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unproductive, as the company must
incur added expense to send the driver
to his or her home State to collect a CDL
document. Under the rule, the driver is
not only unable to utilize newly
acquired driving skills, but must also
forego compensation before obtaining a
CDL. CRST believes that FMCSA should
renew the exemption for an additional
5-year period because it results in safer
drivers. It allows CRST to foster a more
productive and efficient training
environment by allowing CLP holders to
hone their recently acquired driving
skills through on-the job-training and to
begin earning an income right away,
producing immediate benefits for the
driver, the carrier, and the economy as
a whole.

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IV. Method To Ensure an Equivalent or
Greater Level of Safety
CRST states that the exemption does
not negatively affect safety outcomes.
Instead, the exemption allows drivers
trained out-of-State to obtain on-the-job
experience in CRST’s comprehensive
training program while avoiding
significant delays and skill degradation.
The exemption creates immediate
economic and safety benefits for both
the CLP holders and CRST—drivers
earn an income as part of a team
operation while improving their driver
skills and gaining valuable experience.
CRST indicated in its renewal
application that data show that drivers
utilizing the exemption demonstrated
better safety outcomes than non-exempt
drivers. Through the end of 2016, CRST
reported zero accidents to FMCSA
involving drivers utilizing the
exemption.
In the June 12, 2017, Federal Register,
FMCSA granted the renewal of a similar
exemption from 49 CFR 383.25(a)(1) to
C.R. England, Inc. (C.R. England) for a
five-year period. Under the terms and
conditions of that exemption, a CLP
holder who has documentation of
passing the CDL skills test may drive a
CMV for C.R. England without being
accompanied by a CDL holder in the
front seat. The Agency believed that
C.R. England’s request for exemption
would achieve a level of safety that is
equivalent to, or greater than, the level
of safety achieved without the
exemption (82 FR 26975).
A copy of CRST’s application for
exemption renewal is available for
review in the docket for this notice.
Issued on: August 2, 2018.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2018–17063 Filed 8–8–18; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA–2018–0159]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Revision of an Approved
Information Collection Request:
Commercial Driver Licensing and Test
Standards
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice and request for
information.
AGENCY:

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 requests
approval to revise and renew an ICR
titled, ‘‘Commercial Driver Licensing
and Test Standards,’’ due to an increase
in the number of commercial driver’s
license records and the addition of one
information collection item: ‘‘Driver
completion of knowledge and skills
tests 49 CFR 384.201.’’ This ICR is
needed to ensure that drivers, motor
carriers and the States are complying
with notification and recordkeeping
requirements for information related to
testing, licensing, violations,
convictions and disqualifications and
that the information is accurate,
complete and transmitted and recorded
within certain time periods as required
by the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety
Act of 1986 (CMVSA), as amended.
DATES: We must receive your comments
on or before October 9, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) Docket
Number FMCSA–2126–0011 using any
of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: 202–493–2251.
• Mail: Docket Operations; U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building,
Ground Floor, Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: West
building, Ground Floor, Room 12–140,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC, between 9:00 a.m. and
5:00 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must
include the Agency name and docket
SUMMARY:

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number. For detailed instructions on
submitting comments, see the Public
Participation heading below. Note that
all comments received will be posted
without change to http://
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 http://
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 DOT’s complete Privacy Act
Statement for the Federal Docket
Management System published in the
Federal Register on January 17, 2008
(73 FR 3316), or you may visit http://
edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8794.pdf.
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 website. 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.
Selden Fritschner, Office of Safety
Programs, Commercial Driver’s License
Division (MC–ESL), Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration, West
Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590–
0001. Telephone: 202–366–0677; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The licensed drivers in
the United States deserve reasonable
assurance that their fellow motorists are
properly qualified to drive the vehicles
they operate. Before the Commercial
Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986
(CMVSA or the Act) Public Law 99–570,
Title XII, 100 Stat. 3207–170, codified at
49 U.S.C. chapter 313) was signed by
the President on October 27, 1986, 18
States and the District of Columbia
authorized any person licensed to drive
an automobile to also legally drive a

