# Information Collections Being Submitted for Review and Approval to Office of Management and Budget
**AGENCY:**
Federal Communications Commission.
**ACTION:**
Notice and request for comments.
**SUMMARY:**
As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or the Commission) invites the general public and other Federal Agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection. Pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, the FCC seeks specific comment on how it might “further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.” The Commission may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.
**DATES:**
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted on or before May 4, 2023.
**ADDRESSES:**
Comments should be sent to *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. Your comment must be submitted into *www.reginfo.gov* per the above instructions for it to be considered. In addition to submitting in *www.reginfo.gov* also send a copy of your comment on the proposed information collection to Nicole Ongele, FCC, via email to *[email protected]* and to *[email protected]* . Include in the comments the OMB control number as shown in the *SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION* below.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
For additional information or copies of the information collection, contact Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991. To view a copy of this information collection request (ICR) submitted to OMB: (1) go to the web page *http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain,* (2) look for the section of the web page called “Currently Under Review,” (3) click on the downward-pointing arrow in the “Select Agency” box below the “Currently Under Review” heading, (4) select “Federal Communications Commission” from the list of agencies presented in the “Select Agency” box, (5) click the “Submit” button to the right of the “Select Agency” box, (6) when the list of FCC ICRs currently under review appears, look for the Title of this ICR and then click on the ICR Reference Number. A copy of the FCC submission to OMB will be displayed.
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), the FCC invited the general public and other Federal Agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection. Comments are requested concerning: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), the FCC seeks specific comment on how it might “further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.”
*OMB Control Number:* 3060-0233.
*Title:* Part 54—Rate-of-Return Carrier Universal Service Reporting Requirements.
*Form Number:* FCC Form 507, FCC Form 508 and FCC Form 509.
*Type of Review:* Extension of a currently approved collection.
*Respondents:* Business or other for-profit.
*Number of Respondents and Responses:* 1,095 respondents; 4,044 responses.
*Estimated Time per Response:* 1-22 hours.
*Frequency of Response:* On occasion and annual reporting requirements.
*Obligation to Respond:* Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in *47 U.S.C. 151-154, 214, 218-220, 221(c), 254,* and *303(r)* .
*Total Annual Burden:* 43,638 hours.
*Total Annual Cost:* No Cost.
*Needs and Uses:* In order to determine which carriers are entitled to universal service support, all rate-of-return regulated (rate-of-return) incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) must provide the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) with the loop cost and loop count data required by section 54.1305 for each of its study areas and, if applicable, for each wire center as that term is defined in *47 CFR part 54* . See *47 CFR 54.1305* and *54.5* . The loop cost and loop count information is to be filed annually with NECA by July 31st of each year, and may be updated occasionally pursuant to section 54.1306. See *47 CFR 54.1306* . Pursuant to section 54.1307, the information filed on July 31st of each year will be used to calculate universal service support for each study area and is filed by NECA with the Commission on October 1 of each year. See *47 CFR 54.1307* . An incumbent LEC is defined as a carrier that meets the definition of “incumbent local exchange carrier” in section 51.5 of the Commission's rules. See *47 CFR 51.5* .
In March 2016, the Commission adopted the Rate-of-Return Reform Order to continue modernizing the universal service support mechanisms for rate-of-return carriers. The Rate-of-Return Reform Order replaced the Interstate Common Line Support (ICLS) mechanism with the Connect America Fund—Broadband Loop Support (CAF-BLS) mechanism. While ICLS supported only lines used to provide traditional voice service (including voice service bundled with broadband service), CAF-BLS also supports consumer broadband-only loops. In March 2016, the Commission adopted the Rate-of-Return Reform Order to continue modernizing the universal service support mechanisms for rate-of-return carriers. The Rate-of-Return Reform Order replaced the Interstate Common Line Support (ICLS) mechanism with the Connect America Fund—Broadband Loop Support (CAF-BLS) mechanism. While ICLS supported only lines used to provide traditional voice service (including voice service bundled with broadband service), CAF-BLS also supports consumer broadband-only loops. For the purposes of calculating and monitoring CAF-BLS, rate-of-return carriers that receive CAF-BLS must file common line and consumer broadband-only loop counts on FCC Form 507, forecasted common line and consumer broadband-only loop costs and revenues on FCC Form 508, and actual common line and consumer broadband-only loop costs and revenues on FCC Form 509. See *47 CFR 54.903(a)* .
In December 2018, the Commission adopted the December 2018 Rate-of-Return Reform Order to require rate-of-return carriers that receive Alternative Connect American Model (A-CAM) or Alaska Plan support to file line count data on FCC Form 507 as a condition of high-cost support. Historically, all rate-of-return carriers received CAF BLS or, prior to that, ICLS, and were required to file line count data on FCC Form 507 as a condition of that support. In recent years, some rate-of-return carriers have elected to receive A-CAM I, A-CAM II, or Alaska Plan instead, and those carriers were not required to file line count data because the requirement to file applied only to rate-of-return carriers receiving CAF BLS. In order to restore a data set that the Commission relied on to evaluate the effectiveness of its high-cost universal service programs, the Commission revised its rules in that Order to require all rate-of-return carriers to file that data. While carriers receiving CAF-BLS must file the line count data on March 31 for line counts as of the prior December 31, the A-CAM I, A-CAM II, and Alaska Plan carriers will be required to file on July 1 of each year to coincide with other existing requirements in OMB Control No. 3060-0986. Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order on Reconsideration, 33 FCC Rcd 11893 (2018) (2018 Rate-of-Return Reform Order). See also *47 CFR 54.313(f)(5)* .
