Hours of Service of Drivers: Application for Exemption; Motion Picture Association of America

Larry W. Minor
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
27 October 2017

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 207 (Friday, October 27, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49771-49773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23404]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 395

[Docket No. FMCSA-2017-0298]


Hours of Service of Drivers: Application for Exemption; Motion 
Picture Association of America

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

[[Page 49772]]


ACTION: Application for exemption; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that the Motion Picture Association of America 
(MPAA) has requested an exemption from the electronic logging device 
(ELD) requirements for all commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers 
providing transportation to or from a theatrical or television motion 
picture production site. MPAA request this exemption to allow these 
drivers to complete paper records of duty status (RODS) instead of 
using an ELD device. MPAA believes that the exemption would not have 
any adverse impacts on operational safety because drivers would remain 
subject to the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations as well as the 
requirements to maintain paper RODS. FMCSA requests public comment on 
MPAA's application for exemption.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Number FMCSA-2017-0298 by any of the following 
methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. See the 
Public Participation and Request for Comments section below for further 
information.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, 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: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Each submission must include the Agency name and the 
docket number for this notice. Note that DOT posts all comments 
received without change to www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to www.regulations.gov at any time or visit Room W12-140 
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. The on-line FDMS is available 24 hours each 
day, 365 days each year.
    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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this 
notice, contact Mr. Tom Yager, Chief, FMCSA Driver and Carrier 
Operations Division; Office of Carrier, Driver and Vehicle Safety 
Standards; Telephone: 614-942-6477. Email: MCPSD@dot.gov. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, contact 
Docket Services, telephone (202) 366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation and Request for Comments

    FMCSA encourages you to participate by submitting comments and 
related materials.

Submitting Comments

    If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this 
notice (FMCSA-2017-0298), indicate the specific section of this 
document to which the comment applies, and provide a reason for 
suggestions or recommendations. You may submit your comments and 
material online or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only 
one of these means. FMCSA recommends that you include your name and a 
mailing address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of 
your document so the Agency can contact you if it has questions 
regarding your submission.
    To submit your comments online, go to www.regulations.gov and put 
the docket number, ``FMCSA-2017-0298'' in the ``Keyword'' box, and 
click ``Search.'' When the new screen appears, click on ``Comment 
Now!'' button and type your comment into the text box in the following 
screen. Choose whether you are submitting your comment as an individual 
or on behalf of a third party and then submit. If you submit your 
comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no 
larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying and electronic 
filing. If you submit comments by mail and would like to know that they 
reached the facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard 
or envelope. FMCSA will consider all comments and material received 
during the comment period and may grant or not grant this application 
based on your comments.

II. Legal Basis

    FMCSA has authority under 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315 to grant 
exemptions from certain parts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Regulations (FMCSRs). 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 any safety analyses that have been 
conducted. The Agency must also provide an opportunity for public 
comment on the request.
    The Agency reviews safety analyses and public comments submitted, 
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 reasons for denying or granting the application 
and, if granted, the name of the person or class of persons receiving 
the exemption, and the regulatory provision from which the exemption is 
granted. The notice must also specify the effective period and explain 
the terms and conditions of the exemption. The exemption may be renewed 
(49 CFR 381.300(b)).

III. Request for Exemption

    MPAA is requesting an exemption from the ELD requirements in 49 CFR 
part 395 published in the Federal Register on December 16, 2015 (80 FR 
78292). If granted, the exemption would allow all drivers of CMVs 
providing transportation of property to and from a theatrical or 
television motion picture production site to complete paper RODS 
instead of using an ELD device on or after the December 18, 2017 
compliance date. The term of the requested exemption is for five years, 
subject to renewal.
    MPAA reports that approximately 6,500 CMV drivers operate CMVs on a 
full or part-time basis for the motion picture industry. According to 
HOS data developed by third party compliance services, these drivers 
spend on average less than four hours each day driving and drive about 
40 miles per day. Their resulting RODs are often very complex, as are 
the driver HOS records that employing motor carriers must keep. Through 
close cooperation, the industry has been able to manage the extensive 
interchange of paper RODs that this work pattern requires. MPAA asserts 
that industry's success in HOS management is based on a system that is 
driver-based rather than vehicle-based.
    According to MPAA, few production drivers qualify for the short-
haul driver exception in 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1) and

[[Page 49773]]

(e)(2) and will be subject to the ELD requirements when compliance 
becomes mandatory. Each time a production driver operates a CMV for a 
different studio or production company the motor carrier and the driver 
must reconcile the driver's HOS record for the past week. At present, 
cooperation between production companies, various Teamsters locals, and 
drivers can reduce the burden of this detailed reconciliation. And 
under the current rules, drivers themselves can manage the necessary 
paper RODS, carry them to each new CMV, and transfer paper copies to 
each new motor carrier as needed. When a roadside inspection occurs, a 
driver can produce paper RODS for review by the enforcement official.
    MPAA contends that the lack of interoperability among ELD platforms 
developed by various manufacturers means that motion picture company 
drivers will not be able to transfer HOS data from one carrier or 
vehicle to other carriers or vehicles. A driver who is required to use 
an ELD may operate a CMV that has one operating system installed on the 
truck. When the driver transfers to operating for another studio or 
production company, that company may use a different ELD operating 
system for its vehicles. The HOS data cannot automatically be 
transferred from the first company's vehicle to the second company's 
system unless both ELD devices are on the same platform.
    MPAA believes that requiring production company drivers to record 
their HOS using incompatible ELD platforms would prevent them from 
implementing more efficient or effective operations that would maintain 
a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level achieved 
without the requested exemption. Allowing production company drivers to 
continue using paper RODS to record their HOS data will not jeopardize 
operational safety or increase fatigue-related crashes.
    MPAA states that Congress and FMCSA already recognized the minimal 
safety concerns presented by motion picture production drivers due to 
the limited numbers of hours and miles they operate CMVs and the 
availability of frequent and extended periods of off duty time 
throughout the workday. As a result production drivers are already 
exempted from the typical HOS driving and on duty time limits as long 
as they operate within a 100 air-mile radius of the location where the 
driver reports to and is released from work.
    Because production drivers operate CMVs so few miles and hours per 
day, motion picture production companies have driver and vehicle out-
of-service rates that are substantially below the national averages for 
carriers in general. Until such time as all ELD platforms are fully 
interoperable, motion picture production drivers should be allowed to 
continue recording their HOS data using paper RODS.
    A copy of MPAA's application for exemption is available for review 
in the docket for this notice.

    Issued on: October 23, 2017.
 Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2017-23404 Filed 10-26-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P