Federal Register: December 22, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 247)
DOCID: FR Doc 00-32739
RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Railroad Retirement Board
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Agency information collection activities:
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Proposed Collection; Comment Request
DOCUMENT 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
[[Page 80966]]
automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Title and purpose of information collection; Application for Employee Annuity Under the Railroad Retirement Act; OMB 32200002.
Section 2 of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA), provides for payment of age and service, disability and supplemental annuities to qualified employees. The basic requirements for a regular employee annuity retirement annuity under the RRA is 120 months (10 years) of creditable railroad service. Benefits then become payable after the employee meets certain other requirements, which depend, in turn, on the type of annuity payable. The requirements relating to the annuities are prescribed in 20 CFR 216, and 220.
The forms used by the RRB to collect information needed for
determining entitlement and the amount of, an employee retirement
annuity follow: Form AA1, Application for Employee Annuity Under the
Railroad Retirement Act, is completed by an applicant for either an age
and service or disability annuity. It obtains information about the
applicants marital history, work history, military service, benefits
from other governmental agencies and railroad pensions. Form AA1d,
Application for Determination of Employee Disability, is completed by
an employee who is filing for a disability annuity under the RRA, or a
disability freeze under the Social Security Act for early Medicare based on a disability. Form G204, Verification of Workers
Compensation/Public Disability Benefit Information, is used to obtain
and verify information concerning worker's compensation or public
disability benefits that are or will be paid by a public agency to a
disabled railroad employee. Completion of the forms is required to
obtain a benefit. One response is requested of each respondent.
The RRB proposes minor nonburden impacting editorial and formatting changes to Forms AA1, AA1d and G204. The RRB estimates that 13,4000 Form AA1's, 5,650 AA1d's and 50 G204's are completed annually. The estimated completion time for Form AA1 is 37 to 62 minutes per response. The estimated completion time for Form AA1d is 35 to 60 minutes per response. The estimated completion time for Form G204 is 15 minutes per response.
The renewal of this information collection will continue the RRB's initiative to consolidate information collections by major functional areas. The purpose of the initiative is to bring related collection instruments together in one collection, better manage the instruments, and prepare for the electronic collection of this information. (A collection instrument can be an individual form, electronic collection, interview, or any other method that collects specific information from the public.)
As part of the OMB renewal process, the RRB proposes that this
collection (OMB 32200002). Application for Employee Annuity under the
Railroad Retirement Act, be renamed RRA Benefit Applications. Upon
approval by OMB, the RRB intends to merge the following OMB approved
collections into this collection by the expected expiration date(s).
Expected
OMB collection No. Title RRB forms expiration
date
32200016......................... Certification of G88......................... 5/31/2002
Relinquishment of Rights.
32200021......................... Evidence of Marital G124, G124a, G237, G238, 1/31/2003
Relationship; Living with G238a. Requirements.
32200030......................... Application for Survivor AA17, AA17 CERT, AA17b, AA 2/28/2004
Insurance Annuities. 18, AA19, AA20.
32200031......................... Application for Survivor AA21, G273a, AA11a, G131, 1/31/2003
Death Benefits. AA21 CERT.
32200032......................... Survivor Questionnaire....... RL94F...................... 6/30/2003
32200042......................... Application for Spouse AA3......................... 6/30/2003
Annuity Under the Railroad Retirement Act.
32200083......................... Evidence for Application of G319, G320................. 11/30/2003 Overall Minimum.
32200099......................... Statement Regarding G134........................ 6/30/2002
Contributions and Support.
32200106......................... Application for Search of G256........................ 7/31/2001 Census Records.
32200123......................... Student Beneficiary G315, G315a, G315a.1...... 11/30/2003 Monitoring.
32200136......................... Public Service Pension G208, G212................. 3/31/2004 Questionnaire.
32200138......................... SelfEmployment Questionnaire AA4......................... 3/31/2004
32200140......................... Employee's Certification..... G346........................ 1/31/2003
32200154......................... Employee Noncovered Service G209........................ 7/31/2002
Pension Questionnaire.
32200155......................... Supplement to Claim of Person G45......................... 6/30/2001
Outside the United States.
32200195......................... Statement Regarding G139........................ 2/28/2002
Contributions and Support of Children.
Revisions to existing collection instruments and, occasionally, a
new instrument related to this program function may be required during
the threeyear cycle of this information collection. The RRB currently
estimates the completion time for Form G88, Certification of
Termination of Service and Relinquishment of Rights at 6 minutes, Form
G124, Statement of Martial Relationship at 15 to 20 minutes, Form G
124a, Statement Regarding Marriage at 10 minutes, Form G237, Statement
Regarding Martial Status at 15 to 20 minutes, Form G238, Statement of
Residence at 3 to 5 minutes, Form G238a, Statement Regarding Divorce
or Annulment at 10 minutes, Form AA17, Application for Widow(ers)
Annuity at 47 minutes, Form AA17cert, Application Summary and
Certification at 20 minutes, Form AA17b, Application for Determination
of Widow(ers) Disability at 40 to 50 minutes, Form AA18, Application
for Mother's/Father's and Childs Annuity at 47 minutes, Form AA19,
Application for Child's Annuity at 47 minutes, Form AA20, Application
for Parent's Annuity at 47 minutes, Form AA21, Application for Lump
Sum Death Payments and Annuities Unpaid at Death at 40 minutes, Form G
273a, Funeral Director's Statement of Burial Charges at 10 minutes,
Form AA11a, Designation or Change of Beneficiary for Residual Lump Sum
at 10 minutes, Form G131, Authorization of Payment and Release of All
Claims to a Death Benefit or Accrued Annuity Payment at 5 minutes, Form AA21CERT, Application Summary and Certification,
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at 20 minutes, Form RL94F. Survivor Questionnaire, at 5 to 11
minutes, Form AA3, Application for Spouse/Divorce Spouse Annuity, at
14 to 30 minutes, Form G319, Employee Annuitant's Statement Regarding
Family and Earnings, at 25 to 60 minutes, Form G320, Statement by
Employee Annuitant Regarding Student Age 1819, at 1430 minutes, Form
G134, Statement Regarding Contributions and Support, at 75 to 85
minutes, Form G256, Application for Search of Census Records, at 10
minutes, Form G315, Student Questionnaire, at 7 minutes, Form G315a,
Statement by School Official of Student's FullTime Attendance, at 2
minutes, Form G315a.1, Notice of Cessation of FullTime Attendance, at
2 minutes, Form G208, Public Service Pension Questionnaire, at 15
minutes, Form G212, Public Service Pension Monitoring Questionnaire,
at 3 minutes, Form AA4, SelfEmployment and Substantial Service Questionnaire, at 40 to 70 minutes, Form G346, Employee's
Certification, at 5 minutes, G209, Employee Noncovered Service Pension
Questionnaire at 1 to 8 minutes, G45, Supplement to Claim of Person
Outside the United States, at 10 minutes, G139, Statement Regarding Contributions and Support of Children, at 15 minutes.
After the last information collection is merged and other necessary adjustments are made, the resultant information collection is expected to total approximately 17,904 annual burden hours. A justification for each action described above (merge collection, revised collection instrument, new collection instrument) will be provided to OMB with a Correction Change Worksheet (OMB Form 83C) at the time the action occurs. With the next renewal of this collection, the RRB will update the information collection package to account for the consolidation and other interim adjustments.
SUMMARY:
Proposed collection; comment request,