Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently-Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
29 October 2019

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57934-57935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23562]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0102]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently-
Approved Collection: Driver Qualification Files

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 (PRA), 
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. FMCSA requests 
approval to revise and renew an ICR titled ``Driver Qualification 
Files,'' OMB Control Number 2126-0004. The ICR estimates the burden 
commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and motor carriers incur to 
comply with the reporting and recordkeeping tasks required for motor 
carriers to maintain driver qualification (DQ) files. The Agency's 
regulations pertaining to maintaining DQ files are unchanged and impose 
no increased information collection (IC) burden on individual drivers 
and motor carriers. However, the Agency increases its estimate of the 
total IC burden of these regulations primarily because both the number 
of CMV drivers and the frequency of their hiring have increased since 
the Agency's 2016 estimate of this burden.

DATES: Please send your comments by November 29, 2019. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date in order to act on the ICR.
    All comments should reference Federal Docket Management System 
Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0102. 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, 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: 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: 202-366-4325. Email: MCPSD@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Driver Qualification Files.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0004.
    Type of Request: Renewal and revision of a currently-approved 
information collection.
    Respondents: CMV motor carriers and drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 6.89 million (6.35 million drivers 
+ 0.54 million motor carriers).
    Expiration Date: January 31, 2020.
    Frequency of Response: The information on some DQ documents is only 
provided one time, such as that furnished at the time the individual 
applies for employment as a driver. Other information must be obtained 
by the motor carrier within 30 days of the date the driver begins to 
drive a CMV for the employer. Other information, such as the driver's 
motor vehicle record, is only updated once a year.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 12.26 million hours.

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. Part 391 of volume 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
contains the minimum qualifications of drivers of CMVs in interstate 
commerce.
    Motor carriers may not require or permit an unqualified driver to 
operate a CMV. The foremost proof of driver qualification is the 
information that part 391 requires be collected and maintained in the 
driver qualification file (DQ file) (49 CFR 391.51). Motor carriers 
must obtain this information from sources specified in the regulations, 
such as the driver, previous employers of the driver, and officials of 
the State of driver licensure. Motor carriers are not required to 
forward DQ information to FMCSA, but must maintain the information in a 
DQ file and make it available to State and Federal safety investigators 
on demand.
    Through this ICR, FMCSA is asking OMB's approval to renew and 
revise its estimate of the paperwork burden imposed by its DQ file 
regulations. The regulations have not been amended; the IC burden 
imposed on individual drivers and motor carriers by the regulations is 
unchanged. The current IC burden estimate approved by OMB is 10.21 
million hours. The Agency has increased its estimate of the total IC 
burden from 10.21 million hours to 12.26 million hours. The increase in 
burden hours is primarily the result of a larger driver population and 
a higher driver turnover rate, both of which affect the volume of 
documents produced and filed in DQ files. This revised ICR removes the 
medical examiner's certificate recordkeeping requirement from the 
estimate of burden hours and cost to eliminate double counting. 
Although the currently approved ICR did not monetize driver and motor 
carrier burden hours, the revised ICR monetizes such burden.
    On June 10, 2019, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice 
allowing for a 60-day comment period on this ICR. There were no 
comments submitted to the docket in response to that notice.

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 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.


[[Page 57935]]


    Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87 on: October 
23, 2019
Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2019-23562 Filed 10-28-19; 8:45 am]
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