60-day Federal Register Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 43 / Tuesday, March 5, 2013 / Notices

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section

in advance of the meeting.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 27,
2013.
George C. Nield,
Associate Administrator for Commercial
Space Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2013–05066 Filed 3–4–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

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
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.

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AGENCY:

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,

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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 selfaddressed, 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:
[email protected].
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

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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;

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 43 / Tuesday, March 5, 2013 / Notices
(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.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration

Electronic Access
You may see all the comments online
through the Federal Document
Management System (FDMS) at http://
www.regulations.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket to
read background documents or
comments, go to http://
www.regulations.gov at time or Room
W12–140 on the ground level of the
West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m.
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The FDMS is
available 24 hours each day, 365 days
each year.
Privacy Act: Anyone may search the
electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the
name of the individual submitting the
comment (or of the person signing the
comment, if submitted on behalf of an
association, business, labor union, etc.).
You may review DOT’s Privacy Act
Statement for the Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) published
in the Federal Register on December 29,
2010 (75 FR 82132).

[Docket No. FMCSA–2011–0318]

Background

Alabama Metal Coil Securement Act;
Petition for Determination of
Preemption

The Metal Coil Securement Act
The Act, adopted in 2009, prohibits a
motor carrier from transporting metal
coils in a movement that originates or
terminates in Alabama unless the driver
is certified in load securement (Ala.
Code § 32–9A–2(a)(4)a.). The law, as
originally enacted, also required the
driver to carry a copy of the certification
in the vehicle and produce it upon
demand (Ala. Code § 32–9A–2(a)(4)b.).
Maximum penalties for violating these
requirements include fines of between
$5,000 and $10,000, jail time and/or a
court order prohibiting the driver from
operating a CMV in the State (Ala. Code
§ 32–9A–4(d)—(g)). Alabama
Promulgated Rule No. 760–X–1–.16,
adopted on April 5, 2011, offers CMV
drivers three options to become certified
in load securement: (1) Obtain a Metal
Coil Certificate by taking and passing
the ‘‘Securing Metal Coils Course’’
available for $25.00 on the web site,
www.metalcoiltraining.com; (2) obtain a

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]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Order; Grant of Petition for
Determination of Preemption.
AGENCY:

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places an unreasonable burden on
interstate commerce.
DATES: This decision is effective April 4,
2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Genevieve D. Sapir, Office of the Chief
Counsel, Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590,
(202) 366–7056; email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

SUMMARY: FMCSA grants a petition
submitted by the American Trucking
Associations (ATA) requesting a
determination that the State of
Alabama’s Metal Coil Securement Act
(the Act) is preempted by Federal law.
Federal law provides for preemption of
State commercial motor vehicle (CMV)
safety laws that are more stringent than
Federal regulations and (1) Have no
safety benefit; (2) are incompatible with
Federal regulations; or (3) would cause
an unreasonable burden on interstate
commerce. FMCSA has determined that
there is insufficient support for the
claimed safety benefits and that the Act

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14403

commercial driver’s license (CDL)
endorsement that allows the driver to
haul metal coils in the issuing State; or
(3) obtain a Metal Coil Certificate from
a motor carrier authorized by the
Alabama Department of Public Safety
(ADPS) to issue the Certificate, which
would require the carrier’s safety
compliance officer to submit a notarized
affidavit that he/she has personal
knowledge that the carrier requires
every driver to be trained in the
requirements of 49 CFR 393.120 before
hauling metal coils. Federal regulations
for securing metal coil loads, codified in
49 CFR 393.120, do not require any such
driver certification.
In June 2011, Alabama amended the
Act, rescinding the requirement that
drivers carry copies of their metal coil
load securement certification in their
vehicles. Currently, the Act continues to
require drivers to obtain certification, as
specified in Alabama Promulgated Rule
No. 760–X–1–.16, but drivers are no
longer required to produce the
certification upon demand.
FMCSA and ATA Responses
On June 26, 2009, FMCSA sent a letter
to then-Governor Bob Riley of Alabama
stating that the Act appeared to be
incompatible with the requirements of
FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety
Assistance Program. FMCSA also drew
attention to two Federal laws
authorizing preemption of State
legislation (49 U.S.C. 14506 and 31141)
and indicated that they might be
applicable. The Agency urged State
officials to work together with FMCSA
officials to resolve any conflict between
State and Federal law. Governor Riley
responded on August 26, 2009,
explaining that the Act was adopted in
response to a number of accidents in
Alabama involving the transport of
metal coils. Governor Riley took the
position that Alabama’s metal coil load
securement certification requirements
were not preempted by Federal law.
On December 22, 2010, ATA
petitioned FMCSA for a determination
that Alabama’s metal coil load
securement certification requirements
and penalties create an unreasonable
burden on interstate commerce and are
preempted under 49 U.S.C. 31141. ATA
contended that Alabama’s requirement
that drivers obtain certification in metal
coil load securement is more stringent
than and incompatible with Federal
metal coil safety regulations.
In its December 22, 2010 letter, ATA
also requested a determination that the
requirement that the driver carry the
certification and display it upon
demand is preempted by 49 U.S.C.
14506. The recent amendment to the

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