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 154 / Thursday, August 9, 2018 / Notices
large truck or bus. No special training or
special license was required to drive
these vehicles, even though it was
widely recognized that operation of
certain types of vehicles called for
special skills, knowledge and training.
Even in the 32 States that had a
classified driver licensing system in
place, only 12 of these States required
an applicant to take a skills test in a
representative vehicle. Equally serious
was the problem of drivers possessing
multiple driver licenses. By spreading
their convictions among several States,
CMV drivers could avoid punishment
for their infringements, and stay behind
the wheel.
The CMVSA addressed these
problems. Section 12002 of the Act
makes it illegal for a CMV operator to
have more than one driver’s license.
Section 12003 requires the CMV driver
conducting operations in commerce to
notify both the designated State of
licensure official and the driver’s
employer of any convictions of State or
local laws relating to traffic control
(except parking tickets). This section
also required the promulgation of
regulations to ensure each person who
applies for employment as a CMV
operator to notify prospective employers
of all previous employment as a CMV
operator for at least the previous 10
years.
In section 12005 of the Act, the
Secretary of Transportation (Secretary)
is required to develop minimum Federal
standards for testing and licensing of
operators of CMVs.
Section 12007 of the Act also directs
the Secretary, in cooperation with the
States, to develop a clearinghouse to aid
the States in implementing the one
driver, one license, and one driving
record requirement. This clearinghouse
is known as the Commercial Driver’s
License Information System (CDLIS).
The CMVSA further requires each
person who has a CDL suspended,
revoked or canceled by a State, or who
is disqualified from operating a CMV for
any period, to notify his or her employer
of such actions. Drivers of CMVs must
notify their employers within 1 business
day of being notified of the license
suspension, revocation, and
cancellation, or of the lost right to
operate or disqualification. These
requirements are reflected in 49 CFR
part 383, titled ‘‘Commercial Driver’s
License Standards; Requirements and
Penalties.’’
Specifically, section 383.21 prohibits
a person from having more than one
license; Section 383.31 requires
notification of convictions for driver
violations; section 383.33 requires
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suspensions; section 383.35 requires
notification of previous employment;
and section 383.37 outlines employer
responsibilities. Section 383.111
requires the passing of a knowledge test
by the driver and section 383.113
requires the passing of a skills test by
the driver; section 383.115 contains the
requirement for the double/triple trailer
endorsement, section 383.117 contains
the requirement for the passenger
endorsement, section 383.119 contains
the requirement for the tank vehicle
endorsement and section 383.121
contains the requirement for the
hazardous materials endorsement.
Section 12011 of the CMVSA states
that the Secretary shall withhold a
portion of the Federal-aid highway
funds apportioned to a State if the State
does not substantially comply with the
requirements in section 12009(a) of the
Act. The information gathered during
State compliance reviews is used to
determine whether States are complying
with these requirements.
A final rule was published on July 31,
2002 (67 FR 49742) implementing 15 of
the 16 CDL related provisions of the
Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act
of 1999 (MCSIA) (Pub. L. 106–159, 113
Stat. 1748 (Dec. 9, 1999)) that were
designed to enhance the safety of
drivers on our nation’s highways by
ensuring that only safe drivers operate
CMVs. These new requirements are
contained in 49 CFR part 383 and
include: Five new major and serious
disqualifying offenses (section 383.51):
Non-CMV disqualifying offenses by a
CDL holder (section 383.51);
disqualification of drivers determined to
be an imminent hazard (section 383.52);
a new school bus endorsement (section
383.123); a prohibition on issuing a
hardship license to operate a CMV
while under suspension (section
384.210); a prohibition on masking
convictions (section 384.226); and
various requirements for transmitting,
posting and retaining driver convictions
and disqualification records.
A Final Rule was published on
December 1, 2008 (73 FR 73096) that
implemented the 16th CDL related
provision of MCSIA, the merging of the
medical certification and CDL issuing
processes.
An interim final rule (IFR) was
published on May 5, 2003 (68 FR 23844)
as a companion rule to the
Transportation Security
Administration’s (TSA’s) May 5, 2003
IFR implementing section 1012 of the
USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. 107–56) on
security threat assessments for drivers
applying for or renewing a CDL with a
hazardous materials endorsement.
While TSA set the requirements in their

