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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 154 / Friday, August 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations per State. At $800 per State, the remote access requirement is expected to result in one-time costs of about $25,600 for the remaining 32 States.
Similarly, existing policy requires a State to notify FNS of its intent to enter into a contract for the purposes of training State QC Reviewers SQCRs, to provide a copy of its contract and all deliverables to FNS, and any contractor activities or deliverables not complying with Federal regulations and policy are not eligible for Federal reimbursement.
Current policy also requires that the State document any discussions about individually sampled cases within the QC record for subsequent review and auditing purposes.
In addition to codifying the existing requirement to document discussion about individually sampled cases, this rule places additional requirements if the State discusses individual sampled cases with a contractor. If the discussion occurs orally, FNS must be given notice 24 hours in advance of the discussion and must be allowed to participate in the discussion. If the discussion occurs in writing, the State must ensure that FNS is copied on all written correspondence discussing individual sampled cases. FNS estimates this new notification requirement will affect 5
State agency respondents once per year.
Costs:
The Department anticipates minimal costs associated with this rule. As noted above, the rule provisions primarily implement activities that are current policies and practice.
FNS does anticipate a small increase in reporting burden for State agencies associated with the requirement that States notify FNS in advance or copy FNS on written correspondence when the State discusses individual sampled cases with a contractor. As described in the Paperwork Reduction Act section of this rule, FNS anticipates that 5 States will be required to submit such notification once per year, for an additional 0.4 hours in reporting burden annually. Because FNS has already addressed situations where States used contractors improperly, we expect States to discuss individual cases with contractors only on rare occasions.
No additional Federal costs are anticipated; any staff time devoted to these activities will be part of the normal duties of Federal staff.
Benefits:
The Department anticipates that these interim final provisions will improve Federal oversight of State QC systems and improve the integrity of Statereported QC data used to determine SNAP error rates.

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Transfers:
The Department does not anticipate any changes in transfers associated with this rule.
Alternatives:
The 2018 Farm Bill required that the Department implement specific changes to current QC operations and eliminated performance bonus payments to States.
Therefore, no alternatives were considered.
Regulatory Flexibility Act The Regulatory Flexibility Act 5
U.S.C. 601612 requires Agencies to analyze the impact of rulemaking on small entities and consider alternatives that would minimize any significant impacts on a substantial number of small entities. Rules that are exempt from notice and comment are also exempt from the Regulatory Flexibility Act requirements, including conducting a regulatory flexibility analysis, when among other things the agency for good cause finds that notice and public procedure are impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest.
Congressional Review Act Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs designated this rule as not major, as defined by 5 U.S.C. 8042.
Executive Order 12372
SNAP is listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance under Number 10.551. For the reasons set forth in the Final Rule codified in 7 CFR part 3015, subpart V and the related Notice 48 FR 29115, this Program is excluded from the scope of Executive Order 12372, which requires intergovernmental consultation with State and local officials.
Federalism Summary Impact Statement Executive Order 13132 requires Federal agencies to consider the impact of their regulatory actions on State and local governments. Where such actions have federalism implications, agencies are directed to provide a statement for inclusion in the preamble to the regulations describing the agencys considerations in terms of the three categories called for under Section 6b2B of Executive Order 13121.
The Department has considered the impact of this interim rule on State and local governments and has determined that this rule does not have federalism implications. Therefore, under Section 6b of the Executive Order, a federalism summary is not required.

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Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform This interim final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform. This rule is intended to have preemptive effect with respect to any State or local laws, regulations or policies which conflict with its provisions or which would otherwise impede its full and timely implementation. This rule is not intended to have retroactive effect unless so specified in the Effective Dates section of the final rule. Prior to any judicial challenge to the provisions of the final rule, all applicable administrative procedures must be exhausted.
Civil Rights Impact Analysis FNS has reviewed the interim final rule, in accordance with the Department Regulation 4300004, Civil Rights Impact Analysis, to identify and address any major civil rights impacts the interim final rule might have on minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. A comprehensive Civil Rights Impact Analysis CRIA was conducted on the interim final rule, including an analysis of data and provisions contained in the interim final rule. The CRIA outlines outreach and mitigation strategies to lessen any possible civil rights impacts. The CRIA
concludes the interim final rule will impact State agencies by including cases processed by SSA in the error rate determination; however, this will not change the rate at which these households are selected for review. The Department finds that the implementation of mitigation strategies and monitoring by the FNS Civil Rights Division and FNS SNAP may lessen any impacts. SNAP has procedures in place to provide special accommodations for the QC review should elderly persons and individuals with disabilities request accommodation. These accommodations are described at 7 CFR 275.12c1, which provides that if there is a hardship to the household in attending the QC interview, the reviewer must interview the households authorized representative if they have one or go to the households home. Additionally, FNS SNAP will continue to work with State agencies to ensure they are aware of their responsibility to provide special accommodation for the elderly and disabled persons during QC reviews. If necessary, the FNS Civil Rights Division will propose further mitigation and outreach strategies to alleviate impacts that may result from the implementation of the interim final rule.

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