Notice of Information Collection and Request for Public Comment
| Citation | 85 FR 86648 |
| Record Number | 2020-28757 |
| Published date | 30 December 2020 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Community Development Financial Institutions Fund,Treasury Department |
86648
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 30, 2020 / Notices
The information collected under this
rule is used by FRA to ensure railroads
operating camp cars comply with all the
requirements mandated in this
regulation to protect the health and
safety of camp car occupants.
Type of Request: Extension with
change (estimates) of a currently
approved collection.
Affected Public: Businesses.
Form(s): N/A.
Respondent Universe: 1 railroad.
Frequency of Submission: On
occasion.
Total Estimated Annual Responses:
6,125.
Total Estimated Annual Burden: 994
hours.
Total Estimated Annual Burden Hour
Dollar Cost Equivalent: $74,440.
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.
Brett A. Jortland,
Deputy Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2020–28830 Filed 12–29–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–06–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund
Notice of Information Collection and
Request for Public Comment
ACTION
: Notice and request for public
comment.
SUMMARY
: The U.S. Department of the
Treasury, as part of a continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent
burden, invites the general public and
other Federal agencies to take this
opportunity to comment on proposed
and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995. Currently, the Community
Development Financial Institutions
(CDFI) Fund, Department of the
Treasury, is soliciting comments
concerning: The Capital Magnet Fund
(CMF) Application (Application), and
reporting and record retention
requirements of the CMF Annual
Performance Report (CMF Performance
Report). Both the Application and CMF
Performance Report are online forms
submitted through the CDFI Fund’s
Award Management Information System
(AMIS).
DATES
: Written comments must be
received on or before March 1, 2021 to
be assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES
: Submit your comments via
email to Daniel Aiello, Program
Manager for the Capital Magnet Fund,
CDFI Fund at cmf@cdfi.treas.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
:
Daniel Aiello, CMF Program Manager,
CDFI Fund, U.S. Department of the
Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20220, (202) 653–
0421 (not a toll-free number), or cmf@
cdfi.treas.gov. Other information
regarding the CDFI Fund and its
programs may be obtained on the CDFI
Fund website at https://
www.cdfifund.gov. Two documents are
provided to aid the public in providing
comments requested by this Notice. The
CMF Application Template, which
presents the questions that will
comprise the online Application,
includes substantive revisions relative
to the existing Application. The
proposed revisions relative to the
existing Application are highlighted in
yellow in the CMF Application
Template. The CMF Performance Report
Data Points presents the information
proposed to be collected in the online
CMF Performance Report. Substantive
changes being made to the CMF
Performance Report are highlighted in
blue in this document, and a list of
proposed deletions is also included.
Both documents may be obtained from
the CMF program page of the CDFI Fund
website at https://www.cdfifund.gov/
cmf.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
:
Title: Capital Magnet Fund
Application; Capital Magnet Fund
Performance Report.
OMB Number: 1559–0036.
Abstract: The Capital Magnet Fund
was established through the Housing
and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
(Pub. L. 110–289) or HERA, as a
competitive grant program administered
by the CDFI Fund. Through CMF, the
CDFI Fund provides financial assistance
grants to Certified Community
Development Financial Institutions
(CDFIs) and qualified Nonprofit
Organizations with the development or
management of Affordable Housing, as
defined in 12 CFR part 1807, as one of
their principal purposes. Capitalized
terms not defined in this Notice (other
than titles) have the meaning set forth
in the CMF Interim Rule (12 CFR part
1807). CMF awards must be used to
attract private financing for and increase
investment in: (i) The Development,
Preservation, Rehabilitation, and
Purchase of Affordable Housing for
primarily Extremely Low-, Very Low-,
and Low-Income Families; and (ii)
Economic Development Activities
which, in conjunction with Affordable
Housing Activities will implement a
Concerted Strategy to stabilize or
revitalize a Low-Income Area or an
Underserved Rural Area.
CMF Award Recipients are selected
through a competitive process involving
a careful review of their Application for
program funding. The Application
requires the submission of quantitative
data and narrative responses for three
parts: (1) Business and Leveraging
Strategy, (2) Community Impact, and (3)
Organizational Capacity. The Award
selection process is defined in the
Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
for each funding round.
CMF Award Recipients enter into
Assistance Agreements with the CDFI
Fund that set forth required terms and
conditions of the Award, including
reporting and data collection
requirements. The Assistance
Agreement requires the submission of
an annual CMF Performance Report.
