[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 24, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75109-75110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25906]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration


Prevention of Alcohol Misuse and Prohibited Drug Use in Transit 
Operations

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of calendar year 2021 random drug and alcohol testing 
rates.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the calendar year 2021 drug and alcohol 
random testing rates for employers subject to 49 CFR part 655. The 
minimum random drug testing rate will remain at 50 percent, and the 
random alcohol testing rate will remain at 10 percent.

DATES: Applicable Date: January 1, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Iyon Rosario, Drug and Alcohol Program 
Manager in the Office of Transit Safety and Oversight, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: 202-366-2010 or email: 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 1, 1995, FTA required large 
transit employers to begin drug and alcohol testing of employees 
performing safety-sensitive functions, and to submit annual reports by 
March 15 of each year beginning in 1996, pursuant to drug and alcohol 
regulations adopted by FTA at 49 CFR parts 653 and 654 in February 
1994. The annual report includes the number of employees who had a 
verified positive test for the use of

[[Page 75110]]

prohibited drugs, and the number of employees who tested positive for 
the misuse of alcohol during the reported year. Small employers 
commenced the required testing on January 1, 1996, and began reporting 
the same information as the large employers beginning March 15, 1997.
    FTA updated the testing rules by merging them into a new 49 CFR 
part 655, effective August 1, 2001 (66 FR 42002). The regulation 
maintains a random testing rate for prohibited drugs at 50 percent and 
the misuse of alcohol at 10 percent, which the Administrator may lower 
if the violation rates drop below 1.0 percent for drug testing and 0.5 
percent for alcohol testing for two consecutive years. Accordingly, in 
2007, FTA reduced the random drug testing rate from 50 percent to 25 
percent (72 FR 1057, January 7, 2007). In 2018, however, FTA returned 
the random drug testing rate to 50 percent for calendar year 2019 based 
on verified industry data for calendar year 2017, which showed that the 
rate had exceeded 1 percent (83 FR 63812, December 12, 2018).
    Pursuant to 49 CFR 655.45, the Administrator's decision to increase 
or decrease the minimum annual percentage rate for random drug and 
alcohol testing is based, in part, on the reported positive drug and 
alcohol violation rates for the entire public transportation industry. 
The information used for this determination is drawn from the drug and 
alcohol Management Information System (MIS) reports required by 49 CFR 
655.72. To ensure the reliability of the data, the Administrator must 
consider the quality and completeness of the reported data, may obtain 
additional information or reports from employers, and may make 
appropriate modifications in calculating the industry's verified 
positive results and violation rates.
    The position of Administrator is vacant. The Deputy Administrator 
is authorized to perform the functions and duties of the position of 
Administrator for purposes of this rulemaking. For calendar year 2021, 
the Deputy Administrator has determined that the random drug testing 
rate for covered employees will remain at 50 percent based on a 
verified positive rate of 1.16 percent for calendar year 2019. Further, 
the Deputy Administrator has determined that the random alcohol testing 
rate for calendar year 2021 will remain at 10 percent, because the 
violation rate again was lower than the rates for calendar years 2018 
and 2019. The random alcohol violation rates were 0.20 percent for 2018 
and 0.16 for 2019.
    Detailed reports on FTA's drug and alcohol testing data collected 
from transit employers may be obtained from FTA, Office of Transit 
Safety and Oversight, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, 
(202) 366-2010, or at: https://transit-safety.fta.dot.gov/DrugAndAlcohol/Publications/Default.aspx.

K. Jane Williams,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2020-25906 Filed 11-23-20; 8:45 am]
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