Proposed Collection; Comment Request

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Summary: In accordance with the requirement of Section

3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which provides

opportunity for public comment on new or revised data collections, the

Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) will publish periodic summaries of

proposed data collections.

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed information

collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of

the agency, including whether the information has practical utility;

(b) the accuracy of the RRB's estimate of the burden of the collection

of the information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize

the burden related to the collection of information on respondents,

including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of

information technology.

Title and Purpose of Information Collection

Representative Payee Monitoring; OMB 3220-0151.

Under Section 12 of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA), the RRB may

pay annuity benefits to a representative payee when an employee, spouse

or survivor annuitant is incompetent or a minor. The RRB is responsible

for determining if direct payment to an annuitant or a representative

payee would best serve the annuitant's best interest. The

accountability requirements authorizing the RRB to conduct periodic

monitoring of representative payees, including a written accounting of

benefit payments received, are prescribed in 20 CFR 266.7.

The RRB utilizes the following forms to conduct its representative

payee monitoring program.

Form G-99a, Representative Payee Report, is used to obtain

information needed to determine whether the benefit payments certified

to the representative payee have been used for the annuitant's current

maintenance and personal needs and whether the representative payee

continues to be concerned with the annuitant's welfare. The RRB also

includes RRB Form G-99a (Enc), Representative Payee Duties, which

includes the Paperwork Reduction Act notice and a list of

representative payee duties with each RRB Form G-99a released. RRB Form

G-99c, Representative Payee Evaluation Report, is used to obtain more

detailed information from a representative payee who fails to complete

and return Form G-99a, or in situations when the returned Form G-99a

indicates the possible misuse of funds by the representative payee.

Form G-99c contains specific questions concerning the representative

payee's performance and is used by the RRB to determine whether or not

the representative payee should continue in that capacity. Completion

of the forms in this collection is required to retain benefits.

The RRB proposes minor editorial changes to Form G-99a (enc) and to

Form G-99c to incorporate language required by the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995. The addition of the annuitant's social security number is

being proposed to Form G-99a. The completion time for Form G-99a is

estimated at 18 minutes per response. The completion time for Form G-

99c is estimated at between 24 and 31 minutes per response. The RRB

estimates that approximately 6,000 Form G-99a's and 535 G-99c's are

completed annually.

Additional Information or Comments: To request more information or

to obtain a copy of the information collection justification, forms,

and/or supporting material, please call the RRB Clearance Officer at

(312) 751-3363. Comments regarding the information collection should be

addressed to Ronald J. Hodapp, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North

Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092. Written comments should be

received within 60 days of this notice.

Chuck Mierzwa,

Clearance Officer.

[FR Doc. 98-4397 Filed 2-20-98; 8:45 am]

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