60 -day FRN (1210-0117) published

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices

The Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Department of Justice (DOJ),
will be submitting the following
information collection request to the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval in
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed
information collection was previously
published in the Federal Register, on
November 11, 2023, allowing a 60-day
comment period.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted for 30 days until March
6, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If
you have comments especially on the
estimated public burden or associated
response time, suggestions, or need a
copy of the proposed information
collection instrument with instructions
or additional information, please
contact: Laura Maruschak, Statistician,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh
Street NW, Washington, DC 20531
(email: laura.maruschak@usdoj.gov;
telephone: 202–598–0802).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written
comments and suggestions from the
public and affected agencies concerning
the proposed collection of information
are encouraged. Your comments should
address one or more of the following
four points:
—Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
—Evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
—Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and/or
—Minimize the burden of the collection
of information on those who are to
respond, including through the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms
of information technology, e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of
responses.

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SUMMARY:

Written comments and
recommendations for this information
collection should be submitted within
30 days of the publication of this notice
on the 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

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function and entering the title of the
information collection. This information
collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the
instructions to view Department of
Justice, information collections
currently under review by OMB.
DOJ seeks PRA authorization for this
information collection for three (3)
years. OMB authorization for an ICR
cannot be for more than three (3) years
without renewal. The DOJ notes that
information collection requirements
submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs
receive a month-to-month extension
while they undergo review.
Overview of This Information
Collection
1. Type of Information Collection:
New collection.
2. Title of the Form/Collection:
National Prisoner Statistics program:
Maternal Health Supplement (NPSMatHealth).
3. Agency form number, if any, and
the applicable component of the
Department of Justice sponsoring the
collection: NPS-MatHealth/Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
4. Affected public who will be asked
or required to respond, as well as a brief
abstract:
Affected Public: State and Federal
Government.
Abstract: In fiscal year 2021, the
United States House Committee on
Appropriations directed that BJS
include statistics in its data collections
that relate to the health needs of
incarcerated pregnant women in the
criminal justice system, including, but
not limited to, the number of pregnant
women in custody, outcomes of
pregnancies, the provision of pregnancy
care and services, health status of
pregnant women, and racial and ethnic
disparities in maternal health, at the
Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels.
To address the directive at the State and
Federal level, BJS developed the NPSMatHealth survey, a 1-time supplement
to the National Prisoners Statistics
program. The survey will request
information on maternal health and
pregnancy outcomes between January 1,
2023 and December 31, 2023, including
provide the annual count of female
admissions to prison tested for
pregnancy, the number of those tests
that were positive, and the number of
pregnancy outcomes by outcome type.
Additionally, the data collected will
capture maternal health services and
accommodations among State DOCs and
the BOP and provide a 1-day count
(December 31, 2023) of pregnant women
by race/Hispanic origin, and the number
of women residing in a nursery or

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residential program in which the infant
resides with the mother.
5. Obligation to Respond: Voluntary.
6. Total Estimated Number of
Respondents: 51.
7. Estimated Time per Respondent:
2.5 hours.
8. Frequency: One-time.
9. Total Estimated Annual Time
Burden: 126 hours.
10. Total Estimated Annual Other
Costs Burden: $4,851.
If additional information is required,
contact: Darwin Arceo, Department
Clearance Officer, Policy and Planning
Staff, Justice Management Division,
United States Department of Justice,
Two Constitution Square, 145 N Street
NE, 4W–218, Washington, DC 20530.
Dated: January 31, 2024.
John R. Carlson,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S.
Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2024–02213 Filed 2–2–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410–18–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security
Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Request for Public
Comment
Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA), Department of
Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The Department of Labor (the
Department), in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act, provides the
general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on
proposed and continuing collections of
information. This helps the Department
assess the impact of its information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand the
Department’s information collection
requirements and provide the requested
data in the desired format. The
Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA) is soliciting
comments on the proposed extension of
the information collection requests
(ICRs) contained in the documents
described below. A copy of the ICRs
may be obtained by contacting the office
listed in the ADDRESSES section of this
notice. ICRs also are available at
reginfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/
public/do/PRAMain).
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted to the office shown in the
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices
ADDRESSES

section on or before April 5,

2024.
James Butikofer,
Department of Labor, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, 200
Constitution Avenue NW, Room N–
5718, Washington, DC 20210, or
ebsa.opr@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:

