Limitations on the Issuance of Commercial Driver's Licenses With a Hazardous Materials Endorsement

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) prohibit States from issuing, renewing, transferring or upgrading a commercial driver's license (CDL) with a hazardous materials endorsement unless the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has first conducted a security threat assessment of the applicant and determined the applicant does not pose a security risk warranting denial of the hazardous materials endorsement. The FMCSRs currently provide a specific date on which States become subject to the new requirement. This interim final rule amends the FMCSRs to cross-reference the TSA's compliance date as the date when FMCSA's companion requirements also become applicable. Consistent with TSA regulations, FMCSA also reduces the amount of advance notice that States must provide to drivers that a security threat assessment will be performed when they renew a hazardous materials endorsement. This rule is being issued as an IFR because it relates back to an existing substantive IFR published on May 5, 2003. This IFR will be subsumed into that rulemaking when it is finalized. All outstanding comments on these issues will be addressed in that final document.