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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 7 / Tuesday, January 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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concerning 75.300c and d, continued lawsuits, and a careful consideration of its authorities, the Department proposed amending these provisions in November of 2019. 84 FR
63831 Nov. 19, 2019.
OMBs January 2020 Proposed Rule Updating the Uniform Guidance Consistent with 2 CFR 200.109, which requires OMB to review the Uniform Guidance every five years, on January 22, 2020, OMB issued a proposed rule to update the Uniform Guidance. 85 FR
3766 Jan. 27, 2020. With respect to OMBs Statutory and National Policy Requirements provision, OMB proposed to amend the first sentence of 200.300a to include references to the U.S. Constitution and federal law and specific references to free speech and religious liberty, in addition to the specific references currently in 200.300a. Thus, under the proposed guidance, the Federal awarding agency would be required to manage and administer the Federal award in a manner so as to ensure that Federal funding is expended and associated programs are implemented in full accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Federal Law, statutory, and public policy requirements, including those protecting free speech, religious liberty, public welfare, the environment, and prohibiting discrimination. 85 FR at 3793. According to OMB, the purpose for the proposed revisions are to align with Executive Orders E.O. 13798
Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty and E.O. 13864 Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities. These Executive Orders advise agencies on the requirements of religious liberty laws, including those laws that apply to grants, and set forth a policy of free inquiry at institutions receiving Federal grants; the proposed revisions would underscore the importance of compliance with the First Amendment. 85 FR at 3768. The comment period closed on March 23, 2020. On August 13, 2020, OMB issue the final Guidance for Grants and Agreements, 85 FR 49506 Aug. 13, 2020. As amended in the final rule, section 200.300a provides that the federal awarding agency would manage and administer federal awards so as to ensure that funding and associated programs are implemented and managed in full accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Federal Law, and public policy requirements, including those protecting free speech, religious liberty, public welfare, the environment, and prohibiting discrimination. The Department anticipates that it will, as
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appropriate, amend its UAR to align with any changes adopted to the Uniform Guidance.13
III. Statutory Authority As discussed above, in promulgating the UAR and Part 75, both OMB and the Department relied almost exclusively on the Housekeeping Statute, 5 U.S.C. 301, and the financial management statutes in 2 CFR 200.103 and 45 CFR 75.103.
These include the Chief Financial Officers Act, 31 U.S.C. 503, the Budget and Accounting Act, 31 U.S.C. 1101
1125, the Single Audit Act, 31 U.S.C.
61016106, and several Executive Orders dictating internal government practice.
The Department also has statutory authority to issue regulations to enforce certain government-wide statutory civil rights nondiscrimination statutes, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin by recipients of Federal financial assistance; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally assisted education programs, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C.
794 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities conducted by, or receiving financial assistance from, federal agencies, and the Age Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq. prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age in programs and activities receiving financial assistance from federal agencies. There are also certain program specific nondiscrimination provisions where the Department has the authority to issue enforcement regulations. These include section 471a18 of the Social Security Act SSA, 42 U.S.C. 671a18 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in Title IVE
adoption and foster care programs, and section 508 of the SSA, 42 U.S.C. 708
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, disability, sex, or religion in Maternal 13 The changes to 200.300a seem to address many of the issues that led the Department to propose the changes that it did to 75.300c and d. The Department finalizes the amendments to 75.300c and d with no substantive changes from the proposed rule. However, as the Department gains experience in implementing the updated provisions, it will consider whether the changes made to section 200.300a obviate any need for the Departments 75.300c and d and, thus, whether it should repeal such provisions.

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and Child Health Services Block Grant programs.14
IV. Section-by-Section Description of the Final Rule and Response to Public Comments The Department provided a 30-day comment period, which closed on December 19, 2019. The Department received well over 100,000 public comments. After considering the comments, the Department finalizes the proposed rule with the changes described in this section, in which the Department discusses the public comment, its responses, and the text of the final rules.
General Comments Comment: Several comments stated 30 days was not sufficient time to comment on the proposed rule and asked the Department to extend the comment period.
Response: The Department appreciates the commenters suggestions, but respectfully disagrees that the 30-day comment period was insufficient and declines to extend the comment period. The APA does not have a minimum time period for comments, and 30-day comment periods are often provided in rulemakings. The comment period closed 30 days after publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register on November 19, 2019, but the proposed rule went on display at the Office of the Federal Register on November 18, 2019, and on the Departments website on November 1, 2019. See https www.hhs.gov/about/
news/2019/11/01/hhs-issues-proposedrule-to-align-grants-regulation.html.
This is consistent with the 2016 Rule, which was also the subject of a 30-day comment period. See Health and Human Services Grant Regulation, 81
FR 45270 July 13, 2016 establishing a comment period that closed on August 16, 2016.
The comment period provided ample time for the submission of more than 100,000 comments by a variety of interested parties, including extensive comments by a number of entities.
Those comments offer a broad array of perspectives on the provisions that the Department proposed to modify in its repromulgation of the 2016 Rule. The number and comprehensiveness of the comments received disprove commenters claim that the 30-day comment period was insufficient.
Accordingly, after reviewing the public 14 The Department is authorized to issue regulations for the efficient administration of its functions in the Social Security Act programs for which it is responsible. See SSA 1102a, 42 U.S.C.
1302a.

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