Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period With Funding for Innovative Rehabilitation Training Grants, 67955-67957 [2023-21852]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2023 / Rules and Regulations
administrative burden by conducting a
single competition for 84.129B,
84.129H, 84.129P and 84.129Q grants in
FY 2025, with a five-year performance
period that would run from October 1,
2025, through September 30, 2030.
For this reason, the Secretary
proposes to waive the requirements in
34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project
periods exceeding five years, as well as
the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a)
and (c)(2), which allow the extension of
a project period only if the extension
does not involve the obligation of
additional Federal funds. This waiver
would allow the Department to issue a
one-year FY 2024 continuation award to
each of the 51 currently funded FY 2019
84.129B, 84.129H, 84.129P and 84.129Q
projects up to the amount awarded to
the projects in FY 2023 and subject to
the ability of the projects to use the
funds.
Any activities carried out during the
year of this continuation award must be
consistent with, or a logical extension
of, the scope, goals, and objectives of the
grantees’ applications as approved in
the FY 2019 competition. The
requirements for continuation awards
are set forth in 34 CFR 75.253.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Intergovernmental Review
These programs are subject to
Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of
the objectives of the Executive order is
to foster an intergovernmental
partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies
on processes developed by State and
local governments for coordination and
review of proposed Federal financial
assistance.
This document provides early
notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the
proposed waiver and extension of the
project period would not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The only entities that would be affected
by the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period are the 51 grants that
were awarded in FY 2019 under ALN
84.129B, 84.129H, 84,129P, and
84.129Q.
The Secretary certifies that the
proposed waiver and extension would
not have a significant economic impact
on these entities, because the extension
of an existing project period imposes
minimal compliance costs, and the
activities required to support the
additional year of funding would not
impose additional regulatory burdens or
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:51 Oct 02, 2023
Jkt 262001
require unnecessary Federal
supervision.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and
extension of the project period does not
contain any information collection
requirements.
Accessible Format: On request to the
program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT,
individuals with disabilities can obtain
this document in an accessible format.
The Department will provide the
requestor with an accessible format that
may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or
text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3
file, braille, large print, audiotape, or
compact disc, or other accessible format.
Electronic Access to This Document:
The official version of this document is
the document published in the Federal
Register. You may access the official
edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations at
www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can
view this document, as well as all other
documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or Portable Document Format
(PDF). To use PDF you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
Glenna Wright-Gallo,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2023–21853 Filed 9–29–23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter III
[ED–2023–OSERS–0177]
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the
Project Period With Funding for
Innovative Rehabilitation Training
Grants
Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services (OSERS),
Department of Education.
ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension
of project period with funding.
AGENCY:
The Secretary proposes to
waive the requirements in the Education
Department General Administrative
Regulations that generally prohibit
project periods exceeding five years and
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
67955
project period extensions involving the
obligation of additional Federal funds.
The proposed waiver and extension
would enable seven projects under
Assistance Listing Number (ALN)
84.263C to receive funding for an
additional period, not to exceed
September 30, 2025.
DATES: We must receive your comments
on or before November 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be
submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at www.regulations.gov. However,
if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your
comments via www.regulations.gov,
please contact the program contact
person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department
will not accept comments submitted
after the comment period. To ensure
that we do not receive duplicate copies,
please submit your comments only
once. In addition, please include the
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
www.regulations.gov to submit your
comments electronically. Information
on using Regulations.gov, including
instructions for accessing agency
documents, submitting comments, and
viewing the docket, is available on the
site under ‘‘FAQ.’’
Privacy Note: OSERS’s policy is
generally to make comments received
from members of the public available for
public viewing in their entirety on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should include in their
comments only information about
themselves that they wish to make
publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kristen Rhinehart-Fernandez, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW, Room 4A111, Washington,
DC 20202–5076. Telephone: (202) 245–
6103. Email: Kristen.Rhinehart@ed.gov.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or
have a speech disability and wish to
access telecommunications relay
services, please dial 7–1–1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you
to submit comments regarding this
proposed waiver and extension. To
ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in developing the
notice of final waiver and extension, we
urge you to identify clearly the specific
grantee or grantees (listed in the table
under the Background section) that each
comment addresses.
We invite you to assist us in
complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders
12866, 13563, and 14094 and their
E:\FR\FM\03OCR1.SGM
03OCR1
67956
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2023 / Rules and Regulations
overall requirement of reducing
regulatory burden that might result from
the proposed waiver and extension.
