FTA Random Test Rates

418

Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 3 / Tuesday, January 6, 1998 / Rules and Regulations

Dated: December 30, 1997.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 98–258 Filed 1–2–98; 12:20 pm]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
48 CFR Parts 1535 and 1552
[FRL–5944–3]

Technical Amendments to Acquisition
Regulation: Removal of Certification
Requirements Regarding Collection,
Use, Access, Treatment, and
Disclosure of Confidential Business
Information (CBI): Correction of
Effective Date Under the
Congressional Review Act (CRA)
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule; correction of
effective date under the CRA.
AGENCY:

SUMMARY: On July 18, 1997 (62 FR
38476), the Environmental Protection
Agency published in the Federal
Register a final rule concerning the EPA
Acquisition Regulation (EPAAR) to
remove certification requirements
regarding the collection, use, access,
treatment, and disclosure of confidential
business information (CBI) which are
not specifically imposed by statute, and
to amend CBI clauses to remove such
certification requirements, which
established an effective date of August
18, 1997. This document is to correct
the effective date of the rule to
December 30, 1997 to be consistent with
sections 801 and 808 of the
Congressional Review Act (CRA),
enacted as part of the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act.
EFFECTIVE DATE: December 30, 1997.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Judith Koontz at (202) 260–8608.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background
Section 801 of the CRA precludes a
rule from taking effect until the agency
promulgating the rule submits a rule
report, which includes a copy of the
rule, to each House of the Congress and
to the Comptroller General of the
General Accounting Office (GAO). The
EPA recently discovered that it had
inadvertently failed to submit the above
rule as required; thus, although the rule
was promulgated July 18, 1997 by
operation of law, the rule did not take
effect on August 18, 1997 as stated.
After EPA discovered its error, the rule
was submitted to both Houses of

Congress and the GAO on December 11,
1997. This document is to amend the
effective date of the rule consistent with
the provisions of the CRA.
Section 553 of the Administrative
Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b), provides
that, when an agency for good cause
finds that notice and public procedure
are impracticable, unnecessary or
contrary to the public interest, an
agency may issue a rule without
providing notice and an opportunity for
public comment. EPA has determined
that there is good cause for making
today’s rule final without prior proposal
and opportunity for comment because
EPA merely is correcting the effective
date of the promulgated rule to be
consistent with the congressional
review requirements of the
Congressional Review Act as a matter of
law and has no discretion in this matter.
Thus, notice and public procedure are
unnecessary. The Agency finds that this
constitutes good cause under 5 U.S.C.
553(b). Moreover, since today’s action
does not create any new regulatory
requirements and affected parties have
known of the underlying rule since July
18, 1997, EPA finds that good cause
exists to provide for an immediate
effective date pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553(d)(3) and 808(2).
B. Administrative Requirements
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR
51735, October 4, 1993), this action is
not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ and
is therefore not subject to review by the
Office of Management and Budget. In
addition, this action does not impose
any enforceable duty or contain any
unfunded mandate as described in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(Pub. L. 104–4), or require prior
consultation with State officials as
specified by Executive Order 12875 (58
FR 58093, October 28, 1993), or involve
special consideration of environmental
justice related issues as required by
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629,
February 16, 1994). Because this action
is not subject to notice-and-comment
requirements under the Administrative
Procedure Act or any other statute, it is
not subject to the regulatory flexibility
provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). EPA’s
compliance with these statutes and
Executive Orders for the underlying rule
is discussed in the July 18, 1997 Federal
Register document.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), as
added by the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, EPA
will submit a report containing this rule
and other required information to the
U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives and the Comptroller

General of the General Accounting
Office; however, in accordance with 5
U.S.C. 808(2), this rule became effective
on December 30, 1997. This rule is not
a ‘‘major rule’’ as defined in 5 U.S.C.
804(2).
This final rule only amends the
effective date of the underlying rule; it
does not amend any substantive
requirements contained in the rule.
Accordingly, to the extent it is available,
judicial review is limited to the
amended effective date.
48 CFR Parts 1535 and 1552
Environmental protection,
Government procurement.
Dated: December 30, 1997.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.

Therefore, 48 CFR Chapter 15 is
amended as set forth below:
PARTS 1535 and 1552—[AMENDED]
1. The authority citations for Parts
1535 and 1552 continue to read as
follows:
Authority: Sec. 205(c), 63 stat. 390, as
amended, 40 U.S.C. 486(c).

2. Section 1552.235–77 is amended by
revising the clause heading dates to read
‘‘December 1997’’ and revising the
section heading to read as follows:
§ 1552.235–77 Data Security for Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
Confidential Business Information
(December 1997).

*

*
*
*
*
3. Section 1552.235–78 is amended by
revising the clause heading dates to read
‘‘December 1997’’ and revising the
section heading to read as follows:
§ 1552.235–78 Data Security for Toxic
Substances Control Act Confidential
Business Information (December 1997).

