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U.S. Department
of Transportation
Federal Transit
Administration
Office of Safety and Security

FTA Drug And Alcohol Regulation Updates
Spring 2001

Issue 18

Introduction....

     The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published its final rules on prohibited drug use (49 CFR Part 653) and the prevention of alcohol misuse (49 CFR Part 654) on February 15, 1994. Shortly thereafter, the FTA published the Implementation Guidelines for Drug and Alcohol Regulations in Mass Transit to provide a comprehensive overview of the regulations.

     Since the Guidelines were published there have been numerous amendments, interpretations, and clarifications to the Drug and Alcohol testing procedures and program requirements.

     This publication is being provided to update the Guidelines and inform your transit system of all of these changes. This Update is the eigthteenth in a series.



Inside....

 Part 655 Proposed Rule Published

      On April 30, 2001, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published the 49 CFR Part 655 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in Volume 66, Number 83, pages 21551-21593 of the Federal Register. Electronic access to this rule may be obtained through the FTA Office of Safety and Security home page at http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov or the Federal Register home page at http://www.nara.gov/fedreg.

      The long awaited NPRM proposes to combine the FTA’s drug and alcohol testing regulations (49CFR Part 653 and Part 654, respectively) and to incorporate guidance that FTA has issued over the past several years including technical assistance, letters of interpretation, audit findings, newsletters, training classes and public speaking engagements. In addition, this NPRM proposes changes that are necessary to conform to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) revised drug and alcohol testing rules promulgated at 49 CFR Part 40.

FTA encourages all interested parties to submit comments. Comments can be submitted in written or electronic form. Send written submissions to:

United States Department of Transportation
Central Docket Office
PL-401
400 Seventh Street, S. W.
Washington, D.C. 20590

Send electronic submissions to: http://dms.dot.gov/submit/
All comments must be received by June 14, 2001 and refer to Docket # FTA-2000-8513. The public may review docket comments electronically at http://dms.dot.gov/submit/

      A summary of the NPRM is provided on pages 2-5 of this newsletter. Readers should note that the NPRM is a proposed rule only and that the final rule expected to be published on or about August 1, 2001 may differ in content.

      The basic provisions of the Part 655 NPRM remain substantially the same as those provided in Parts 653 and 654. However, the FTA has identified major issues for which it is requesting input. Commenters, however, need not limit their comments to these issues, but may comment on any portion of the NPRM’s content. Commenters are encouraged to provide documentation and support for their comments and to provide alternative suggestions for issues to which they take exception.

      For further information on program issues contact Mark Snider of the Office of Safety and Security at (202) 366-2896 or e-mail at mark.snider@fta.dot.gov. For legal issues contact Bruce Walker of the Office of the Chief Counsel at (202) 366-4011 or e-mail at bruce.walker@fta.dot.gov.
2001 Random Rates Unchanged
     On March 8, 2001 the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the 2001 random testing rates for employers subject to the FTA drug and alcohol rules. The notice was published in the Federal Register (Volume 66, Number 46, pages 13997-13998). The random test rate for drugs remains at fifty percent (50%) and the random test rate for alcohol remains at ten (10%).

Several transit systems were confused about the rate following an error in a widespread news alert that mistakenly reported the alcohol random test rate at twenty-five percent (25 %). This report is incorrect

 and should be disregarded. The Federal Register is the only official publication of the Federal government that communicates official notices and regulations and should be accessed directly to obtain official information. Federal Register publications can be accessed at http://www.nara.gov/fedreg.

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