*OMB Control Number:* 3060-0804.
*Title:* Universal Service—Rural Health Care Program.
*Form Numbers:* FCC Forms 460, 461, 462, 463, 465, 466, and 467.
*Type of Review:* Extension of a currently approved collection.
*Respondents:* Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; and State, Local, or Tribal governments.
*Number of Respondents and Responses:* 12,854 unique respondents; 102,681 responses.
*Estimated Time per Response:* 0.30-17 hours.
*Frequency of Response:* On occasion, One-time, Annual, and Monthly reporting requirements.
*Obligation to Respond:* Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in sections 1-4, 201-205, 214, 254, 303(r), and 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, *47 U.S.C. 151-154, 201-205, 214, 254, 303(r),* and *403,* unless otherwise noted.
*Total Annual Burden:* 413,460 hours.
*Total Annual Cost:* No Cost.
*Needs and Uses:* The Commission seeks OMB approval of an extension of this information collection, which is scheduled to expire on May 31, 2023. This collection is utilized for the RHC support mechanism of the Commission's universal service fund (USF). The collection of this information is necessary so that the Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) will have sufficient information to determine if entities are eligible for funding pursuant to the RHC universal service support mechanism, to determine if entities are complying with the Commission's rules, and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. This information is also necessary in order to allow the Commission to evaluate the extent to which the RHC Program is meeting the statutory objectives specified in section 254(h) of the 1996 Act, and the Commission's performance goals for the RHC Program.
The Healthcare Connect Fund Program currently includes FCC Forms 460, 461, 462, and 463 and the Telecom Program currently includes FCC Forms 465, 466, and 467. The information on the FCC Form templates is a representative description of the information to be collected via an online portal and is not intended to be a visual representation of what each applicant or service provider will see, the order in which they will see information, or the exact wording or directions used to collect the information. Where possible, information already provided by applicants from previous filing years or that was pre-filed in the system portal will be carried forward and auto-generated into the form to simplify the information collection for applicants.
*OMB Control Number:* 3060-0819.
*Title:* Bridging the Digital Divide for Low-Income Consumers, Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, Telecommunications Carriers Eligible for Universal Service Support.
*Form No.:* FCC Form 481, 497, 555, 5629, 5630, and 5631.
*Type of Review:* Revision of a currently approved collection.
*Respondents:* Individuals or households and business or other for-profit enterprises.
*Number of Respondents and Responses:* 25,110,064 respondents; 26,877,404 responses.
*Estimated Time per Response:* 0.0167-125 hours.
*Frequency of Response:* Annual, biennial, monthly, daily and on occasion reporting requirements, recordkeeping requirement and third-party disclosure requirement.
*Obligation to Respond:* Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority is contained in Sections 1, 4(i), 5, 201, 205, 214, 219, 220, 254, 303®, and 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and section 706 of the Communications Act of 1996, as amended; *47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 155, 201, 205, 214, 219, 220, 254, 303(r), 403,* and *1302* .
*Total Annual Burden:* 6,534,374 hours.
*Total Annual Cost:* $937,500.
*Needs and Uses:* This revision implements several process and procedural changes made to reflect the full implementation of the National Verifier in all states and territories and updates several of the forms associated with this collection. These changes require minor modifications to the previously approved requirements. These changes have a moderate impact on the overall burden, increasing the burden hours for some requirements and decreasing the burden hours for other requirements.
*OMB Control Number:* 3060-1126.
*Title:* Testing and Logging Requirements for Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA).
*Form Number:* Not applicable.
*Type of Review:* Extension of a currently approved collection.
*Respondents:* Business or other for-profit entities.
*Number of Respondents and Responses:* 76 Participating CMS Providers; 429,020 Responses.
*Estimated Time per Response:* 0.000694 hours (2.5 seconds) to generate each alert log; 2 hours to respond to each request for alert log data or information about geo-targeting
*Frequency of Response:* Monthly and on occasion reporting requirements and recordkeeping requirement.
*Obligation to Respond:* Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this information collection is contained in 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i) and (o), 301, 301(r), 303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 544(g), 606 and 615 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, as well as by sections 602(a), (b), (c), (f), 603, 604 and 606 of the WARN Act.
*Total Annual Burden:* 119,021 hours.
*Total Annual Cost:* No cost.
*Needs and Uses:* The Commission adopted requirements for Participating CMS Providers to log the basic attributes of alerts they receive at their Alert Gateway, to maintain those logs for at least 12 months, to make those logs available upon request to the Commission and FEMA, and to emergency management agencies that offer confidentiality protection at least equal to that provided by federal FOIA. The Commission also requires Participating CMS Providers to disclose information regarding their capabilities for geo-targeting Alert Messages upon request to such emergency management agencies insofar as it would pertain to Alert Messages initiated by that emergency management agency. These recordkeeping and reporting requirements have potential to increase emergency managers' confidence that WEA will work as intended when needed. This increased confidence in system availability encourages emergency management agencies that do not currently use WEA to become authorized. These reporting and recordkeeping requirements also help to ensure a fundamental component of system integrity. Alert logs are necessary to establish a baseline for system integrity against which future iterations of WEA can be evaluated. Without records that can be used to describe the quality of system integrity, and the most common causes of message transmission failure, it would be difficult to evaluate how any changes to WEA may affect system integrity.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.