Please let us know of any further ways
we could reduce potential costs or
increase potential benefits while
preserving the effective and efficient
administration of the program.
During and after the comment period,
you may inspect public comments about
the proposed priority and definition by
accessing Regulations.gov.
Assistance to Individuals With
Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will
provide an appropriate accommodation
or auxiliary aid to an individual with a
disability who needs assistance to
review the comments or other
documents in the public rulemaking
record for the proposed waiver and
extension. If you want to schedule an
appointment for this type of
accommodation or auxiliary aid, please
Background
On July 5, 2019, the Department of
Education (Department) published in
the Federal Register (84 FR 32135) a
notice inviting applications for the
Innovative Rehabilitation Training
Program under ALN 84.263C to develop
(a) new types of training programs for
rehabilitation personnel and to
demonstrate the effectiveness of these
new types of training programs for
rehabilitation personnel in providing
rehabilitation services to individuals
with disabilities; (b) new and improved
methods of training rehabilitation
personnel so that there may be a more
effective delivery of rehabilitation
services to individuals with disabilities
by designated State rehabilitation
agencies and designated State
rehabilitation units or other public or
non-profit rehabilitation service
agencies or organizations; and (c) new
innovative training programs for
vocational rehabilitation (VR)
professionals and paraprofessionals to
have a 21st-century understanding of
the evolving labor force and the needs
of individuals with disabilities so they
can more effectively provide VR
services to individuals with disabilities.
The Innovative Rehabilitation
Training Program funded in 2019
included six topic areas: (1) VR
counseling, (2) VR services to
individuals with Autism Spectrum
Disorders, (3) VR services to individuals
with intellectual disabilities, (4) career
assessment for VR service recipients, (5)
employer engagement in the VR process,
and (6) a field-initiated project in an
area related to VR. The project periods
started on October 1, 2019, and will
conclude on September 30, 2024. A
table listing the FY 2019 projects and
topic areas follows.
FY 2019 awards under ALN 84.263C
Grantee project name/topic area
H263C190004 .....................................................
Emporia State University: Enhancing VR Professionals’ Services to Consumers on the Spectrum/VR Services to Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
South Carolina State University: Innovative Career and Assessment Project (ICAP)/Career Assessment for VR Service Recipients.
The George Washington University Center for Rehabilitation Counseling Research and Education: Center for Innovative Training in Vocational Rehabilitation (CIT–VR)/VR Counseling.
Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston: It’s Employment/VR
Services to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.
Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston: Program on Innovative
Rehabilitation Training on Employer Engagement (PIRTEE)/Employer Engagement.
West Virginia University Research Corporation: AIR4VR/Field-Initiated.
University of Memphis Institute on Disability: Finding Innovative Rehabilitation Services Training (FIRST)/VR Services to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.
H263C190006 .....................................................
H263C190007 .....................................................
H263C190011 .....................................................
H263C190012 .....................................................
H263C190013 .....................................................
H263C190015 .....................................................
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
contact the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
In FY 2020, the Department funded
two projects under the Innovative
Rehabilitation Training program (ALN
84.263E and 84.263F) to develop a new
or substantially improved and, to the
extent possible, evidence-based training
program, including stand-alone modules
and instructional materials to be
incorporated into an existing academic
degree program for educating VR
counselors or other VR professionals
and VR paraprofessionals or into shortterm training for VR professionals, or
both. Topics addressed by these projects
are assisting and supporting individuals
with disabilities pursuing selfemployment, business ownership, and
telecommuting and forensic
rehabilitation and vocational evaluation.
The project periods started on October
1, 2020, and will conclude on
September 30, 2025.
Waivers and Extensions
The Department proposes to extend
the project end dates of the seven
currently 84.263C Innovative
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:51 Oct 02, 2023
Jkt 262001
Rehabilitation Training projects by one
year to align those dates with that of the
awards funded under ALN 84.263E and
84.263F, which will each receive their
final year of funding in FY 2024, and
end on September 30, 2025. Due to the
overlapping goals of these three
programs, the Department does not
believe that it would be in the public
interest to run a competition for ALN
84.263C in FY 2024. Rather, aligning the
projects’ periods of performance end
dates for ALN 84.263C, 84.263E, and
84.263F would reduce financial and
administrative burden by allowing the
Department to conduct a single
competition for all 84.263C, 84.263E,
and 84.263F grants in FY 2025, with a
five-year performance period that would
run from October 1, 2025, through
September 30, 2030.