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39497

rule; FMCSA has the responsibility as
part of the CDL testing and issuance
process to ensure that States are in
compliance with the TSA requirements.
Section 4019 of the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA–
21), Public Law 105–178, 112 Stat. June
8, 1999, requires the Secretary of
Transportation to review the procedures
established and implemented by the
States under 49 U.S.C. 31305 for CDL
knowledge and skills testing to
determine whether the current testing
system is an accurate measure and
reflection of an individual’s knowledge
and skills to operate a CMV. The results
of this review were incorporated into
the new ‘‘2005 CDL Test System.’’ A
final rule was published on May 9,
2011, that requires the use of a State
Testing System that is comparable to the
2005 CDL Test System.
Section 4122 of the Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity
Act: A Legacy for Users, Public Law
109–59, August 10, 2005, requires the
Department of Transportation (DOT) to
prescribe regulations on minimum
uniform standards for the issuance of
commercial learner’s permits (CLPs), as
it has already done for CDLs [49 U.S.C.
31308]. More specifically, section 4122
provides that an applicant for a CLP
must first pass a knowledge test which
complies with minimum standards
prescribed by the Secretary and may
have only one CLP at a time; that the
CLP document must have the same
information and security features as the
CDL; and that the data on each CLP
holder must be added to the driver’s
record in CDLIS. The Final Rule
published on May 9, 2011 also includes
each of those requirements.
Section 703 of the Security and
Accountability for Every Port Act of
2006 (SAFE Port Act), Public Law 109–
347, October 13, 2006, requires the
Secretary of Transportation to
promulgate regulations implementing
the recommendations in a memorandum
issued by the DOT’s Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) on June 4, 2004,
concerning verification of the legal
status of commercial drivers, as well as
the recommendations in a report issued
by the OIG on February 7, 2006, titled
‘‘Oversight of the Commercial Driver’s
License Program’’ dealing with steps
needed to improve anti-fraud measures
in the CDL program. The specific
recommendations include: The
establishment of a legal presence
requirement for CDL issuance; declaring
a State out of substantial compliance
with the CDL requirements if the State
fails to impose adequate internal
controls to detect and help prevent
fraud in the CDL program or fails to take

