Quiero saber acerca de...

45668

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 155 / Monday, August 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
requests for arbitration 206.206b3iiiB so that submission time limits for second appeals and arbitrations are the same.
FEMA believes that there should be consistency between the time to request arbitration and the time to submit second appeals for administrative ease and to reduce potential confusion amongst applicants.
Affected Population The final rule will affect disputes from PA applicants arising from major disaster declarations. Specifically, applicants that 1 submitted a first appeal and received a negative decision, or, 2 have a first appeal pending for more than 180 days and wish to withdraw the appeal in favor of arbitration. Applicants may only request arbitration for disputes in excess of $500,000, or $100,000 in rural areas, and for disputes that arise from major disasters declared on or after January 1, 2016.

lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1

Summary of Regulatory Changes FEMA is revising its PA appeals regulation at 44 CFR 206.206 to add in the new right to arbitration under DRRA, in conjunction with some revisions to the appeals process. DRRA
added arbitration as a permanent alternative to a second appeal under the PA Program, or for applicants that have had a first appeal pending with FEMA
for more than 180 calendar days that may withdraw such appeal and submit a request for arbitration, provided the dispute is in excess of $500,000, or $100,000 in rural areas, and for disputes that arise from major disasters declared on or after January 1, 2016. The other major revisions to 44 CFR 206.206
include adding definitions; adding subparagraphs to clarify what actions FEMA may take and will not take while an appeal is pending and state that FEMA may issue separate guidance as necessary, similar to current 44 CFR
206.209m; adding a finality of decision paragraph; requiring electronic submission for appeals and arbitrations documents; and clarifying overall time limits for first and second appeals.
In the final rule, a non-substantive stylistic change from the NPRM was made to the definition of applicant and recipient in 206.206a. Instead of saying that the applicant or the recipient refers to, the final rule regulatory text says that the applicant or the recipient has the same meaning as. So, the definitions in the final rule regulatory text are: Applicant has the same meaning as the definition at 206.201a and Recipient has the
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:35 Aug 13, 2021

Jkt 253001

same meaning as the definition at 206.201m.
In this final rule, FEMA is adding a definition of Regional Administrator and making changes to the regulatory text regarding first appeals and second appeals at 206.206b1iiA and b2iiA as a result of the 60-day appeals deadline comments.
Additionally, in this final rule, FEMA
is making technical revisions at 206.206b and 206.206b3iA to align the regulatory text with the dispute of the eligibility for assistance or repayment of assistance language of Section 423d1 of the Stafford Act.
FEMA realized that the NPRM at 206.206 was silent regarding the recipient-related first and second appeal time limits. Section 423a of the Stafford Act allows appeals within 60
days. Therefore, in the first appeal time limits portion of the final rule FEMA
aligned with this requirement by adding the following sentence at the end of 206.206b1iiA: A recipient may make a recipient-related first appeal within 60 calendar days from the date of the FEMA determination that is the subject of the appeal and must electronically submit their first appeal to the Regional Administrator. FEMA
also had to make a corresponding addition to the second appeal time limits portion of the final rule by adding the following sentence to the end of 206.206b2iiA: If the Regional Administrator denies a recipient-related first appeal in whole or in part, the recipient may make a recipient-related second appeal within 60 calendar days from the date of the Regional Administrators first appeal decision and the recipient must electronically submit their second appeal to the Assistant Administrator for the Recovery Directorate. This regulatory change is not expected to have a significant economic impact.
FEMA provided clarifying edits to 206.206b3iiiB2 in the final rule, so that an applicant understands that if they choose arbitration pursuant to Section 423d of the Stafford Act, as FEMA has not responded to an applicants first appeal within 180 days, then they must withdraw the pending appeal before they file the request for arbitration. Basically, the applicant cannot arbitrate and appeal at the same time. Plus, FEMA provided clarifying edits to 206.206b3iiiB2 to remove the phrase and the CBCA.
FEMA deleted this phrase, as a pending first appeal would not be pending before the CBCA, so the applicant would have no reason to notify the CBCA of the first appeal withdrawal.

PO 00000

Frm 00048

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

For clarity and to comply with publication requirements found in 1
CFR chapter I, FEMA has revised the final rules definition of urbanized area as an area that consists of densely settled territory that contains 50,000 or more people.
Additional technical changes to the final rule are at 44 CFR
206.206b1ivB1 and b2ivB1 as the Office of Management and Budget OMB revised the cross references from 2 CFR 200.338
to 2 CFR 200.339; as, OMB revised sections of their Guidance for Grants and Agreements. See 85 FR 49506, Aug.
13, 2020.
So in the final rule, FEMA has split the first sentence of 206.206b3iiiB2 into two sentences that say if the first appeal was timely submitted, and the Regional Administrator has not rendered a decision within 180 calendar days of receiving the appeal, an applicant may arbitrate the decision of FEMA. To request arbitration, the applicant must first electronically submit a withdrawal of the pending appeal simultaneously to the recipient and the FEMA Regional Administrator. This regulatory change will not have an economic impact.
FEMA also added clarifying language to the last sentence of 206.206b3iiiB2 by replacing may with must and by adding the phrase to the recipient, the CBCA, and FEMA after arbitration. So, 206.206b3iiiB2 in the final rule says that the applicant must then submit a request for arbitration to the recipient, the CBCA, and FEMA within 30
calendar days from the date of the withdrawal of the pending appeal.
FEMA wants to clarify that if an applicant withdraws a first appeal, then the applicant must submit a request for arbitration within 30 calendar days. If the applicant does not follow the requirements of 206.206b3iiiB2, then the applicants request for arbitration will be denied for timeliness. This regulatory change will not have an economic impact.
The final non-substantive stylistic and grammar changes from the NPRM were made to 206.206c in the final rule.
First, FEMA split the paragraph into two subparagraphs based on whether it dealt with the finality of a FEMA decision or a CBCA decision. Then, FEMA
corrected a grammar error in the first sentence of 206.206c1 by revising constitute to constitutes. Since, FEMA split paragraph 206.206c from the NPRM into two subparagraphs in the final rule, FEMA had to include that final decisions are not subject to further
E:FRFM16AUR1.SGM

16AUR1