Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of Existing Information Collection Request: Lease and Interchange of Vehicles

G. Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
16 August 2018

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 159 (Thursday, August 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40841-40842]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-17683]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0087]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of Existing 
Information Collection Request: Lease and Interchange of Vehicles

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 review 
and approval.

DATES: Please send your comments by September 17, 2018. OMB must 
receive your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2018-0087-0001. Interested persons 
are invited to submit written comments on the proposed information 
collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget. Comments should be addressed to the attention 
of the Desk Officer, Department of Transportation/Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, and sent via electronic mail to 
oira_submission@omb.eop.gov, or faxed to (202) 395-6974, or mailed to 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, 
DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Crystal Frederick, Transportation 
Specialist, Compliance Division, Department of Transportation, Federal 
Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 6th Floor, West Building, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-2904; 
Email Address: crystal.frederick@dot.gov. Office hours are from 9 a.m. 
to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This ICR will enable FMCSA to document the 
burden associated with the for-hire truck leasing regulations codified 
in 49 CFR part 376, ``Lease and Interchange of Vehicles'' and passenger 
carrier regulations codified at 49 CFR part 390, subpart F, ``Lease and 
Interchange of Passenger-Carrying Commercial Motor Vehicles.'' These 
regulations require certain motor carriers to have a formal lease when 
leasing equipment. The FMCSA requests approval to renew an ICR titled, 
``Lease and Interchange of Vehicles.''
    Title: Lease and Interchange of Vehicles.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0056.
    Type of Request: Renewal of information collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers authorized by the Secretary to 
transport property and passengers that use leased equipment.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,213,193 [18,820 lessees (IC-1) + 
18,820 lessors (IC-1) + 5,175,552 carrier representatives (IC-2).
    Estimated Time per Response: Varies from 5 to 30 minutes.
    Expiration Date: August 31, 2018.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,136,114 hours [18,820 master lease 
(ICR Component 1 (IC-1)) + 62,236 standard statement (IC-1) + 13,478 
master lease (ICR Component 2 (IC-2)) + 862,592 negotiation (IC-2) + 
143,190 documentation (IC-2) + 0 (negligible) copying (IC-2) + 35,798 
charter group notification (IC-2)].
    Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is 
authorized to require a motor carrier that uses commercial motor 
vehicles not owned by it to transport property under an arrangement 
with another party to make the arrangement in writing. This written 
lease agreement must specify its duration, the compensation to be paid 
by the motor carrier providing transportation subject to jurisdiction 
under 49 U.S.C. 14102(a), ``Leased Motor Vehicles'' and signed by the 
parties. The Secretary has delegated authority pertaining to leased 
motor vehicles to FMCSA pursuant to 49 CFR 1.87(a)(6). The Agency's 
regulations governing leased motor vehicles are at 49 CFR part 376.
    The rules were adopted to ensure that small trucking companies were 
protected when they agreed to lease their equipment and drivers to 
larger for-hire carriers. They also ensure that the government and 
members of the public can determine who is responsible for a property-
carrying commercial motor vehicle. Prior to the regulations, some 
equipment was leased without written agreements, leading to disputes 
over which party to the lease was responsible for charges and actions 
and, at times, who was legally responsible for the vehicle. Under 49 
U.S.C. 14102(a), FMCSA ``may require a motor carrier providing for-hire 
transportation that uses motor vehicles not owned by it to

[[Page 40842]]