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adequate corrective action when fraud is
discovered; and imposed sanctions
against States for noncompliance. This
Final Rule published on May 9, 2011
includes all the OIG’s
recommendations. Many of the
operational procedures suggested by the
OIG for carrying out the
recommendations have also been
adopted.
This information collection supports
the DOT Strategic Goal of Safety by
requiring that drivers of CMVs are
properly licensed according to all
applicable Federal requirements.
The 10-year employment history
information supplied by the CDL holder
to the employer upon application for
employment (49 CFR 383.35) is used to
assist the employer in meeting his/her
responsibilities to ensure that the
applicant does not have a history of
high safety risk behavior.
State officials use the information
collected on the license application
form (49 CFR 383.71), the medical
certificate information that is posted to
the driving record and the conviction
and disqualification data posted to the
driving record (49 CFR 383.73) to
prevent unqualified and/or disqualified
CDL holders from operating CMVs on
the nation’s highways. State officials are
also required to administer knowledge
and skills tests to CDL driver applicants
(49 CFR 384.202). The driver applicant
is required to correctly answer at least
80 percent of the questions on each
knowledge test to achieve a passing
score on that test. To achieve a passing
score on the skills test, the driver
applicant must demonstrate that he/she
can successfully perform all the skills
listed in the regulations. During State
CDL compliance reviews, FMCSA
officials review this information to
ensure that the provisions of the
regulations are being carried out.
Without the aforementioned
requirements, there would be no
uniform control over driver licensing
practices to prevent unqualified and/or
disqualified drivers from being issued a
CDL and to prevent unsafe drivers from
spreading their convictions among
several licenses in several States and
remaining behind the wheel of a CMV.
Failure to collect this information
would render the regulations
unenforceable.
This request for renewed approval
includes one additional information
collection item: ‘‘Driver completion of
knowledge and skills tests [49 CFR
384.201].’’ This section is added as a
result of a new requirement for States to
assure the testing of commercial
learner’s permits follow a standardized
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Title: Commercial Driver Licensing
and Test Standards.
OMB Number: 2126–0011.
Type of Request: Revision of a
currently-approved information
collection.
Respondents: Drivers with a
commercial learner’s permit (CLP) or
commercial driver’s license (CDL) and
State driver licensing agencies.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
7,364,972 driver respondents and 4,746
State respondents.
Estimated Time per Response: Varies.
Expiration Date: October 31, 2018.
Frequency of Response: Varies.
Estimated Total Annual Burden:
2,825,503 hours, which is the total of
four tasks for CDL drivers (2,403,248
hours), added to a total of eight tasks for
State driver licensing agency CDL
activities (422,255 hours).
Information collection tasks and
associated burden hours are as follows:
IC–1.1 Driver Notification of
Convictions/Disqualifications to
Employer: 473,577 hours
IC–1.2 Driver Providing Previous
Employment History to New
Employer: 297,758 hours
IC–1.3 Driver Completion of the CDL
Application Form: 40,719 hours
IC–1.4 Driver Completion of Knowledge
and Skills Tests: 1,591,194 hours
IC–2.1 State Recording of Medical
Examiner’s Certificate Information:
80,344 hours
IC–2.2 State Recording of the Self
Certification of Commercial Motor
Vehicle (CMV) Operation: 3,018 hours
IC–2.3 State Verification of Medical
Certification Status: 3,180
IC–2.4 Annual State Certification of
Compliance: 1,632 hours
IC–2.5 State Preparing for and
Participating in Annual Program
Review: 10,200 hours
IC–2.6 CDLIS/PDPS/State
Recordkeeping: 214,548 hours
IC–2.7 Knowledge and Skills Test
Recordkeeping: 82,034 hours
IC–2.8 Knowledge and Skills Test
Examiner Certification: 27,299 hours
Definitions: Under 49 CFR 383.5:
Commercial motor vehicle (CMV)
means a motor vehicle or combination
of motor vehicles used in commerce to
transport passengers or property if the
motor vehicle—
(1) Has a gross combination weight
rating or gross combination weight of
11,794 kilograms or more (26,001
pounds or more), whichever is greater,
inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross
vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle
weight of more than 4,536 kilograms
(10,000 pounds), whichever is greater;
or

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(2) Has a gross vehicle weight rating
or gross vehicle weight of 11,794 or
more kilograms (26,001 pounds or
more), whichever is greater; or
(3) Is designed to transport 16 or more
passengers, including the driver; or
(4) Is of any size and is used in the
transportation of hazardous materials as
defined in this section.
Hazardous materials means any
material that has been designated as
hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is
required to be placarded under subpart
F of 49 CFR part 172 or any quantity of
a material listed as a select agent or
toxin in 42 CFR part 73.
Public Comments Invited: You are
asked to comment on any aspect of this
information collection, including: (1)
Whether the proposed collection is
necessary for the performance of
FMCSA’s functions; (2) the accuracy of
the estimated burden; (3) ways for
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 under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87
on: August 2, 2018.
Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research
and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2018–17064 Filed 8–8–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA–2018–0246]

Hours of Service of Drivers: HEPACO,
LLC; Heritage Environmental Services,
LLC; Lewis Environmental, Inc.; and
Moran Environmental Recovery, LLC;
Application for Exemption
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of application for
exemption; request for comments.
AGENCY:

FMCSA announces that it has
received a joint application from
HEPACO, LLC; Heritage Environmental
Services, LLC; Lewis Environmental,
Inc.; and Moran Environmental
Recovery, LLC, for exemption from the
hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for
drivers engaged in providing direct
assistance in environmental
emergencies or potential environmental
emergencies. The applicants request a

SUMMARY:

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