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###### Department of Transportation

###### Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

          - [Docket No. FMCSA-2010-0379]

# AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

# ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

# 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 its review and approval. The FMCSA                               ( print page 72859)                            requests approval to revise and extend an information collection request (ICR) entitled, “                        *Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Programs (MCSAP).*                        ” The information required consists of grant application preparation, quarterly reports and electronic data documenting the results of driver/vehicle inspections performed by the States. This ICR is being revised due to an increase in the estimated number of State inspections that will be performed annually resulting in a change to the estimated burden to perform this activity. On September 9, 2010, FMCSA published a                         **Federal Register**                         notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR. No comment was received.                    

# DATES:

Please send your comments by December 27, 2010. OMB must receive your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.

# ADDRESSES:

                        All comments should reference Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2010-0379. 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                         *oira_submission@omb.eop.gov*, 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:

                        Mr. John E. Kostelnik, Office of Safety Programs, State Programs Division, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-5721; e-mail:                         *Jack.kostelnik@dot.gov.*

# SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

*Title:*                     Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.                

*OMB Control Number:*                     2126-0010.                

*Type of Request:*                     Revision of a currently-approved information collection.                

*Respondents:*                     State MCSAP lead agencies.                

*Estimated Number of Respondents:*                     52.                

*Estimated Time per Response:*                     Grant application preparation: 79.5 hours each; quarterly report preparation: 8 hours each; and inspection and data upload: 1 minute each.                

*Expiration Date:*                     February 28, 2011.                

*Frequency of Response:*                     1 grant application annually; 4 quarterly reports annually; and approximately 3.4 million total inspections and data uploads annually.                

*Estimated Total Annual Burden:*                     13,550 hours. The methods used to calculate the hours necessary to prepare grant applications, upload data, and prepare quarterly reports are based on interviews with the State and Federal personnel charged with those responsibilities. The information required to prepare the applications for grants and the subsequent reports is based on general information ordinarily maintained by the States in the general course of business, and only simple computations are required to determine burden hours. The grant applications and reports are submitted by the 50 States, four Territories, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Each entity submits one grant request per year and four quarterly reports. About 3.4 million inspection reports are uploaded each year.                

The figures reflect only 20 percent of the total estimated hours to perform the activities, since MCSAP reimburses 80 percent of the eligible costs incurred in the administration of an approved plan as set forth in 49 CFR 350.303, 350.309 and 350.311. Labor hours are estimated and an average hourly rate for professional personnel is applied. The four territories of American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands receive 100 percent Federal funding for their MCSAP activities; therefore they are not included in the computation of burden.

*Background:*                     Sections 401 through 404 of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA) (Pub. L. 97-424) established a program of financial assistance to the States to implement programs to enforce: (a) Federal rules, regulations, standards, and orders applicable to commercial motor vehicle safety; and (b) compatible State rules, regulations, standards and orders. This grant-in-aid program is known as the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). Section 402(c) of the STAA requires that the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), on the basis of reports submitted by the States and the Secretary's own inspections, make a continuing evaluation of the manner in which each State is carrying out its approved safety enforcement plan. The STAA's MCSAP provisions are codified at 49 U.S.C. 31102.                

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) (Pub. L. 105-178) further revised MCSAP by broadening its purpose beyond enforcement activities and programs by requiring participating States to assume greater responsibility for improving motor carrier safety. Section 4003 of TEA-21 required States to develop performance-based plans reflecting national priorities and performance goals, revised the MCSAP funding distribution formula, and created a new incentive funding program. As a result, States have greater flexibility in designing programs to address national and State goals of reducing the number and severity of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes.

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (Pub. L. 109-59) amended 49 U.S.C. 31102(b)(1) to modify and augment the conditions a State must meet to qualify for basic program funds under the MCSAP. The statute requires a State to document in its State Commercial Vehicle Safety Plan (CVSP) its commitment to meet the following additional conditions:
    - Deploy technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of CMV safety programs;
    - Include, in both the training manual for the licensing examination to drive a non-CMV and the training manual for the licensing examination to drive a CMV, information on best practices for driving safely in the vicinity of non-CMVs and CMVs;
    - Conduct comprehensive and highly visible traffic enforcement and CMV safety inspection programs in high-risk locations and corridors; and
    - Except in the case of an imminent or obvious safety hazard, ensure that an inspection of a vehicle transporting passengers for a motor carrier of passengers is conducted at a station, terminal, border crossing, maintenance facility, destination, or other location where a motor carrier may make a planned stop.

Additionally, section 4106 of SAFETEA-LU amended 49 U.S.C. 31102(c) to provide that States may use a portion of MCSAP basic grant funds to conduct documented enforcement of State traffic laws—both laws and regulations designed to promote the safe operation of CMVs and laws and regulations relating to non-CMVs, when necessary to promote the safe operation of CMVs.