*

*

*

*

*

[FR Doc. 98–260 Filed 1–2–98; 10:01 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
49 CFR Parts 653 and 654
Prevention of Prohibited Drug Use in
Transit Operations; Prevention of
Alcohol Misuse in Transit Operations
AGENCY:

Federal Transit Administration,

DOT.
Notice of random drug and
alcohol testing rate.
ACTION:

This notice announces the
random testing rates for employers
SUMMARY:

Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 3 / Tuesday, January 6, 1998 / Rules and Regulations
subject to the Federal Transit
Administration’s (FTA) drug and
alcohol rules.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Judy Meade, Director of the Office of
Safety and Security (202) 366–2896
(telephone) and (202) 366–7951 (fax).
Electronic access to this and other
documents concerning FTA’s drug and
alcohol testing rules may be obtained
through FTA’s Transit Safety and
Security Bulletin Board at 1–800–231–
2061 or through the FTA World Wide
Web home page at http://
www.fta.dot.gov; both services are
available seven days a week.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
required large transit employers to begin
drug and alcohol testing ‘‘safetysensitive’’ employees on January 1,
1995, and to report, annually by March
15 of each year beginning in 1996, the
number of ‘‘safety-sensitive’’ employees
who had a verified positive for the use
of prohibited drugs, and the number of
safety-sensitive employees who tested
positive for the misuse of alcohol. Small
employers started testing their ‘‘safetysensitive’’ employees on January 1,
1996, and began reporting the same
information as the large employers
beginning on March 15, 1997.
Employers are required annually to
submit other data, not relevant here, in
the same report; these data are available
from the FTA as discussed below.
The rules established a random
testing rate for prohibited drugs and the
misuse of alcohol; specifically, the rules
require that employers conduct random
drug tests at a rate equivalent to at least
50 percent of their total number of
safety-sensitive employees for
prohibited drug use and at least 25
percent for the misuse of alcohol. The
rules provide that the drug random
testing rate may be lowered to 25
percent if the ‘‘positive rate’’ for the
entire transit industry is less than one
percent for two consecutive years. Once
lowered, it may be raised to 50 percent
if the positive rate equals or exceeds one
percent for any one year. (‘‘Positive
rate’’ means the number of positive
results for random drug tests conducted
under part 653 plus the number of
refusals of random tests required by part
653, divided by the total number of
random drug tests, plus the number of
refusals of random tests required by part
653.)
Likewise, the alcohol rule provides
that the random rate may be lowered to
10 percent if the ‘‘violation rate’’ for the
entire transit industry is less than .5
percent for two consecutive years. It

will remain at 25 percent if the
‘‘violation rate’’ is equal to or greater
than .5 percent but less than one
percent, and it will be raised to 50
percent if the ‘‘violation rate’’ is one
percent or greater for any one year.
(‘‘Violation rate’’ means the number of
covered employees found during
random tests given under part 654 to
have an alcohol concentration of .04 or
greater, plus the number of employees
who refuse a random test required by
part 654, divided by the total reported
number of random alcohol tests
conducted under part 654, plus the total
number of refusals of random tests,
required by part 654.)
FTA has received and analyzed the
1996 data from large and small transit
employers. The ‘‘positive rate’’ for
random drug tests was 1.5 percent and
the ‘‘violation rate’’ for random alcohol
tests was 0.21 percent; therefore, for
1998, transit employers will continue to
be required to conduct random drug
tests at a rate equivalent to at least 50
percent of the total number of their
‘‘safety-sensitive’’ employees for
prohibited drugs. Because the random
alcohol violation rate was lower than .5
percent for two consecutive years (0.24
percent for 1995 and 0.21 percent for
1996), the random alcohol testing rate
will lowered to 10 percent for 1998.
FTA will be publishing in December
a detailed report on the 1996 data
collected from large and small
employers. This report may be obtained
from the Office of Safety and Security,
Federal Transit Administration, 400
Seventh Street, SW, Room 9301,
Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366–2896.
Issued: December 31, 1997.
Gordon J. Linton,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 98–217 Filed 1–5–98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–57–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Parts 600 and 660
[Docket No. 971229312–7312–01; I.D.
12167C]

Magnuson Act Provisions; Foreign
Fishing; Fisheries off West Coast
States and in the Western Pacific;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery;
Annual Specifications and
Management Measures
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
AGENCY:

419

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: 1998 groundfish fishery
specifications and management
measures; tribal whiting allocation;
announcement of exempted fishing
permits; request for comments.
NMFS announces the 1998
fishery specifications and management
measures for groundfish taken in the
U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and
state waters off the coasts of
Washington, Oregon, and California, as
authorized by the Pacific Coast
Groundfish Fishery Management Plan
(FMP). The specifications include the
levels of the acceptable biological catch
(ABC) and harvest guidelines (HGs),
including the distribution between
domestic and foreign fishing operations.
The HGs are allocated between the
limited entry and open access fisheries.
The management measures for 1998 are
designed to keep landings within the
HGs, for those species for which there
are HGs, and to achieve the goals and
objectives of the FMP and its
implementing regulations. The intended
effect of these actions is to establish
allowable harvest levels of Pacific Coast
groundfish and to implement
management measures designed to
achieve but not exceed those harvest
levels, while extending fishing and
processing opportunities as long as
possible during the year. This action
also announces the approval of
applications to renew two exempted
fishing permits (EFPs)in 1998.
DATES: Effective 0001 hours (local time)
January 1, 1998, until the 1999 annual
specifications and management
measures are effective, unless modified,
superseded, or rescinded. The 1999
annual specifications and management
measures will be published in the
Federal Register. Comments on the
1998 annual specifications and
management measures, tribal whiting
allocation, and EFPs will be accepted
until February 5, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments on these
specifications and management
measures, tribal whiting allocation, and
EFPs should be sent to Mr. William
Stelle, Jr., Administrator, Northwest
Region (Regional Administrator),
National Marine Fisheries Service, 7600
Sand Point Way N.E., BIN C15700, Bldg.
1, Seattle, WA 98115–0070; or Mr.
William Hogarth, Acting Administrator,
Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West
Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach,
CA 90802–4213. Information relevant to
these specifications and management
measures, including an environmental
assessment (EA) and the stock
SUMMARY: