[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 83 (Monday, April 29, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18712-18713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10522]
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[[Page 18713]]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
49 CFR Part 40
[OST Docket OST-96-1295] [Notice 96-13]
RIN: 2105-AC49
Update of Drug and Alcohol Procedural Rules
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.
ACTION: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation is reviewing its procedural
rules for drug and alcohol testing. This review is intended to lead to
a notice of proposed rulemaking to update and clarify provisions of the
rules. This advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeks suggestions for
possible changes to the regulation.
DATES: Comments should be received July 29, 1996. Late-filed comments
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Docket Clerk, Docket No. OST-
96-1295, Department of Transportation, 400 7th Street, S.W.,
Washington, D.C., Room PL 401, Washington, D.C., 20590. We request
that, in order to minimize burdens on the docket clerk's staff,
commenters send three copies of their comments to the docket.
Commenters wishing to have their submissions acknowledged should
include a stamped, self-addressed postcard with their comments. The
docket clerk will date stamp the postcard and return it to the
commenter. Comments will be available for inspection at the above
address from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert C. Ashby, Deputy Assistant
General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement, 400 7th Street, S.W.,
Room 10424, Washington, D.C., 20590. (202) 366-9306.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Six of the Department's operating
administrations (the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA),
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and
Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA)) have modal-
specific drug and/or alcohol testing rules. These rules apply to about
8 million transportation employees who work in safety-sensitive
positions (e.g., truck drivers, airline pilots, and railroad
engineers). The operating administration rules impose substantive
requirements concerning the testing program, on subjects such as which
employers must conduct tests, which employees are subject to testing,
what kinds of tests are required, when the tests must be administered,
the consequences of positive tests and other rule violations, how an
employee who has violated the rule can return to duty, and what
recordkeeping and reporting requirements apply to employers. These
modal rules are not being revisited as part of this rulemaking
initiative.
The Office of the Secretary (OST) procedural rule (49 CFR Part 40)
that is the subject of this advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(ANPRM) applies to regulated parties through each of the operating
administration's rules. Part 40 describes, in detail, how the required
tests must be conducted.
The drug testing portion of Part 40 closely follows the Mandatory
Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs of the
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). With respect to the
four operating administrations covered by the Omnibus Transportation
Employee Testing Act of 1991 (FAA, FRA, FHWA, and FTA), the Department
is required by statute to have procedures consistent with the DHHS
Guidelines. We are committed, as a matter of policy, to consistency
with the DHHS Guidelines with respect to the RSPA and Coast Guard drug
testing programs as well. Consequently, the Department is not, in this
ANPRM, entertaining comments that would require substantive departures
from the DHHS Guidelines. Nor is the Department seeking comments on
significant substantive issues that have, in recent years, been the
subject of completed or pending rulemaking actions (e.g., review of
negative drug test results by medical review officers, blood testing
for alcohol, ``shy bladder'' procedures).
The Department conceives this ANPRM, then, not as an occasion for
suggesting major substantive changes to how we test for drugs and
alcohol, but rather as an opportunity to clarify the myriad details of
Part 40. We want to make the rule as easy to understand and apply as we
can, reduce burdens where feasible, take ``lessons learned'' during the
several years of operating the program under Part 40 into account,
correct problems that have been identified, clarify areas of
uncertainty or ambiguity, and incorporate, where appropriate, the
Department's interpretations of Part 40 into the regulatory text. We
also anticipate reordering provisions of the rule so that the material
flows more smoothly and is easier for readers to follow.
While we are soliciting comments on both the drug and alcohol
portions of the regulation, we anticipate that the main focus of this
effort will be on drug testing procedures, which are both more complex
and older than the alcohol testing procedures. We seek the ideas of
everyone involved with the program--employers, employees, consortia and
third-party administrators, laboratories, substance abuse
professionals, medical review officers, collectors, breath alcohol
technicians, and other interested persons--to assist us in this
process.
The Department is contemplating hosting one or more public meetings
or other forums during which interested persons can discuss potential
Part 40 changes with DOT officials and staff. We will issue a notice
announcing such events when plans are in place.
Regulatory Analyses and Notices
This ANPRM, which simply requests public input concerning potential
changes to the Department's drug and alcohol testing procedures, is not
significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866 or Department of
Transportation Rulemaking Policies and Procedures.
Issued this 22nd day of April 1996, at Washington, D.C.
Federico Pena,
Secretrary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 96-10522 Filed 4-26-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P