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I. Current Actions
This notice requests public comment
on the Department’s request for
extension of the Office of Management
and Budget’s (OMB) approval of ICRs
contained in the rules and prohibited
transaction exemptions described
below. This action is not related to any
pending rulemakings and the
Department is not proposing any
changes to the existing ICRs at this time.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor,
and a person is not required to respond
to, an information collection unless it
displays a valid OMB control number.
A summary of the ICRs and the burden
estimates follows:
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Employee Retirement Income
Security Act Section 408(b)(2)
Regulation.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0133.
Affected Public: Private sector,
Business or other for profits.
Respondents: 56,891.
Responses: 1,643,991.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
1,134,055.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $258,506.
Description: The prohibited
transaction described in section
406(a)(1)(C) of ERISA generally
prohibits the furnishing of goods,
services, or facilities between a plan and
a party in interest to the plan. Because
ERISA defines any person furnishing
services to the plan as a ‘‘party in
interest’’ to the plan, a service
relationship between a plan and a
service provider would constitute a
prohibited transaction under section
406(a)(1)(C) in the absence of relief.
Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA provides
relief, however, for service contracts or
arrangements if the contract or
arrangement is ‘‘reasonable,’’ if the
services are necessary for the
establishment or operation of the plan,
and if no more than ‘‘reasonable’’
compensation is paid for the services.
The Department’s final rule under
ERISA section 408(b)(2) (29 CFR
2550.408b–2) requires reasonable

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contracts or arrangements between
employee pension benefit plans and
certain providers of services to such
plans include specified information to
assist plan fiduciaries in assessing the
reasonableness of the compensation
paid for services and the conflicts of
interest that may affect a service
provider’s performance of services.
The Department also issued a class
prohibited transaction exemption as
part of the final rule. The class
exemption grants plan fiduciaries relief
from liability for a prohibited
transaction resulting from the service
provider’s failure to comply with the
regulation’s disclosure requirements.
The Department recognizes that a plan
fiduciary may on occasion unknowingly
enter into a contract or arrangement that
does not meet the requirements of the
regulation for relief under ERISA
section 408(b)(2), in the reasonable
belief that the service provider has
divulged the requisite information. If
the requirements of the rule are not
satisfied, a prohibited transaction occurs
for both the service provider and the
plan fiduciary, but for the availability of
the class exemption.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0133. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on August 31, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Mental Health Parity and
Addiction Equity Act of 2008 Notices.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0138.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households, private sector, not-for-profit
institutions, businesses or other forprofits.
Respondents: 1,323,153.
Responses: 1,323,153.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
941,555.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance):
$1,091,047.
Description: The Paul Wellstone and
Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and
Addiction Equity Act of 2008
(MHPAEA) was enacted on October 3,
2008 as sections 511 and 512 of the Tax
Extenders and Alternative Minimum
Tax Relief Act of 2008 (division C of
Pub. L. 110–343). MHPAEA amends the
Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health
Service Act (PHS Act), and the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). In
1996, Congress enacted the Mental
Health Parity Act of 1996, which
required parity in aggregate lifetime and

