The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published its revised rule on prohibited drug use and the prevention of alcohol misuse (49 CFR Part 655) on August 1, 2001. The FTA published the revised 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 these changes. This Update is the thirty-one in a series.
 

   The random testing rates for employers covered under the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) drug and alcohol testing program will remain the same for 2006. On January 31, 2006, the Federal Register (Volume 71, Number 20, Page 5109-5110) announced the random testing rate for drugs is fifty percent (50%) while the random testing rate for alcohol remains at ten percent (10%).
   The testing rates are dependent on the industry’s drug “positive rate” and alcohol “violation rate” for the preceding two years. The “positive rate” for drugs means the number of verified positive drug test results plus the number of random test refusals, divided by the total number of random test results. The alcohol “violation rate” is similar to the drug “positive rate” except that it measures the number of confirmation tests with results of 0.04 or greater plus the number of random test refusals divided by the total number of random screening test results.
   The testing rate is subject to annual review by the FTA Administrator (§655.45). The Administrator’s decision to increase or decrease the minimum annual percentage rate for random drug and alcohol testing is based, in part, on the reported positive drug and alcohol violation rates for the entire industry. All information used for this determination is drawn from the drug and alcohol Management Information System (MIS) reports required by the regulation. The alcohol random testing rate has remained at ten percent (10%), the lowest allowable by the regulation, because the alcohol “violation rate” has remained well below the 0.05 minimum threshold established (§655.45(d)).
   If the drug “positive rate” is below one percent (1.0%) for two consecutive years, the Administrator has the option to lower the drug random testing rate to twenty-five percent (25%) from the fifty percent (50%) currently required. The “positive rate” has been poised at the one percent (1.0%) threshold rate for many years. For the first time, however, the drug “positive rates” for the two consecutive years of 2003 and 2004 were below one percent (1.0%). In 2003 the “positive rate” was 0.96 and in 2004, the “positive rate” was 0.87. Upon consideration of the state of the testing industry, rise in use of adulterants and efforts to beat drug tests, and safety considerations, the Administrator decided not to lower the random testing rate for drugs in 2006 leaving them at the fifty percent (50%) test rate.