[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 132 (Monday, July 11, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44917-44918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16313]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA 2015-0508]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension of a 
Currently-Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

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 (PRA), 
FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request 
(ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
its review and approval and invites public comment. On February 17, 
2016, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice announcing an increase 
in the Agency's estimate of the total information-collection (IC) 
burden of the driver qualification (DQ) regulations. It explained that 
the Agency's regulations had not changed,

[[Page 44918]]

but the Agency was increasing its estimate of the IC burden to 9.8 
million hours because both the population of CMV drivers and the 
frequency of their hiring had increased. Today the Agency further 
increases its burden estimate to 10.21 million hours in response to a 
comment received to that notice.

DATES: Please send your comments to this notice by August 10, 2016. OMB 
must receive your comments by this date to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2015-0508. Interested persons are 
invited to submit written comments on the proposed information 
collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget. Comments should be addressed to the attention 
of the OMB Desk Officer, DOT/FMCSA, and sent via electronic mail to 
[email protected], faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to the 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 
20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert F. Schultz, FMCSA Driver 
and Carrier Operations Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building, 6th Floor, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-
4325. Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Driver Qualification Files.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0004.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers and drivers of commercial motor 
vehicles.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 6.2 million (5.7 million drivers 
and .5 million motor carriers.
    Estimated Time per Response: 35 minutes (average).
    Expiration Date: July 31, 2016.
    Frequency of Response: Responses to some regulatory requirements of 
the driver qualification rules occur on a random basis. Other responses 
occur more predictably. Some responses recur; others do not. For 
example, motor carriers are required to obtain and review the motor 
vehicle driving record of their drivers from the State of licensure. 
They must complete this task at the time of hiring and every year 
thereafter. The time-of-hiring requirement results in a random 
frequency of response, but, thereafter, the annual requirement results 
in a fixed frequency of response.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 10.21 million hours.
Background
    The Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 [Pub. L. 98-554, Title II, 98 
Stat. 2834 (October 30, 1984)] requires the Secretary of Transportation 
to issue regulations pertaining to commercial motor vehicle (CMV) 
safety. These regulations are also issued under the authority provided 
by 49 U.S.C. 504, 31133, 31136, and 31502. Part 391 of volume 49 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations contains the minimum qualifications of 
drivers of CMVs in interstate commerce.
    Motor carriers may not require or permit an unqualified driver to 
operate a CMV. The foremost proof of driver qualification is the 
information that part 391 requires be collected and maintained in the 
driver qualification file (DQ file). Motor carriers must obtain this 
information from sources specified in the regulations (49 CFR 391.51), 
such as the driver, previous employers of the driver, and officials of 
the State of driver licensure. Motor carriers are not required to 
forward DQ information to FMCSA, but must maintain the information in a 
DQ file and make it available to State and Federal safety investigators 
on demand.
    The Agency is asking OMB to approve FMCSA's revised estimate of the 
paperwork burden imposed by its DQ file regulations. The regulations 
have not been amended; the information-collection (IC) burden imposed 
on individual drivers and motor carriers by the regulations is 
unchanged. However, the Agency has increased its estimate of the total 
IC burden of the DQ-file regulations because both the number of CMV 
drivers and the turnover rate in their hiring have increased since the 
Agency's 2012 estimate of this burden. The increase in the number of 
CMV drivers is partly the result of the Agency being directed by OMB to 
include intrastate as well as interstate drivers in the population of 
drivers incurring an IC burden under the DQ file regulations. The 
Agency had excluded intrastate drivers from a past estimate.
    The Agency received one comment to the 60-day Federal Register 
notice of February 17, 2016. The American Trucking Associations pointed 
out that FMCSA estimates did not account for the substantial portion of 
driver medical certificates that are not issued for the maximum two-
year period. Accordingly, FMCSA has adjusted its estimate for this 
element of the burden. The overall burden, formerly estimated to be 9.8 
million hours, is now estimated to be 10.21 million hours.
    ATA also asked that Agency estimates account for the burden of a 
practice it described as common among motor carriers. These carriers 
refer newly-hired drivers for medical examination even if their current 
medical certificate is still valid. This practice triggers the 
requirement of Sec.  391.51(b)(7)(ii) that motor carriers obtain the 
results of each medical examination of its CDL drivers from the State 
Driver Licensing Agency (SDLA). The medical status of CDL drivers is a 
part of the driver's motor vehicle record (MVR) maintained by the SDLA. 
ATA asked the Agency to account for the burden these carriers 
experience obtaining the MVRs of their newly-hired CDL drivers. The 
Agency cannot do so because the burden is not cognizable under the PRA. 
The PRA requires Agencies to estimate burdens imposed by their 
regulatory requirements but these medical examinations of newly hired 
drivers are not required by regulation. These motor carriers are 
voluntarily referring newly-hired CDL drivers for a new medical 
examination.

Public Comments Invited

    FMCSA requests that you comment on any aspect of this information 
collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary 
for FMCSA to perform its functions, (2) the accuracy of the estimated 
burden, (3) ways for the 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 under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on: June 30, 
2016.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2016-16313 Filed 7-8-16; 8:45 am]
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