2019-23562. Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently-Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

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. FMCSA requests approval to revise and renew an ICR titled “Driver Qualification Files,” OMB Control Number 2126-0004. The ICR estimates the burden commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and motor carriers incur to comply with the reporting and recordkeeping tasks required for motor carriers to maintain driver qualification (DQ) files. The Agency's regulations pertaining to maintaining DQ files are unchanged and impose no increased information collection (IC) burden on individual drivers and motor carriers. However, the Agency increases its estimate of the total IC burden of these regulations primarily because both the number of CMV drivers and the frequency of their hiring have increased since the Agency's 2016 estimate of this burden.

DATES:

Please send your comments by November 29, 2019. OMB must receive your comments by this date in order to act on the ICR.

All comments should reference Federal Docket Management System Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0102. 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 [e-mail], faxed to [phone], 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:

Ms. Pearlie Robinson, FMCSA Driver and Carrier Operations Division Department of Transportation, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: [phone]. Email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Driver Qualification Files.

OMB Control Number: 2126-0004.

Type of Request: Renewal and revision of a currently-approved information collection.

Respondents: CMV motor carriers and drivers.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 6.89 million (6.35 million drivers + 0.54 million motor carriers).

Expiration Date: January 31, 2020.

Frequency of Response: The information on some DQ documents is only provided one time, such as that furnished at the time the individual applies for employment as a driver. Other information must be obtained by the motor carrier within 30 days of the date the driver begins to drive a CMV for the employer. Other information, such as the driver's motor vehicle record, is only updated once a year.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 12.26 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. Part 391 of volume 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 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) (49 CFR 391.51). Motor carriers must obtain this information from sources specified in the regulations, 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.

Through this ICR, FMCSA is asking OMB's approval to renew and revise its estimate of the paperwork burden imposed by its DQ file regulations. The regulations have not been amended; the IC burden imposed on individual drivers and motor carriers by the regulations is unchanged. The current IC burden estimate approved by OMB is 10.21 million hours. The Agency has increased its estimate of the total IC burden from 10.21 million hours to 12.26 million hours. The increase in burden hours is primarily the result of a larger driver population and a higher driver turnover rate, both of which affect the volume of documents produced and filed in DQ files. This revised ICR removes the medical examiner's certificate recordkeeping requirement from the estimate of burden hours and cost to eliminate double counting. Although the currently approved ICR did not monetize driver and motor carrier burden hours, the revised ICR monetizes such burden.

On June 10, 2019, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. There were no comments submitted to the docket in response to that notice.

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 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: October 23, 2019

Kelly Regal,

Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information Technology.