[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 57 (Monday, March 25, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17875-17882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [http://www.gpo.gov/]
[FR Doc No: 2013-06760]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
49 CFR Parts 383 and 384
[Docket No. FMCSA-2007-27659]
RIN 2126-AB59

Commercial Driver's License Testing and Commercial Learner's Permit Standards
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: FMCSA amends its May 9, 2011, final rule in response to certain petitions for reconsideration. The 2011 final rule amended the commercial driver's license (CDL) knowledge and skills testing standards and established new minimum Federal standards for States to issue the commercial learner's permit (CLP). The Agency received 34 petitions for reconsideration that covered a wide range of issues. FMCSA granted or denied each of these petitions, by orders available in the docket referenced at the beginning of this notice. Today's final rule addresses the petitions that were granted.

DATES: This final rule is effective on April 24, 2013.

H.R. 933 - the Fiscal Year 2013 Continuing Resolution

On March 21, 2013, the Senate passed H.R. 933, the Fiscal Year 2013 Continuing Resolution, which would fund the federal government through September 30, 2013. An amendment offered by Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), which repeals the termination of Tuition Assistance (TA) under sequestration and prevents the program's funds from being decreased below the amount provided in the underlying legislation was included in the final version. You may recall that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), Army (USA), Air Force (USAF), and Coast Guard (USCG) suspended new enrollments in the TA program in response to an internal U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) memo circulated to the service branches identifying TA as a potential program to cut under the sequestration; the Navy has yet to make a similar announcement. H.R. 933 now returns to the House for final consideration before proceeding to the President. The House leadership has indicated that H.R. 933 will pass with ease.

House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) unveiled his chamber’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposal entitled "The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal” that cuts spending by $5.7 trillion, reduces the top tax rate to 25 percent, balances the budget within 10 years and moves to a fair value accounting system to show the true costs of the federal loan programs.  
According to a fact sheet, the proposal would:

• Cut wasteful spending;
• Protect and strengthen important priorities like Medicare and national security;
• Reform welfare programs like Medicaid so they can deliver on their promise;
• Simplify the tax code by consolidating the current seven individual-income-tax brackets into two brackets with a first bracket of 10 percent;
• Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax; and
• Reform the budget process, among other proposals.

On Friday March 15 the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 803 – The Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 by a vote of 215-202.
 
The bill proposes the consolidation of 35 programs used in support of job training into a single Workforce Investment Fund, places a premium on job education and training as the means to provide greater access to the workforce, and revises the responsibilities of the state and local Workforce Investment Boards and eliminates the mandatory inclusion on the WIBs of community colleges representation, labor representation, and others – replacing these individuals with a required 2/3 majority of the new boards to be comprised of business and industry representation.

Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-2) is submitting bill  “Preserving Jobs in the 5 Oilfield Act of 2013” on the floor on Monday, March 11, 2013.

“Sand and water are critical components of drilling operations within the oil and gas industry.  Subsequently, those who transport these elements to and from a well site are imperative to keeping production on schedule and operating safely, often on a moment’s notice. These drivers often have extended periods of down time waiting in the queue where they can sleep, eat, and watch TV.  Due to this downtime, water and sand drivers for over 50 years did not have to record this “waiting time” against their hours of “on duty” driving time.

On June 6, 2012, the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued regulatory guidance removing this long standing precedent, stating that these drivers would no longer qualify for the waiting time exemption.

FMCSA’s action has resulted in an increase of traffic coming in and out of well sites, causing added wear and tear to the roads.  An increase in the number of trucks needed to do the work put a sudden, extra demand on the number of drivers needed.  This has led to the use of less qualified drivers just to keep operations going.  In turn, industry has experienced a 225% jump in payroll costs as well as an increase in insurance premiums, fuel costs and transportation costs.

Internal Memo from DoD to Service Branches Says to Consider Cutting Program Funding

Citing the “current fiscal challenges,” the U.S. Army (USA) announced that effective March 8, 2013 new U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) voluntary education Tuition Assistance (TA) enrollments will be suspended until “the fiscal situation matures.” Servicemembers who are currently enrolled and participating in courses approved for TA will not be impacted, however. This decision follows the March 2, 2013 announcement by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus that the U.S. Navy (USN) will cease new U.S. MarineCorps (USMC) enrollments in TA. According to today’s Air Force Times article DoD urges ‘significant’ tuition assistance cuts, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is contemplating a similar suspension of TA enrollments apparently in response to an internal DoD memo to the services, which told them to consider cutting funding for the program. These recommended cuts are a byproduct of sequestration, a process that triggers automatic, across-the-board cuts from most government departments and agencies, which went into effect on March 1, 2013 when Congress and the Administration were unable to reach agreement on deficit reduction legislation.

On February 11, 2013, the National Association of State Approving Agencies (NASAA) held its Mid-Winter Training & Business Meeting.  NASAA facilitates the efforts of the state approving agencies (SAAs) to promote and safeguard quality education and training programs for all veterans and other eligible persons.  SAAs are established on a state-by-state basis to approve programs of education within each state and their primary responsibility and focus is the review, evaluation, and approval of quality programs of education and training under state and federal criteria.

A panel discussion entitled: Challenges and Opportunities: The GI Bill included representatives from the American Legion, VA, NASAA, National Association of Veteran's Program Administrators (NAVPA), StudentVeterans of America (SVA), and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW).  The panel discussion focused primarily on implementation efforts at the VA of the Principles of Excellence established by Executive Order 13607 and H.R. 4057, the Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-249).

WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a short speech about education on Wednesday, February 6th discussing the need to modernize education for a new century and ensure that students receive the skills necessary to succeed in the changing job market.

Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as part of a larger event on coordination between the business community and educational institutions, the likely 2016 presidential contender said that a “fundamental obstacle to economic progress is the skills gap that exists in our nation. The fact of the matter is that millions of our people do not have the skills that they need for the 21st century.”

Earlier this week the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce held its first Full Committee Hearing of the 113th Congress entitled "Challenges and Opportunities Facing America's Schools and Workplaces".
 
The hearing covered a wide array of topics and interests expressed by both the Committee Members and the four panelists. A common theme which surfaced was a clear indication that both Republicans and Democrats, and their invited witnesses, are very concerned with how the Committee can inspire and support economic recovery and job growth through education.