Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of a Currently-Approved Information Collection Request: Financial Responsibility for Motor Carriers of Passengers and Motor Carriers of Property

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

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 information collected will be used to help ensure that motor carriers of passengers and property maintain appropriate levels of financial responsibility to operate on public highways.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before February 11, 2013.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2012-0379 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 Management Facility; 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 and additional information on the exemption process, 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 Web site. 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. Tura Gatling and Gerald Folsom, Ph.D., Office of Registration and Safety Information, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-385-2405/2412; email tura.gatling@dot.gov and gerald.folsom@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: The Secretary of Transportation is responsible for implementing regulations which establish minimal levels of financial responsibility for: (1) For-hire motor carriers of property to cover public liability, property damage and environment restoration, and (2) for-hire motor carriers of passengers to cover public liability and property damage. The Endorsement for Motor Carrier Policies of Insurance for Public Liability (Forms MCS-90/90B) and the Motor Carrier Public Liability Surety Bond (Forms MCS-82/82B) contain the minimum amount of information necessary to document that a motor carrier of property or passengers has obtained, and has in effect, the minimum levels of financial responsibility as set forth in applicable regulations (motor carriers of property—49 CFR 387.9; and motor carrier of passengers—49 CFR 387.33). FMCSA and the public can verify that a motor carrier of property or passengers has obtained, and has in effect, the required minimum levels of financial responsibility, by use of the information enclosed within these documents.

Title: Financial Responsibility for Motor Carrier of Passengers and Motor Carriers of Property.

OMB Control Number: 2126-0008.

Type of Request: Revision of a currently-approved information collection.

Respondents: Insurance and surety companies of motor carriers of property (Forms MCS-90 and MCS-82) and motor carriers of passengers (Forms MCS-90B and MCS-82B).

Estimated Number of Respondents: 6,074.

Estimated Time per Response: The FMCSA estimates it takes two minutes to complete the Endorsement for Motor Carrier Policies of Insurances for Public Liability or three minutes for the Motor Carrier Public Liability Surety Bond; and one minute to place either document on board the vehicle (foreign-domiciled motor carriers only) [49 CFR 387.7(f)]. These endorsements are maintained at the motor carrier's principal place of business [49 CFR 387.7 (iii) (d)].

Expiration Date: March 31, 2013.

Frequency of Response: Upon creation, change or replacement of an insurance policy or surety bond.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 4,480 hours [(3,874 annual burden hours for Form MCS-90B, Form MCS-90, Form MCS-82B and Form MCS-82) + (606 annual burden hours for placing legible copies of the carrier's Insurance Endorsements or Surety Bonds in the cabs of all vehicles operated in the United States) = 4,480].

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 collected information. The agency will summarize or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.