[Federal Register: March 20, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 53)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 11879-11880]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20mr09-12]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement
45 CFR Parts 302, 303 and 307
RIN 0970-AC01
State Parent Locator Service; Safeguarding Child Support
Information
AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Administration for
Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Delay of effective date.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from
the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled
``Regulatory Review,'' this action temporarily delays until May 22,
2009, the effective date of the final rule entitled ``State Parent
Locator Service; Safeguarding Child Support Information,'' published in
the Federal
[[Page 11880]]
Register on September 26, 2008 [73 FR 56422]. The temporary delay in
effective date is necessary to give Department officials the
opportunity for further review of the issues of law and policy raised
by this rule.
DATES: The effective date of the rule amending 45 CFR parts 302, 303,
and 307, published in the September 26, 2008 Federal Register [73 FR
56422] is delayed until May 22, 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvette Riddick, Office of Child
Support Enforcement, Division of Policy, (202) 401-4885.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On September 26, 2008, we published a final rule following notice
and comment period entitled ``State Parent Locator Service;
Safeguarding Child Support Information'' in the Federal Register to
address requirements for State Parent Locator Service responses to
authorized location requests, State IV-D program safeguarding of
confidential information, authorized disclosures of this information,
and restrictions on the use of confidential data and information for
child support purposes with exceptions for certain disclosures
permitted by statute. The effective date given for the final rule was
March 23, 2009.
In the March 3, 2009 Federal Register [74 FR 9171], we published a
notice with comment period entitled, ``State Parent Locator Service;
Safeguarding Child Support Information: Proposed Delay of Effective
Date.'' That notice solicited public comments on a contemplated 60-day
delay in the effective date of the September 26, 2008 final rule.
II. Provisions of This Action
This action delays the effective date of the September 26, 2008
final rule. The effective date of the September 26, 2008 final rule,
which would have been March 23, 2009, is now May 22, 2009. The delay in
the effective date is necessary to give Department officials the
opportunity for further review of the issues of law and policy raised
by the rule.
III. Comments Received in Response to the March 3, 2009 Notice
We received fifteen comments in response to the March 3, 2009
notice with comment period on the contemplated 60-day delay in
effective date of the ``State Parent Locator Service; Safeguarding
Child Support Information'' final rule. Although the March 3, 2009
notice invited comments generally on whether a delay in effective date
was needed ``to allow Department officials the opportunity for further
review and consideration,'' it also generated focused comments
recommending changes to several particular substantive areas of the
final rule. The commenters generally supported delaying the effective
date, and as a result, we are delaying the effective date to May 22,
2009, to allow sufficient time for Department officials to review
issues of law and policy raised by the rule.
A summary of the comments received follows.
Comments: Three commenters supported delaying the implementation
date of the final rule. Two of the commenters stated that the delay was
necessary to allow additional time to implement the new requirements
and the other commenter supported a delay in the effective date of the
rule to allow an additional 60 days for review. One State submitted a
comment indicating that it did not need an extension of the effective
date in order to implement the regulation.
Several comments addressed the substance of the rule rather than
the effective date. One commenter indicated that the final rule
appeared to prohibit the State IV-D agency from disclosing confidential
information, such as child support payment records, to other State
agencies, including the State food assistance (Food Stamps) program and
the State revenue (Tax) program. Another commenter stated that a delay
in the effective date would give the Administration an opportunity to
conduct a review of the child welfare data exchange provisions of the
rule to ensure that the provisions of the rule conform with The
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (Pub. L.
110-351), signed into law on October 7, 2008, after the rule was
finalized.
Several commenters raised specific policy objections to the
September 26, 2008 final rule. Two commenters raised concerns about the
rules for disclosure of confidential location information. Another
commenter stated that the regulations need to be reviewed and revised
to assure significantly greater protection of that information from use
for non-child support purposes.
Additionally, a number of commenters focused on the disclosure of
information to an ``agent of a child'' and raised concerns that some
private collection agencies may not actually serve the child's best
interests and raised concerns that these private entities are not
subject to ethics and confidentiality rules, such as those governing
State agencies and attorneys, and there may be unintended adverse
consequences of such disclosures.
Response: The Department believes that the comments received on the
notice published in the Federal Register on March 3, 2009 [74 FR 9171]
soliciting comments on the temporary delay in the effective date of the
rule generally support a 60-day delay until May 22, 2009. Thus the
Department is delaying the effective date of the final rule 60 days to
allow sufficient time for Department officials to review issues of law
and policy raised by the rule.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program No. 93.563, Child
Support Enforcement)
Dated: March 17, 2009.
Charles E. Johnson,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-6165 Filed 3-19-09; 8:45 am]
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