with
equal force to leases entered into under
Tribal leasing regulations approved by
the Federal government pursuant to the
HEARTH Act.
Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization
Act, 25 U.S.C. 5108, preempts State and
local taxation of permanent
improvements on trust land.
Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis
Reservation v. Thurston County, 724
F.3d 1153, 1157 (9th Cir. 2013) (citing
Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411
U.S. 145 (1973)). Similarly, section 5108
preempts State taxation of rent
payments by a lessee for leased trust
lands, because ‘‘tax on the payment of
rent is indistinguishable from an
impermissible tax on the land.’’ See
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Stranburg,
799 F.3d 1324, 1331, n.8 (11th Cir.
2015). In addition, as explained in the
preamble to the revised leasing

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