The information collected in the CMF
Performance Report is reviewed to
ensure the Recipient’s compliance with
its Performance Goals and contractual
obligations, as well as the overall
performance of the program.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
130 (Application); 250 (CMF
Performance Report).
Estimated Annual Time per
Respondent: 120 hours (Application); 20
hours (CMF Performance Report).
Estimated Annual Burden Hours:
15,600 hours (Application); 5,000 hours
(CMF Performance Report).
Request for Comments: Comments
submitted in response to this Notice
will be summarized and/or included in
the request for Office of Management
and Budget approval. All comments will
become a matter of public record and
may be published on the CDFI Fund
website at https://www.cdfifund.gov.
CMF Application
The CDFI Fund is seeking input on
the content of the proposed Application
with regard to the following: (a) Is the
collection of information as proposed
necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility in evaluating
Applications; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden related
to the collection of information; (c) ways
to enhance the quality, utility and
clarity of the information to be
collected; (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of technology; and (e) estimates of
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 30, 2020 / Notices
capital or start-up costs and costs of
operation, maintenance and purchase of
services required to provide
information.
Additionally, the CDFI Fund
specifically requests comments
concerning the following questions
related to the proposed Application (set
forth in the CMF Application Template):
(a) Impact: The proposed Application
includes questions about the intended
impact of an Applicant’s CMF strategy.
(1) How should the CDFI Fund assess
the impact of CMF Awards on Low-
Income Families and communities? (2)
The CDFI Fund has identified for
Applicants a set of impacts in the
proposed Application from which to
choose. Are the current impact choices
sufficiently comprehensive? Are there
impacts that should be added or
modified? (3) The CDFI Fund is
proposing a standard set of metrics for
each impact in the Application. Are the
metrics proposed in the Application
reasonable? Should any be added or
removed?
(b) Entity Types: Financing entities
(including CDFIs) and affordable
housing developers/managers
participate in the CMF program. These
two entity types generally have different
business models and may have different
approaches to using the CMF Award. (1)
Are additional questions or revisions to
existing questions needed in the
Application to further differentiate the
two entity types? If so, please describe
and justify. (2) Both the existing and
proposed Application currently asks
non-CDFI Applicants to self-identify as
financing entities or affordable housing
developers/managers; all CDFIs are
classified as financing entities. Should a
CDFI be permitted to self-identify as an
affordable housing developer/manager if
the CDFI intends to primarily act in a
developer role when executing its CMF
Award strategy?
(c) Areas of Economic Distress and
High Opportunity Areas: Along with
focusing on Areas of Economic Distress,
the CMF authorizing statute enables the
program to prioritize ‘‘projects that
target Extremely Low-, Very Low-, and
Low-Income Families in or outside a
designated economic distress area.’’ To
this end, the CDFI Fund is proposing to
implement this statutory language by
adding High Opportunity Areas, as
defined by the Federal Housing Finance
Agency (FHFA), as a priority alongside
Areas of Economic Distress. High
Opportunity Areas are priorities in the
FHFA’s Duty to Serve Rule, and
generally encompass areas outside of
existing CMF Areas of Economic
Distress, including areas with lower
poverty rates, and is seeking public
comment on the following questions: (1)
Should the CDFI Fund add High
Opportunity Areas as a priority in the
Application? (2) If added, should High
Opportunity Areas be weighted the
same or differently as Areas of
Economic Distress in the evaluation of
Applications? (3) Should the CDFI Fund
rely on the criteria established by the
FHFA in the Duty to Serve Rule to
designate such areas? Under the FHFA
definition, a High Opportunity Area
must (i) be designated by HUD as a
Difficult to Develop Area whose poverty
rate is lower than the rate specified by
FHFA in the most recently published
Duty to Serve Evaluation Guidance; or
(ii) be designated by a state Qualified
Allocation Plan as a high opportunity
area and approved by FHFA in its most
recently published Duty to Serve
Evaluation Guidance. (4) Should the
CDFI Fund consider an alternative,
nationally applicable definition of High
Opportunity Areas instead of the FHFA
definition? If so, what federal sources of
data are available to define these areas
at the census tract level?
(d) Areas of Economic Distress Data
Sets: Currently, the CMF program
publishes a distinct data set for Areas of
Economic Distress for each round, in
part to allow for annual changes to CDFI
Fund areas of emphasis and to reflect
changing market conditions. This
approach is different from other CDFI
Fund programs, which update their
program data every five years and apply
these changes to all program
requirements and Recipients. Should
the CDFI Fund continue to provide a
specific data set of the CMF Areas of
Economic Distress for each round? Or,
should another approach be used to
maintain and update the Areas of
Economic Distress data?
