[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 246 (Monday, December 23, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70619-70621]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-27635]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0108]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Approval of a Renewal 
Information Collection Request: Commercial Driver's License Drug and 
Alcohol Clearinghouse

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, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval. The FMCSA requests to renew an ICR titled, ``Commercial 
Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.'' The Agency's final 
rule, published December 5, 2016, titled ``Commercial Driver's License 
Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse'' (Clearinghouse) established the 
regulatory requirements for the Clearinghouse. The compliance date of 
the final rule is January 6, 2020. Since the original ICR was approved, 
FMCSA has opened the Clearinghouse to user registration, resulting in 
the collection of user contact information. With the upcoming 
compliance date, this ICR is needed to ensure that Clearinghouse 
querying and reporting requirements are met to improve compliance with 
the existing requirement that Commercial Driver's License (CDL) or 
Commercial Learner's Permit (CLP) holders who have drug or alcohol 
testing violations cannot perform safety-sensitive functions, including 
driving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), without participating in the 
required return-to-duty process.

DATES: Please send your comments by January 22, 2020. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0108. 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 Desk Officer, Department of Transportation/Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, and sent via electronic mail to 
[email protected], or 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: Juan Moya, Compliance Division, 
Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, 6th Floor, West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-4844; Email Address: 
[email protected]. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0057.

[[Page 70620]]

    Type of Request: Renewal
    Respondents: Motor carriers (employers), drivers, medical review 
officers (MRO), substance abuse professionals (SAP), consortia/third-
party administrators (C/TPAs), and State Drivers Licensing Agencies 
(SDLAs).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 11,038,986.
    Estimated Time per Response: 20 minutes.
    Expiration Date: January 31, 2020.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,864,251.
    An authorized user's role will determine the frequency of the 
response in the Clearinghouse.
     Employers, or C/TPAs acting on behalf of an employer: At a 
minimum, employers are required to query the Clearinghouse for each 
driver they currently employ at least once a year. Employers must query 
the Clearinghouse for all prospective employees. In addition, employers 
report to the Clearinghouse alcohol confirmation test, with a 
concentration of 0.04 or higher, refusal to test (alcohol), refusal to 
test (drug) that is not determined by an MRO, actual knowledge of a 
driver's conduct prohibited by 49 CFR part 382, subpart B, negative 
return-to-duty (RTD) test results, and the driver's completion of 
follow-up testing. Employer reporting must be completed by the close of 
the third business day following the date they obtained the 
information.
     MROs: Verified positive, adulterated or substituted drug 
test result and refusals to tests (drug) must be entered to the 
Clearinghouse no later than two business days of making a determination 
or verification.
     SAPs: Must enter the initial assessment date and the date 
the driver successfully complied with return-to-duty (RTD) 
requirements. SAPs are required to enter this information on occasion 
by the close of business day following the date of the initial 
assessment or compliance with the RTD process.
     SDLAs will be required to query the Clearinghouse prior to 
specified licensing transactions to determine if there are existing 
drug or alcohol violations.\1\
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    \1\ On September 6, 2019, FMCSA published a Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (NPRM) to extend the compliance date for the States' 
mandatory query of the Clearinghouse, as set forth in the 
Clearinghouse final rule, from January 6, 2020 to January 6, 2023. 
(84 FR 46923 (Sept. 6, 2019)) The NPRM proposed that, in the 
interim, States be permitted to voluntarily query the Clearinghouse 
beginning January 6, 2020. The Agency expects that a final rule will 
be published before the end of 2019.
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     Drivers must provide their specific consent to pre-
employment queries electronically through the Clearinghouse.

