Public and Indian housing: Operating Fund Allocation Negotiated Rulemaking Committee— Meetings,

[Federal Register: June 8, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 109)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 30451-30452]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr08jn99-30]

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 990

[Docket No. FR-4425-N-04]

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation; Meetings

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Negotiated Rulemaking Committee meetings.

SUMMARY: This document announces the fourth, fifth, and sixth meetings of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation. These meetings are sponsored by HUD for the purpose of discussing and negotiating a proposed rule that would change the current method of determining the payment of operating subsidies to public housing agencies (PHAs). This document also announces two changes to the membership of the negotiated rulemaking committee.

DATES: The fourth committee meeting will be held on June 15 and June 16, 1999. The fifth committee meeting will be held on July 7 and July 8, 1999. The sixth committee meeting will be held on August 11 and August 12, 1999.

On the first day of each meeting, the meeting will begin at approximately 9:30 am and run until completion. On the second day of each meeting, the meeting will begin at approximately 8:30 am and run until approximately 4:00 pm.

ADDRESSES: The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take place at the Hyatt Dulles Hotel (Concorde Ballroom), 2300 Dulles Corner Boulevard, Herndon, VA 22071.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joan DeWitt, Director, Funding and Financial Management Division, Public and Indian Housing, Room 4216, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone (202) 708-1872 ext. 4035 (this telephone number is not toll-free). Hearing or speech-impaired individuals may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background

   The Secretary of HUD has established the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation to negotiate and develop a proposed rule that would change the current method of determining the payment of operating subsidies to PHAs. The establishment of the committee is required by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1996 (Pub.L. 105-276, approved October 21, 1998; 112 Stat. 2461) (the ``Public Housing Reform Act''). The Public Housing Reform Act makes extensive changes to HUD's public and assisted housing programs. These changes include the establishment of an Operating Fund for the purpose of making assistance available to PHAs for the operation and management of public housing. The Public Housing Reform Act requires that the assistance to be made available from the new Operating Fund be determined using a formula developed through negotiated rulemaking procedures. The general effective date for the formula (the beginning date of the fiscal year for which PHAs will determine their subsidy eligibility using the new formula) is October 1, 1999.

   On March 16, 1999 (64 FR 12920), HUD announced in the Federal Register the establishment of HUD's Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on Operating Fund Allocation. The March 16, 1999 document also announced the membership list of the negotiated rulemaking committee.

2. Changes in Committee Membership

   The following changes have been made to the membership of the negotiated rulemaking committee:

   1. The Wilmington, DE Housing Authority is no longer a member of the committee. The Executive Director of the Housing Authority has been suspended from his position by the Authority's Board of Commissioners. Further, the Board's need to focus on internal administrative affairs prevents it from devoting the necessary time to fully participate on the negotiated rulemaking committee. Given the committee's need to develop an operating fund formula by the statutory deadline of October 1, 1999, HUD determined that it was necessary to remove the Housing Authority from the committee membership.

   2. The National Organization of African-Americans in Housing (NOAAH) has been added to the committee membership. HUD invited NOAAH to be a member following the membership withdrawal of the Wilmington, DE Housing Authority. NOAAH had advised HUD of its interest in membership prior to final selection of members and had been placed on a list of potential alternates. HUD determined that NOAAH's unique purpose and subject matter competencies merited an invitation for committee membership.

   [[Page 30452]]

3. Upcoming Meetings of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee

   To date there have been three meetings of the negotiated rulemaking committee. The fourth, fifth, and sixth committee meetings will take place as described in the DATES and ADDRESSES section of this document.

   The agenda planned for the committee meetings includes: (1) Workgroup sessions to discuss various issues related to the implementation of an operating fund formula; (2) full committee discussions of the work-products developed by the workgroups; (3) development of draft regulatory language; and (4) the scheduling of future meetings, if necessary.

   In accordance with the General Services Administration (GSA) regulations implementing the Federal Advisory Committee Act, HUD normally publishes a Federal Register meeting announcement at least 15 calendar days before the date of an advisory committee meeting). The GSA regulations, however, also provide that an agency may give less than 15 days notice if the reasons for doing so are included in the Federal Register meeting notice. (See 41 CFR 10-6.1015(b).) Due to the difficulty in obtaining suitable hotel and conference room accommodations in the Washington, DC area, it has not been possible for HUD to announce the date and location of the fourth committee meeting before today. Given the strict statutory deadline for implementation of the Operating Fund formula, HUD believes it is imperative that the negotiations for development of the formula not be delayed. Failure to publish the Operating Fund final rule on a timely basis will delay the provision of operating subsidies to PHAs. Accordingly, rather than defer the negotiations, HUD has decided to proceed with the committee meeting scheduled for June 15 and June 16, 1999.

   The meetings will be open to the public without advance registration. Public attendance may be limited to the space available. Members of the public may make statements during the meeting, to the extent time permits, and file written statements with the committee for its consideration. Written statements should be submitted to the address listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION section of this notice. Summaries of committee meetings will be available for public inspection and copying at the address in the same section.

   Dated: June 2, 1999. Deborah Vincent, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.

   [FR Doc. 99-14456Filed6-7-99; 8:45 am]

   BILLING CODE 4210-33-P