Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently-Approved Information Collection Request: Annual Report of Class I and Class II For-Hire Motor Carriers

Kenneth Riddle
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
20 April 2020

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 76 (Monday, April 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21918-21919]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08262]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0306]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently-
Approved Information Collection Request: Annual Report of Class I and 
Class II For-Hire Motor Carriers

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 its 
review and approval and invites public comment. FMCSA requests approval 
to renew the previously approved ICR now titled, ``Annual Report of 
Class I and Class II For-Hire Motor Carriers,'' OMB Control No. 2126-
0032. This ICR is necessary to comply with FMCSA's financial and 
operating statistics requirements at chapter III of title 49 CFR part 
369 titled, ``Reports of Motor Carriers.''

DATES: Please send your comments by June 19, 2020. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0306 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, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001 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: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits 
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT 
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information 
the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the 
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 
www.dot.gov/privacy.
    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: Mr. Jeff Secrist, Office of 
Registration and Safety Information, Department of Transportation, 
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-
385-2367; email jeff.secrist@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: Section 14123 of title 49 of the United States Code 
(U.S.C.) requires certain for-hire motor carriers of property, 
passengers, and household goods to file annual financial reports. The 
annual reporting program was implemented on December 24, 1938 (3 FR 
3158), and it was subsequently transferred from the Interstate Commerce 
Commission (ICC) to the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) 
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) on January 1, 1996. The 
Secretary of Transportation delegated to BTS the responsibility for the 
program on December 17, 1996 (61 FR 68162). Annual financial reports 
are filed on Form M (Class I and II for-hire property carriers, 
including household goods carriers) and Form MP-1 (Class I for-hire 
passenger carriers). Responsibility for collection of the reports was 
transferred from BTS to FMCSA on August 17, 2004 (69 FR 51009), and the 
regulations were redesignated as 49 CFR part 369 on August 10, 2006 (71 
FR 45740). FMCSA collects carriers' annual reports and furnishes copies 
of the reports when requested under the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA). For-hire motor carriers (including interstate and intrastate) 
subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations are classified 
on the basis of their gross carrier operating revenues.\1\
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    \1\ For purposes of the Financial and Operating Statistics 
(F&OS) program, carriers are classified into the following three 
groups: (1) Class I carriers are those having annual carrier 
operating revenues (including interstate and intrastate) of $10 
million or more after applying the revenue deflator formula as set 
forth in Note A of 49 CFR 369.2; and (2) Class II carriers are those 
having annual carrier operating revenues (including interstate and 
intrastate) of at least $3 million, but less than $10 million after 
applying the revenue deflator formula as set forth in 49 CFR 369.2.

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[[Page 21919]]

    Under the Financial and Operating Statistics (F&OS) program, FMCSA 
collects from Class I and Class II for-hire motor carriers balance 
sheet and income statement data along with information on safety needs, 
tonnage, mileage, employees, transportation equipment, and other 
related data. FMCSA is also authorized to ask carriers to respond to 
surveys concerning their operations. The data and information collected 
is publicly available through FOIA requests. FMCSA has created 
electronic forms that may be prepared, signed electronically, and 
submitted to FMCSA via https://ask.fmcsa.dot.gov/app/ask/.
    Title: Annual Report of Class I and Class II For-Hire Motor 
Carriers.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0032.
    Type of Request: Renewal of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    Respondents: Class I and Class II For-Hire Motor Carriers of 
Property and Class I For-Hire Motor Carriers of Passengers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 128 total (42.7 per year, over 
three years).
    Estimated Time per Response: 9 hours for Form M and 0.3 hours for 
Form MP-1.
    Expiration Date: September 30, 2020.
    Frequency of Response: Annually.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 384.3 hours [384.3 hours (Form M) + 
0 hours (Form MP-1)].
    Estimated annual respondents for Form M decreased from 96 in the 
previously approved ICR to 42.7 in the current ICR. Estimated annual 
burden hours for Form M decreased by 479.7 hours [384.3 proposed hours 
- 864 currently approved hours = -479.7 hours]. Estimated annual 
respondents for Form MP-1 decreased from 2 in the previously approved 
ICR to 0 in the current ICR. Estimated annual burden hours for Form MP-
1 decreased by 1 hour [0 proposed hours - 1 currently approved hour = -
1 hour] for Form MP-1. These changes are due to decreased numbers of 
Form M and Form MP-1 submissions received by the Agency between 2016 
and 2018, which has resulted in lower estimates of annual respondents/
responses for the upcoming information collection period.
    Labor costs to industry have decreased by $22,040.15, annually 
[$16,770.85 in proposed costs - $38,811 currently approved costs = -
$22,040.15]. This is due to the decreased estimates of annual 
respondents/responses. Other annual costs to respondents (i.e., 
associated with mailing completed forms to FMCSA) have decreased by 
$55.30 [($42.70 in proposed mailing costs for Form M + $0 in proposed 
mailing costs for Form MP-1) - ($96 in previously approved mailing 
costs for Form M + $2 in previously approved mailing costs for Form MP-
1) = -$55.30]. This change is also due to the decreased estimates of 
annual respondents/responses.
    For the Federal Government, annual costs have decreased by $93.73 
[$73.27 in proposed costs - $167 in previously approved costs = -
$93.73]. This decrease is due to the decreased estimates of annual 
respondents/responses, which results in fewer forms to process.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to 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 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.

Kenneth Riddle,
Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2020-08262 Filed 4-17-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P