Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of an Approved Information Collection: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations

Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
8 March 2019

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 46 (Friday, March 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8563-8565]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04190]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0023]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of an Approved 
Information Collection: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations

AGENCY: 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 its 
review and approval and invites public comment. The FMCSA requests 
approval to renew an ICR titled, ``Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers 
Regulations.'' The HOS regulations require a motor carrier to install 
and require each of its drivers subject to the record of duty status 
(RODS) rule to use an electronic logging device (ELD) to report the 
driver's RODS. The RODS is critical to FMCSA's safety mission because 
it helps enforcement officials determine if CMV drivers are complying 
with the HOS rules limiting driver on-duty and driving time and 
requiring periodic off-duty time.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 7, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0023 using any 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 Operations; 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, 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/pdfE8-794.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 self-addressed, 
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: Ms. Pearlie Robinson, FMCSA Driver and 
Carrier Operations Division Department of Transportation, FMCSA, West 
Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. 
Telephone: 202-366-4225. Email: MCPSD@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 16, 2015, the final rule titled ``Electronic Logging 
Devices and Hours of Service Supporting Documents'' was published and 
became effective February 16, 2016 (80 FR 78292). The FMCSA established 
minimum performance and design standards for ELDs and the mandatory use 
of these devices by drivers who are subject to the HOS reporting 
requirements. Drivers currently using compliant automatic on-board 
recorders (AOBRDs) have until December 16, 2019, to replace the devices 
with ELDs. As a condition of receiving certain federal grants, States 
agree to adopt and enforce the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Regulations, including the HOS rules, as State law. As a result, State 
enforcement inspectors use the RODS and supporting documents to 
determine whether CMV drivers are complying with the HOS rules. In 
addition, FMCSA uses the RODS during on-site and offsite investigations 
of motor carriers. And, Federal and State courts rely upon the RODS as 
evidence of driver and motor carrier violations of the HOS regulations. 
This information collection supports the DOT's Strategic Goal of Safety 
because the information helps the Agency ensure the safe operation of 
CMVs in interstate commerce on our Nation's highways.

Renewal of This IC

    The current IC burden estimate of the HOS rules, approved by OMB on 
June 13, 2016, is 99.46 million hours. The expiration date of the 
current ICR is June 30, 2019. Through this ICR, FMCSA requests a 
revision of the paperwork burden of 2126-0001. The Agency requests a 
reduction in the burden hours from 99.46 million hours to 41.03 million 
hours. The reduction is the result of amendments of the HOS rules in 
which the burden estimate for most drivers and motor carriers is based 
on compliance with the ELD final rule during the three-year ICR period. 
Two types of information are collected under this IC: (1) Drivers' RODS 
commonly referred as a logbook, and (2) supporting documents, such as 
gasoline and toll receipts, that motor carriers use to verify accuracy 
of RODS and document expense deductions for income tax filing purposes. 
The use of ELDs reduces the driver's time to input duty status from 6.5 
minutes to 2 minutes.
    Title: Hours of Service (HOS) of Drivers Regulations.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0001.
    Type of Request: Revision of an information collection.
    Respondents: Motor Carriers of Property and Passengers, Drivers of 
CMVs.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3.42 million CMV drivers; 540,000 
Motor Carriers.
    Estimated Time per Response: CMV drivers using technology: 2 
minutes. Motor Carriers: 2 minutes.
    Expiration Date: June 30, 2019.
    Frequency of Response: Drivers: 240 days per year; Motor carriers 
240 days per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 41.03 million hours.
    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 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 information collected. The Agency will summarize or 
include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this ICR.
    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 on:


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    Dated: March 1, 2019.
Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2019-04190 Filed 3-7-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P