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annual dollar limits for mental health
(MH) benefits and medical/surgical
benefits, and codified those provisions
in section 712 of ERISA, section 2705 of
the PHS Act, and section 9812 of the
Code. The changes made by MHPAEA
are codified in these same sections and
include provisions to apply the mental
health parity requirements to substance
use disorder (SUD) benefits and impose
additional requirements for financial
requirements and treatment limitations
for group health plans and health
insurance coverage offered in
connection with a group health plan.
MHPAEA does not apply to small
employers that have between two and
50 employees.
MHPAEA and the final regulations
(29 CFR 2590.712(d)) require plan
administrators to provide two
disclosures regarding MH/SUD
benefits—one providing criteria for
medical necessity determinations
(medical necessity disclosure) and the
other providing the reason for denial of
claims reimbursement (claims denial
disclosure).
Section 203 of title II of division BB
of the Consolidated Appropriations Act
(CAA, 2021) was enacted on December
27, 2020 and amended MHPAEA, in
part, by requiring group health plans
and health insurance issuers offering
group or individual health insurance
coverage that offer both medical/
surgical benefits and MH/SUD benefits
and that impose NQTLs on MH/SUD
benefits to perform and document their
comparative analyses of the design and
application of NQTLs.
The CAA, 2021 also provides that the
Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and
Health and Human Services
(collectively, the Departments) shall
request that a group health plan or
issuer submit the comparative analyses
for plans that involve potential
violations of MHPAEA or complaints
regarding noncompliance with
MHPAEA that concern NQTLs, and any
other instances in which the
Departments determine appropriate.
The CAA, 2021 further requires the
Departments, after review of the
comparative analyses, to share
information on findings of compliance
and noncompliance with the State
where the plan is located or the State
where the issuer is licensed to do
business.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0138. The

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices

current approval is scheduled to expire
on October 31, 2024.1
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Pension Benefit Statement.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0166.
Affected Public: Private sector,
businesses or other for-profits, not-forprofit institutions.
Respondents: 721,876.
Responses: 410,933,333.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
19,675.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance):
$498,958,393.
Description: Section 105(a) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA) requires administrators of
defined contribution plans and defined
benefit plans to provide periodic
pension benefit statements to
participants and certain beneficiaries. If
a defined contribution plan permits
participants and beneficiaries to direct
their own investments, benefit
statements must be provided at least
once each quarter. If the defined
contribution plan does not permit
participants and beneficiaries to direct
their own investments, benefit
statements must be provided at least
once each year. In the case of defined
benefit plans, benefit statements
generally must be provided at least once
every three years. Section
105(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) requires a benefit
statement to indicate the participant’s or
beneficiary’s ‘‘total benefits accrued.’’
On December 20, 2019, ERISA section
105 was amended by section 203 of the
Setting Every Community Up for
Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019
(SECURE Act). As amended, ERISA
section 105 requires, in relevant part,
that ‘‘a lifetime income disclosure . . .
be included in only one pension benefit
statement provided to participants of
defined contribution plans during any
one 12-month period.’’ A lifetime
income disclosure ‘‘shall set forth the
lifetime income stream equivalent of the
total benefits accrued with respect to the
participant or beneficiary.’’ A lifetime
income stream equivalent means the
amount of monthly payments the
participant or beneficiary would receive
if the total accrued benefits of such
participant or beneficiary were used to
provide a single life annuity and a
qualified joint and survivor annuity.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
1 This request for extension of the OMB approval
for ICR is not related to finalizing the proposed
rules published on August 3, 2023 at 88 FR 51552.

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OMB Control No. 1210–0166. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on October 31, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Employee Retirement Income
Security Act Procedure 1976–1;
Advisory Opinion Procedure.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0066.
Affected Public: Private sector,
Business or other for-profits, Not-forprofit institutions.
Respondents: 18.
Responses: 18.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 182.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $477,089.
Description: In 1976, the Department
issued ERISA Procedure 76–1, the
Procedure for ERISA Advisory Opinions
(ERISA Procedure), in order to establish
a public process for requesting guidance
from the Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA) on the
application of ERISA to particular
circumstances. The ERISA Procedure
sets forth specific administrative
procedures for requesting either an
advisory opinion or an information
letter and describes the types of
questions that may be submitted.
As part of the ERISA Procedure,
requesters are instructed to provide
information to EBSA concerning the
circumstances governing their request.
Section 6 of ERISA Procedure 76–1 lists
the information that must be supplied
by the party requesting an advisory
opinion. This information includes
identifying information (name, type of
plan, EIN Number, etc.), a detailed
description of the act(s) or transaction(s)
with respect to which an advisory
opinion is being requested, a discussion
of the issues presented by the act(s) or
transaction(s), a statement of the party’s
views concerning the issues to be
resolved and the legal basis for such
views. The requesting party must also
include copies of the relevant
documents and may also request a
conference with EBSA in the event that
EBSA is considering issuing an adverse
opinion.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0066. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974 Technical Release
1991–1.

