Federal efforts to begin an apprenticeship pilot program allowing those under 21 years of age to drive tractor trailers in interstate commerce is off to a quick start.

In the beginning of January 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published an emergency Information Collection Request. An ICR is a government agency action seeking approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect information and data from the public. OMB approved the ICR on Jan. 24.

On Jan. 14, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice, summarizing public comments made when the agency first considered this program in 2020, and reviewed the program requirements as set out in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Although FMCSA did not seek further public comments in the Jan. 14 notice, it did say the notice constituted the legally required alert of its intention to begin a new program. The actual program start date has not been announced.

In the ICR, FMCSA sought approval to gather information from participating motor carriers and apprentice truck drivers. It is also looking to collect crash data, inspection reports, citations, and safety event data from systems installed on involved commercial motor vehicles. This data includes the activation of automatic emergency braking systems and recordings from video systems, plus record of duty status logs, on-duty time, driving time, and time spent away from home terminals. The agency wants to use this data to administer and evaluate the program, officially called the “Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program.”

Normally, the public would have a longer opportunity to submit comments on an ICR. However, FMCSA considered this an emergency request, seeking public comments by Jan. 12 and asked for OMB for approval by Jan. 13. With OMBs approval, FMCSA can now begin to implement the apprenticeship program set out in its Jan. 14 notice.

Why the rush? Two issues dominate politics these days: COVID-19 and the supply chain crisis. Expediting the apprenticeship pilot program is one way the administration can respond to the supply chain crisis, even though it may take the program an extended period of time to produce apprentice truck drivers under the age of 21.

All motor carriers who FMCSA approves for the program must also register their apprenticeships before they can submit the information required upon approval of this ICR. The American Trucking Associations has been approved as a registered apprenticeship program sponsor for truck drivers by the U.S. Department of Labor. According to the group, this means that ATA members can participate even if they don’t have their own registered apprenticeship program.

Make no mistake, an Information Collection Request by itself is a signal that a government agency intends to begin a rulemaking or start a program. With this ICR and the Federal Register notice, the apprenticeship pilot program is clearly on the FMCSA fast track.