[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 229 (Friday, November 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70914-70916]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27271]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[FHWA Docket no. FHWA-2014-0032]


Retrospective Regulatory Review--State Safety Plan Development 
and Reporting

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation 
and Regulatory Review, FHWA and NHTSA are evaluating their State 
highway safety plan development and reporting requirements. As part of 
this review, this notice requests comments on actions FHWA and NHTSA 
could take without statutory changes to better streamline and harmonize 
State highway safety plan development and reporting requirements.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 29, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand deliver comments to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Dockets Management Facility, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, or fax comments to (202) 493-
2251. Alternatively, comments may be submitted to the Federal 
eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov. All comments must 
include the docket number that appears in the heading of this document. 
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. Those desiring notification of receipt of 
comments must include a self-addressed, stamped postcard or you may 
print the acknowledgment page that appears after submitting comments 
electronically. Anyone is able to search

[[Page 70915]]

the electronic form of all comments in any one of our dockets by the 
name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, 
if submitted on behalf of an association, business, or labor union). 
Anyone may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70, Pages 
19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about the program 
discussed herein, contact Melonie Barrington, FHWA Office of Safety, 
(202) 366-8029, or via email at [email protected]; or Barbara 
Sauers, NHTSA Office of Regional Operations and Program Delivery, (202) 
366-0144, or via email at [email protected]. For legal questions, 
please contact William Winne, Attorney-Advisor, FHWA Office of the 
Chief Counsel, (202) 366-1397, or via email at [email protected]; 
or Jin H. Kim, Attorney-Advisor, NHTSA Office of the Chief Counsel, 
(202) 366-1834, or via email at [email protected]. Business hours for the 
DOT are from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access and Filing

    You may submit or retrieve comments online through the Federal 
eRulemaking portal at: www.regulations.gov. The Web site 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.
    An electronic copy of this document may also be downloaded from 
Office of the Federal Register's Web site at: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register and the Government Printing Office's Web site at: 
http://www.gpoaccess.gov.

Background

    On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order 13563, 
which outlined a plan to improve regulation and regulatory review (76 
FR 3821). Executive Order 13563 reaffirms and builds upon governing 
principles of contemporary regulatory review, including Executive Order 
12866, Regulatory Planning and Review (58 FR 51735), by requiring 
Federal agencies to design cost-effective, evidence-based regulations 
that are compatible with economic growth, job creation, and 
competitiveness. The President's plan recognizes that these principles 
should not only guide the Federal government's approach to new 
regulations, but to existing ones as well. To that end, Executive Order 
13563 requires agencies to retrospectively review existing significant 
rules to determine if they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or 
excessively burdensome. Accordingly, FHWA and NHTSA are soliciting 
public comment on their State highway safety plan development and 
reporting requirements.
    The FHWA's Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and NHTSA's 
State Highway Safety Grant Programs share a common goal--to save lives 
on our Nation's roadways--and have related performance goals and 
measures. These programs have complementary but distinctly different 
focus areas and administrative and operational procedures and 
requirements. The HSIP primarily addresses infrastructure-related 
projects and strategies. The NHTSA's Highway Safety Grant Programs 
focus on driver behavior projects and strategies. Both programs 
contribute to the goals and objectives of the Strategic Highway Safety 
Plan (SHSP), but they do so in different ways based on different 
statutory authority. One notable particular is that the statute 
governing the NHTSA grant program requires State highway safety 
activities to be under the direct auspices of the Governor, giving rise 
to unique issues, considerations, and responsibilities under that 
program.
    The HSIP projects and State Highway Safety Plan (HSP) must be 
coordinated with the SHSP. The SHSP is a high level document that uses 
comprehensive, statewide data to establish safety goals and objectives, 
and emphasis areas. It is a multiyear strategic planning document, not 
an annual implementation plan of projects and strategies. It identifies 
the emphasis areas the State intends to pursue to reduce fatalities and 
serious injuries, but not the specific projects or strategies, timing, 
or funding.
    The funding for individual project and strategy implementation is 
contained in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program for the 
HSIP and the annual HSP for NHTSA's Highway Safety Grant Programs. 
Following the implementation period, the State then reports on progress 
to implement the projects and strategies and the extent to which they 
contribute to achieving the State's safety goals and targets.
    The HSIP and NHTSA's Highway Safety Grant Programs were updated by 
the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) (Pub. L. 
112-141) \1\ and are the subject of several rulemakings.\2\ Members of 
the public are encouraged to review those rulemakings and submit 
comments to the docket associated with each rulemaking.
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    \1\ MAP-21 has been extended to May 31, 2015. A new surface 
transportation authorization may impact these rulemakings, including 
plan and reporting requirements.
    \2\ Highway Safety Improvement Program, Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, 79 FR 17464, March 28, 2014, Docket ID: FHWA-2013-0019; 
National Performance Management Measures: Highway Safety Improvement 
Program, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 79 FR 13846, March 11, 2014, 
Docket ID: FHWA-2013-0020; Uniform Procedures for State Highway 
Safety Grant Programs, Interim Final Rule, 78 FR 4986, January 23, 
2013, Docket ID: NHTSA-2013-0001.
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Purpose of This Notice

    The FHWA recently published two NPRMs related to HSIP and NHTSA 
issued an interim final rule related to the Highway Safety Grant 
Programs in 2013. The Agencies are reviewing these programs from a 
Retrospective Regulatory Review perspective to explore ways to more 
proactively coordinate their highway safety programs. We are seeking 
input on actions FHWA and NHTSA could take to address potentially 
duplicative State highway safety planning and reporting requirements in 
order to streamline and harmonize these programs, to the extent 
possible in view of the separate statutory authority and focus of the 
two programs.
    The FHWA and NHTSA are seeking comments from all interested parties 
to help evaluate potential future courses of action.

Questions

    1. How do State offices currently collect and report data to FHWA 
and NHTSA? Are any elements of these information collections or reports 
duplicative? If yes, what are those duplicative requirements and are 
there ways to streamline them?
    2. Are there changes FHWA and NHTSA should make to the HSIP and the 
HSP reporting processes to reduce burdens from duplicative reporting 
requirements, improve safety outcomes, and promote greater coordination 
among State agencies responsible for highway safety, consistent with 
the underlying statutory authority of these two grant programs?
    3. Would States prefer to combine plans and reports for the HSIP 
and HSP into a single report for FHWA and NHTSA? Would States find a 
single report useful for these complementary but distinctly different 
programs?
    4. Are there any State legal or organizational barriers to 
combining plans and reports for the HSIP and HSP to FHWA and NHTSA? To 
what extent does the location of the State recipient

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of the Federal funds from FHWA and NHTSA, within the State's 
organizational structure, add to or reduce the burdens of consolidated 
plan development or reporting?
    5. Are there SHSP requirements with higher costs than benefits? If 
so, what are those requirements and are there ways to improve them or 
should they be eliminated?
    6. Are there changes FHWA should make to the SHSP guidance to 
promote coordination among State agencies responsible for highway 
safety?

    Dated: November 6, 2014.
Gregory G. Nadeau,
Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.

David J. Friedman,
Deputy Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-27271 Filed 11-26-14; 8:45 am]
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