Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing to amend its September 27, 2002, final rule concerning protection against shifting and falling cargo for commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) engaged in interstate commerce in response to petitions for rulemaking from the American Trucking Associations (ATA), Forest Products Association of Canada, Georgia-Pacific Corporation and Weyerhaeuser, and in response to issues raised by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), the Forest Resources Association, Inc., the Washington Contract Loggers Association and the Washington Log Truckers Conference, and the Timber Producers Association of Michigan and Wisconsin. The amendments are intended to make the final rule more consistent with the December 18, 2000, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and the North American Cargo Securement Standard Model Regulations the new rules are based upon. This rulemaking would also include several editorial corrections to the final rule.

The FMCSA announces its decision to exempt 30 individuals from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The exemptions will enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the vision standard prescribed in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10).

FMCSA proposes a revised registration system. The Unified Registration System would apply to every motor carrier, freight forwarder and broker required to register with DOT under 49 CFR 390.19 or 49 U.S.C. 13901, except Mexico-domiciled motor carriers registering to operate between Mexico and points in the United States beyond border commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico international border. The entities covered by this system would be required to register with FMCSA and periodically update registration information provided on a newly proposed registration form. This proposal applies to entities that are already subject to FMCSA Commercial Regulations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), or the Hazardous Material Regulations (HMRs). This action is being taken in response to section 103 of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA), which, among other things, requires the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to propose regulations to replace four current identification and registration systems with a single, on-line, Federal system. The purpose of this proposal is to consolidate and simplify current Federal registration processes and to increase public accessibility to data about interstate motor carriers, property brokers, and freight forwarders. FMCSA proposes to charge registration fees that will enable FMCSA to recoup costs associated with processing registration applications and administrative filings and maintaining this system.

FMCSA announces a public meeting concerning a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME). If established, the NRCME would be a database of medical examiners certified by FMCSA (or a third party) to conduct medical examinations of interstate commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and effectively determine their physical qualifications to operate such vehicles in interstate commerce as defined in 49 CFR 391.41. If the NRCME is implemented, the FMCSA would only accept medical examinations conducted by persons listed in the NRCME as proof of the physical qualifications standards for interstate CMV drivers. The meeting is intended to provide a general introduction to the NRCME concept and an opportunity for discussion with subject matter experts.

This notice publishes the FMCSA decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 31 individuals. The FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from vision standards if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The agency has concluded that granting these exemptions will provide a level of safety that will be equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requests public comment on the American Pyrotechnics Association's application for an exemption from the prohibition against driving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) after the 14th hour of coming on duty. The exemption would be applicable for a period beginning 7 days prior to, and 2 days immediately following Independence Day. Fireworks personnel who operate CMVs in conjunction with staging fireworks shows celebrating Independence Day would be allowed to exclude off-duty and sleeper berth time of any length in the calculation of the 14 hours. Drivers would not be allowed to drive after accumulating a total of 14 hours of on-duty time, following 10 consecutive hours off duty, and would continue to be subject to the 11-hour driving time limit, and the 60- and 70-hour weekly limits. APA believes the exemption would achieve a level of safety equivalent to what would be provided by compliance with the 14-hour rule as it applies to other drivers of property- carrying vehicles.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) prohibit States from issuing, renewing, transferring or upgrading a commercial driver's license (CDL) with a hazardous materials endorsement unless the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has first conducted a security threat assessment of the applicant and determined the applicant does not pose a security risk warranting denial of the hazardous materials endorsement. The FMCSRs currently provide a specific date on which States become subject to the new requirement. This interim final rule amends the FMCSRs to cross-reference the TSA's compliance date as the date when FMCSA's companion requirements also become applicable. Consistent with TSA regulations, FMCSA also reduces the amount of advance notice that States must provide to drivers that a security threat assessment will be performed when they renew a hazardous materials endorsement. This rule is being issued as an IFR because it relates back to an existing substantive IFR published on May 5, 2003. This IFR will be subsumed into that rulemaking when it is finalized. All outstanding comments on these issues will be addressed in that final document.

This notice publishes the FMCSA's receipt of applications from 30 individuals for an exemption from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. If granted, the exemptions will enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the vision standard prescribed in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10).

The FMCSA announces its decision to exempt 28 individuals from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The exemptions will enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the vision standard prescribed in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10).

The FMCSA announces its denial of 102 applications from individuals who requested an exemption from the Federal vision standard applicable to interstate truck drivers and the reasons for the denials. The FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision standard if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The agency has concluded that granting these exemptions does not provide a level of safety that will equal or exceed the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

FMCSA received an application from the National Cooperative Refinery Association (``NCRA'') and its affiliate Jayhawk Pipeline, LLC, for an exemption from the driver's physical qualification rule which requires drivers who operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce to be medically examined and certified every 24 months. NCRA states an exemption is needed to extend the expiration of the qualification date up to eight days for 130 of its drivers who were qualified to operate a CMV on various dates in April of 2004. If granted, an exemption would allow NCRA to schedule its drivers' medical examinations in April of 2006, after the expiration of their physical qualification certification.