transport property under an arrangement with another party to--
    (1) Make the arrangement in writing signed by the parties 
specifying its duration and the compensation to be paid by the motor 
carrier;
    (2) carry a copy of the arrangement in each motor vehicle to which 
it applies during the period the arrangement is in effect;
    (3) inspect the motor vehicles and obtain liability and cargo 
insurance on them; and
    (4) have control of and be responsible for operating those motor 
vehicles in compliance with requirements prescribed by the Secretary on 
safety of operations and equipment, and with other applicable law as if 
the motor vehicles were owned by the motor carrier.''
    The rules specify what must be covered in the lease, but leave open 
how many responsibilities must be divided. The parties to the lease 
determine numerous details between themselves.
    Part 376 applies only to certain motor carriers in interstate 
commerce and only to certain leasing situations based on exemptions set 
forth in 49 CFR 376.11, which cross references other provisions in part 
376. Section 376.11 requires that authorized carriers (a person or 
persons authorized to engage in the transportation of property as a 
motor carrier under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 13901 and 13902) may 
perform authorized transportation using equipment it does not own only 
when the following conditions are met: (1) There shall be a written 
lease granting the use of the equipment and meeting the requirements 
contained in 376.12; and (2) Receipts, specifically identifying the 
equipment to be leased and stating the date and time of day possession 
is transferred, shall be given; and (3) The authorized carrier 
acquiring the use of equipment under this section shall identify the 
equipment as being in its service.
    These property and passenger carrier provisions account for the 
burden in this information collection.
    This program change increase of 527,214 estimated annual burden 
hours (1,136,114 proposed estimated annual burden hours--608,900 
currently approved estimated annual burden) is due to updated estimates 
of the number of respondents and responses. Previous estimates were 
based on 2014 data. Current estimates are based on September 26, 2017, 
Motor Carrier Management Information System and Safety Measurement 
System snapshots. The data pulled for the current ICR shows an increase 
in the overall number of carriers since the data used in the previous 
ICR. The increased carriers resulted in an increase in the overall 
burden hours associated with this ICR.
    FMCSA received a total of 13 comments concerning the Leasing ICR, 
12 in the appropriate docket and 1 misfiled in another docket in 
response to the 60-day comment Federal Register (83 FR 17884), 
published on April 24, 2018. Comments were received from the following 
organizations and/or individuals: Academy Bus, Adirondack Transit 
Lines, American Bus Association, Connecticut Bus Association, Elite 
Coach, FTI Coach Lines, Greyhound Lines, Jefferson Lines, Burlington 
Trailways, Anderson Coach & Travel, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers 
Association (OOIDA), Trans-Bridge Lines, and Tim Watson from an unnamed 
carrier.
    The majority of the comments received made points against the 
Leasing rule that include the following: (1) The ICR will present a 
significant paperwork burden to carriers, (2) there is a shift in 
liability from the lessor to the lessee without explanation, (3) the 
Leasing rule will negatively impact carrier operations and businesses, 
and (4) the ICR should not be approved because the Leasing rule itself 
needs to be repealed. Additional, less frequently cited points include: 
(1) The rule will negatively impact safety, (2) the definition used for 
the term, ``lease'' is inconsistent with other organizations and 
governments, and (3) FMCSA will make changes to the Leasing rule so 
close to the pending compliance date that there will be insufficient 
time to address potential remaining issues with the rule.
    First, based on FMCSA's estimates, we do not believe there is a 
significant burden represented by this ICR as the estimated time per 
response is between 5 and 30 minutes and the collection frequency is 
estimated to be occasionally. Second, the remainder of the comments are 
out of scope as they speak to the leasing rule itself and not the 
collection request represented in this ICR.
    One commenter, OOIDA, expressed support of the Leasing rule. OOIDA 
made the following points: (1) The Leasing rule ensures that motor 
carriers take more responsibility in the lessor/lessee relationship and 
diminishes abuse of that relationship, (2) the burden for complying 
with the rule will not be significant, and (3) the Leasing rule 
supports safety by permitting owner-operators to manage their business 
and not drive when tired. Additionally, OOIDA also commented 
specifically on the collection outlined in the ICR, indicating the 
following: ``Although it is fair to estimate that the information that 
the Rules require to be disclosed may fit on a single page, some 
carriers choose to express the required lease provisions in more 
lengthy documents. Leases are often multiple pages because they also 
contain contractual provisions beyond those required by the rules. That 
factors leans toward a higher burden (at the choice of motor carriers) 
than estimated by the Agency. The typical lease is for a term of one 
year, and such leases are regularly self-renewing and not recreated and 
affirmed on an annual basis. Therefore, in these instances, the burden 
of issuing copies of leases would be less.'' While FMCSA appreciates 
these points on the length of documents and self-renewal, without 
specific numbers on document length or frequency of self-renewals we 
have no specific basis to adjust the numbers in the ICR and intend to 
keep the estimates proposed at this time.
    As FMCSA announced in a notice titled, Proposal in response to 
petitions for reconsideration; request for public comments, dated June 
16, 2017, it intends to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) 
to revise the 2015 final rule, reducing the burdens generally it would 
have imposed on motor carriers of passengers [82 FR 27768]. Currently, 
FMCSA is working on the NPRM and expects to publish it later in 2018. 
The compliance date of the 2015 rule, currently January 1, 2019 [82 FR 
27766], will be extended and ultimately replaced by a new compliance 
date adopted upon completion of the forthcoming rulemaking. For the 
purpose of this ICR all of the burden from the existing regulations 
must be assessed.
    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 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.

    Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on: August 
8, 2018.
G. Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2018-17683 Filed 8-15-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P