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Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0084.
Affected Public: Private sector,
business or other for-profits.
Respondents: 6.
Responses: 18,419.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 623.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $839.
Description: Section 101(e) of ERISA
establishes notice requirements that
must be satisfied before an employer
may transfer excess assets from a
defined benefit pension plan to a retiree
health benefit account, as permitted
under the conditions set forth in section
420 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended (the Code).
The notice requirements of ERISA
section 101(e) are two-fold. First,
subsection (e)(1) requires plan
administrators to provide advance
written notification of such transfers to
participants and beneficiaries. Second,
subsection (e)(2)(A) requires employers
to provide advance written notification
of such transfers to the Secretaries of
Labor and the Treasury, the plan
administrator, and each employee
organization representing participants
in the plan. Both notices must be given
at least 60 days before the transfer date.
The two subsections prescribe the
information to be included in each type
of notice and further give the Secretary
of Labor the authority to prescribe how
notice to participants and beneficiaries
must be given, and how any additional
reporting requirements are deemed
necessary.
On May 8, 1991, the Department
published ERISA Technical Release 91–
1, to provide guidance on how to satisfy
the notice requirements prescribed by
ERISA section 101(e). The Technical
Release made two changes in the
statutory requirements for the second
type of notice. First, it required the
notice to include a filing date and the
intended asset transfer date. Second, it
simplified the statutory filing
requirements by providing that filing
with the Department of Labor would be
deemed sufficient notice to both the
Department and the Department of the
Treasury as required under the statute.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0084. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Disclosures by Insurers to
General Account Policyholders.

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0114.
Affected Public: Private sector,
business or other for-profits.
Respondents: 353.
Responses: 26,981.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
114,670.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $10,792.
Description: Section 1460 of the Small
Business Job Protection Act of 1996
(Pub. L. 104–188) (SBJPA) amended
ERISA by adding section 401(c). This
section requires the Department to
promulgate a regulation providing
guidance, applicable only to insurance
policies issued on or before December
31, 1998, to or for the benefit of
employee benefit plans, to clarify the
extent to which assets held in an
insurer’s general account under such
contracts are ‘‘plan assets’’ within the
meaning of ERISA, because the policies
are not ‘‘guaranteed benefit policies’’
within the meaning of section 401(b) of
ERISA. SBJPA further directed the
Department to set standards for how
insurers should manage the specified
insurance policies (called Transition
Policies). Pursuant to the authority and
direction given under SBJPA, the
Department promulgated a final rule on
January 5, 2000 (65 FR 714) that is
codified at 29 CFR 2550.401c–1.
Regulation section 29 CFR
2550.401(c)–1 imposes specific
requirements on insurers that are parties
to Transition Policies in order to ensure
that the fiduciaries acting on behalf of
plans have adequate information and
understanding of how the Transition
Policies work. This information
collection requires that an insurer that
issues and maintains a Transition Policy
to or for the benefit of an employee
benefit plan must disclose to the plan
fiduciary, initially upon issuance of the
policy and on an annual basis, to the
extent that the policy is not a
guaranteed benefit policy: (1) the
methods by which income and expenses
of the insurer’s general account are
allocated to the policy, the actual
annual return to the plan, and other
pertinent information; (2) the extent to
which alternative arrangements
supported by the assets of the insurer’s
separate accounts are available; (3) any
rights under the policy to transfer funds
to a separate account and the terms
governing such right; and (4) the extent
to which support by assets of the
insurer’s separate accounts might pose
differing risks to the plan.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under

