Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 39 / Thursday, February 27, 2014 / Proposed Rules 11051 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary of 

Transportation 

14 CFR Chapters I, II, III 

23 CFR Chapters I, II, III 

46 CFR Chapter II 

48 CFR Chapter 12 

49 CFR Chapters I, II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, 

X, XI 

[Docket No. DOT–OST–2014–0024] 

Next Phase of the Regulatory Review 

of Existing DOT Regulations 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary of 

Transportation (OST), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with Executive 

Order 13563, ‘‘Improving Regulation 

and Regulatory Review,’’ the 

Department of Transportation 

(Department, DOT, or we) is conducting 

a review of its existing regulations to 

evaluate their continued validity and 

determine whether they are crafted 

effectively to solve current problems. 

On February 16, 2011, the Department 

began a process to review existing 

regulations, which included a public 

meeting and various other opportunities 

to solicit public comments. That process 

resulted in a Plan for Implementation of 

Executive Order 13563 that was released 

in August 2011. Additionally, the 

Department has regularly updated the 

list of regulations that are under review 

or further study and provided updates 

on timing of the review. The latest 

update was released in January 2014 

and can be found at http://

www.reginfo.gov. (See Appendix D of 

the Department’s semi-annual 

Regulatory Agenda.) In continuing this 

effort, the Department again invites the 

public to comment on the next phase of 

its retrospective regulatory review 

process. 

DATES: Comments should be received on 

or before March 31, 2014. Late-filed 

comments will be considered to the 

extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

to Docket No. DOT–OST–2014–0024 by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC 20590–0001. If you submit 

comments by mail and would like to 

know that they reached the facility, 

please enclose a stamped, self-addressed 

envelope or postcard. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 

140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m. ET., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: 202–493–2251. 

To avoid duplication, please use only 

one of these four methods. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http://

www.regulations.gov and will include 

any personal information you provide. 

Docket: To read background 

documents or comments received, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and click on 

the ‘‘read comments’’ box in the upper 

right-hand side of the screen. Then, in 

the ‘‘Keyword’’ box insert ‘‘DOT–OST– 

2014–0024’’ and click ‘‘Search.’’ Next, 

click the ‘‘Open Docket Folder’’ in the 

‘‘Actions’’ column. Finally, in the 

‘‘Title’’ column, click on the document 

you would like to review. If you do not 

have access to the Internet, you may 

view the docket online by visiting the 

Docket Management Facility in Room 

W12–140 on the ground floor of the 

DOT West Building, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kathryn Sinniger, Assistant General 

Counsel for Regulation and 

Enforcement, Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590; 

(202) 493–0908. Email: 

kathryn.sinniger@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Order 13563 

On January 18, 2011, President 

Obama issued Executive Order 13563, 

which outlined a plan to improve 

regulation and regulatory review (76 FR 

3821, Jan. 21, 2011). Executive Order 

13563 reaffirms and builds upon 

governing principles of contemporary 

regulatory review, including Executive 

Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory Planning and 

Review’’ (58 FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993), by 

requiring Federal agencies to design 

cost-effective, evidence-based 

regulations that are compatible with 

economic growth, job creation, and 

competitiveness. The President’s plan 

recognizes that these principles should 

guide the Federal government’s 

approach not only to new regulation, 

but to existing ones as well. To that end, 

Executive Order 13563 requires agencies 

to review existing rules to determine if 

they are outmoded, ineffective, 

insufficient, or excessively burdensome. 

To facilitate this review, Executive 

Order 13563 requires each agency to 

develop and submit to the Office of 

Management and Budget’s Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs a 

preliminary plan for retrospectively 

analyzing existing rules. The 

Department complied with this 

requirement with the release of a Plan 

for Implementation of Executive Order 

13563, available on the Department’s 

Web site for regulations at http://

www.dot.gov/regulations. As Executive 

Order 13563 reaffirms, the regulatory 

process must be transparent and provide 

opportunities for public participation. 

The Department particularly believes, 

given its broad regulatory responsibility, 

this participation should extend to the 

Department’s obligations under the 

Executive Order to continue the 

retrospective review of existing 

regulations. Continued meaningful 

review requires continued input from 

those affected by the Department’s 

regulations. 

DOT’s Regulatory Responsibility 

The mission of the Department is to 

serve the United States by ensuring a 

safe, fast, efficient, accessible, and 

convenient transportation system that 

meets our vital national interests and 

enhances the quality of life of the 

American people, today and into the 

future. The Department carries out its 

mission through the Office of the 

Secretary (OST) and the following 

operating administrations (OAs): 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); 

Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA); Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA); Federal 

Railroad Administration (FRA); Federal 

Transit Administration (FTA); Maritime 

Administration (MARAD); National 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

(NHTSA); Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration 

(PHMSA); and St. Lawrence Seaway 

Development Corporation (SLSDC). 

Although the Surface Transportation 

Board (STB) is a component of DOT, it 

is organizationally independent and, as 

a result, the Department does not have 

responsibility for the STB’s regulatory 

agenda. 

DOT has statutory responsibility for a 

wide range of regulations. For example, 

DOT regulates safety issues in the 

aviation, motor carrier, railroad, motor 

vehicle, commercial space, and pipeline 

transportation areas. DOT regulates 

aviation consumer and economic issues, 

and provides financial assistance and 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
11052 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 39 / Thursday, February 27, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

writes the necessary implementing rules 

for programs involving highways, 

airports, mass transit, the maritime 

industry, railroads, and motor 

transportation and vehicle safety. DOT 

writes regulations carrying out such 

disparate statutes as the Americans with 

Disabilities Act and the Uniform Time 

Act. Finally, DOT has responsibility for 

developing policies that implement a 

wide range of regulations that govern 

programs such as acquisition and grants 

management, access for people with 

disabilities, environmental protection, 

energy conservation, information 

technology, occupational safety and 

health, property asset management, 

seismic safety, security, and the use of 

aircraft and vehicles. 