As a result, for these projects, the
Secretary proposes to waive the
requirements in 34 CFR 75.250, which
prohibit project periods exceeding five
years, as well as the requirements in 34
CFR 75.261(a) and (c)(2), which allow
PO 00000
Frm 00028
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
the extension of a project period only if
the extension does not involve the
obligation of additional Federal funds.
The waiver would allow the Department
to issue a one-time one-year FY 2024
continuation award to the seven
currently funded 84.263C projects up to
the amount awarded to the projects in
FY 2023 and subject to the ability of the
projects to use the funds.
Any activities carried out during the
year of this continuation award must be
consistent with, or a logical extension
of, the scope, goals, and objectives of the
grantees’ applications as approved in
the FY 2019 competition. The
requirements for continuation awards
are set forth in 34 CFR 75.253.
Intergovernmental Review
These programs are subject to
Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of
the objectives of the Executive order is
to foster an intergovernmental
partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies
E:\FR\FM\03OCR1.SGM
03OCR1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2023 / Rules and Regulations
on processes developed by State and
local governments for coordination and
review of proposed Federal financial
assistance.
This document provides early
notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.
your search to documents published by
the Department.
Glenna Wright-Gallo,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2023–21852 Filed 9–29–23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the
proposed waiver and extension of the
project period would not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The only entities that would be affected
by the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period are the seven current
ALN 84.263C grantees.
The Secretary certifies that the
proposed waiver and extension would
not have a significant economic impact
on these entities, because the extension
of an existing project period imposes
minimal compliance costs, and the
activities required to support the
additional year of funding would not
impose additional regulatory burdens or
require unnecessary Federal
supervision.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and
extension of the project period does not
contain any information collection
requirements.
Accessible Format: On request to the
program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT,
individuals with disabilities can obtain
this document in an accessible format.
The Department will provide the
requestor with an accessible format that
may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or
text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3
file, braille, large print, audiotape, or
compact disc, or other accessible format.
Electronic Access to This Document:
The official version of this document is
the document published in the Federal
Register. You may access the official
edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations at
www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can
view this document, as well as all other
documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
text or Portable Document Format
(PDF). To use PDF, you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:51 Oct 02, 2023
Jkt 262001
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R06–OAR–2022–0309; FRL–10903–
02–R6]
Air Plan Disapproval; Texas;
Contingency Measures for the Dallas–
Fort Worth and Houston–Galveston–
Brazoria Ozone Nonattainment Areas
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
Pursuant to the Federal Clean
Air Act (CAA or the Act), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
is disapproving revisions to the Texas
State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the
Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston–
Galveston–Brazoria (HGB) Serious
ozone nonattainment areas for the 2008
ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standard (NAAQS). Specifically, EPA is
disapproving the portion of these SIP
revisions that the state intended to
address contingency measure
requirements. Contingency measures are
control requirements in a nonattainment
area SIP that would take effect should
the area fail to meet Reasonable Further
Progress (RFP) emissions reductions
requirements or fail to attain the
NAAQS by the applicable attainment
date.
SUMMARY:
This rule is effective on
November 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a
docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPA–R06–OAR–2022–0309. All
documents in the docket are listed on
the https://www.regulations.gov
website. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly
available, e.g., Confidential Business
Information or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, is not placed on
the internet. Publicly available docket
materials are available electronically
through https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff
Riley, EPA Region 6 Office,
Infrastructure & Ozone Section, 214–
665–8542, riley.jeffrey@epa.gov. Please
DATES:
PO 00000
Frm 00029
Fmt 4700
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67957
call or email the contact listed above if
you need alternative access to material
indexed but not provided in the docket.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’
and ‘‘our’’ means the EPA.
I. Background
The background for this action is
discussed in detail in our April 21,
2023, proposal (88 FR 24522).1 In the
April 2023 document, we proposed to
disapprove portions of the May 13,
2020, Texas SIP revisions addressing
requirements for the 2008 8-hour ozone
NAAQS for the two Serious ozone
nonattainment areas in Texas—the DFW
and HGB areas. As Serious ozone
nonattainment areas, the DFW Area
(Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson,
Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant,
and Wise counties) and the HGB Area
(Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend,
Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery,
and Waller counties) were both subject
to CAA section 172(c)(9) for
contingency measures as well as CAA
182(c)(9) for the Serious ozone
nonattainment area requirements. As
such, the state must adopt and submit
contingency measures for
implementation should the area fail to
meet RFP requirements or fail to attain
the 2008 ozone NAAQS by the
applicable attainment date. The May 13,
2020, SIP submissions included
provisions intended to satisfy the
contingency measures requirement for
both the DFW and HGB areas. For each
area, the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ or State)
identified the emission reductions from
already-implemented mobile source
measures resulting from the incremental
turnover of the motor vehicle fleet each
year to meet the contingency measures
requirements.