(e) Rental and Homeownership
Housing: Affordable rental housing and
affordable Homeownership are eligible
uses for a CMF Award. The CDFI Fund
has differentiated between the two in
past NOFAs and Applications as each
relates to targeted income levels.
Specifically, the targeted income level
for Homeownership is Low-Income
(80% of Area Median Income (AMI) and
below), compared to a targeted income
level of Very-Low Income (50% AMI
and below) for rental housing. In
addition to targeted income levels, are
there other areas in the proposed
Application where there should be
different approaches to requesting and
evaluating information on
Homeownership and rental housing
strategies?
(f) Economic Development Activities:
The CMF Interim Rule allows up to 30%
of a CMF Award to be used for
Economic Development Activities in
conjunction with affordable housing
and as part of a concerted strategy. In
recent rounds, few Applicants requested
to use their Award for Economic
Development Activities. What, if any,
barriers exist to using CMF Awards for
Economic Development Activities?
What, if any, changes are needed to the
Application to address these barriers?
(g) Priorities: From funding round to
funding round, new priorities may
emerge, such as disaster response, an
economic downturn, or new initiatives.
In the past, the CDFI Fund has
addressed changing priorities on a
round-by-round basis for Applications
in a specific funding round. Should this
approach be continued or adjusted? If it
should be adjusted, what alternative
approach should the CDFI Fund
consider?
(h) Multi-State Service Areas: The
most recent CMF funding round (FY
2020) limits Applicants with multi-state
service areas to a maximum of 15 states.
The limit stems from a statutory
requirement to ensure geographic
diversity among CMF Awards. As a
result, it is important to know which
states can reasonably be expected to be
served during the selection process.
How can the CMF program best ensure
geographic diversity? What, if any,
changes should be made to the current
approach to achieve this goal?
(i) Rural Areas: CMF has a statutory
obligation to ensure geographic
diversity among Metropolitan and rural
areas. Currently, Recipients are limited
to serving rural areas within their
approved Service Area. Should
Recipients be allowed to serve any rural
area census tract in any state, regardless
of Service Area, in order to meet its
rural commitments under the Award?
(j) Leverage: Attracting capital, or
leveraging the CMF Award, is a
statutory requirement and key
component of CMF. (1) Is the current
approach, set forth in the proposed
Application, where Applicants are
asked to describe their different types of
leverage (e.g. Enterprise-Level,
Reinvestment-Level, and Project-Level),
clear? If not, how could it be clearer or
otherwise improved? (2) The CDFI Fund
is considering requesting that
Applicants provide more
documentation about the leverage they
have secured at the time of the
Application. What types of
documentation related to proposed
sources of leverage should the CDFI
Fund collect? What, if any, burdens
would collecting such documentation
place on Applicants? (3) Per the CMF
authorizing statute, Applicants to the
CMF program must leverage their
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 30, 2020 / Notices
Award by at least 10 times. Currently,
the CDFI Fund does not evaluate
Applicants exceeding the 10:1 ratio
more favorably than Applicants that
meet the minimum 10 times benchmark.
Should this approach be changed to
recognize and score more favorably
Applicants with total leverage
exceeding the minimum requirement?
(k) Program Income: During the five-
year Investment Period, the repayment
of principal and/or equity from projects
financed with CMF is considered
Program Income and must be reinvested
in CMF-eligible projects. To date, the
reinvestment has been limited to the
Recipient’s approved Service Area.
Should Recipients be allowed to
reinvest CMF Program Income in
anywhere in the United States without
restriction?
(l) Streamlined Collection of Data on
Track Record/Projections: As part of the
Application, the CDFI Fund collects and
evaluates information from Applicants
related to their five-year track record
and projections. In past Applications,
this information has been collected in a
format that indicates activity (cost and
units) on an annual basis. In the
proposed Application, the information
collection format in Tables A–C has
been changed to a cumulative five-year
basis. Is the approach of collecting
cumulative data sufficient or should the
CDFI Fund continue to collect data for
each year?
