[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 88 (Monday, May 7, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23082-23083]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-11417]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2000-8210]


Notice of Request To Renew Approval of an Information Collection: 
OMB No. 2126-0011 (Commercial Driver Licensing and Test Standards)

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that FMCSA intends to submit a request 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewed approval of 
the information collection described below. This information collection 
is needed to ensure that motor carriers and the States are complying 
with notification requirements for information about licensing, 
violations, convictions, and disqualifications within certain time 
periods as required by the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 
(CMVSA), as amended. This notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act.

DATES: Your comments must be submitted by July 6, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand deliver comments to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Dockets Management Facility, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590, or submit electronically at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit. Be sure to include the docket number appearing in 
the heading of this document on your comment. All comments received 
will be available for examination and copying at the above address from 
9 a.m. to 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. 
If you would like to be notified when your comment is received, you 
must include a self-addressed, stamped postcard or you may print the 
acknowledgment page that appears after submitting comments 
electronically.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Larry Slade, (202) 366-5721, 
Office of Safety Programs, State Programs Division (MC-ESS), Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC, 20590. Office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., e.t., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Commercial Driver Licensing and Test 
Standards.
    OMB Number: 2126-0011.
    Background: In 1986, Congress enacted the Commercial Motor Vehicle 
Safety Act (CMVSA), Pub. L. 99-570, Title XII, among other things, to 
establish minimum standards for testing and licensing persons who want 
to operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) by weight or use category, 
and requiring drivers to have a single commercial driver's license 
(CDL) and driving history record. Under 49 CFR 383.5, a CMV is defined 
as a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles which: (a) has a 
gross combination weight rating of 11,794 or more kilograms (kg) 
(26,001 or more pounds (lbs)) inclusive of a towed unit with a gross 
vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of more than 4,536 kg (10,000 lbs); (b) 
has a GVWR of 11,794 kg or more (26,001 or more lbs); (c) is designed 
to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver; or (d) is of 
any size and is used to transport hazardous materials which require the 
motor vehicle to be placarded under the Hazardous Materials 
Regulations, 49 CFR part 172, subpart F.
    The CMVSA requires a driver to notify both their employer and the 
licensing official in the driver's State of licensure of all violations 
of any State or local laws relating to traffic control (except parking 
violations). A person whose CDL is suspended, revoked, or canceled by a 
State, or who is disqualified from operating a CMV for any period, also 
must notify their employer of such actions. A person applying for 
employment as a CMV driver also must notify prospective employers of 
their employment history as a CMV driver for the previous ten years.
    Under section 31309, Title 49, U.S.C. (49 U.S.C. 31309), the 
Secretary of Transportation must maintain an information clearinghouse 
and depository of information about the issuance of license, 
identification, and disqualification of CMV operators, in conjunction 
with Sec. 31106. The Secretary must consult with the States in carrying 
out this section. States must certify that they are in compliance with 
the CDL program. If a State does not substantially comply with these 
requirements, the FMCSA may penalize the State until compliance is 
achieved. The information required to be collected by the States will 
be used to determine whether the States are in substantial compliance 
with these requirements.
    This request for renewed approval includes additional burdens for 
recordkeeping requirements under 49 CFR 384.231(d) concerning retention 
and updating of driver records on the Commercial Driver's License 
Information System (CDLIS).
    Respondents: Motor carriers, CMV drivers, and State government.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 938,995 hours. The information 
collection is comprised of four components:
    (1) Notification of convictions: Estimated number of annual 
responses = 3,333,333 (10 million CDL drivers/3 = 3,333,333). It takes 
approximately 10 minutes to notify a motor carrier concerning 
convictions. Each driver averages approximately 1 conviction every 3 
years. The notification requirement has an estimated annual burden of 
555,556 burden hours. (10 million /3  x  10/60 = 555,556 hours);
    (2) Employment history: Estimated annual turnover rate = 14%. There 
are an estimated 1,400,000 annual responses to this requirement (10 
million  x  .14 = 1,400,000). It takes approximately 15 minutes to 
complete this requirement. The employment history requirement has an 
estimated annual burden of 350,000 hours (10 million  x  .25  x  .14 = 
350,000 hours);
    (3) State compliance and certification: There are 51 responses to 
this requirement (50 States and the District of Columbia). The 
compliance and certification requirement has an estimated annual burden 
of 1,632 hours (51  x  32 hours = 1,632 hours); and
    (4) CDLIS Recordkeeping: 50 States and the District of Columbia are 
required to enter data into CDLIS and to perform record checks before 
issuing, renewing or upgrading a CDL or allowing a CDL transfer. We 
estimate that the average amount of time for each CDLIS inquiry is 2 
minutes. The total burden hours is 31,807 for these combined 
activities: 10, 761 hours for all States to create a new driver; 3,560 
hours for all States to change the state of record; and 17,486 hours 
for all States to change data.

Public Comments Invited

    We invite you to comment on any aspect of this information 
collection, including, but not limited to (1) whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the FMCSA, including whether the information is practical and useful; 
(2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the 
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) 
ways to minimize the collection burden without reducing the quality of 
the information collected.

Electronic Access and Filing

    You may submit or retrieve comments online through the Docket 
Management

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System (DMS) at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit. Acceptable formats 
include: MS Word (versions 95 to 97), MS Word for Mac (versions 6 to 
8), Rich Text File (RTF), American Standard Code Information 
Interchange (ASCII)(TXT), Portable Document Format (PDF), and 
WordPerfect (versions 7 to 8). The DMS is available 24 hours each day, 
365 days each year. Electronic submission and retrieval help and 
guidelines are available under the help section of the web site. You 
may also download an electronic copy of this document from the DOT 
Docket Management System on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov/search.htm. Please include the docket number appearing in the heading 
of this document.


    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.73.

    Issued on: May 2, 2001.
Brian M. McLaughlin,
Acting Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 01-11417 Filed 5-4-01; 8:45 am]
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