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OMB Control No. 1210–0114. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Registration for EFAST–2
Credentials.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0117.
Affected Public: Private sector, notfor-profit institutions, businesses or
other for-profits.
Respondents: 248,985.
Responses: 248,985.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
82,995.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $0.
Description: The Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA) section 104 requires
administrators of employee benefits
plans (pension and welfare plans) and
employers sponsoring certain fringe
benefit plans and other plans of deferred
compensation to file returns/reports
annually with the Secretary of Labor
concerning the financial condition and
operation of plans. Reporting
requirements are satisfied by filing the
Form 5500 in accordance with its
instructions and the related regulations.
Form 5500 filings are processed under
the ERISA Filing Acceptance System 2
(EFAST–2), which is designed to
simplify and expedite the receipt and
processing of the Form 5500 by relying
on internet-based forms and electronic
filing technologies.
In order to file electronically,
employee benefit plan Filing authors,
Schedule authors, Filing signers, Form
5500 transmitters, and entities
developing software to complete and/or
transmit the Form 5500 are required to
register for EFAST–2 credentials
through the EFAST2 website. The
information requested for registration
includes: Applicant type (Filing Author,
Filing Signer, Schedule Author,
Transmitter, or software developer);
mailing address; fax number (optional);
email address; company name, contact
person; and daytime telephone number.
Registrants must also provide an answer
to a challenge question (‘‘What is your
date of birth?’’ or ‘‘Where is your place
of birth?’’), which enables users to
retrieve forgotten credentials. In
addition, registrants must accept a
Privacy Agreement; PIN Agreement;
and, under penalty of perjury, a
Signature Agreement.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0117. The

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current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Employee Retirement Income
Security Act Blackout Period Notice.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0122.
Affected Public: Private sector,
businesses or other for-profits, not-forprofit institutions.
Respondents: 47,250.
Responses: 7,409,220.
Estimated Total Burden Hours:
88,905.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $324,524.
Description: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
(SOA), enacted on July 30, 2002,
amended ERISA to include a blackout
period disclosure requirement in
subsection 101(i). This information
collection requires administrators of
individual account pension plans (e.g.,
a profit sharing plan, 401(k) type plan
or money purchase pension plan) to
provide at least 30 days advance written
notice to the affected participants and
beneficiaries in advance of any
‘‘blackout period’’ during which their
existing rights to direct or diversify their
investments under the plan, or obtain a
loan or distribution from the plan will
be temporarily suspended. The term
‘‘blackout period’’ is generally defined
as any period of more than three
consecutive business days during which
time the ability of plan participants and
beneficiaries to direct or diversify
investments or to obtain loans or
distributions is suspended, limited or
restricted.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0122. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: Coverage of Certain Preventive
Services under the Affordable Care
Act—Private Sector.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0150.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households, private sector, businesses
or other for-profits, not-for-profit
institutions.
Respondents: 114.
Responses: 777,363.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 181.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $194,963.
Description: The Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act, Public Law

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 24 / Monday, February 5, 2024 / Notices

