Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection: Acknowledgement of Use of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Relief Publication: Federal Register Agency: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Byline: Thomas P. Keane Date: 5 May 2022 Subject: American Government Special Collection: COVID-19

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 87 (Thursday, May 5, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26799-26800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09641]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0085]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved 
Information Collection: Acknowledgement of Use of COVID-19 Emergency 
Declaration Relief

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department 
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 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. This notice invites 
comment on the information collection titled ``Acknowledgement of Use 
of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Relief,'' which is currently approved 
on an emergency basis and allows FMCSA to collect information from 
motor carriers engaged in providing direct assistance in response to 
certain emergency declarations issued by the Agency to provide 
regulatory relief for such carriers in continued support of the 
Nation's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recovery efforts. OMB 
approved this collection on an emergency basis and subsequently 
extended that emergency approval. The extension of the emergency 
approval expires on August 31, 2022.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before July 5, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2022-0085 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: Dockets 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 https://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 https://www.regulations.gov, and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the docket, 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 ``FAQ'' 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: William Bannister, Office of Analysis, 
Research and Technology, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 202-385-2388; 
William.Bannister@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: FMCSA issued Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002 in 
response to the March 13, 2020, declaration of a national emergency 
under 42 U.S.C. 519(b) related to the danger COVID-19 presents to 
public health and welfare. FMCSA modified Emergency Declaration 2020-
002 to expand and remove categories of supplies, equipment, and persons 
covered by the Emergency Declaration to respond to changing needs for 
emergency relief. The modified Emergency Declaration was subsequently 
extended on June 15, 2020, August 15, 2020, December 1, 2020, August 
31, 2021, and November 29, 2021, in accordance with 49 CFR 390.25, 
because the Presidentially declared emergency remained in place and 
because a continued exemption was needed to support direct emergency 
assistance for some supply chains.
    In accordance with the expanded, modified Emergency Declaration No. 
2020-002, motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance in 
support of relief efforts related to the COVID-19 public health 
emergency are granted emergency relief from certain portions of 49 CFR 
parts 390 through 399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, 
except as restricted in the Emergency Declaration. Direct assistance 
means transportation and other relief services provided by a motor 
carrier or its driver(s) incident to the immediate restoration of 
essential services (such as medical care) or essential supplies related 
to COVID-19 during the emergency. The notice extending the declaration 
provides a list of relief services and essential supplies.
    Prior to September 1, 2021, neither the Emergency Declaration nor 
the regulations covering Emergency Declarations (found in Sec. Sec.  
390.23 and 390.25) required that motor carriers or drivers operating 
under the Emergency Declaration report their operation to FMCSA. FMCSA 
determined that the unprecedented period when the expanded, modified 
Emergency

[[Page 26800]]

Declaration No. 2020-002 was in place required that FMCSA seek 
information on the number of motor carriers and drivers relying upon 
the emergency declaration in order to evaluate the need for additional 
extensions.
    The extension issued on August 31, 2021, included a requirement for 
motor carriers to report, on a monthly basis, their reliance on the 
emergency declaration during operations. FMCSA established a website 
where motor carriers and drivers filled out fields for their USDOT 
number, the number of commercial motor vehicle trips that relied upon 
the emergency declaration in the preceding month (using a drop down 
menu), the commodities being transported (using a drop down menu), and 
a follow up for those listing more than one commodity to indicate which 
was transported the most (using a drop down menu). The November 29, 
2021, extension continued the reporting requirement. OMB approved the 
reporting requirement on an emergency basis on August 30, 2021, and 
subsequently extended that emergency approval on February 14, 2022. 
That approval expires on August 31, 2022. FMCSA refined the burden 
estimates to reflect the average number of monthly submissions received 
from September 2021 to February 2022. The carrier is reporting for the 
previous month, therefore October 2021 submitted reports consist of 
data for the month of September, and March 2022 submitted reports 
consist of data for the month of February.
    This resulted in a decrease in the number of reports estimated to 
be submitted each month, as the emergency ICR request used the total 
number of motor vehicles as a stand-in, and acknowledged that number 
was likely to be an overestimate.
    Title: Acknowledgement of use of COVID-19 Emergency Declaration 
Relief.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0074.
    Type of Request: Renewal of an approved emergency collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers and drivers that operate under the 
terms of the extended COVID-19 Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 477 per month.
    Estimated Time per Response: 15 minutes per response.
    Expiration Date: The emergency approval expires on August 31, 2022.
    Frequency of Response: Monthly.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 1,431 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 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 ICR.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87.
Thomas P. Keane,
Associate Administrator, Office of Research and Registration.
[FR Doc. 2022-09641 Filed 5-4-22; 8:45 am]
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