[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 83 (Monday, April 29, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18712-18713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10522]



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[[Page 18713]]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

49 CFR Part 40

[OST Docket OST-96-1295] [Notice 96-13]
RIN: 2105-AC49


Update of Drug and Alcohol Procedural Rules

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.

ACTION: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation is reviewing its procedural 
rules for drug and alcohol testing. This review is intended to lead to 
a notice of proposed rulemaking to update and clarify provisions of the 
rules. This advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeks suggestions for 
possible changes to the regulation.

DATES: Comments should be received July 29, 1996. Late-filed comments 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Docket Clerk, Docket No. OST-
96-1295, Department of Transportation, 400 7th Street, S.W., 
Washington, D.C., Room PL 401, Washington, D.C., 20590. We request 
that, in order to minimize burdens on the docket clerk's staff, 
commenters send three copies of their comments to the docket. 
Commenters wishing to have their submissions acknowledged should 
include a stamped, self-addressed postcard with their comments. The 
docket clerk will date stamp the postcard and return it to the 
commenter. Comments will be available for inspection at the above 
address from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert C. Ashby, Deputy Assistant 
General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement, 400 7th Street, S.W., 
Room 10424, Washington, D.C., 20590. (202) 366-9306.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Six of the Department's operating 
administrations (the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal 
Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), 
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and 
Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA)) have modal-
specific drug and/or alcohol testing rules. These rules apply to about 
8 million transportation employees who work in safety-sensitive 
positions (e.g., truck drivers, airline pilots, and railroad 
engineers). The operating administration rules impose substantive 
requirements concerning the testing program, on subjects such as which 
employers must conduct tests, which employees are subject to testing, 
what kinds of tests are required, when the tests must be administered, 
the consequences of positive tests and other rule violations, how an 
employee who has violated the rule can return to duty, and what 
recordkeeping and reporting requirements apply to employers. These 
modal rules are not being revisited as part of this rulemaking 
initiative.
    The Office of the Secretary (OST) procedural rule (49 CFR Part 40) 
that is the subject of this advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
(ANPRM) applies to regulated parties through each of the operating 
administration's rules. Part 40 describes, in detail, how the required 
tests must be conducted.
    The drug testing portion of Part 40 closely follows the Mandatory 
Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs of the 
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). With respect to the 
four operating administrations covered by the Omnibus Transportation 
Employee Testing Act of 1991 (FAA, FRA, FHWA, and FTA), the Department 
is required by statute to have procedures consistent with the DHHS 
Guidelines. We are committed, as a matter of policy, to consistency 
with the DHHS Guidelines with respect to the RSPA and Coast Guard drug 
testing programs as well. Consequently, the Department is not, in this 
ANPRM, entertaining comments that would require substantive departures 
from the DHHS Guidelines. Nor is the Department seeking comments on 
significant substantive issues that have, in recent years, been the 
subject of completed or pending rulemaking actions (e.g., review of 
negative drug test results by medical review officers, blood testing 
for alcohol, ``shy bladder'' procedures).
    The Department conceives this ANPRM, then, not as an occasion for 
suggesting major substantive changes to how we test for drugs and 
alcohol, but rather as an opportunity to clarify the myriad details of 
Part 40. We want to make the rule as easy to understand and apply as we 
can, reduce burdens where feasible, take ``lessons learned'' during the 
several years of operating the program under Part 40 into account, 
correct problems that have been identified, clarify areas of 
uncertainty or ambiguity, and incorporate, where appropriate, the 
Department's interpretations of Part 40 into the regulatory text. We 
also anticipate reordering provisions of the rule so that the material 
flows more smoothly and is easier for readers to follow.
    While we are soliciting comments on both the drug and alcohol 
portions of the regulation, we anticipate that the main focus of this 
effort will be on drug testing procedures, which are both more complex 
and older than the alcohol testing procedures. We seek the ideas of 
everyone involved with the program--employers, employees, consortia and 
third-party administrators, laboratories, substance abuse 
professionals, medical review officers, collectors, breath alcohol 
technicians, and other interested persons--to assist us in this 
process.
    The Department is contemplating hosting one or more public meetings 
or other forums during which interested persons can discuss potential 
Part 40 changes with DOT officials and staff. We will issue a notice 
announcing such events when plans are in place.

Regulatory Analyses and Notices

    This ANPRM, which simply requests public input concerning potential 
changes to the Department's drug and alcohol testing procedures, is not 
significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866 or Department of 
Transportation Rulemaking Policies and Procedures.

    Issued this 22nd day of April 1996, at Washington, D.C.
Federico Pena,
Secretrary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 96-10522 Filed 4-26-96; 8:45 am]
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