The FMCSA announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) described in this notice is being sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This information collection allows registered motor carriers, property brokers and freight forwarders a means of meeting process agent requirements. On September 14, 2004, the agency published a Federal Register notice announcing a 60-day comment period on this information collection (69 FR 55490). We are required to send ICRs to OMB under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

FMCSA issues this Interim Final Rule (IFR) to clarify and modify the applicability of certain Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Departmental Title VI provisions that implement Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and related nondiscrimination statutes, as they apply to FMCSA Federal financial assistance recipients. The ``savings provision'' of section 106(b) of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 provides the opportunity for this clarification and modification. As part of this initiative, FMCSA establishes a new Part 303 under 49 CFR chapter III, Subchapter A, for future FMCSA Title VI implementing regulations and any future guidelines on Title VI compliance. This IFR will provide FMCSA with initial guidelines and procedures for implementing its Title VI procedures. This will be done by continuing to apply and use the Departmental umbrella Title VI regulations in 49 CFR part 21 to any program or activity for which Federal financial assistance is authorized under a law administered by FMCSA. FMCSA will remain subject to those Title VI requirements at the Departmental level, and will develop as needed further guidelines and procedures in accordance with the law to assure effective and consistent implementation for financially assisted recipients. FMCSA also removes itself from the FHWA Title VI regulations set forth at 23 CFR part 200, because they are not appropriate for FMCSA programs and activities. Doing so will avoid any potential confusion while not altering the substantive Title VI obligations of FMCSA and its grantees.

In accordance with the requirement in section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the FMCSA is announcing that the new information collection request described in this notice is being sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. We are required under the PRA to send information collection requests to OMB. This information collection is related to a study of the causation of commercial motor vehicle crashes mandated by the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999. The bus study will fulfill the bus portion of this mandate and aid in the determination of the reasons for, and factors contributing to, serious bus crashes. The Federal Register notice announcing a 60-day comment period on this information collection was published on August 23, 2004 (69 FR 51879).

On January 24, 2005, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published in the Federal Register (70 FR 3339) a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding hours of service of commercial motor vehicle drivers. In that NPRM, FMCSA announced it is reviewing and reconsidering the regulations on hours of service of drivers published on April 28, 2003, and amended on September 30, 2003. In the docket to this January 24, 2005, NPRM, FMCSA re-filed the same Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA), or comprehensive analysis of economic benefits and costs of the proposed rule, as was filed in the docket for the April 2003 final rule. However, effective January 1, 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) imposed new analytical requirements on Federal agencies regarding the preparation of RIAs for economically significant rulemakings. These new requirements include an uncertainty analysis, or an analysis of the ``degree of uncertainty'' associated with key variables used in the analysis (i.e., the percent of all truck-related crashes where commercial driver fatigue is a factor) and how significantly that uncertainty affects the benefit and cost estimates derived. A primary value of uncertainty analysis is its ability to highlight those key variables where additional data collection (to reduce uncertainty) would most benefit the decision making process. Additionally, OMB now requires a cost-effectiveness analysis for those rulemakings where improved public health and safety are the primary benefits. The cost effectiveness of a regulatory action is typically measured as a ratio of the change in costs occasioned by the action compared to its positive results (i.e., lives saved). A primary value of cost-effectiveness analysis is its ability to identify regulatory options that achieve the most effective use of the resources available without requiring monetization of all of the relevant benefits or costs. In light of these new requirements, FMCSA has prepared an addendum to the original RIA containing the two supplemental analyses and has made it available in Docket FMCSA-2004- 19608.

FMCSA is reviewing and reconsidering the regulations on hours of service of drivers published on April 28, 2003 (68 FR 22456) and amended on September 30, 2003 (68 FR 56208). The regulations were vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 16, 2004 (Public Citizen et al. v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 374 F.3d 1209). Congress subsequently provided that the 2003 regulations will remain in effect until the effective date of a new final rule addressing the issues raised by the court or September 30, 2005, whichever occurs first (Section 7(f) of the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004, Part V). FMCSA is reconsidering the 2003 regulations to determine what changes may be necessary to be consistent with the holdings and dicta of the Public Citizen decision. In order to allow effective public participation in the process before the statutory deadline, FMCSA is publishing this NPRM concurrently with its ongoing research and analysis of the issues raised by the court. To facilitate discussion, the agency is putting forward the 2003 rule as the ``proposal'' on which public comments are sought. This NPRM, however, asks the public to comment on what changes to that rule, if any, are necessary to respond to the concerns raised by the court, and to provide data or studies that would support changes to, or continued use of, the 2003 rule. The NPRM includes specific information on a variety of topics and specific questions for comment. FMCSA is not considering changes to the hours-of-service regulations applicable to drivers and operators of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs).

This notice publishes the FMCSA's receipt of applications from 29 individuals for an exemption from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. If granted, the exemptions will enable these individuals to qualify as drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the vision standard prescribed in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10).

This notice announces FMCSA's plans to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to renew its approval of the information collection described below. This information collection is for the application forms used by for-hire motor carriers of regulated commodities, freight forwarders, property brokers, and certain Mexican motor carriers to register their operations with the FMCSA. This notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The FMCSA announces its denial of 8 applications from individuals who requested an exemption from the Federal diabetes standard applicable to interstate truck drivers and the reasons for the denials. The FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the diabetes standard if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The agency has concluded that granting these exemptions would not provide a level of safety that will equal or exceed the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.