[Federal Register: December 31, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 249)]
[Notices]
[Page 74405-74407]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31de07-120]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
[Docket No. FMCSA-2007-0093]
Electronic Signatures on Documents: East West Resort
Transportation, LLC, and TMS, LLC, dba Colorado Mountain Express (CME),
Application for Exemption
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of application for exemption; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FMCSA announces that it has received from East West Resort
Transportation, LLC, and TMS, LLC, dba Colorado Mountain Express (CME),
an application for an exemption from the original signature requirement
for a driver on the application for employment required by the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. The exemption would allow CME to use
an electronic signature as a functional equivalent of an original
signature on the driver employment applications. CME states that the
use of electronic signatures would substantially improve the level of
service that it can provide the public, as it would expedite processing
of employment applications as well as improve cost efficiency in its
business. FMCSA requests public comment on CME's application for
exemption.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 30, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket
Management System Number FMCSA-2004-19608 by any of the following
methods:
Web Site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments on the Federal electronic docket site.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington,
DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery: Ground Floor, Room W12-140, DOT Building,
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 or Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for this
rulemaking. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the
[[Page 74406]]
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 at any time or to the
ground floor, room W12-140, DOT Building, New Jersey Avenue, SE.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
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 in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://docketsinfo.dot.gov
.
Public participation: The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is generally
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can get electronic
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section
of the www.regulations.gov Web site and also at the DOT's http://docketsinfo.dot.gov
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 we will consider late comments to the extent
practicable. FMCSA may, however, make a final decision on the
application for exemption at any time after the close of the comment
period.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT DMS Docket Number
FMCSA-2007-0093 using any of the following methods:
Web site: http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W12-140, Washington,
DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the
West Building, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to http://dms.dot.gov including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading for further
information.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or Room W12-140
on the ground floor of the West Building, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The
Docket Management System (DMS) is available 24 hours each day, 365 days
each year. 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 on-
line.
Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of DOT's dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, or other
entity). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the
Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477, Apr. 11,
2000). This statement is also available at http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, FMCSA Driver
and Carrier Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and
Operations. Telephone: 202-366-4325. E-mail: MCPSD@fmcsa.dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 4007 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
(Pub. L. 105-178, 112 Stat. 107, June 9, 1998) amended 49 U.S.C. 31315
and 31136(e) to provide authority to grant exemptions from motor
carrier safety regulations. Under its regulations, FMCSA must publish a
notice of each exemption request in the Federal Register (49 CFR
381.315(a)). The Agency must provide the public an opportunity to
inspect the information relevant to the application, including the
conducting of any safety analyses. The Agency must also provide an
opportunity for public comment on the request.
The Agency reviews the safety analyses and the public comments and
determines whether granting the exemption would likely achieve a level
of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be
achieved by the current regulation (49 CFR 381.305). The decision of
the Agency must be published in the Federal Register (49 CFR
381.315(b)) with the reason for denying or, in the alternative, the
specific person or class of persons receiving the exemption, and the
regulatory provision or provisions from which exemption is granted. The
notice must also specify the effective period of the exemption (up to 2
years), and explain the terms and conditions of the exemption. The
exemption may be renewed (49 CFR 381.300(b)).
Request for Exemption
East West Resort Transportation, LLC, and TMS, LLC, dba Colorado
Mountain Express (CME) is a DOT-registered motor carrier of passengers
providing service over regular routes and in special and charter
operations. CME operates 235 vehicles and has over 20 years of
experience in interstate commerce. CME's regular route operations are
provided principally between the Denver International Airport in
Denver, Colorado and points in Eagle County, Colorado including the
Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts, the Eagle County, Colorado Regional
Airport and points in Pitkin County, Colorado, including the Aspen and
Snowmass ski resorts, pursuant to certificates issued by the former
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). Its authority to provide charter
and special operations extends to all points in Colorado.
CME states that it has increasingly made use of computers in
conducting its business. It makes maximum use of the Internet in its
reservations, maintenance, accounting and virtually all other phases of
its business. CME advises that its ``goal of making maximum prudent use
of computers in its business extends to its goal of ultimate
digitization of all data which it both generates and receives in the
ordinary course of business, with the result of CME being a `paperless
office'.'' CME's ultimate goal, according to its exemption application,
is to conduct, to the extent possible, all of its internal operations
in a digitized format.
CME states that, as a motor common carrier of passengers, it is
required to comply--and does comply--with the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). One specific
[[Page 74407]]
section of the FMCSRs--Sec. 391.21(b) reads: ``The application for
employment shall be made on a form furnished by the motor carrier. Each
application form must be completed by the applicant, must be signed by
him, and must contain the following information * * *.''
As one part of its goal to utilize computers in its everyday
business activities, in 2006 CME contracted with a vendor to monitor
the Federal driver-recordkeeping requirements with a service that helps
carriers centralize and manage driver records, and standardizes
company-wide transportation safety and compliance programs and
resulting data. By providing proactive real-time alerts of important
driver information, this system lets CME know at a glance what its
compliance level is at any given time, and what work needs to be done
to maintain and enhance its compliance efforts.
According to CME, one of the time-consuming drawbacks to the
overall process of hiring a driver is the requirement in 49 CFR
391.21(b) of having the application signed by the individual driver
applicant. CME's computer system is sophisticated and secure, and
applicants who submit an application online do so by entering a user
name and password that can only be known to the applicant. CME wishes
to make this online application process less complicated by allowing
driver-applicants to use an electronic signature, rather than having
the application completed online, approved, printed, signed by the
driver applicant, and then rescanned into the system.
Due to the savings involved in not maintaining large areas devoted
to the storage of paper records, CME has strived to have substantially
all of its passenger-service records, including its traffic data,
digitized in a manner that minimizes human intervention. CME states
that the potential utilization of electronic signatures would
substantially improve the level of service that it can provide the
public as it reduces the margin of error in its operations, which
culminates in considerable cost savings to CME.
CME requests that it be granted an exemption for a period of two
years from the requirement to maintain driver employment applications
bearing original signatures. A copy of CME's exemption application is
in the docket identified at the beginning of this notice.
Request for Comments
In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(4) and 31136(e), FMCSA
requests public comment on CME's application for an exemption. The
Agency will consider all comments received by close of business on
January 30, 2008. Comments will be available for examination in the
docket at the location listed under the ADDRESSES section of this
notice. The Agency will file comments received after the comment
closing date in the public docket, and will consider them to the extent
practicable. In addition to late comments, FMCSA will also continue to
file, in the public docket, relevant information that becomes available
after the comment closing date. Interested persons should monitor the
public docket for new material.
Issued on: December 19, 2007.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development.
[FR Doc. E7-25318 Filed 12-28-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P