Background

    Agency regulations at 49 CFR part 382 apply to persons and 
employers of such persons who operate CMVs in commerce in the United 
States and who are subject to the CDL requirements in 49 CFR part 383 
or the equivalent CDL requirements for Canadian and Mexican drivers (49 
CFR 382.103(a)). Part 382 requires that employers conduct pre-
employment drug testing, post-accident testing, random drug and alcohol 
testing, and reasonable suspicion testing, as well as RTD testing and 
follow-up testing for those drivers who test positive or otherwise 
violate DOT drug and alcohol program requirements. Motor carrier 
employers are prohibited from allowing an employee to perform safety-
sensitive functions, which include operating a CMV, if the employee 
tests positive on a DOT drug or alcohol test, refuses to take a 
required test, or otherwise violates the DOT or FMCSA drug and alcohol 
testing regulations.
    Section 32402 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century 
Act (MAP-21) requires that the Secretary of Transportation establish, 
operate, and maintain a national clearinghouse for records relating to 
alcohol and controlled substances testing of CMV operators to improve 
compliance with the Department of Transportation's (DOT) alcohol and 
controlled substances testing program and to enhance the safety of our 
roadways by reducing crashes and injuries involving the misuse of 
alcohol or use of controlled substances by operators of CMVs. As noted 
above, FMCSA published a final rule on December 5, 2016, with an 
effective date of January 4, 2017, and a compliance date of January 6, 
2020, to implement these statutory requirements.
    On June 20, 2019, the FMCSA published a 60-day ICR notice (84 FR 
28882). The Agency received 24 comments in response to the ICR notice. 
These comments are summarized below. Thirteen commenters recommended an 
application programming interface (API) to reduce the burden of manual 
entries by employers or their designated C/TPAs, MROs, and employee-
designated SAPs. In addition, several commenters stated an API would 
increase efficiency when querying the Clearinghouse for current and 
prospective employees. Some commenters suggested that the API would 
reduce errors in reporting of information, as well as reduce cost to 
employers and service agents. One commenter recommended delaying the 
implementation of the Clearinghouse until the development of an API has 
been completed.
    FMCSA Response: The Agency believes that conducting mandatory pre-
employment and annual Clearinghouse queries will impose the most 
significant burden on employers or their designated C/TPAs. In order to 
alleviate this burden, FMCSA developed a bulk query template allowing 
employers or their designated C/TPAs to submit multiple queries at one 
time rather than querying each individual driver. FMCSA will consider 
the development of an API as a future enhancement to the system.
    One commenter noted increased burden during registration due to the 
establishment of two-factor authentication methods through login.gov. 
Login.gov is a shared service which provides the public secure and 
private online access to participating Federal government programs, 
such as the Clearinghouse.
    FMCSA Response: A two-factor authentication for all Clearinghouse 
users is necessary to ensure the security of sensitive driver-specific 
information. Once the login.gov account has been created, there is no 
additional burden to authorized users during the registration.
    One commenter recommended that the comment period for the ICR be 
extended until after implementation of the Clearinghouse.
    FMCSA Response: In accordance with information collection 
requirements established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 
related regulations, the public is invited to respond to this Federal 
Register Notice (FRN) during the 30-day comment period. All comments 
will be considered before publishing the final FRN for the ICR.
    The remaining comments were not relevant to the subject matter of 
the ICR.
    FMCSA opened the Clearinghouse to user registration on October 1, 
2019. Information stored in the Clearinghouse includes the user name, 
point of contact information, email address, system role, CDL 
information (as applicable), credential information (as applicable) and 
company information (as applicable). This information collected is 
covered under the existing Clearinghouse ICR (2126-0057).
    The Clearinghouse will function as a repository for records 
relating to the positive test results and test refusals of CMV 
operators and other violations by such operators of prohibitions set 
forth in part 382, subpart B, of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 
An employer will utilize the Clearinghouse to determine whether current 
and

[[Page 70621]]

prospective employees have incurred a drug or alcohol violation that 
would prohibit them from performing safety-sensitive functions, 
including operating a CMV.
    The Clearinghouse will provide FMCSA and employers the necessary 
tools to identify drivers who are prohibited from operating a CMV and 
ensure that such drivers receive the required evaluation and treatment 
before resuming safety-sensitive functions. Specifically, information 
maintained in the Clearinghouse will ensure that drivers who commit a 
drug or alcohol violation while working for one employer and attempt to 
find work with another employer, can no longer conceal their drug and 
alcohol violations merely by moving on to the next job or the next 
state. Drug and alcohol violation records maintained in the 
Clearinghouse will follow the driver regardless of how many times he or 
she changes employers, seeks employment or applies for a CDL in a 
different State.
    The information in the Clearinghouse will be used by FMCSA and its 
State partners for enforcement purposes:
     Ensure employers are meeting their pre-employment 
investigation and reporting requirements.
     Place drivers out of service if drivers are found to be 
operating a CMV without completing the RTD process.
     Ensure medical review officers (MROs) and substance abuse 
professionals (SAPs) meet their reporting requirements.
    Only authorized users, including employers and their service 
agents, and highway safety personnel, and State Driver Licensing 
Agencies (SDLAs), will be able to register and access the Clearinghouse 
for designated purposes. State enforcement personnel will receive the 
driver's eligibility status to operate a CMV, based on Clearinghouse 
information, when they check Query Central or NLets for driver 
information. FMCSA will share a driver's drug and alcohol violation 
information with the National Transportation Safety Board when it is 
investigating a crash involving that driver.
    Drivers will be able to access their own information, but not 
information of other drivers. The Clearinghouse will meet all relevant 
federal security standards and FMCSA will continuously monitor 
compliance with applicable security regulations.
    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 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.

    Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on: December 
17, 2019.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2019-27635 Filed 12-20-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P