[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 232 (Wednesday, December 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67733-67734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-30104]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2003-16471]


Notice of Request To Renew Approval of an Information Collection: 
OMB Control 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 obtaining 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 February 2, 2004.

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. Ronald Finn, (202) 366-0647, 
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 (Public Law 99-570, Title XII, 100 Stat. 3207-170) 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:

[[Page 67734]]

(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 or more kg (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 as 
hazardous materials are defined in 49 CFR 383.5.
    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.
    Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 31309, the Secretary of Transportation 
(Secretary) must maintain an information clearinghouse and depository 
of information about the issuance of a license, and identification and 
disqualification of CMV operators, in conjunction with 49 U.S.C. 31106. 
The Secretary may 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). These requirements also include the 
maintenance of such driver records and driver identification data on 
the CDLIS as the FMCSA finds are necessary to implement and enforce the 
disqualifications called for in 49 U.S.C. 384.215 through 384.219, and 
384.221 through 384.224.
    Respondents: Motor carriers, CMV drivers and State governments.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,080,345 hours. The information 
collection is comprised of four components:
    (1) Notification of convictions: Estimated number of annual 
responses = 3,776,667 (11.3 million CDL drivers/3 = 3,776,667). 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 
627,778 burden hours (11.3 million CDL drivers/3 x 10/60 = 627,778 
hours);
    (2) Employment history: Estimated annual turnover rate = 14%. There 
are an estimated 1,582,000 annual responses to this requirement (11.3 
million CDL drivers x .14 annual turnover rate = 1,582,000). It takes 
approximately 15 minutes to complete this requirement. The employment 
history requirement has an estimated annual burden of 395,500 hours 
(1,582,000 annual responses x 15 min./60 = 395,500 hours);
    (3) State compliance and certification: There are 51 responses to 
this requirement (50 States and the District of Columbia) and it takes 
approximately 32 hours to complete each response. The compliance and 
certification requirement has an estimated annual burden of 1,632 hours 
(51 responses x 32 hours = 1,632 hours); and
    (4) CDLIS Recordkeeping: Fifty (50) States and the District of 
Columbia are required to enter data into CDLIS about operators of CMVs 
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 
55,435 for these combined activities: 12,160 hours for all States to 
create a new driver; 4,023 hours for all States to change the State of 
record; 19,759 hours for all States to change data and 19,493 hours to 
enter citizenship information.
    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 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.

Warren E. Hoemann,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-30104 Filed 12-2-03; 8:45 am]
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