Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Application Forms for Membership on a National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, 87860-87861 [2024-25654]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87860-87861]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25654]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Application Forms for Membership on a National Marine 
Sanctuary Advisory Council

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on July 31, 2024 during a 60-day comment period. No 
comments were received during this period. This notice allows for an 
additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.
    Title: Application Forms for Membership on a National Marine 
Sanctuary Advisory Council.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0397.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (revision and extension of a 
currently approved collection).
    Number of Respondents: 900.
    Average Hours per Response: 1.25 hours.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,125 hours.
    Needs and Uses: This is a request for revision and extension of an 
approved information collection.
    Section 315 of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA) (16 
U.S.C. 1445a) allows the Secretary of Commerce to establish one or more 
advisory councils to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary 
regarding the designation and management of national marine 
sanctuaries. Executive Order 13178 (December 4, 2000) similarly 
established a Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Council pursuant to the NMSA 
for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. 
Councils are individually chartered for each site, or for the sanctuary 
system, to meet its specific needs. Once an advisory council has been 
chartered, a sanctuary superintendent starts a process to recruit 
members for that council by providing notice to the public and 
requesting interested parties to apply for the available seat(s) (e.g., 
Research, Education) and position(s) (i.e., council member or 
alternate). The information obtained through this application process 
will be used to determine the qualifications of the applicant for 
membership on the advisory council.
    Two application forms are currently associated with this 
information collection: (a) National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council 
Application form; and (b) National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council 
Youth Seat Application form. Application form instructions will specify 
requirements imposed upon the agency when reviewing applicants as 
potential council members or alternates. Questions posed to applicants 
have been reviewed and an additional two questions are being added to 
solicit information on eligibility for a potential stipend program to 
decrease financial barriers to joining advisory councils. An additional 
section for demographic questions is also being added to include the 
newly updated Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for 
Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and 
Ethnicity (SPD 15) and Recommendations on the Best Practices for the 
Collection of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Data on Federal 
Statistical Surveys, and to learn more about our applicants. Existing 
questions may be reordered, reworded, and at times, condensed to 
improve the organization of applicant responses and, thereby, simplify 
the applicant review process. We do not believe that such revisions to 
the application would appreciably change the average annual number of 
respondents or the reporting burden for the information requirements 
supporting solicitation of new advisory council members.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-
profit organizations; not-for-profit institutions.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1445a).
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the

[[Page 87861]]

following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this 
particular information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day 
Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function and 
entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 
0648-0397. Requests for information, including copies of the proposed 
collection of information and supporting documentation, may be directed 
to ONMS at [email protected].

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-25654 Filed 11-4-24; 8:45 am]
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