[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23792-23793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9548]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2012-0031]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension of Two 
Currently-Approved Information Collection Requests: Financial and 
Operating Statistics for Motor Carriers of Property

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces FMCSA's plan to submit to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) its request to extend two currently-approved information 
collection requests (ICRs) as follows: (1) OMB Control Number 2126-0032 
entitled, ``Annual Report of Class I and Class II Motor Carriers of 
Property (formerly OMB 2139-0004),'' and (2) OMB Control Number 2126-
0033 entitled, ``Quarterly Report of Class I Motor Carriers of Property 
(formerly OMB 2139-0002).'' These ICRs are necessary to ensure that 
motor carriers comply with FMCSA's financial and operating statistics 
requirements at chapter III of title 49 CFR part 369 entitled, 
``Reports of Motor Carriers.'' The agency invites public comment on 
these ICRs.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 19, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2012-0031 insert new 
number using any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and 
docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the exemption process, see the Public 
Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street 
address listed above.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket Management System 
published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or 
you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8-794.pdf.
    Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 
24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic 
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section 
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. If you want us to notify 
you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that 
appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the 
comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be 
considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Vivian Oliver, Office of Research 
and Information Technology, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-2974; email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The Annual Report of Class I and 
Class II Motor Carriers of Property (Form M) and the Quarterly Report 
of Class I Motor Carriers of Property (Form QFR) are mandated reporting 
requirements for all for-hire motor carriers (See 49 U.S.C. 14123; and 
implementing FMCSA regulations at 49 CFR part 369). The Secretary of 
Transportation (Secretary) has exercised his discretion under section 
14123 to also require Class I property carriers (including dual-
property carriers), Class I household goods carriers and Class I 
passenger carriers to file quarterly reports. Motor carriers (including 
interstate and intrastate) subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Regulations are classified on the basis of their gross carrier 
operating revenues.\1\
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    \1\ For purposes of the Financial and Operating Statistics 
(F&OS) program, carriers are classified into the following three 
groups: (1) Class I carriers are those having annual carrier 
operating revenues (including interstate and intrastate) of $10 
million or more after applying the revenue deflator formula as set 
forth in Note A of 49 CFR 369.2; (2) Class II carriers are those 
having annual carrier operating revenues (including interstate and 
intrastate) of at least $3 million, but less than $10 million after 
applying the revenue deflator formula as set forth in 49 CFR 369.2; 
and (3) Class III carriers are those having annual carrier operating 
revenues (including interstate and intrastate) of less than $3 
million after applying the revenue deflator formula as set forth in 
Note A of 49 CFR 369.2.
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    Under the Financial and Operating Statistics (F&OS) program, FMCSA 
collects from Class I and Class II property carriers balance sheet and 
income statement data along with information on safety needs, tonnage, 
mileage, employees, transportation equipment, and other related data. 
FMCSA may also ask carriers to respond to surveys concerning their 
operations. The data and information collected would be made publicly 
available and used by FMCSA to determine a motor carrier's compliance 
with the F&OS program requirements prescribed at chapter III of title 
of 49 CFR part 369.
    The regulations were formerly administered by the Interstate 
Commerce Commission and later transferred to the Secretary on January 
1, 1996, by section 103 of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 
104-88, 109 Stat. 803 (Dec. 29, 1995)), now codified at 49 U.S.C. 
14123. On September 30, 1998, the Secretary delegated and transferred 
the authority to administer the F&OS program to the former Bureau of 
Transportation Statistics (BTS), now part of the Research and 
Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), to former chapter XI, 
subchapter B of 49 CFR part 1420 (63 FR 52192).
    On September 29, 2004, the Secretary transferred the responsibility 
for the F&OS program from BTS to FMCSA in the belief that the program 
was more aligned with FMCSA's mission and its other motor carrier 
responsibilities (69 FR 51009). On August 10, 2006, the Secretary 
published a final rule (71 FR 45740) that transferred and redesignated 
certain motor carrier financial and statistical reporting regulations 
of BTS, that were formerly located at chapter XI, subchapter B of title 
49 CFR part 1420, to FMCSA under chapter III of title 49 CFR part 369.
    FMCSA plans to initiate a regulatory proceeding in the near future 
that will

[[Page 23793]]

result in the elimination of two quarterly reporting requirements that 
are currently reported to OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520). These forms include: (1) Form QFR 
Quarterly for property carriers, authorized by OMB under information 
collection 2126-0033; and (2) the Class I passenger carrier financial 
quarterly survey (MP-1 Quarterly), authorized by OMB under information 
collection 2126-0031. The FMCSA does not have the statutory authority 
to eliminate the annual reporting requirements for property or 
passengers. FMCSA will be publishing a direct final rule that will 
include additional information, including the reduced paperwork burden, 
resulting from this future action.
    Title: Annual Report of Class I and Class II Motor Carriers of 
Property (formerly OMB Control Number 2139-0004).
    New OMB Control Number: 2126-0032.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Class I and Class II Motor Carriers of Property.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 197 (per year).
    Estimated Time per Response: 9 hours.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2012.
    Frequency of Response: Annually.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,773 hours [197 respondents x 9 
hours to complete form = 1,773].
    Title: Quarterly Report of Class I Motor Carriers of Property 
(formerly OMB Control Number 2139-0002).
    New OMB Control Number: 2126-0033.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Class I Motor Carriers of Property.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 111.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1.8 hours (27 minutes per quarter).
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2012.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 200 hours [111 respondents x 1.8 
hours to complete forms = 200].
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the agency to perform its mission; (2) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for FMCSA to enhance the 
quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information. The agency will summarize or include your 
comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information 
collection.

    Issued on: April 12, 2012.
Kelly Leone,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2012-9548 Filed 4-19-12; 8:45 am]
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