111–148, (the Affordable Care Act) was
enacted on March 23, 2010 and
amended by the Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,
Public Law 111–152 on March 30, 2010.
The Affordable Care Act added section
2713 to the Public Health Service (PHS)
Act and incorporated this provision into
ERISA and the Code. The Departments
of Health and Human Services, Labor,
and Treasury first published interim
final rules on July 19, 2010, which
implements the requirements of PHS
Act section 2713, including the
requirement that non-grandfathered
group health insurance coverage to
provide benefits for certain preventive
services without cost sharing, including
benefits for certain women’s preventive
health services as provided for in
comprehensive guidelines supported by
the Health Resources and Services
Administration. The Departments
subsequently published regulations
establishing an exemption for certain
religious objectors with respect to the
requirement to cover contraception
pursuant to comprehensive guidelines
supported by HRSA.
In 2013, the Department issued final
rules, which clarified the definition of
religious employer for purposes of the
religious employer exemption and also
provided accommodations for health
coverage established or maintained or
arranged by certain nonprofit religious
organizations with religious objections
to contraceptive services (eligible
organizations). The 2018 final rules
expanded the exemption to include
additional entities (any kind of
employer) and persons that object based
on religious beliefs or moral convictions
objecting to contraceptive or
sterilization coverage, and by making
the accommodation compliance process
optional for eligible organizations
instead of mandatory. The regulations
contain the following collections of
information. First, each organization
seeking to be treated as an eligible
organization for the optional
accommodation process offered under
the regulation must either notify an
issuer or third-party administrator using
the EBSA Form 700 method of selfcertification or provide notice to HHS of
its religious or moral objection to
coverage of all or a subset of
contraceptive services. Second, a health
insurance issuer or third-party
administrator providing or arranging
separate payments for contraceptive
services for participants and
beneficiaries in insured plans (or
student enrollees and covered
dependents in student health insurance
coverage) of eligible organizations is

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required to provide a written notice to
plan participants and beneficiaries (or
student enrollees and covered
dependents) informing them of the
availability of such payments. The
notice must be separate from but,
contemporaneous with (to the extent
possible) any application materials
distributed in connection with
enrollment (or re-enrollment) in group
or student coverage of the eligible
organization in any plan year to which
the accommodation is to apply and will
be provided annually. To satisfy the
notice requirement, issuers may, but are
not required to, use the model language
set forth in the 2018 final rules or
substantially similar language. Third, an
eligible organization may also revoke its
use of the accommodation process and
must provide participants and
beneficiaries written notice of such
revocation as soon as possible.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0150. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.2
Agency: Employee Benefits Security
Administration, Department of Labor.
Title: EBSA Participant Assistance
Program Customer Survey.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210–0161.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households.
Respondents: 11,200.
Responses: 11,200.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,867.
Estimated Total Burden Cost
(Operating and Maintenance): $0.
Description: EBSA conducts the
surveys to evaluate the Participant
Assistance Program (PAP) provided by
the benefits advisor staff nationwide to
understand how well the Agency is
meeting service delivery goals by; (1)
assessing EBSA’s customers’ perception
of the services provided by the EBSA
benefit advisors, and (2) determining
what actions the performance data
indicate could enable each regional
office to provide the best possible
participant assistance service; and (3)
establishing a current baseline for
EBSA’s (Government Performance and
Accountability Act GPRA)
measurement. EBSA will use the data
from the survey to track the agency’s
progress on accomplishing it’s GPRA
measurement goal.
The PAP Customer Survey collects
customer satisfaction data for a sample
2 This request for extension of the OMB approval
for ICR is not related to finalizing the proposed
rules published on February 2, 2023 at 88 FR 7236.

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of private citizens who call into the
participant assistance program to ask
about their private sector employer
provided benefits such as pensions,
retirement savings, and health benefits.
Three types of callers are queried: (1)
those who need benefit claim assistance,
(2) those who have a valid benefit claim,
and (3) those who have an invalid
benefit claim will be queried. The
results of the survey will be analyzed to
provide actionable data that could be
used to improve program performance.
The study includes data from the EBSA
regional offices in Atlanta, Boston,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Kansas City,
Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia,
and San Francisco, as well as the
District offices in Miami, Seattle, and
Washington.
The Department has received
approval from OMB for this ICR under
OMB Control No. 1210–0161. The
current approval is scheduled to expire
on November 30, 2024.
II. Focus of Comments
The Department is particularly
interested in comments that:
• Evaluate whether the collections of
information are necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
• Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the collections of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
• Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., by permitting electronic
submissions of responses.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the ICR for OMB approval
of the information collection; they will
also become a matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 29th day of
January 2024.
Lisa M. Gomez,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, U.S. Department of
Labor.
[FR Doc. 2024–02176 Filed 2–2–24; 8:45 am]
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