                    In order for FMCSA to evaluate program effectiveness, it is necessary for the State to provide and maintain information concerning past, present and future program activity. The Final Rule that revised Part 350 to implement                           ( print page 72860)                        the changes to MCSAP made by SAFETEA-LU was published in the                     **Federal Register**                     on July 5, 2007 (72 FR 36769) . The State's grant application, known as the CVSP, must contain the information required by 49 CFR 350.201, 350.211 and 350.213. This information is necessary to enable FMCSA to determine whether a State meets the statutory and administrative criteria to be eligible for a grant. It is necessary that a State's work activities and accomplishments be reported so that FMCSA can monitor and evaluate a State's progress under its approved plan and make the determinations and decisions required by 49 CFR350.205 and 350.207. The FMCSA is required to determine whether each State's efforts meet the intended objectives of its plan. In the event of nonconformity with any approved plan and failure on the part of a State to remedy deficiencies, FMCSA is required to take action to cease Federal participation in that State's plan.                

                    This information collection supports the DOT Strategic Goal of Safety (                    *i.e.*, reducing commercial truck-related fatalities) by providing financial and technical support to State CMV enforcement efforts.                

The FMCSA uses the information in the CVSP to determine whether a State has the necessary resources and authority to undertake the program intended by Congress. After a grant has been awarded to a State, a continuing evaluation of the State's activities is performed to determine whether continued funding is appropriate and if revisions in the State's CVSP should be made. A quarterly report is submitted by the States using Standard Form PPR (SF-PPR) along with a narrative addendum to provide the minimum necessary information to assist in appropriate monitoring of a State's performance, compared to its CVSP, and to permit FMCSA to determine whether the effort of a State is cost efficient and whether Federal assistance should be continued. In addition, inspection data and reports are submitted electronically by the inspecting officer from the field to FMCSA at the time of completion of the inspection.

SAFETEA-LU provides that States may conduct traffic enforcement activities against non-CMVs to promote the safe operation of CMVs. The States are routinely conducting traffic enforcement activities on CMVs and are reimbursed, provided an appropriate inspection was conducted at the time. Previously, non-CMV traffic enforcement was not an eligible MCSAP activity for reimbursement so the States did not capture activity levels for this type of enforcement. The number of non-CMV enforcement activities conducted by the States is relatively minimal since SAFETEA-LU limits the amount of MCSAP grant funding that may be used for non-CMV traffic enforcement activities to no more than five percent of the basic amount a State receives annually.

                    The quarterly report is created by the State and submitted to FMCSA using inspection data and other information. The collection of uniform data permits analysis and comparison of State programs and facilitates program administration and reporting (                    *e.g.,*                     comparison of the data from a single State to the national average, equipment violation and out-of-service trends,                     *etc.*).                

The FMCSA routinely uses quarterly report information to measure individual and collective State program accomplishment and to assist with future program development.

Description of MCSAP forms:

                    a.                     *Form MCSAP-1, Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program:*                     Use of the MCSAP-1 form is being discontinued. States will be required to submit their grant applications electronically using grants.gov beginning in Fiscal Year 2011. The SF-424 form (OMB No. 4040-0004), available via grants.gov, will be used in place of the previously approved MCSAP-1 form.                

                    b.                     *Form MCSAP-2, Grant Agreement:*                     The MCSAP-2 form is the grant agreement that specifies the total amount of the State Program, the State and Federal participating shares, the period of the grant, and the signatures of the responsible State official and the FMCSA State Programs Manager.                

c. Form MCSAP-2A, Grant Amendment for Fiscal Year__: The MCSAP-2A form is used to modify the terms of the grant. It is used to increase or decrease the amount of the grant, or to extend the period of the grant. It contains the signatures of the responsible State official and the FMCSA State programs Manager.

In addition, the following documents are provided as part of the CVSP package:

                    a.                     *State Training Plan (optional format):*                     This document is a request for commercial vehicle training courses. It is used by the FMCSA's National Training Center to more effectively schedule training courses to meet the needs of State enforcement agencies.                

                    b.                     *State Certification:*                     The CVSP must contain a State Certification signed by the Governor, the State Attorney General, or other specially designated State official. The Certification includes conditions that must be met by the State to receive MCSAP grant funds.                

Virtually all (99%) of the information required by the grant is submitted electronically. This includes over 3.4 million inspection reports, which are uploaded electronically from laptop computers at inspection sites in the field to FMCSA annually. The near-universal use of laptops for submitting these inspection reports has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the time burden. The annual CVSPs require signed certifications by State personnel and these certification documents are not, therefore, electronically transmitted.

The FMCSA is the only Federal agency authorized to enforce safety regulations applicable to commercial trucks and buses in interstate commerce. The type of information to be gathered from the States through this information collection is unique to MCSAP. No duplication was identified through the rulemaking process to implement relevant sections of SAFETEA-LU.

Under MCSAP, grants are extended to the States predicated on annual submission of CVSPs. The FMCSA determined that although monthly or bimonthly reports are not needed, a semiannual report would not be sufficient to allow for timely evaluation and changes in State program direction. Therefore, quarterly reports were determined to be the most appropriate, considering burden and Federal need. If the reports were submitted less frequently, FMCSA would be unable to exercise appropriate oversight and administration of the program as envisioned by the Congress.

*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. The Agency will summarize or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.                

*Issued on:*                     November 18, 2010.                

Terry Shelton,

Director, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology.

[FR Doc. 2010-29804 Filed 11-24-10; 8:45 am]

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