49 CFR Part 382 - CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES AND ALCOHOL USE AND TESTING

FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. The Agency makes minor changes to correct inadvertent errors and omissions, remove or update obsolete references, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, and improve the clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions.

FMCSA amends its regulations to allow the use of electronic records and signatures to satisfy FMCSA's regulatory requirements. These amendments permit the use of electronic methods to generate, certify, sign, maintain, or exchange records so long as the documents accurately reflect the required information and can be used for their intended purpose. This rule applies only to those documents that FMCSA's regulations obligate entities or individuals to retain; it does not apply to forms or other documents that must be submitted directly to FMCSA unless there are already procedures in place in the regulations for electronic submission to FMCSA. This rule partially implements the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN).

FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule “General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.” Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word “and” at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used.

FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term “common carrier” and “contract carrier” as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions.

FMCSA extends the public comment period for the Agency's February 20, 2014, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning the establishment of a Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse). On April 15, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc. (OOIDA) petitioned the Agency for a 60-day extension of the comment period. The Agency extends the April 21, 2014, deadline for the submission of public comments to May 21, 2014.

This document corrects the preamble to a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that published in the Federal Register on February 20, 2014. This NPRM would establish the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a database under the Agency's administration that will contain controlled substances and alcohol test result information for the holders of commercial driver's licenses.

FMCSA proposes to establish the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain controlled substances (drug) and alcohol test result information for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). The proposed rule would require FMCSA-regulated motor carrier employers, Medical Review Officers (MROs), Substance Abuse Professionals (SAPs), and consortia/third party administrators (C/TPAs) supporting U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) testing programs to report verified positive, adulterated, and substituted drug test results, positive alcohol test results, test refusals, negative return-to-duty test results, and information on follow-up testing. The proposed rule would also require employers to report actual knowledge of traffic citations for driving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) while under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs. The proposed rule would establish the terms of access to the database, including the conditions under which information would be submitted, accessed, maintained, updated, removed, and released to prospective employers, current employers, and other authorized entities. Finally, it would require laboratories that provide FMCSA-regulated motor carrier employers with DOT drug testing services to report, annual, summary information about their testing activities. This rule is mandated by Section 32402 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act.

This final rule makes technical corrections throughout FMCSA's regulations. The Agency is making minor editorial changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style, and improve clarity. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected parts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs).

FMCSA promulgates the regulatory exemptions for the “transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies” and for “covered farm vehicles” and their drivers enacted by sections 32101(d) and 32934, respectively, of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Although prior statutory exemptions involving agriculture are unchanged, some of these exemptions overlap with MAP-21 provisions. In these cases, regulated entities will be able to choose the exemption, or set of exemptions, under which to operate. They must, however, comply fully with the terms of each exemption they claim.

This final rule makes technical corrections throughout title 49 CFR subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor editorial changes to add revised delegations of authority from the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), correct errors and omissions, and improve clarity. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected parts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs).

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is correcting a Final Rule that appeared in the Federal Register on January 30, 2012 (77 FR 4479), which amended the physical qualifications for drivers and the instructions for the medical examination report to clarify that drivers may not use Schedule I drugs and be qualified to drive commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) under any circumstances.