As explained in the April 2023
proposal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit (‘‘D.C.
Circuit’’) issued a relevant decision in
response to challenges to EPA’s rule
implementing the 2015 ozone NAAQS
(83 FR 62998 (December 6, 2018)).
Sierra Club, et al. v. EPA, 985 F.3d 1055
(D.C. Cir. 2021).2 Among the rulings in
this decision, the D.C. Circuit vacated
EPA’s interpretation of the CAA that
had previously allowed states to rely on
already-implemented control measures
to meet the statutory requirements of
CAA section 172(c)(9) or 182(c)(9) for
1 Henceforth, we refer to this proposal as ‘‘the
April 2023 document’’ or ‘‘the April 2023
proposal’’. This proposal is provided in the docket
for this action.
2 See Bahr v. EPA, 836 F.3d 1218 (9th Cir. 2016)
and Sierra Club v. EPA, 985 F.3d 1055 (D.C. Cir.
2021) (applying the Bahr reasoning nationwide).
E:\FR\FM\03OCR1.SGM
03OCR1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 67955-67957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21852]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
34 CFR Chapter III
[ED-2023-OSERS-0177]
Proposed Waiver and Extension of the Project Period With Funding
for Innovative Rehabilitation Training Grants
AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
(OSERS), Department of Education.
ACTION: Proposed waiver and extension of project period with funding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes to waive the requirements in the
Education Department General Administrative Regulations that generally
prohibit project periods exceeding five years and project period
extensions involving the obligation of additional Federal funds. The
proposed waiver and extension would enable seven projects under
Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.263C to receive funding for an
additional period, not to exceed September 30, 2025.
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before November 2, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at www.regulations.gov. However, if you require an accommodation
or cannot otherwise submit your comments via www.regulations.gov,
please contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments submitted
after the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments only once. In addition, please
include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to submit
your comments electronically. Information on using Regulations.gov,
including instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting
comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site under
``FAQ.''
Privacy Note: OSERS's policy is generally to make comments received
from members of the public available for public viewing in their
entirety on the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov.
Therefore, commenters should include in their comments only information
about themselves that they wish to make publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Rhinehart-Fernandez, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 4A111,
Washington, DC 20202-5076. Telephone: (202) 245-6103. Email:
[email protected].
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Invitation to Comment: We invite you to submit comments regarding
this proposed waiver and extension. To ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in developing the notice of final waiver and extension,
we urge you to identify clearly the specific grantee or grantees
(listed in the table under the Background section) that each comment
addresses.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14094 and their
[[Page 67956]]
overall requirement of reducing regulatory burden that might result
from the proposed waiver and extension. Please let us know of any
further ways we could reduce potential costs or increase potential
benefits while preserving the effective and efficient administration of
the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect public
comments about the proposed priority and definition by accessing
Regulations.gov.
Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request, we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for the proposed waiver and extension. If you
want to schedule an appointment for this type of accommodation or
auxiliary aid, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Background
On July 5, 2019, the Department of Education (Department) published
in the Federal Register (84 FR 32135) a notice inviting applications
for the Innovative Rehabilitation Training Program under ALN 84.263C to
develop (a) new types of training programs for rehabilitation personnel
and to demonstrate the effectiveness of these new types of training
programs for rehabilitation personnel in providing rehabilitation
services to individuals with disabilities; (b) new and improved methods
of training rehabilitation personnel so that there may be a more
effective delivery of rehabilitation services to individuals with
disabilities by designated State rehabilitation agencies and designated
State rehabilitation units or other public or non-profit rehabilitation
service agencies or organizations; and (c) new innovative training
programs for vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals and
paraprofessionals to have a 21st-century understanding of the evolving
labor force and the needs of individuals with disabilities so they can
more effectively provide VR services to individuals with disabilities.