DOT’s Existing Process for Reviewing 

Rules 

The Department has long recognized 

that there should be no more regulations 

than necessary and those that are issued 

should be simple, comprehensible, and 

impose only as much burden as is 

necessary. Likewise, the Department 

understands that review and revision of 

existing regulations is essential to 

ensure that they continue to meet the 

needs for which they originally were 

designed and that they remain costeffective and cost justified. The 

Department regularly makes a 

conscientious effort to review its rules 

in accordance with the Department’s 

1979 Regulatory Policies and 

Procedures (44 FR 11034, Feb. 26, 

1979), Executive Order 12866, and 

section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act, 5 U.S.C. 610. 

In 2011, in response to Executive 

Order 13563, the Department decided to 

improve its plan by adding special 

oversight processes within the 

Department; encouraging effective and 

timely reviews, including providing 

additional guidance on particular 

problems that warrant review; and 

expanding opportunities for public 

participation. The Department merged 

the results of the retrospective review of 

existing rules that was initially 

conducted pursuant to Executive Order 

13563 and the other special reviews that 

were to be conducted, into a 10-year 

review plan to provide a simpler 

resource for the public and a more 

effective tool for oversight and 

management of the Department’s 

retrospective reviews of rules. 

The Department’s 2011 final plan 

listed 79 existing rules for which the 

Department had already undertaken or 

proposed actions that promise 

significant savings in terms of money 

and burden hours. In addition, the 

Department identified 56 other rules 

with potential savings, and we 

committed to further study of public 

commenter recommendations further 

before deciding on the appropriate 

action. You can find this list of rules as 

Attachment 2 to our 2011 final plan, 

located at http://www.dot.gov/

regulations/retrospective-review-andanalysis-existing-rules. 

Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

DOT is an active regulatory agency 

with broad regulatory responsibilities, 

thus a robust regulatory program is 

essential to our mission. For this reason, 

it is all the more important that we 

maintain a consistent culture of 

retrospective review and analysis. We 

have determined that it is time to begin 

a second round of retrospective review, 

even as the first round of reviews begun 

under Executive Order 13563 are being 

completed. 

Unlike the first round of retrospective 

review under Executive Order 13563, 

where the Department solicited 

suggestions for specific rules that 

should be on the list of candidate rules 

for review, the Department is looking for 

your suggestions on how this round 

should be managed and your reasons for 

your suggestions. 

1. Should DOT simply publish a 

notice in the Federal Register asking for 

suggestions for specific existing rules to 

be reviewed, as we did during the initial 

round? 

2. Should DOT focus on the 56 rules 

identified in the 2011 plan as having 

potential savings? Or are there any 

particular rules from that list that 

should be? 

3. Should DOT publish a notice and 

request for comment in the Federal 

Register— 

a. Focusing instead on the existing 

regulations of one or more specific OAs? 

If so, which OA(s) and why? 

b. Focusing instead on one or more 

cross-cutting issues such as access rules 

or drug and alcohol testing? If so, which 

cross-cutting issues and why? 

c. Focus on a combination of one or 

more specific OA(s) and specific crosscutting issue(s)? If so, which and why? 

4. One other idea would be to hold a 

series of listening sessions announced 

in the Federal Register, each one 

tailored to a specific OA or cross-cutting 

issue. Ideas developed at these sessions 

could be developed at additional public 

workshops (e.g., if the OA has an 

authorized advisory committee (such as 

FRA’s Railroad Safety Advisory 

Committee chartered under the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act), at workshops 

under the auspices of that advisory 

committee), and/or through publication 

of a notice and request for comment in 

the Federal Register, before the idea is 

included in a DOT draft preliminary 

retrospective review plan with a request 

for comment. We would like your 

thoughts on whether this idea is 

preferable, and if so how much time 

should be allowed for each stage 

(listening sessions, additional public 

workshops, and/or publication of a 

notice and request for comment on the 

suggestions for retrospective review). 

Please send suggestions as to which 

OAs and/or cross-cutting issues could 

benefit from this more in-depth 

retrospective review, including your 

rationale. 

5. We also seek other alternatives for 

how to implement this second round of 

retrospective review and your reason for 

supporting the alternative(s). 

Regulatory Notices 

Privacy Act: Anyone may search the 

electronic form of comments received 

into any of our dockets by the name of 

the individual submitting the comment 

(or signing the comment, if submitted 

on behalf of an association, business, 

labor union, etc.) You may review 

DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement 

in the Federal Register published on 

April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477–78), or you 

may visit http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/

browse.html and browse under 2000 for 

April 11, looking under the heading 

‘‘Department of Transportation.’’ 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 610; E.O. 13563, 76 FR 

3821, Jan. 21, 2011; E.O. 12866, 58 FR 51735, 

Oct. 4, 1993. 

Issued on February 19, 2014, in 

Washington, DC. 

Kathryn B. Thomson, 

Acting General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2014–04008 Filed 2–26–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 73 

[MM Docket Nos. 01–229 and 01–231; 

Report No. 2994] 

Petition for Reconsideration of Action 

in Rulemaking Proceeding 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Petition for reconsideration. 

SUMMARY: A Petition for Reconsideration 

has been filed in the Commission’s 

Rulemaking proceedings by Edward 

Czelada. 

DATES: Oppositions to the Petition must 

be filed on or before March 14, 2014. 


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