[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 159 (Thursday, August 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50913-50914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17765]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0085]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved 
Information Collection: Acknowledgement of Use of COVID-19 Emergency 
Declaration Relief

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department 
of Transportation (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. This notice invites comment on the information collection 
titled ``Acknowledgement of Use of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration 
Relief,'' which is currently approved on an emergency basis and allows 
FMCSA to collect information from motor carriers engaged in providing 
direct assistance in response to certain emergency declarations issued 
by the Agency to provide regulatory relief for such carriers in 
continued support of the Nation's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 
recovery efforts. OMB approved this collection on an emergency basis 
and subsequently extended that emergency approval. The extension of the 
emergency approval expires on August 31, 2022. No comments were 
received in response to the 60-day Federal Register notice.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before September 
19, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Bannister, Office of Analysis, 
Research and Technology, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 202-385-2388; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Acknowledgement of use of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration 
Relief.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0074.
    Type of Request: Renewal of an approved emergency collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers and drivers that operate under the 
terms of the extended COVID-19 Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 477 per month.
    Estimated Time per Response: 15 minutes per response.
    Expiration Date: August 31, 2022.
    Frequency of Response: Monthly.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,431 hours.

Background

    FMCSA issued Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002 in response to the 
March 13, 2020, declaration of a national emergency under 42 U.S.C. 
519(b) related to the danger COVID-19 presents to public health and 
welfare. FMCSA modified Emergency Declaration 2020-002 to expand and 
remove categories of supplies, equipment, and persons covered by the 
Emergency Declaration to respond to changing needs for emergency 
relief. The modified Emergency Declaration was subsequently extended on 
June 15, 2020, August 15, 2020, December 1, 2020, August 31, 2021, and 
November 29, 2021, in accordance with 49 CFR 390.25, because the 
Presidentially declared emergency remained in place and because a 
continued exemption was needed to support direct emergency assistance 
for some supply chains.
    In accordance with the expanded, modified Emergency Declaration No. 
2020-002, motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance in 
support of relief efforts related to the COVID-19 public health 
emergency are granted emergency relief from certain portions of 49 CFR 
parts 390 through 399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 
except as restricted in the Emergency Declaration. Direct assistance 
means transportation and other relief services provided by a motor 
carrier or its driver(s) incident to the immediate restoration of 
essential services (such as medical care) or essential supplies related 
to COVID-19 during the emergency. The notice extending the declaration 
provides a list of relief services and essential supplies.
    Prior to September 1, 2021, neither the Emergency Declaration nor 
the regulations covering Emergency Declarations (found in Sec. Sec.  
390.23 and 390.25) required that motor carriers or drivers operating 
under the Emergency Declaration report their operation to

[[Page 50914]]

FMCSA. FMCSA determined that the unprecedented period when the 
expanded, modified Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002 was in place 
required that FMCSA seek information on the number of motor carriers 
and drivers relying upon the emergency declaration in order to evaluate 
the need for additional extensions.
    The extension issued on August 31, 2021, included a requirement for 
motor carriers to report, on a monthly basis, their reliance on the 
emergency declaration during operations. FMCSA established a website 
where motor carriers and drivers filled out fields for their USDOT 
number, the number of commercial motor vehicle trips that relied upon 
the emergency declaration in the preceding month (using a drop-down 
menu), the commodities being transported (using a drop-down menu), and 
a follow up for those listing more than one commodity to indicate which 
was transported the most (using a drop-down menu). The November 29, 
2021, extension continued the reporting requirement. OMB approved the 
reporting requirement on an emergency basis on August 30, 2021, and 
subsequently extended that emergency approval on February 14, 2022. 
That approval expires on August 31, 2022.
    FMCSA refined the burden estimates to reflect the average number of 
monthly submissions received from September 2021 to February 2022. The 
carrier is reporting for the previous month, therefore October 2021 
submitted reports consist of data for the month of September, and March 
2022 submitted reports consist of data for the month of February.
    This resulted in a decrease in the number of reports estimated to 
be submitted each month, as the emergency ICR request used the total 
number of motor vehicles as a stand-in and acknowledged that number was 
likely to be an overestimate.
    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 performance of FMCSA's functions; (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.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2022-17765 Filed 8-17-22; 8:45 am]
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