(m) Alignment with other Housing
Programs: The CDFI Fund recognizes
that the Low Income Housing Tax Credit
(LIHTC) program is a significant
resource used by many CMF Recipients
in CMF-financed projects. Are there
ways the CDFI Fund can increase
alignment with LIHTC to reduce the
burden on Applicants, particularly
related to requirements or reporting for
tenant income determination, long term
deed restrictions or restrictive
covenants, and income averaging? If so,
please describe specific ways the
alignment could best be achieved?
(n) Loan Loss Reserves/Guarantees:
The capitalization of Loan Loss Reserves
and providing Loan Guarantees are
eligible CMF activities. To ensure
oversight and effective use of CMF
Awards, the CDFI Fund is considering
a requirement that Loan Loss Reserves
or Guarantees provided with a CMF
Award be established as segregated
funds or accounts restricted to provide
credit enhancement only for eligible
CMF activities. Would such a
requirement be feasible for Recipients?
CMF Performance Report
The CDFI Fund is also seeking input
on the content of the CMF Performance
Report. The CMF Assistance Agreement
requires the collection of annual reports
for compliance monitoring and program
evaluation purposes.
Data collected through the CMF
Performance Report consists of three
categories of data: (1) Mandatory data
points, (2) conditionally required data
points based on project characteristics,
financing type or other condition, and
(3) optional data points. For most
compliance measures, AMIS calculates
whether the Recipient is compliant or
non-compliant based on the data
reported into the system. When the
system determines that a non-
compliance has occurred, the Recipient
is required to complete an explanation
of non-compliance prior to submitting
the report to the CDFI Fund.
Comments concerning the CMF
Performance Report are invited on: (a)
Whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the CDFI Fund,
including whether the information shall
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of
the CDFI Fund’s estimate of the burden
of the collection of information; (c) ways
to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of technology; and (e) estimates of
capital or start-up costs and costs of
operation, maintenance, and purchase
of services required to provide
information.
The CDFI Fund also seeks comments
on the following specific questions
related to the proposed CMF
Performance Report:
(a) Data Collection Changes: Are the
proposals for new data points and
deleted data points in the CMF
Performance Report appropriate? As
explained above, proposed changes are
highlighted or listed in the CMF
Performance Report Data Points file.
Will any of the proposed new data
points for the CMF Performance Report
highlighted in this file be infeasible or
overly burdensome to collect?
(b) Bulk Upload of Data: The CMF
Performance Report does not currently
allow Recipients to use a bulk upload
process to create new ‘‘project records’’
in the reporting system. A ‘‘project
record’’ is a unique record that is
created through the entry of basic data
about an investment, such as the
location of the investment, the amount
of the CMF Award Committed, and
other information that typically is
entered when an investment is made;
data in the project record typically does
not have to be revised or changed. The
intent of the current policy is to
minimize the accidental creation of
duplicate ‘‘project records’’ by
Recipients. The CDFI Fund is evaluating
the feasibility of allowing Recipients to
upload and create multiple project
records, such as by uploading a
spreadsheet. How can the CDFI Fund
ensure that Recipients do not create
duplicate records or generate other data
quality issues if ‘‘project records’’ are
allowed to be created in this manner?
(c) Output Reports: The CDFI Fund
began providing output reports
(summary data based on data inputted
by Recipients) in the CMF Performance
Report that can be downloaded for
individual Recipients to use beginning
in July 2020. What modifications to
these reports or other output reports
would be helpful to Recipients?
(d) Data Collection Frequency: An
‘‘annual project report’’ record is a
record within the reporting system that
generally consists of data points that are
updated as a Project progresses, such as
dates, or data that is associated with
single performance years, such as
occupancy in that performance year. A
‘‘project record’’ generally consists of
information entered only one time for
each Project. Is there any data currently
being collected annually on an ‘‘annual
project report’’ record that should be
collected only once? Is there any data on
the ‘‘project record’’ that should be
collected annually instead of only once?
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless the collections of information
displays a valid OMB control number.
Authority: Pub. L. 110–289, 12 CFR part
1807.
Jodie L. Harris,
Director, Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund.
[FR Doc. 2020–28757 Filed 12–29–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810–70–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Office of Foreign Assets Control
Notice of OFAC Sanctions Actions
AGENCY
: Office of Foreign Assets
Control, Treasury.
ACTION
: Notice.
SUMMARY
: The Department of the
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) is publishing the names
of one or more persons that have been
placed on OFAC’s Specially Designated
Nationals and Blocked Persons List
based on OFAC’s determination that one
or more applicable legal criteria were
satisfied. All property and interests in
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