The Innovative Rehabilitation Training Program funded in 2019
included six topic areas: (1) VR counseling, (2) VR services to
individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, (3) VR services to
individuals with intellectual disabilities, (4) career assessment for
VR service recipients, (5) employer engagement in the VR process, and
(6) a field-initiated project in an area related to VR. The project
periods started on October 1, 2019, and will conclude on September 30,
2024. A table listing the FY 2019 projects and topic areas follows.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 2019 awards under ALN
84.263C Grantee project name/topic area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
H263C190004.................. Emporia State University: Enhancing VR
Professionals' Services to Consumers on
the Spectrum/VR Services to Individuals
with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
H263C190006.................. South Carolina State University:
Innovative Career and Assessment Project
(ICAP)/Career Assessment for VR Service
Recipients.
H263C190007.................. The George Washington University Center
for Rehabilitation Counseling Research
and Education: Center for Innovative
Training in Vocational Rehabilitation
(CIT-VR)/VR Counseling.
H263C190011.................. Institute for Community Inclusion,
University of Massachusetts Boston: It's
Employment/VR Services to Individuals
with Intellectual Disabilities.
H263C190012.................. Institute for Community Inclusion,
University of Massachusetts Boston:
Program on Innovative Rehabilitation
Training on Employer Engagement (PIRTEE)/
Employer Engagement.
H263C190013.................. West Virginia University Research
Corporation: AIR4VR/Field-Initiated.
H263C190015.................. University of Memphis Institute on
Disability: Finding Innovative
Rehabilitation Services Training (FIRST)/
VR Services to Individuals with
Intellectual Disabilities.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In FY 2020, the Department funded two projects under the Innovative
Rehabilitation Training program (ALN 84.263E and 84.263F) to develop a
new or substantially improved and, to the extent possible, evidence-
based training program, including stand-alone modules and instructional
materials to be incorporated into an existing academic degree program
for educating VR counselors or other VR professionals and VR
paraprofessionals or into short-term training for VR professionals, or
both. Topics addressed by these projects are assisting and supporting
individuals with disabilities pursuing self-employment, business
ownership, and telecommuting and forensic rehabilitation and vocational
evaluation. The project periods started on October 1, 2020, and will
conclude on September 30, 2025.
Waivers and Extensions
The Department proposes to extend the project end dates of the
seven currently 84.263C Innovative Rehabilitation Training projects by
one year to align those dates with that of the awards funded under ALN
84.263E and 84.263F, which will each receive their final year of
funding in FY 2024, and end on September 30, 2025. Due to the
overlapping goals of these three programs, the Department does not
believe that it would be in the public interest to run a competition
for ALN 84.263C in FY 2024. Rather, aligning the projects' periods of
performance end dates for ALN 84.263C, 84.263E, and 84.263F would
reduce financial and administrative burden by allowing the Department
to conduct a single competition for all 84.263C, 84.263E, and 84.263F
grants in FY 2025, with a five-year performance period that would run
from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2030.
As a result, for these projects, the Secretary proposes to waive
the requirements in 34 CFR 75.250, which prohibit project periods
exceeding five years, as well as the requirements in 34 CFR 75.261(a)
and (c)(2), which allow the extension of a project period only if the
extension does not involve the obligation of additional Federal funds.
The waiver would allow the Department to issue a one-time one-year FY
2024 continuation award to the seven currently funded 84.263C projects
up to the amount awarded to the projects in FY 2023 and subject to the
ability of the projects to use the funds.
Any activities carried out during the year of this continuation
award must be consistent with, or a logical extension of, the scope,
goals, and objectives of the grantees' applications as approved in the
FY 2019 competition. The requirements for continuation awards are set
forth in 34 CFR 75.253.
Intergovernmental Review
These programs are subject to Executive Order 12372 and the
regulations in 34 CFR part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive
order is to foster an intergovernmental partnership and a strengthened
federalism. The Executive order relies
[[Page 67957]]
on processes developed by State and local governments for coordination
and review of proposed Federal financial assistance.
This document provides early notification of our specific plans and
actions for this program.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension of
the project period would not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The only entities that would be
affected by the proposed waiver and extension of the project period are
the seven current ALN 84.263C grantees.
The Secretary certifies that the proposed waiver and extension
would not have a significant economic impact on these entities, because
the extension of an existing project period imposes minimal compliance
costs, and the activities required to support the additional year of
funding would not impose additional regulatory burdens or require
unnecessary Federal supervision.
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
This notice of proposed waiver and extension of the project period
does not contain any information collection requirements.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible
format.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To
use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at
the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Glenna Wright-Gallo,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 2023-21852 Filed 9-29-23; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
