Document ID: FMCSA-2013-0058-0001
Agency: fmcsa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Driver Qualification Files
Posted Date: 2013-03-05T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14402-14403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05092]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA 2013-0058]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension of a 
Currently Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 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 its 
review and approval, and invites public comment. The FMCSA provides an 
updated estimate of the number of CMV drivers who are required to 
provide information under the driver qualification (DQ) file 
regulations, and of the overall information collection burden imposed 
by those regulations.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 6, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System Number FMCSA 2013-0058 using one of the following 
methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, 20590-0001.
     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., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name 
and docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the exemption process, see the Public 
Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be 
posted without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
     Docket: For access to the docket to read background 
documents or comments received, go to www.regulations.gov, and follow 
the online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street 
address listed above.
     Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form 
of all 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 the Department of Transportation's (DOT) complete Privacy Act 
Statement for the Federal Docket Management System published in the 
Federal Register on December 29, 2010 (75 FR 82133).
     Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is 
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain 
electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the 
``help'' section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. If you 
want us to notify you that we received your comments, please include a 
self-addressed, stamped envelope or postcard, or print the 
acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments online. 
Comments received after the comment closing date will be included in 
the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and 
Operations, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-4325. 
Email: MCPSD@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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. These regulations are also issued under the authority provided 
by 49 U.S.C. 504, 31133, 31136, 31502 and 49 CFR 1.87. Motor carriers 
must ensure that the drivers they place in interstate commerce are 
qualified to operate their assigned CMV. Motor carriers must obtain and 
maintain specified information concerning the qualifications of the 
driver to operate a CMV. The information on each CMV driver is 
maintained in a driver qualification (DQ) file. In some instances, such 
as during the job application process, the motor carrier must obtain 
the required information from the CMV driver. Other sections of the DQ 
file regulations require the motor carrier to contact the driver's 
State of licensure for a copy of that driver's official driving record. 
In other cases, such as the background safety investigation of the 
driver, the motor carrier, with the driver's consent, must contact 
previous employers of the driver to obtain the required information. 
The information in a driver's DQ file is not forwarded to the FMCSA. 
However, the DQ file must be made available to State and Federal safety 
investigators on demand.
    Title: Driver Qualification Files.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0004.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved ICR.
    Respondents: Interstate motor carriers and drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 42,567,200.
    Estimated Time per Response: An average of 28 minutes.
    Expiration Date: May 31, 2013.
    Frequency of Response: Most of the responses occur on an infrequent 
basis, such as when a motor carrier hires a CMV driver, or when a motor 
carrier conducts the required annual review of the driver's DQ file.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 5,236,866 hours [4,908,333 hours for 
driver hiring + 237,333 hours for annual review of driver 
qualifications + 91,200 hours for driver review and rebuttal of safety 
performance history = 5,236,866]. FMCSA arrives at this estimate by 
summing the estimated times required for each of 10 regulatory 
requirements related to the DQ file.

Definitions

    (1) ``Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations'' (FMCSRs) are parts 
350-399 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. (2) 
``Commercial Motor Vehicle'' (CMV) is ``a self-propelled or towed 
vehicle used on the highways in interstate commerce to transport 
passengers or property, if the vehicle--
    (A) has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight 
rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, of at 
least 10,001 pounds, whichever is greater;
    (B) Is designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers 
(including the driver) for compensation;

[[Page 14403]]

    (C) is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, 
including the driver, and is not used to transport passengers for 
compensation; or
    (D) is used in transporting material found by the Secretary of 
Transportation to be hazardous under section 5103 of this title and 
transported in a quantity requiring placarding under regulations 
prescribed by the Secretary under section 5103.'' (49 CFR 390.5.)

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 the 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: February 26, 2013.
G. Kelly Leone,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Information Technology 
and Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-05092 Filed 3-4-13; 8:45 am]
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